The Slug Sage's words made sense, so Hoshiyomi chose to accept them with humility. From then on, his long, drawn-out interactions with natural energy began.
At first, Hoshiyomi thought that since he'd already managed to fuse sage chakra once, getting natural energy to flow from his body's surface into his body shouldn't be that difficult.
Reality, however, gave him a hard slap in the face. It was true that he could try to communicate with the natural energy around his body's surface—but the problem was, they simply wouldn't listen to him.
The natural energy the Slug Sage injected into him had already been processed and refined by her, making it much calmer and easier to deal with. But the wild natural energy outside was a completely different story.
The Shikkotsu Forest was brimming with natural energy, but abundance also meant it had its own will. It was like animal herds—when a species has a huge, self-sufficient group, few individuals will choose to leave and wander into an unfamiliar environment. Natural energy worked the same way.
Even with his Transparent Release helping him draw natural energy to his body's surface, it was almost impossible to pull it inside using just his spiritual power. Hoshiyomi often needed three to five days just to absorb a trace amount—and even then, that little bit might refuse to fuse with his chakra and simply disperse.
After some rough calculations, Hoshiyomi realized it would take him about half a month just to absorb the same amount of natural energy he'd used for his very first sage chakra fusion.
And how much progress toward his Nature Transformation: Nature skill would that give him?
The answer: one percent.
The result made Hoshiyomi grind his teeth. Half a month for just one percent? He still needed ninety-four more to fully activate the skill. 15 days × 94 = 1,410 days… nearly four years!
It was now Year 37 of Konoha. Did that mean he wouldn't complete it until Year 41?
Hoshiyomi voiced this thought to the Slug Sage in a roundabout way, only for her to respond with a tone of surprise:
"Only four years to master Perfect Sage Mode—isn't that wonderful?"
Perhaps worried he was aiming too high, she added patiently:
'Little Hoshiyomi, don't keep comparing yourself to Hashirama. He was a complete anomaly—his case shouldn't be treated as the standard. To master Perfect Sage Mode in just four years would already make you a once-in-several-centuries genius.'"
Let me think… who was the last human before you and Hashirama who came to Shikkotsu Forest to train in senjutsu? That must've been over three hundred years ago. It's been so long I can't even remember his name.
I only recall that it took him a full ten years to achieve a Sage Mode far weaker than the one you managed on your very first attempt at sage chakra fusion. And even then, he left completely satisfied—and went on to become a highly renowned master.
Compared to him, you've already surpassed him by a huge margin. And besides, your estimate may not be correct. Learning senjutsu is like learning anything else—it's a process of going from unfamiliarity to mastery.
Right now, your affinity with natural energy isn't high enough, so you think you'll need four years. But once you truly grow familiar with it, maybe you'll only need two or three years. Who knows?"
Hearing the Slug Sage's words of encouragement, Hoshiyomi finally relaxed a little. Comforting himself that things would definitely speed up later, he once again threw himself into communicating with natural energy.
Nature Transformation: Nature activation progress:
6%... 10%... 30%... 50%...
Hoshiyomi's progress in activating Nature Transformation: Nature grew bit by bit, and at the same time, the days slipped away unnoticed. In the blink of an eye, more than two years had passed.
During these two years, Konoha had remained calm and uneventful, with no major incidents. Under Tsunade's steady hand, the position of Hokage was rock solid, and the Senju clan was rapidly regaining the prosperity of its golden age.
Although after one round of "dilution," the number of people who could truly bear the Senju name had decreased significantly, in terms of both fighting strength and population, they still ranked among the most powerful clans in Konoha.
Now, the four great clans of Konoha—Uchiha, Hyūga, Senju, and Uzumaki—were firmly established, with Tsunade directly presiding over two of them. Add to that the many branch families originally subordinate to the Sarutobi and Senju, who now stood as her loyal supporters, and Tsunade's authority in Konoha was absolute
With Danzō and the likes of Koharu and Homura—those meddlesome pests—gone, anyone with crooked schemes only dared to whisper in the shadows, all the while fearing the possibility that one day Hatake Sakumo, the ANBU commander himself, might show up with a squad to wipe out their entire household.
Without these parasites, Konoha naturally entered a period of rapid growth. By "growth," of course, it wasn't about swelling military strength, but purely about economic development.
As a transmigrator, Hoshiyomi's vision was centuries ahead of the shinobi world. He had long since recognized the flaws in the ninja economy. To him, while shinobi were indeed important, relentless militarism in a world divided among five great villages was nothing but suicide.
The most crucial thing, in Hoshiyomi's view, was economic development—getting rich quietly was what truly mattered. Konoha already had nothing to fear from other villages militarily. If its economy could be developed to the point of being several times stronger than the rest of the shinobi world, drawing in common folk from other nations, that would be the ultimate, bloodless victory.
Meanwhile, as Konoha silently built wealth, other forces in the shinobi world were also accumulating strength in the shadows. The four great shinobi villages didn't need mention—they were focused on recovery and building up their shinobi numbers. But two forces stood out: Amegakure, and Madara's side.
In Amegakure, Yahiko's Akatsuki had already been founded. With Tobi's secret assistance, they grew rapidly during Hanzō's decline and corruption. One notable change was that Tobi no longer remained hidden underground.
With his innate ability to possess and assimilate bodies, he had absorbed the half–White Zetsu portion of Danzō's body, giving him complete control over it. Danzō, meanwhile, was still suffering torment in the mental world, powerless to resist, forced to watch helplessly as his body was controlled by another.
After taking over Danzō's body, Tobi only left his spores underground to gather information. His true self reshaped his appearance with transformation jutsu, blending seamlessly into Akatsuki with his quirky, humorous personality.
He didn't aim for the upper ranks, merely taking a squad leader–level role while observing Akatsuki's growth. As the group steadily rose, becoming a power that could rival Hanzō's rule over Amegakure, Tobi chuckled inwardly.
The time was drawing near—for Nagato to taste despair.