"Naruto, you truly are a genius!"
Jiraiya's face was stunned, and he spoke with genuine heartfelt admiration.
In a flash, he recovered his eccentric nature and began to smile, his small eyes glowing with a mischievous light. "But, compared to me, the Great Sage, you're still just a little bit off."
He pinched his fingers together, making a gesture that cost him the Korean market.
"Sage Mode isn't that hard, is it?" Boruto commented, having watched the entire process from the side.
Jiraiya's dramatic reactions moments ago had startled him. With so many alleged side effects, he thought Naruto was about to kick the bucket.
But after personally seeing Naruto succeed so easily, Boruto thought: I can do that too!
Isn't this just something anyone can do?
"You little brat!"
Jiraiya was displeased. If Sage Mode was easy, then wouldn't he look like an idiot for taking so many years to learn it?
He began to ramble, listing everything: Sage Mode is an S-rank jutsu, even above S-rank; it's one of the hardest jutsus to learn in the ninja world... and so on.
However, the clever Boruto instantly shut him down with a single sentence.
"Uncle, it took you a long time to learn it, right?"
Jiraiya was speechless, staring at him, momentarily unable to speak.
A gentleman avoids exposing another's flaws.
You talk too much, kid!
Jiraiya stretched out his 'evil' big hand, pressed it down on Boruto's head, and began frantically ruffling his hair.
That's what you get for talking so much!
"Nooo!"
While the two were fooling around, Naruto simply tuned them out and began exploring the miraculous Sage Mode.
Countless light particles around him continuously flowed into his body under his particle-level chakra control, combining with his chakra to generate Sage Chakra.
The surrounding Natural Energy was infinite, like an ocean.
Naruto wasn't worried about depleting the Natural Energy; he should have been worried about his chakra reserves.
However, thanks to his earlier intensive training that boosted his chakra recovery speed, Naruto's chakra was now also inexhaustible.
Now, he had two infinite sources!
Moreover, jutsus used with Sage Chakra seemed to receive a massive power boost.
This is fantastic!
I, Uzumaki Naruto, declare: Sage Mode is now my favorite ability!
And yet...
Could such an amazing Sage Mode really have no side effects?
Naruto was skeptical.
"Jiraiya-sensei," he called out, opening his eyes and stopping Jiraiya and Boruto from their roughhousing. "Does this Sage Mode have no drawbacks?"
"Drawbacks? Of course, there are."
"What are they?"
Jiraiya scratched his head. "The time limit. That's probably the only drawback."
A time limit?
Naruto sensed the surrounding Natural Energy; it was constantly being drawn into his body at his command, showing no sign of stopping.
Is my Sage Mode abnormal?
"Why is there a time limit?" Naruto pressed for the root cause, unable to find the flaw himself.
Jiraiya walked over to him, a knowing teacher's smile on his face. "Because you must remain perfectly still to absorb Natural Energy. Once you enter combat, you must move. Therefore, once you start fighting, Sage Mode can only last for about five minutes."
"Is that so?"
Naruto could now be certain: he definitely did not have this drawback.
Even when he moved, a simple thought was enough for the surrounding Natural Energy to rush madly into his body.
Excellent. The drawback of Sage Mode no longer exists for me, Naruto!
However.
Glancing at Jiraiya, Naruto decided to tease him.
"Jiraiya-sensei, look."
Naruto lightly waved his hand. The orange eye shadow vanished, and Sage Mode dissipated.
"Naruto, are you... that short?" Jiraiya asked.
He recalled that it hadn't even been five minutes since Naruto first entered the mode.
Naruto's face darkened at the word "short."
Short? Should I take it out and show you?
However, Naruto ignored the jab and clapped his hands together.
Instantly, the orange eye shadow reappeared.
"This... so fast?" Jiraiya was shocked.
This isn't right! When he wanted to enter Sage Mode, he first had to remain still for a long time, during which he could barely even fight back if attacked.
Naruto?
He just clapped his hands?
Was the fusion of Natural Energy that simple?
Naruto continued his demonstration.
A wave of the hand: Sage Mode gone!
A clap of the hands: Sage Mode back again!
Wave, clap, clap again, wave again...
Look at me leap back and forth.
I'm in, hey, and I'm out again.
The so-called balance of motion and stillness? I only need an instant for that.
This repeated operation left Jiraiya dumbfounded. This time, he didn't try to save face but sincerely praised, "Naruto, you truly are a genius."
