Until the resumption of the political game, it was time for Shiki to finally get started on integrating the powers and skills of the Ryumon clan with the modern shinobi system to create a legacy the likes of which this world had never seen.
It was a brand new day and the boy had been analysing and comparing his Ryumon legacy arts with shinobi techniques to figure out how to best harmonize them.
The most pressing one to master was his natural ability to absorb and metabolize nature energy, the metabolized version could not be used to form sage chakra at least not in the standard way, he tried and with his control, nailing the ratio was an easy task.
However, the only result was him being racked by pain as the energy inside of him swirled out of control and wreaked havoc across his body.
In the first place, chakra, the energy generated by the fusion of spiritual and physical energies, was the product of the Otsutsuki that Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths, spread across the world, granting people the ability to generate it as well.
The Hollows of the Ryumon existed before that practice, absorbing nature energy, utilizing their spiritual void to tame it, allowing their special bodies to metabolize and fuse it with their physical energy for sustenance and empowerment.
But tapping into this spiritual void changed Shiki's spiritual energy which made chakra generation difficult so the boy had to be creative.
'I've been trying to use the metabolized nature energy, which I dubbed void energy, in the generation of chakra to reproduce an equivalent to sage chakra, fusing three different energies but perhaps that idea was doomed in its premise.' Shiki pondered.
'From the moment it is metabolized, it is no longer nature energy so obviously it cannot be used to make chakra.'
Coming to this conclusion, the boy set out to do a few experiments.
First, he used the regular Ryumon arts to empower his physical energy and then, blocked off his spiritual void to try to generate and mold chakra that standard shinobi way.
Sweat poured down Shiki's skin and his flesh twisted and churned, sending waves of pain across his entire body, making him stop.
'I generated chakra successfully and its potency was somewhat higher but it proved pretty much impossible to control. No amount of training will fix that, I need to change my approach again.' The boy continued to theorize.
At least he was able to generate chakra and its potency was noticeably higher so it was a step in the right direction.
Or so he hoped.
'Hmm . . . The spiritual void makes my spiritual energy hard to fuse with normal physical energy but how about the void energy enhanced one, since they have said void energy serving as a bridge, it might work.'
Shiki felt it was truly a stroke of genius illuminating his mind.
All the way until he began coughing blood from serious internal injury as rampaging chakra nearly wrecked his entire circulatory system.
"So that was not at all what I expected." The boy complained while letting his natural healing do its work.
He was no Hashirama but he would be fine in a few hours, give or take.
Meanwhile, he could only continue to ponder on the results of his latest experiment.
Unless he solved this initial issue, there could be no moving forward as it represented the core conflict between his clan legacy and modern shinobi techniques, it needed to be solved for Shiki to have any chance of combining the two.
'So the generated chakra was far more powerful this time and even more uncontrolable to match.' The Boy thought.
The power he felt was a sure sign Shiki was getting closer, at least that was how he felt about it, he was truly looking forward to the finished product.
It was then that a truly revolutionary idea came to the boy's mind.
"Mixing the void energy with spiritual and physical energy like a sage would do with nature energy is not working, mixing it first with physical energy like a Ryumon Hollow would do is also inadvisable . . ." Shiki said to himself.
"So how about going for the third option that neither sages nor the Ryumon clan's Hollows ever attempted?" The boy questioned.
And with that thought burning inside his energized mind, he started a new experiment before even fully recovering from his last.
His thoughts were simple.
If mixing void energy with physical and spiritual energies at the same time was not working while mixing it with physical energy before the final fusion also failed . . .
Then how about attempting to mix it with spiritual energy first before the fusion?
The Ryumon did not have any technique to do this, even the mixing with physical energy was more like an automatic bodily reaction, but shinobi naturally had the ability to fuse their spiritual and physical energies, so with a little adaptation, that ability can be made to fulfill Shiki's intent.
As the boy drew in nature energy to start the process, he felt an unbelievable ease and surety of success, like he was just repeating an action so natural to him it barely required any thought.
Nature energy flowed into Shiki's body and was metabolized, transforming to perfectly fill in his spiritual void. Then, with seamless fluidity, the boy's changed spiritual energy mixed with his physical energy, assisted by his natural Ryumon constitution.
There was no pain, no unruly energy.
No unbelievable surge of power that threatened to destroy everything around him either.
It was just . . . natural.
Like it was now what it was always meant to be.
'My chakra capacity has only mildly increased but that is just because of my boost in physical energy since awakening my Ryumon constitution.' Shiki calmly thought.
'But in terms of potency . . .'
The boy's chakra felt heavy, dark and mysterious, dense and solid, its flow smooth and unusually fast, racing through his small form.
If described in terms of color, rather than the usual bright blue, Shiki's chakra became black with a dark blue tint.
'And that's not all.' He thought.
As soon as the boy successfully integrated the ancient legacy of his supposed falled clan with his new shinobi abilities, his Trait, the perk of his enlightenment from a previous life, reacted.
Shiki felt it as a signal that he had progressed towards a higher form of life, thus becoming more fit to hold the mysterious power of his True Body from the Trikaya, even if only by a little.
It was all the confirmation the boy needed to be absolutely sure he was on the right course in terms of development.
And now, he was also free to develop the Ryumon's techniques using this new chakra, into new and improved Nirvana Arts.
Especially now that he would not be going on missions any time soon due to the political fallout, it was the perfect occasion for Shiki to dedicate himself to his true passion.
Yes indeed.
It was time for jutsu development.
There was an enormous library of clan knowledge stored within the boy's mind, prime resources for him to develop countless jutsu he previously lacked the foundation to create and move beyond to new ones conjured in his less than sane mind.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -