Chapter 406: Cultivation in Sage Mode
The air in Mount Myōboku's Forest of Silence hung heavy, thick with the ancient, thrumming pulse of nature. Fukasaku stood perched atop a towering, needle-like spire of rock. The wizened toad sage gripped a dense black rod in his webbed hands, his usually amiable face carved into lines of absolute gravity.
"Listen up, brat," Fukasaku barked, his raspy voice cutting through the quiet. "The first step to sensing Natural Energy is absolute stillness. You must become one with nature itself to feel the raw power flowing through the air."
He gestured toward a bubbling pool of thick, iridescent toad oil below. "Generally speaking, beginners need to apply this secret oil to assist their perception. But it comes with a lethal risk. Absorb too much, and you will turn into a frog. Fail to stop it, and you will permanently become a stone statue."
Fukasaku brandished the black rod. "Therefore, I will be keeping a very close eye on you at all times. The moment I notice your chakra tipping out of balance, I will use this rod to knock the Natural Energy right out of you!"
Naruto sat cross-legged on the jagged peak, his hands resting on his knees. He took a deep, steadying breath, his face set with uncharacteristic solemnity.
"I got it," he said, his voice firm. "Let's start!"
He snapped his eyes shut, forcing his restless body into complete stillness.
Fukasaku raised the rod, his muscles tense and ready to strike at a fraction of a second's notice. Nearby, Jiraiya and Shima watched with bated breath, the tension thick enough to cut with a kunai. They knew the lethal perils of Sage Art training all too well.
Barely a few minutes trickled by.
A strange breeze suddenly spiraled up from the base of the spire. Immediately after, the previously calm atmosphere grew erratic and restless. Fukasaku's slit-like pupils contracted violently. The dense, invisible Natural Energy of Mount Myōboku was no longer just drifting—it was surging, funneling madly into Naruto's seated form like a localized hurricane.
"Oh no!" Fukasaku gasped. "It is too fast!"
He hoisted the black rod high above his head, panic flaring in his eyes. "Brat! Stop right now! You are going to turn into stone!"
The rod swung down in a vicious arc. But before it could connect with Naruto's skull, a pale, slender hand shot out, catching the dense wood with an effortless, immovable grip.
Uchiha Akira stood beside the toad sage, his crimson eyes placid, his posture entirely relaxed.
"Do not be so anxious," Akira commanded softly, his voice a cool contrast to the frantic energy of the clearing. "Look closely."
Fukasaku blinked, his jaw going slack as he subconsciously shifted his gaze back to the blonde boy. What he saw defied centuries of toad wisdom. Naruto was practically drowning in a terrifying vortex of Natural Energy, yet his skin remained perfectly smooth. There were no warts, no webbing, no signs of frog-fication whatsoever. The violent, untamed energies of the earth entered Naruto's meridians and instantly turned docile, flowing through his chakra network like tamed sheep.
The black rod slipped from Fukasaku's numb fingers, bouncing off the stone with a sharp clatter.
"This... how is this even possible?" the ancient sage whispered. "No toad oil needed... not even a moment of guidance... Such an absurd affinity..."
Jiraiya stood rooted to the spot, his eyes bulging so far they threatened to pop out of his skull.
"Hey, hey, hey..." Jiraiya stammered, pointing a trembling finger at his student. "Are you kidding me right now? I had to slather myself in that foul-smelling oil and meditate for months before I could even barely perceive a wisp of it back then! This kid... he hasn't even been sitting there for five minutes!"
Akira watched in silence, a faint, knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. This was the absolute value of the [Top-Tier Natural Energy Affinity Physique] he had bestowed upon Naruto through the system. At this very moment, Uzumaki Naruto was the undisputed darling of nature itself.
"Hehe..." Naruto cracked his eyes open, a brilliant, excited grin splitting his face. "I felt it! It is everywhere! This warm, crazy power... it feels like as long as I want to, I can just pull it in at any time!"
Akira released Fukasaku's rod and smoothed his immaculate robes. "Perception and absorption are merely the first steps," he stated, his tone dripping with cool authority. "What comes next is the true crucible. Balance."
And Akira's words proved prophetic. While crossing the threshold had been shockingly instantaneous, the subsequent training subjected Naruto to pure torment. Sage Chakra demanded a flawless, razor-edge equilibrium: physical energy, spiritual energy, and Natural Energy fused in a perfect one-to-one-to-one ratio.
A fraction too little, and the Sage Art would fail to ignite. A fraction too much, and the practitioner would be entirely consumed by nature. It was akin to dancing blindfolded on the edge of a bloodied blade.
