Before the night could end, Arthur sat down by the still-crackling fire. His mind could not get over the players and their known attributes.
William: strong, capable of performing the Rasengan. But Arthur had seen his uncoordinated movements firsthand. The man was a powerhouse in terms of chakra but lacked the finesse of a true combatant.
Jada: her Sharingan was incredible to witness firsthand, but the true threat lay in her ninjutsu. It had a lot of destructive power. However, Arthur sensed her instability—a lack of control over her immense potential.
Alice: kind and tactful, and surprisingly built for combat. While she possessed excellent chakra control and a knack for reading her opponents, her overall skillset appeared limited—almost obsolete for this world's standards.
Margaret: cunning and resourceful, with a regenerative ability that kept her polished throughout the whole exam. Only her and Gaara had come out of the forest unscathed. However, she was just a girl, no smarter than those like Sakura Haruno.
Jasper: unruly and power-hungry. What Arthur didn't like about his tactics was that he was doing it out in the open. He reminded Arthur of virtually every cocky villain in stories, consumed by a desire for power without regarding those around him.
Lastly, Alexander: an enigma. Or a walking cheat code of anything. Not only did he wield the Byakugan, but his overall skill seemed to surpass everyone else's. Not in fighting, but in maneuvering the ninja world.
Staying focused on the players alone was only half the battle. Those originally from this world had to be looked at as well.
Naruto: one of many other anomalies. Unlike the others, he seemed to be evolving at an alarming rate.
Something was different about him that Arthur couldn't quite place. Not the main character's taijutsu. No. The behaviour Naruto continued to show was not pointing toward an orphan boy who's always seeking attention.
His maturity was evident, and the way he was carrying himself seemed like he knew something the others didn't.
That's when it hit Arthur: the Nine-Tails.
From what Arthur recalled, Naruto wouldn't interact with the Nine-Tails until around this time. Even then, the two had a love-hate relationship. In exchange for the hope of one-day escaping its seal, the Nine-Tails offered the boy its chakra, seeping him into emotional turmoil.
Yet not once had Arthur heard of any interactions with the boy and the beast. Naruto never unleashed the Tailed Beast chakra during his encounter with Haku. He also never used it during the Forest of Death because he never fought Orochimaru.
Say that William, a fan of the series, decided to spoil the main character early and tell Naruto everything. That would spiral everything out of sync. Moreover, Naruto would become a powerhouse very early on.
Arthur didn't like that idea.
He recognized everyone's strengths and weaknesses—both players and ninjas alike. Whether they honed their skills or not, Arthur would had to make sure he was many steps ahead of them.
Jada's Sharingan, William's foreknowledge, Alice's mysterious background, Margaret's visceral strength, Jasper's outer space powers, and Alex's hacks—these were all the things Arthur had to stay on alert for every day.
All he desired was to return home.
Not just for his own sake, but for the sake of those sharing his fate. Perhaps not all of them were bad. But if they got in his way, he wouldn't avert a catastrophic brawl that would dictate who the mightiest player truly was.
The first sliver of sunlight was close to dipping over the horizon.
There was something Arthur needed answers to before sleeping. It regarded the Cayman Jungles. And the primates' Royal Registry seemed like the best place to find those answers.
With a swift leap, Arthur navigated the terrain until he eventually reached the edge of their village. Next, he activated his Crimson Gaze to check everything he could.
The three giant gorillas seemed to be patrolling the village as if they never needed rest. But not everyone was like them. Most of the citizens were still sleeping in their huts, unaware of the man watching them from afar.
The Royal Registry was in his vision. He was too far to truly see anything inside.
'Chakra disguise… Smoke jutsu…'
Arthur slipped inside and waited patiently to see if any passersby would sense his presence.
After a while, with no one coming and no alarms being set off, he glided through their village with his Crimson Gaze scanning every corner. Then, he made it to his destination.
The room was empty. Rows upon rows of scrolls still lined the walls. No guards, no prying eyes. He could take his time searching for any information that might shed light on this realm.
Upon reverting to his physical form, he scanned the room and found a single scroll different from the others. Unfurling the scroll, he read the strange symbols. It seemed to be a historical record, detailing the creation of the Cayman Jungle and the arrival of the first primate inhabitants.
The scroll mentioned Elder Pepé, his role as the protector and guardian of the jungle, and the construction of his sacred hot spring.
The writing spoke of the hot spring's mystical properties, its source being natural energy, which helped sustain the jungle's ecosystem.
Arthur's attention stopped 'natural energy'. If he was correct, the reason why he was having trouble looking through Elder Pepé's mountain was because the vapour emitting from his hot spring was laced with natural energy.
That's the only thing that made sense since his Crimson Gaze acted like the Byakugan, capable of registering virtually anything that had chakra. But if it was natural energy—something he'd never seen in person—then it could deter his senses.
