Chapter 21: Training Sage Mode
The next day, Naruto was woken up by the system's voice.
"Collection Task: Collect Hashirama cells. Current progress: 0/100%."
In his previous life, Naruto had a habit of snoozing. Whenever the alarm rang, he would press it for another five minutes.
But this body was different. Even if he only slept one or two hours a day, he was still full of energy.
After getting up and washing up, Naruto thought about the newly issued task.
This was the first collection-type task he had received.
Hashirama cells.
The cells from the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, possessed extremely high vitality and life force. Even though Hashirama himself was dead, his cells still existed in the ninja world.
When it came to collecting something like this, Naruto's first thought was Danzo.
That old bastard had once worked with Orochimaru on human experiments involving Hashirama cell transplants.
In the end, they only produced one semi-finished product — the house-building expert, Yamato.
Presumably, Danzo and Orochimaru should still have some leftover Hashirama cells.
With his current strength, challenging the entire Root — or even all of Konoha — was still too dangerous.
For the sake of safety, Naruto temporarily set this task aside and began planning his next steps to increase his combat power.
After thinking it over, he recalled an ability he had already formed a rough idea about.
Sage Mode!
This ability could instantly boost his strength by a huge margin.
When Sage Mode was activated, not only would his physical body become much stronger, but ninjutsu performed with Sage chakra would also undergo a qualitative leap in power.
It could even inflict damage on Six Paths-level powerhouses!
Learning Sage Mode required extremely strong chakra control and a large amount of chakra.
Fortunately, Naruto already possessed both.
He had long suspected that he could use the Wind Breathing method to absorb natural energy from the air and create his own unique Sage Mode — one that didn't rely on any of the three great sage regions!
He had been busy with self-discipline tasks before, but now it was time to test whether this idea was feasible.
He simply fried a beef patty and poured a glass of milk for breakfast.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he began to focus completely on Wind Breathing.
At the same time, he activated Transparent World.
The most critical part of training Sage Mode was simultaneously refining chakra while absorbing natural energy from the outside world, then perfectly fusing them in a 1:1 ratio.
A 1:1 ratio sounded simple, but it was actually extremely difficult.
The slightest deviation would cause an imbalance between chakra and natural energy, leading to terrifying consequences.
For example, failed Sage Mode training in the Mount Myoboku region would turn the user into a stone toad statue.
But Transparent World's X-ray vision perfectly solved this biggest difficulty.
By meticulously observing his own body, he could maintain the exact 1:1 ratio between chakra and natural energy at all times.
As Wind Breathing operated, natural energy was drawn into his body.
In the vision provided by Transparent World, this energy appeared as a cyan-white color.
The moment it entered his body, it displayed its violent nature.
It was somewhat similar to the Nine-Tails' chakra.
However, this natural energy wasn't yet chakra, so even Perfect Chakra Control couldn't control it.
As soon as the natural energy entered his body, the tip of Naruto's index finger began to show signs of petrification.
This sudden change even startled Naruto.
He had expected danger, but he hadn't expected it to be this fierce!
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails suddenly opened its eyes, its face filled with alarm.
"Brat, what the hell are you doing?! This energy isn't something you can control right now. Stop immediately!"
"Kurama, don't talk right now!"
Already fully focused on the natural energy, Naruto snapped at the Nine-Tails.
The instant natural energy entered his body, it tried to transform it.
If left unchecked, it wouldn't take long before his entire body turned to stone!
The Nine-Tails sensed the continuous influx of natural energy and its expression grew serious.
[This brat is really playing with fire!]
It was actually a little worried that Naruto might accidentally kill himself.
Naruto quickly mobilized a massive amount of chakra and rushed it toward the natural energy inside his body.
He strictly maintained the 1:1 ratio, fusing chakra and natural energy together!
Thankfully, with the help of Transparent World, he could do it precisely. Relying on feeling alone would have been extremely difficult.
Although the process was somewhat dangerous, the result was good.
Under the Nine-Tails' shocked gaze, the petrification on Naruto's fingertip began to fade, returning to normal skin color.
In less than half an hour, he had successfully fused his first strand of Sage chakra.
"How is that possible?! Is this brat's talent even stronger than that old man's?"
Having lived for nearly a thousand years, the Nine-Tails naturally knew about Sage Mode.
It could even absorb natural energy itself.
But Naruto's training speed still shocked it.
At the same time, it felt a little relieved that it had chosen to cooperate with Naruto back then.
Otherwise, once he fully grew up, there really wouldn't be any place left for it.
By then, it would truly be reduced to nothing more than a tool fox.
Naruto remained fully concentrated, greedily absorbing natural energy.
Every time natural energy entered his body, he immediately guided chakra to meet it and fuse in a perfect 1:1 ratio.
When the amount of Sage chakra reached a certain level, a cyan-blue eyeshadow made of small diamond shapes began to appear at the corners of Naruto's eyes.
It also emitted a faint glow — a natural, flawless eyeshadow that no makeup could ever replicate.
"It worked just like that?" The Nine-Tails looked completely dumbfounded, resembling Tom even more.
But it wasn't over yet.
After the eyeshadow appeared, Naruto's right hand also began to emit a dazzling white light.
The white light gradually took the shape of a sword.
In the end, it formed a cyan light sword condensed entirely from Sage chakra.
The blade's edge flickered with cyan light, lengthening and shortening unpredictably.
Although the sword blade wasn't solid and remained in a semi-transparent cyan state, its sharpness was several levels above the ninja sword he had bought earlier.
It might even reach the level of the legendary Kusanagi swords.
Most importantly, this sword could perfectly carry Naruto's Sage chakra.
Looking at the sword in his hand, Naruto had a sudden idea.
If he used Wind Breathing sword forms powered by Sage chakra to slash at someone like Muzan — who was nearly immortal — what kind of scene would that create?
Feeling the surging Sage chakra inside his body, Naruto was very satisfied with his Sage Mode.
Although he had successfully entered Sage Mode, he would need more practice if he wanted to activate it instantly.
On the rooftop, Yamanaka I's eyes suddenly became serious.
From inside Naruto's house, he sensed a powerful chakra that made even him break into a cold sweat.
At first, he thought it was the Nine-Tails' chakra.
But upon careful sensing, that chakra definitely belonged to Naruto himself — it had simply become more than ten times stronger all of a sudden.
Having monitored Naruto for several years, he was probably the person who understood Naruto's chakra the best, aside from Naruto himself.
After some consideration, he decided to report this strange situation to the Hokage.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into deep thought after hearing Yamanaka I's report.
"A sudden change in chakra? Its quality increased by at least ten times? Are you sure it wasn't the Nine-Tails' chakra?"
Yamanaka I shook his head firmly. "That chakra definitely does not belong to the Nine-Tails. Its source is consistent with Uzumaki Naruto's own chakra."
Naruto's successive strange behaviors were starting to overwhelm even the Third Hokage.
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