"Argh! Failed again!" Naruto yelped as a concussive wave of rejected chakra blasted him backward, sending him tumbling off the pointed rock. He hit the ground with a heavy thud. His cheeks were grotesquely puffed out, and his blue eyes had morphed into horizontal, yellow toad slits—clear signs of frog-fication brought on by a severe chakra imbalance.
"Stupid brat!" Fukasaku leaped down, bringing the black rod down hard on Naruto's crown with a resounding thwack, forcibly expelling the excess Natural Energy from his system. "You are being too greedy! You are pulling in far too much Natural Energy at once! You must control the flow! You must balance it!"
Naruto clutched his bruised head, his face scrunching up in agony. "Damn it..." he hissed through gritted teeth. "This stupid thing is way harder than the Rasengan!"
Standing at the periphery, Akira watched his disciple fail time and time again. Yet, he did not lift a finger to intervene. Some paths had to be carved out through blood, sweat, and sheer willpower. System cheats could bestow unmatched talent, but they could never replace the grinding crucible of hard work.
The grueling hours bled into days.
On the first day, Naruto fully mastered the art of instant absorption.
On the second day, Akira silently accessed the system interface, purchasing and activating the [Sage Mode · Epiphany] buff for his disciple. Under that unseen, divine guidance, Naruto finally grasped the elusive, razor-thin sensation of perfect balance.
Then came the third day.
Golden sunlight pierced through the thick, purple-red clouds of Mount Myōboku, casting long shadows across the Forest of Silence. Naruto sat cross-legged on the needle-like peak, as unmoving as the stone beneath him. His breathing was long, deep, and rhythmic. The ambient Natural Energy poured into his body, no longer a violent hurricane, but a slow, incredibly stable river.
It was no longer violent. It was no longer out of control.
Jiraiya, Fukasaku, Shima, and Akira stood in absolute silence, their eyes locked onto the young shinobi.
One minute passed. Two minutes. Three.
When the fifth minute ticked by, a majestic, devastating momentum suddenly erupted from Naruto's core, sending a shockwave of pure, refined chakra rippling through the clearing.
Naruto's eyes snapped open.
Vibrant, orange-red pigmentation bloomed around the corners of his eyes. There was no frog-fication. No webbed hands, no altered pupils, no grotesque extra organs. It was the absolute, unblemished visage of a perfect Sage.
"It is... it is done!" Fukasaku stammered, his raspy voice trembling with a mixture of awe and disbelief. "Three days... It only took him three days..."
Jiraiya stared up at the glowing figure perched on the rock, a complex storm of emotions swirling in his chest. "This kid..." The Toad Sage's mouth curled into a wide, unapologetic grin, his eyes shining with overwhelming pride. "He actually did it."
Naruto leaped down from the towering rock, landing lightly on his feet. He flexed his hands, marveling at the boundless, explosive power coursing through his veins. His enhanced sensory perception instantly blanketed the entirety of Mount Myōboku, mapping every leaf, every toad, every drop of water.
"Is this... Sage Mode?" Naruto clenched his fists, his gaze locking onto the imposing figure of his master. "Master! I succeeded!"
Akira offered a single, approving nod. "Not bad," he praised, his tone carrying a rare warmth. "Since you have fully mastered Sage Mode, it is time to complete the final step of your training."
Akira slowly raised his right hand. "Everyone, gather around me."
Though thoroughly bewildered, Jiraiya, Naruto, and the two elder toads immediately complied, stepping into Akira's immediate vicinity.
"Amenominaka."
The fabric of reality violently distorted. A swirling vortex of spatial chakra swallowed them whole, erasing their figures from Mount Myōboku out of thin air.
The next second, the world blurred. When their vision finally cleared, the environment had undergone an devastating transformation. The bizarre, oversized flora and oil pools of Mount Myōboku were gone. In their place stretched a vast, boundless wilderness. In the far distance, rolling mountain ranges and colossal, ancient forests loomed under an unfamiliar sky.
"This... where in the world are we?" Jiraiya spun around, his jaw dropping as he took in the endless expanse. "Does the Ninja World even have a place like this?"
"This is my world," Akira stated calmly, his voice echoing with god-like authority across the empty plains. "The Tianyu Dimension. An alternate space entirely independent of the real world."
Hearing this, Fukasaku and Shima nearly collapsed in shock. Creating an independent dimension? That was a world of power reserved exclusively for the legendary Sage of Six Paths! Just what monstrous heights had this Hokage reached?
Akira ignored their paralyzed awe. He turned his gaze toward the endless wilderness and pointed a single, commanding finger forward.
"Naruto."
"Right here."
"Use your Sage Mode, and finally complete your Wind Release: Rasenshuriken."
Naruto took a deep breath, the orange pigmentation around his eyes flaring as his gaze sharpened into something incredibly lethal.
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