This new information drastically changed things.
Arthur carefully re-rolled the scroll, placing it back on its shelf. His time had run out; the sun was about to fully rise. So he retraced his steps through the village via his smoke form, eventually emerging back at his campsite.
As he rested on his makeshift bed, he began to think.
At first, he was simply going to have the primates train him to better his skills. That was with or without knowing if they understood the properties of natural energy.
Now, after learning that they really did have knowledge of natural energy, his primary focus was solely on Elder Pepé's hot spring. Because with natural energy, he could do something even better: he could attempt to acquire Sage Mode!
There was a catch.
While he understood that he could get stronger, learning Sage Mode was not an easy feat. Each Sage Mode was different, and the one in this realm didn't provide any specific instructions on how to harness its natural energy.
While Sage Mode grants the user enhanced strength, speed, and sensory abilities, perfecting it requires immense chakra control and physical fortitude.
The core principle involved balancing three types of energy: physical, spiritual, and natural energy gathered from the surrounding environment. This balance is only achieved by staying perfectly still, allowing natural energy to passively enter the body.
The better someone is with their Sage Mode, the faster they can enter it.
Taking in too little natural energy renders the transformation ineffective, while taking in too much has dire consequences. In the worst-case scenario, excess natural energy can turn the user into stone permanently or even transform them into the animal associated with their training ground.
At Mount Myōboku, the toads had a special tool that could expel excess energy to prevent petrification. At Ryūchi Cave, the White Snake Sage simply ate the practitioner if they failed.
One might think that remaining motionless just to gather natural energy would leave the user vulnerable in combat. They would be right. However, various methods have been developed to combat this weakness.
One involved the 'Sage Art: Amphibian' technique, where toads assisted the user in gathering natural energy while the user remained mobile. This was Jiraiya's method.
Another method employed clones, which gather natural energy and then transfer it to the original upon dispelling. This was Naruto's method.
The third was passive gathering, meaning that the user was simply always in a possession to enter Sage Mode. This was Kabuto's method after he injected Jugo's DNA into himself. The latter possessed that ability.
If there was one primate that knew how to effectively teach Arthur this realm's use of gathering natural energy, it would have to be Elder Pepé.
With a new plan set, he got only four hours of rest before leaving his resting area. His destination was clear: the mountaintop where their elder resided.
The journey felt shorter this time. Once he neared the familiar peak, he used his smoke form to ascend all the way to the top. The vapour barrier in play was then passed through while in his physical form.
The next thing he did was silly, but it was the only method he knew to contact the elder: he beat on his chest loud enough to make an echo.
A moment passed, filled with the gurgle of the hot spring. Then, a low rumble could be heard as a ripple of movement disturbed the surface of the water. Slowly, the colossal head of Elder Pepé emerged from the steam.
"Why have you come here at this hour?!" boomed the elder.
"Elder Pepé, I would like to receive training from you."
The giant macaque snorted as a plume of steam erupted from his nostrils. "I must first ask: why have you have come here alone. Did you not meet with Enma as I instructed?"
Arthur nodded his head. "I did, but his wife threw me out of the village. Why I'm here now is because I read about your hot springs. It has natural properties that can be harnessed."
That's when Elder Pepé's eyes beamed. "You speak of Simian Sage Mode?"
'So that's what it's called…' Arthur was right to have disregarded the village and come here. "I do. What does it take for me to learn it?"
Elder Pepé regarded Arthur for another long moment before speaking. "No one has dared to harness Sage Chakra in centuries. Not even Enma has perfected it. Why do you seek it?"
"You can see through lies, can you not? My desires are to not fall behind, to help those in need, and to do so without stirring trouble in your land."
The giant elder's face slowly neared Arthur. The eyes were so big that Arthur could visibly see his reflection. But even when being stared down, he showed no fear.
After a moment, the elder slowly pulled back. "You lie not, Alex… Yet inside you, I do not see a child."
"Surely that can't be the reason why you would refuse my request."
"Nay. I am only stating what I see... Simian Sage Mode is a dangerous technique. I will not stop you from attempting to learn it. Should you fail, however, you will turn into our likeness."
So what? Arthur came here knowing the risks. There were many before him that have only dared to try. He wasn't like Jiraiya, Naruto, Minato, Kabuto, or Margaret. But he was Arthur.
"Since the risks are so high, I would like to know something."
"Speak…"
"Should I succeed, what will happen?"
Elder Pepé stared deeply into Arthur's eyes before answering. "Succeed first, and you will know…" Arthur scoffed, closing his eyes. He felt confident until he heard a loud rumble as Elder Pepé's head quickly closed the distance. "But don't succeed and you shall be an ape in the jungle forever…"
"Understood…"