Chapter 6: The Difference Between Each Martial Arts

Tsunade was witnessing something never before seen in her world, and as a result, she was confused. It didn’t seem like he was simply meditating. It was as if he was merging with his surroundings, with the natural energy enveloping him.

She could smell the forest in a room in the middle of the village.

For some reason, watching Yujin meditate reminded her of Jiraya. ‘Does it have something to do with the Sage Mode?’

In a way, it made sense. Sage Mode involves blending chakra with natural energy. The fact that Yujin seemed to become one with the natural energy around him resembled Sage Mode, although different at the same time.

Apart from the lack of physical changes in Yujin, she could sense a more fundamental difference, but couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

For a few minutes, she just stood there watching Yujin, trying to understand the state he was in. When she saw that he didn’t seem close to leaving his meditative state, she decided to meditate beside him to see if she could grasp something.

She sat in a meditative position for hours but couldn’t feel anything beyond what she had felt before, and it frustrated her greatly.

Hours later, when Yujin finally emerged from his meditative state, she also came out of her meditation and observed him closely.

Nothing changed in him physically, but although the natural energy seemed to be slowly dispersing, and she no longer felt the dense aura of calmness and tranquility, she sensed that Yujin was different. He seemed more peaceful, calmer, and there was a mysterious aura around him.

“Have you finished what you needed to do?”

Tsunade heard Yujin’s voice, and again noticed the change in him.

“Yes ... What happened here? You were in a strange meditative state and didn’t wake up for hours.”

Yujin smiled calmly and got up from the bed.

“I was surprised too. I was just trying to enter a deeper state of Harmony, but the natural energy of this place is much denser than where I came from. It also seems to have a qualitative difference, making the process more difficult and consequently more time-consuming. I apologize.”

Getting up from the floor, Tsunade observed Yujin for a while and asked, “What is ‘Harmony’?”

Yujin scratched his chin, thinking about how to explain. Harmony is something very instinctive to be explained in words, so it took him a few minutes.

“Well ... Where I come from, martial arts are divided into three types: Internal, External, and Harmony.”

Suddenly, Yujin raised his hand and punched his own chest with great force. A booming sound echoed in the room as if something heavy had fallen from a considerable height.

“External Martial Arts focus on the skin, flesh, tendons, bones, and blood. You use Qi to strengthen them through strengthening methods. Some people, like me, have bodies so powerful that even sharp swords can’t scratch our skin.”

Suddenly, Yujin’s body glowed a bit, and he punched so quickly that Tsunade could barely keep up.

“This is Internal Martial Arts. Instead of producing Qi to permanently strengthen the physical body through often torturous methods, this type allows us to temporarily strengthen our bodies as long as we have Qi. People with high achievement in Qi control, like me, can achieve feats as impressive as those of External Martial Arts, without all the tourtous training and pain.”

“There are some differences between them. External Martial Arts experts are usually heavier and slower but have greater stamina and durability. Internal Martial Arts experts have lower stamina as they depend on Qi, which is challenging to increase in quantity, but they are faster. They also don’t suffer as much during training.”

“Both have advantages and disadvantages.”

Tsunade listened attentively to Yujin’s explanation. Initially, she tried to use Chakra as a basis to understand “Qi,” but midway through, she felt that the two energies are entirely different. Although they were energies that existed within the body, they had very different properties.