Elder Pepé's massive head sank back under the surface as Arthur heard his voice echo across the mountaintop. "Listen well, little one: within this spring lies a concentration of natural energy. You must learn to intertwine this energy with your own chakra."
Arthur slowly neared the water. Through his sandals, it was quite hot. Scorching even.
"Those who cannot bear these waters," Elder Pepé continued, "are not worthy of learning Sage Mode."
The concept was simple to understand: failure wasn't an option. Without another word, he peeled off his clothes and plunged in.
The impact was like being punched by a heated fist. The water was scaldingly hot, far beyond anything he'd ever experienced. It felt like his skin was on fire and every nerve ending was screaming in protest. But he gritted his teeth, pushing through the discomfort.
He wasn't here to die.
'Body activation jutsu…'
As soon as he felt his skin soothing, he opened his eyes. The initial pain subsided. The water was also clear as he felt a presence of energy swirling around, trying to enter his body.
Whatever it was, it had to be natural energy. So he slowly closed his eyes again, focusing on his chakra.
After a moment, the chakra within him sought to rage out, so he cautiously attempted to reel back.
'Like the macaque said,' he thought.
Arthur lay there for a moment, seemingly drifting. Then, as if the water had a mind of its own, it seeped through his ear canals. The effect was immediate. He could feel a new form of energy within him.
'Too much,' he thought.
He pushed his chakra outward, attempting to balance the energy at a controlled pace. Doing this allowed the waters in his ears to slow down. His head began to get dizzy, but he also felt something intoxicating.
The feeling was as if he had taken too much medication. Only, instead of overdosing, he felt the effects like normal.
Seconds felt like hours while he remained in this still position. The process of gathering and mixing natural energy was agonizingly slow.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp tug on his left side. When he opened his eyes to see what it was, he saw a giant arm with long brown hair wave across the water. It didn't move. It just lazily drifted in front of him.
It was then that he understood that this giant arm was his arm!
Arthur quickly closed his eyes. Now was not the time to panic. Yet the water now began to feel heavy. His body ached from the heat, and his mind was clouded by the thought of turning into a primate.
'Calm down,' he thought to himself.
His inner voice tried to reach out to him, but then he began to hear something in his mind: the sound of an animal screeching. Not just any animal, but a gorilla's.
His heart pounded.
'Calm down…'
Suddenly, water seeped into both his nose and throat, instinctively causing him to lose control. His arm hadn't reverted back as he began to choke on water. Before his vision could completely blur, he felt something grab his whole body. Then a wave of rushing water raced past him.
Arthur coughed and sputtered as he felt a hard platform, gasping for air. And when he looked, he noticed that he had been pulled out of the spring.
His arm was normal again, so he forced himself to relax.
Harnessing natural energy was by no means something he could do in a day. No, this type of training was extremely difficult for the average Joe.
But what has he done wrong?
While yes, practicing underwater with virtually no oxygen was the biggest hurdle, the real problem lay in attempting to balance the natural energy alongside his chakra.
At first, he was doing well by visualizing his chakra as a dam that held back the relentless tide of natural energy trying to flood in. This was working, but it was painstakingly slow. So when he decided to do quantity over quality of that energy, just the tiny amount broke the dam, drawing in an uncontrollable volume of natural energy.
So much of that was seeping in too fast for him to refine before incorporating it into his chakra. It was all a labourious process, like separating gold from a pan of sand.
Now he understood why only a select few could learn Sage Mode. What was even more unappealing was knowing that only one ninja managed to use Sage Mode on his first try after only seeing it: Madara Uchiha.
Natural energy, as calm as it sounded, was quite an aggressive type of energy. It responded tentatively to his careful manipulation, giving him no room for error.
Even if he were to learn Sage Mode, it would undoubtedly be in its imperfect form. That meant his transformation would look more animalistic each time he used it. Assuming he could even achieve it at this rate.
As he considered his nascent understanding of what he was going through, he heard Elder Pepé's voice echo again: "You almost lost control."
"I know… How long was I down there for?"
"Two days…"
When Arthur heard that, he was internally flabbergasted. Two days? That much time passed without him knowing?
Now he felt shame and frustration. Because of one wrong move, time had been wasted. No! He didn't care how much time it would take him; he had to succeed.
So without his faith being deterred, he cracked his neck and slowly made his way back to the edge of the springs. "Again..."
✟
Time itself seemed distorted within the scalding embrace of the hot spring. Yet, Arthur remained submerged.
If he were to guess, approximately twenty-four hours would have passed by now. But who knew? He couldn't quite tell how long he'd been down here anyway.
He was exhausted, filled with a constant ache that threatened to overwhelm his resolve. His skin, perpetually wrinkled from the heat, was now blistered in some places.
But amidst the pain, a change had occurred.
Thin, downy fur had sprouted across his arms. The follicles on them had grown longer, becoming a dark brown that sharpened with his skin.
