Hoshiyomi settled into a steady, almost shut-in routine in the Shikkotsu Forest.
Every day was the same: practice kenjutsu and attempt to communicate with natural energy. Beyond that, he had almost no other activities. If there was one, it was spending time with Tsunade.
During this period, Tsunade had used Reverse Summoning several times to visit him. There weren't really any political affairs too difficult for her to handle, so her visits were almost entirely for the purpose of "getting close to nature" in the Shikkotsu Forest.
After more than a dozen visits, Tsunade was radiant, her skin glowing with vitality. But poor Hoshiyomi looked like a panda from his previous life, dark circles under his eyes. Luckily, in this life his body was strong enough to withstand it. If it had been his weak body from his past life, faced with a woman like Tsunade, an absolute peerless beauty, he would have ended up "feeling completely drained."
Realizing that too much "nature bonding" with Tsunade was affecting his mental state and hindering his attempts to connect with natural energy, Hoshiyomi gritted his teeth and decided to cut back. From their previous high-frequency encounters, they agreed to reduce it to once a week.
With that restraint in place, Hoshiyomi's progress in communicating with natural energy finally began to improve. Though there were still times he grew impatient and caused the natural energy to rampage, after about a month, he finally succeeded in holding onto a small cluster of natural energy with his spiritual power.
Staring at that tiny ball of natural energy drifting inside his body, Hoshiyomi nearly lost control—he wanted to devour it in one gulp like a thug.
But at the last moment, he held back, reciting in his heart, "Amitabha, calm heart, cool spirit." Only then did Hoshiyomi finally act.
Watching the natural energy remain steady under the soothing touch of his spiritual power, Hoshiyomi carefully injected his own chakra into it.
Estimating the size of the natural energy cluster, Hoshiyomi cautiously added chakra in about a one-to-one ratio.
Under the tense gaze of both Hoshiyomi and the Slug Sage, that cluster of natural energy finally gave him some face. After circling around his chakra a few times, it obediently accepted fusion.
Natural energy, spiritual power, and chakra—blended together in a one-to-one-to-one ratio.
Sage Chakra. The first fusion, successful!
Almost instantly, Hoshiyomi felt the overwhelming difference between Sage Chakra and ordinary chakra.
He wasn't sure whether Sage Chakra itself was just that extraordinary, or if it was because he hadn't used any of the Three Great Holy Lands' external mediums to absorb natural energy—but his Sage Chakra was astonishingly powerful.
Even though it was only a tiny cluster of Sage Chakra, its quality was such that Hoshiyomi judged it comparable to about one-seventh of his entire chakra reserves.
In other words, a sword strike fueled by that small amount of Sage Chakra—less than one-fifteenth of his total reserves—might surpass the power of a strike that used over one-seventh of his normal chakra.
And the amplification wasn't only in chakra output. It extended to his physical strength and sensory ability as well.
Every cell touched by the flow of Sage Chakra seemed to cheer with joy. Hoshiyomi was certain that this Sage Chakra boosted his taijutsu strength by at least twenty percent.
He hadn't yet mastered any specialized sage taijutsu techniques like Frog Kata, but Hoshiyomi was confident that with just one punch, he could probably match Tsunade's raw strength in her normal state.
In addition to everything else, the enhancement of Hoshiyomi's sensory abilities surprised him greatly.
The most obvious change was in his perception of all things around him. Originally, Hoshiyomi's sensing range was only about three to five hundred meters.
But now, his perception definitely reached a full kilometer—and the efficiency of his sensing had increased by an immeasurable degree.
His original ability—to detect whether there were living beings within three to five hundred meters—was already considered a fairly strong level.
But now, his perception had been refined to the point where he could even sense the movement trajectory of one of the Slug Sage's clones two hundred meters away.
If Hoshiyomi's previous perception was like a blurry black-and-white world, then now it had undergone a complete upgrade.
To use a tech metaphor: it was as if he now had wide 72-color gamut, high resolution, and 4K ultra-HD vision.
As Hoshiyomi immersed himself in the wonders brought by Sage Chakra, the Slug Sage was also watching him in shock.
With the infusion of chakra and spirit, Hoshiyomi's body began to undergo subtle changes. The most obvious was in his aura.
If Hoshiyomi's previous presence was like an unsheathed divine weapon, sharp and unmatched, then now he was like a sheathed blade.
His aura became more restrained, deeper, unfathomable. The edge of the divine weapon was hidden—but once drawn, it would surely shake the world.
In terms of appearance, the changes were relatively small. Two faint light-blue markings appeared around Hoshiyomi's eyes, adding a mysterious, otherworldly air.
Besides the markings, a complex symbol briefly flashed on his forehead. Unfortunately, it vanished almost instantly, too quickly for even the Slug Sage to fully make out.
The reason was simple—Hoshiyomi's Sage Chakra suddenly dispersed. Not because he had misused it, but simply because his control wasn't yet strong enough, and the balance broke.
Recalling Hoshiyomi's fleeting transformation, the Slug Sage felt a twinge of shock in her heart. The terrifying shift in aura was proof of how great the amplification of his Sage Mode truly was.
Though it didn't carry the same overwhelming pressure as Hashirama, simply because Hoshiyomi's current strength wasn't at that level, the Slug Sage could confidently say: if Hoshiyomi one day reached the same level of power as Hashirama, then the might of his Sage Mode would be in no way inferior.
While the Slug Sage marveled at his changes, Hoshiyomi was looking down at his own hands in disappointment. That feeling had been so incredible, yet it vanished in an instant.
The sudden rise and fall of his strength gave even the resolute Hoshiyomi a fleeting sense of loss and unease. At that moment, he suddenly understood why Sasuke, after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, had his "chūnibyō" escalate from moderate to severe.
That intoxicating surge of power could easily make anyone lose themselves.
If not for his twenty years of unshaken kenjutsu training, which had tempered a firm and unyielding swordsman's heart, Hoshiyomi might not have escaped that fate either.
Seeing Hoshiyomi's look of gain-and-loss, the Slug Sage let out a soft laugh. She touched him gently with one of her massive antennae and said:
"Don't be discouraged, little Hoshiyomi. To succeed in fusing Sage Chakra for the first time in only a month is already extraordinary. You'll definitely do even better from here on."