Mizuki's punch was incredibly powerful. If Ino or Shikamaru had taken such a hit, they would have been injured and knocked to the ground. However, Choji's Human Bullet Tank had exceptional defensive capabilities. His thick layer of fat combined with Yang Release Chakra absorbed about seventy to eighty percent of the force, leaving the remaining impact negligible.
Choji's eyes were spinning like mosquito coils as he propped himself up with his hands, dazedly lifting his head.
The damage wasn't severe, but he was extremely dizzy. Excluding his practice sessions at home against wooden posts, this was only the second time he had seriously used the Human Bullet Tank. The first was against a wild boar in the wilderness, and now, this was the second.
He glanced at Mizuki, feeling uneasy. One moment he worried that he had used too much force and might have fatally injured Mizuki-sensei, who had treated him to a meal. The next, he feared he might have missed, earning Ino's scolding.
Mizuki's condition was actually quite dire. The bones in one of his legs were completely shattered, and he staggered unsteadily. Many blood vessels beneath his skin had ruptured, but the high regenerative power granted by the Cursed Seal was rapidly repairing the damage.
"Choji! Hit him again! Hurry up, and after this, we'll go eat barbecue!"
"Really?!" Hearing this, the chubby Choji immediately regained his fighting spirit. He moved his body in a rather comical manner, trotting a short distance away before launching another "Human Bullet Tank."
"Choji, one more time! Just one last time, and we'll go to Yakiniku Q for a deluxe set! Hurry up, or I'll shout that word!"
"Ahhh—!! Don't you dare! I'm not fat, just a bit plump!" Choji's eyes burned with determination as he endured the dizziness and weakness brought on by the high-speed rotation, crashing into Mizuki for the third time.
Mizuki was sent flying like a cannonball, slamming into the cave wall. The wall behind him was covered in a spiderweb of cracks, and more than half of his bones were shattered. Even with the Cursed Seal's enhancement, his energy instantly withered.
Ino dragged Choji to the side. The chubby boy lay sprawled on the ground in a starfish position, weakly muttering, "I'm done. I've got no strength left. It's up to you guys now."
Ino snapped her fingers toward the other side.
"Tch, what a hassle!" Shikamaru emerged from the shadows. A shadow, as if alive, shot out from his feet, transforming into a thin line. After merging and connecting with Mizuki's shadow, Shikamaru tightly held the "Rat" hand seal. Mizuki had no idea what was happening, but he suddenly lost control of his body. Ignoring the pain, he quickly stood up and mimicked Shikamaru's movements perfectly.
He was utterly baffled: "Damn it! What kind of technique is this?"
Shikamaru smirked proudly: "Shadow Imitation Technique, success!"
Shikamaru had to maintain the Shadow Imitation Technique, which continuously drained his Chakra. In less than fifteen seconds, a layer of fine sweat had already formed on his forehead.
He couldn't help but shout: "Hurry up and do something, Ino! What are you staring at? Quick, I can't hold on much longer!"
"Your Chakra reserves are really low. I thought you could last a bit longer. Watch this—Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!"
Ino had long been capable of exposing Mizuki's series of schemes. The reason she had accompanied him for most of the night was to take advantage of this opportunity to use the Mind Body Switch Technique. She wanted to see what exactly the Cursed Seal, developed by Orochimaru, was and to personally experience the reaction of natural energy being absorbed into the human body.
She cherished this opportunity greatly.
Orochimaru could only observe, calculate, and compare through extensive human experiments. No matter how skilled he was, there was always a layer of separation. The human body was too intricate, and many data points simply couldn't be collected with existing methods, leaving him to speculate wildly. Ino believed that the Mind Body Switch Technique, which allowed her to observe from within someone else's body, would undoubtedly make it easier to sense the relationship between natural energy and the human body.
With practiced ease, she used the Mind Body Switch Technique. Her consciousness, wrapped in Chakra, shot like an arrow into Mizuki's mental world and instantly took control of his body. Was this the natural energy brought by the Cursed Seal?
After being struck three times by Choji, Mizuki's body was very weak, but the continuous influx of natural energy from the outside was being absorbed by his body. Ino could still feel the sensation of that energy filling her.
The power was strong, but also tragic.
Violent, ruthless, and vicious—the previous drugs had transformed Mizuki into a human vessel. The natural energy, harmonized by Chakra, had become much more docile than it was in the wild, but it was still not energy that an ordinary person could control.
Driven by the drugs, Mizuki's body was extracting energy from its 130 trillion cells in a frenzied manner, then relying on this physical and spiritual energy to harmonize an equal amount of natural energy.
It wasn't just a matter of potential; it was also a matter of lifespan. Even if Ino and the others hadn't intervened tonight, the result of Mizuki drinking the drug would have been his sudden death within one or two months.
The energy within the cells was nearly depleted. This person was beyond saving.
Ino controlled the body, raised the right arm, and examined it closely. There was a dark, tattoo-like mark there. This was the Cursed Seal that Orochimaru had developed from Jugo's cells.
Mizuki's Cursed Seal was far inferior to the Cursed Seal of Heaven or the Cursed Seal of Earth. At best, it was a trial version that could only be activated once and couldn't be turned off. The Cursed Seal had turned Mizuki into a disposable consumable.
Tragic.
"Mizuki-sensei, you can't hear me anymore, can you?" Ino asked in the mental world. The only response was some beast-like growls.
From the outside, he still looked somewhat normal, but in reality, Mizuki's spiritual energy had been largely eroded during the process of harmonizing the natural energy.
Ino had always been eager to learn about Sage Mode. In battles at the Six Paths level, only Sage Arts and Body techniques could deal damage to those powerful enemies.
She knew full well that her perseverance couldn't compare to Rock Lee or Might Guy. She had no intention of rigorously training in Body techniques, but Sage Arts might still offer some hope.
Ino didn't have the Byakugan's perspective function, but now that she was inside this body, she could sense the natural energy through Mizuki's Chakra pathways.
The injuries Mizuki had sustained earlier didn't matter, but if he were to get hurt again now, it would also affect Ino's original body. She couldn't recklessly absorb natural energy.
Ino observed carefully and noticed that the Cursed Seal on Mizuki's body bore some resemblance to the process described in traditional martial arts novels, where one opens the Ren and Du meridians, bridges the connection between heaven and earth, and returns to the innate state from the acquired.
She was well aware that the concept of the Ren and Du meridians was purely fictional, but some aspects of it could still serve as a reference.
There was no doubt that natural energy could be harnessed by intelligent beings and transformed into Sage Arts, though it required some special methods.
Ino's knowledge of sealing techniques and Sage Arts was almost nonexistent. After noting down all the data she could remember, she knocked out the remnants of Mizuki's consciousness in the mental realm, then released the Mind Body Switch Technique and returned to her own body.