"The decline of natural energy indeed has its reasons." Uzumaki Jun opened his eyes again, let out a sigh, and murmured, "It is simply too difficult to control."
No wonder later it must be neutralized with chakra to form Sage chakra before it can be used. Probably doing it this way is to reduce the destructiveness of natural energy. After all, the destructiveness of this natural energy is truly terrifying...
A single touch causes mutation.
Moreover, only when chakra and natural energy reach a strict 1:1 mixture ratio can Sage chakra be formed. A little more or a little less is not acceptable. One can imagine...
how difficult natural energy is to control.
If even the slightest mistake occurs, one basically becomes unrecognizably deformed.
And the more perfect the sage transformation, the fewer characteristics of other creatures are retained, and the more one looks like a person...
Otherwise, one either turns into a toad, a white snake, a slug, or goes berserk directly, causing destruction everywhere.
So...
How did the very first toad learn senjutsu?
And even combined it with chakra to form Sage chakra?
Thinking of this, Uzumaki Jun felt a headache coming on and rubbed his forehead...
"There is simply too little reference material available!"
Did Kaguya come first and then senjutsu, or did senjutsu come first and then Kaguya?
No one knows...
"Another day with no harvest at all."
Uzumaki Jun lay down directly on the stone slab, sighed, and looked at the sun still hanging high in the sky...
"How is the Land of Whirlpools doing now?"
Having been here for nearly five months, and having cultivated senjutsu for nearly five months, there was still no progress at all...
After all, if this natural energy cannot be controlled properly, when introduced into the body, it will directly cause your body to turn to stone.
So...
"How to control it?" Uzumaki Jun quietly watched the blue sky, reached out a hand as if to block the sun, and murmured, "If I cannot use natural energy to break through the seal, do I really have to wait for Kaguya to come and plant the tree, and then..."
Wait for the tree to grow?
Who knows how long that will take.
Just as Uzumaki Jun was thinking about what to do...
"Jun." Chimiko, as usual, came bouncing over carrying a bamboo basket, saying happily, "Time to eat."
"Is it here already?" Uzumaki Jun flipped over and sat up properly, saying, "It's a bit late today."
"Because Uncle Zaita hunted a pheasant." Chimiko said while taking the lunch out from the bamboo basket. "So, Grandpa Kōta asked me to wait and bring it over after it was cooked." She opened one of the wooden lunch boxes. "This is it. Grandpa Kōta's cooking is really delicious."
"Oh?" Uzumaki Jun twitched his nose, looked at the plainly roasted chicken in the wooden lunch box, and said, "We get to eat chicken today?"
And...
It really does smell good.
"Uh-huh." Chimiko handed Uzumaki Jun his lunch box, then opened her own, saying happily, "Although for some reason, there are very few prey in the back mountain lately, sometimes we are lucky and can get one."
As soon as she finished speaking...
"Smack!"
She used her bamboo chopsticks to swat away the orange toad that had approached the roasted chicken...
"You cannot eat this. You are a toad, you can only eat bugs."
She stared sternly at the orange toad...
"Hurry up and go find your own food."
Last time, she caught bugs for it, but later found out this orange toad could catch bugs by itself. So now, at mealtime, she lets it find its own food.
She looked up and saw Uzumaki Jun, for no reason, suddenly staring blankly, rigidly at the orange toad. Thinking he was wondering why she was talking to a toad, she explained, "This toad is very smart."
"Grandpa Kōta saw it and thought an orange toad must be even more delicious. He originally planned to skin it and stew it. But this toad ran around everywhere, hiding and dodging, and finally..."
A happy smile appeared on Chimiko's face...
"It hid behind me."
Because she found it pretty and smart, she brought it to Lan no Sato to keep as a pet.
As a result...
Now everyone in the village thinks this toad is very clever...
"No..." Uzumaki Jun looked at the departing toad, fell silent for a moment, then scooped up a mouthful of rice, looked up at Chimiko who was chattering about how amazing the toad was, and said, "What's the deal with that string of beads around its neck?"
Although it didn't have the large character for 'oil', a toad wearing a bracelet still looked strange, especially since this toad was the same model and color as that one. It was really suspicious.
"Oh, you mean this?" Chimiko, hearing Uzumaki Jun's words, was momentarily stunned, then said, "That is a handstring Aunt Kaarin made herself. It was too big for me, so I just put it on him. It turned out to fit perfectly."
"I see..."
So that's how it was...
Uzumaki Jun felt relieved inside. He almost thought the legendary toad that sowed discord between mother and son was hiding right beside him.
"Oh, right." Chimiko seemed to suddenly remember something, a sweet smile on her face as she said, "I gave him a name."
"Huh?" Uzumaki Jun, eating the roasted chicken, looked puzzled at Chimiko and said, "What is it?"
It seemed this girl really was keeping that toad as a pet. Was she planning to use the toad as emergency rations for when food ran low?
"Gama." Chimiko said, "Gamaru. It sounds nice, doesn't..."
Before she could finish...
"Clatter...!"
Uzumaki Jun's chopsticks fell directly to the ground. He stared blankly again, with a look of disbelief, at Chimiko...
"Wh-wh...what's that toad's name?"
"Gamaru." Chimiko put down her bowl and chopsticks, looking at Uzumaki Jun with confusion. Why did he suddenly look so startled?
She asked worriedly, "What's wrong, Jun?"
"I..."
Simply don't know what to say.
Could that stupid toad really be the one, the sage who lurked for 720 episodes?
Uzumaki Jun silently picked up the chopsticks that had fallen on the ground, casually wiped them clean with his clothes, and said, "It's nothing. Let's eat first."
But...
Why did the system say it couldn't find Gamabunta back then?
What's going on now?
"Alright." Although Jun said not to worry, seeing him like this, Chimiko was still quite worried inside. She said, "If there is a problem, you must tell me."
"Uh-huh." Uzumaki Jun nodded, picked up a roasted chicken leg, and placed it in Chimiko's lunch box, saying, "I am a samurai. Nothing will happen."
He still didn't know if it was the same model toad or not. Better not to worry about it too much for now.
Besides, if it really is, that might not be bad...
Maybe he could even observe how a toad learns senjutsu.
"By the way, how is the village lately?"
"Oh, the village." Once the conversation turned to the village, a smile returned to Chimiko's face. She said, "The houses Uncle Kihai builds are getting more and more beautiful. Many people are planning to demolish their houses and rebuild them now."
"Your house was demolished too. Uncle Kihai said that house was too simple and not suitable for you. He will work hard to build the most beautiful house."
"It's not necessary. I'm fine sleeping in a tent." Uzumaki Jun burped, picked his teeth, and said casually, "Don't waste the time."
"No." Hearing Jun say he didn't want it, Chimiko immediately became unhappy and said, "You have helped Lan no Sato so much. We must build the best one for you."
Besides, if he has a home here...
Jun will definitely come back.
"Fine, as you wish."
Uzumaki Jun picked up the water bottle beside him and took a sip of tea.
Because he often cultivated senjutsu here, he had quite a complete set of daily necessities.
"Also, the potato leaves are getting bigger and bigger, and the berries you mentioned have been picked too." Seeing that Jun didn't refuse anymore, Chimiko continued happily, "We will definitely be able to harvest them in a few more days."
And with these potatoes...
Lan no Sato will never have to go hungry again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━