Had he transformed into a primate? Quite the opposite: he had learned to balance natural energy.
If he wanted, he could reduce the size of his hair as proof. But there was no need; he was more in focus on the harmonious presence pulsing in sync with his own chakra. It was far better than he expected: like a never-ending source of oxygen underneath water.
Who knew how long he could stay down here? But he knew that time was still of importance.
When he could finally feel his lungs burning, he propelled himself upward, breaching the surface of the spring. He then clawed his way to a flat surface as he lay on his back. Opening his eyes to see his palm, things were different.
The first thing he felt was the change in his eyes. The whites had receded, replaced by an obsidian black. Within them, his irises glowed a colourful amber, like miniature moons reflecting the night sky.
His arms, still covered in brown fur, felt strangely lighter yet stronger. He clenched his fists and felt the power coursing through him. And with one leap, he flipped to his feet.
Everything around him now seemed alien. His body was lighter. Moreover, he could feel the entire jungle around him. His senses had been amplified a hundredfold. Even the smell of other animals' scents was in his range. They were miles away, yet he could tell just what kind of animal they were from the way they reeked.
Elder Pepé's massive head slowly reappeared on the surface.
"You… have succeeded," he boomed. "Few have ever been shown to learn what you have, little one."
Arthur remained silent, ignoring the macaque. He had come for power, and he had obtained it. Now, it was time to put it to use.
Without warning, he turned his body into a swirling vortex of smoke mixed with Sage Chakra.
'Sage art: body oxidation jutsu…'
Before Elder Pepé could even react, a cloud zoomed through his nostrils. A shriek of pain then echoed from him through the mountain. It was a sound unlike anyone had ever heard.
From within his body, a sizzling sound followed, causing him to bang his monstrous head on walls and on the floor. "Little one! What are you doing?!"
Arthur's voice came from Pepé's head. "Whatever do you mean, Elder? Were you not the one that said the future was a capricious thing?"
At that question, Elder Pepé bared his teeth as his eyes rolled backward. Then his head limply hung there. His giant face was twisted in a grotesque mask of agony. It was a terrible sight, a reminder of the power Arthur now wielded.
Smoke seeped out of the giant's seven orifices. Arthur, reformed, stood tall on the floor with no emotion on his face. His eyes' black sclera and amber irises shone like those of a predator.
When Elder Pepé's massive head thumped onto the ledge, Arthur walked toward it.
Bang!
The grotesque head was kicked so hard with his newfound strength that it tumbled back to the water before plunging into the steaming depths of the spring below.
Then silence.
Arthur stood there for a moment, knowing there was no turning back. Who knew how long it had been since he'd been training? Last he recalled, he made a promise to be somewhere in five days. Late or early, he was going to pay that area a visit.
So he focused inward, gauging the remnants of Sage Chakra coursing through his veins. An estimate of half an hour at best could be used until he needed to gather natural energy again.
That was more than enough time. As such, he sat down cross-legged.
The power he now possessed felt absolute. And because of his new senses, sharpened by Sage Mode, he could see a vivid picture of the surrounding jungle. The entire mountain slope lay bare before him.
Nestled amongst the canopy, he spotted it: the primate's village.
With a single powerful leap, he launched himself from the mountaintop.
Everything in him anticipated what was to come as he bounced above the treetops. The once harmonious connection with the jungle—the sense of wonder and belonging—had been replaced by his predatory instinct.
It wasn't long until he silently landed on a thick branch overlooking the village. Below, the inhabitants slumbered peacefully in their wooden huts, nestled amidst the trees.
They were all so oblivious.
Two massive gorillas, each excessively tall, patrolled the perimeter. Ordinary brute force wouldn't suffice. Arthur needed a more tactical approach to cripple the village's defenses before they even knew what hit them.
'Sage art: body oxidation jutsu…'
He launched forward like a swirling vortex of smoke toward the nearest giant. There was no explosion, no dramatic impact—he simply flowed right through the gorilla's nose.
Then the shift came as the gorilla's face contorted in pain. It then roared, lashing out with its massive fist.
"Jojo!" the second gorilla said, caught completely off guard. "What is the matter?!"
Yet Jojo slammed his fist into the other gorilla's chest. Angered, the gorilla roared back in fury before retaliating with a swipe of its arm, sending Jojo staggering back.
Confusion turned into blind rage as the two titans began pummeling each other. It was then that the third gorilla, overhearing their battle, rushed onto the scene. "My brothers?! Why are you fighting?!"
Just then, Jojo pulled out a large spear from his back and stabbed the gorilla in the chest.
"No!" the other cried in fury. Then it pulled out its weapon and charged. "I'll kill you, Jojo!"
The two then continued on this booming exchange of weapons. The ground trembled under their colossal weight, and trees snapped like twigs caught in a hurricane. The terrified screams of the smaller primates living within the village filled the scene, adding to the destruction.
But where was Arthur? He had his arms crossed, watching the scene from a safe distance.