Naruto looked at him with an expression that said, 'I know that already! Tell me something I don't!'
Just then, Boruto walked over. "Sage-Sensei, teach me too! I want to learn it."
Hearing their discussion, he knew this jutsu must be powerful. If he learned it, he could help out when he got back, right?
Besides, "Sage Mode" sounded super cool!
As for not being able to learn it? He hadn't considered that.
His father, who was his age, could learn it. He didn't believe he couldn't!
'Sage-Sensei?' Hearing the title, Jiraiya felt the boy was a little devil, so easily grasping his psychology.
But learning this kind of Sage Mode?
Too presumptuous, kid!
Switching focus.
While the trio was having fun, Sasuke's situation was turning sour.
A little before, after Sasuke and Boruto separated.
Naruto's sudden appearance made Sasuke sense a clear difference.
This Naruto was too confident.
The strong confidence that came from genuine power was impossible to hide, and the sharp-eyed Sasuke immediately noticed something was off.
There was also his attire. Naruto's clothes were like those of a trendy young prince, right at the forefront of ninja fashion.
He was completely different from the Naruto he knew.
"What exactly isn't right?"
Sasuke wanted to investigate but didn't know where to start.
So, he decided to check Naruto's home.
He arrived at the apartment he remembered Naruto living in since childhood, only to find it completely empty?
Naruto moved?
Sasuke's thoughts were momentarily jumbled.
His memory couldn't be wrong. Naruto lived here until he got married—for a very long time!
How could he have moved?
This sudden change disrupted his calm.
Familiar things had changed, and there might be even more unknown changes.
This world has changed, so what about the world I came from?
Could it be that when I return, Naruto will be dead, the Leaf Village gone, and the entire world ruled by the Otsutsuki?
The moment this thought surfaced, even the composed Sasuke felt anxious and worried.
He wanted to go back!
But these were only possibilities. If Otsutsuki Urashiki wasn't dealt with and got his hands on Naruto's chakra, these possibilities could very likely become reality.
Therefore, Sasuke decided to stay until Urashiki was eliminated.
"Wait."
Sasuke thought of something, and with a swoosh, he instantly vanished.
He reappeared at another apartment.
This apartment was his residence in the Leaf Village before his defection.
However, this apartment was now completely different from his memory, and more importantly, someone else was living there.
Did they assign the apartment to someone else shortly after this world's version of me defected?
To verify his hypothesis, Sasuke headed to one last place.
He arrived at Sakura's house.
Good!
Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. Sakura was still living here.
He jumped down and continued to gather information.
By evening, Sasuke walked aimlessly down the road, his handsome face etched with deep seriousness.
I didn't defect?
Sasuke couldn't quite pinpoint the current time in this world, but his apartment being occupied by someone else confused him.
This world isn't right!
"Did you hear?"
"What?"
Two people walked past him, and their conversation caught his attention.
"Our Naruto was defeated by that traitor Uchiha Itachi!"
"Is that true? Where did you see it?"
"It's absolutely true! I saw it in the Ninja World Daily!"
The other person was shocked. "The Ninja World Daily? Isn't that our Leaf Village newspaper? Why would it report something like that?"
"Who said it was ours? It belongs to a media corporation."
The two figures gradually walked away, their voices fading, but the content of their conversation startled Sasuke.
When did Itachi fight Naruto?
He turned, intending to ask them, when a newspaper floated down from the sky. He reached out and caught it.
Ninja World Daily[Uchiha Itachi—The Man Who Cut Down a God!]
The newspaper vividly described a battle from the day before. Initially, Uchiha Itachi was completely suppressed by Uzumaki Naruto, but after using a Mangekyo Sharingan jutsu, he miraculously turned the tables.
Although both were injured, the result showed that Uchiha Itachi had won.
This newspaper...
"The Ninja World Daily?"
Sasuke muttered, recalling something. He went to the Shueisha store. Many copies of the Ninja World Daily were stacked in the corner, including past issues.
Sasuke stepped up, picked up the newspapers, and began reading them one by one.
At first, his expression was relatively calm.
After all, what sight hadn't he seen?
But the more he read, the more shocked he became.
I've truly never seen this sight.
"Naruto thrashed the First and Second Hokage? And was crowned the God of Shinobi?" Sasuke was stunned.
He had met both the First and Second Hokage. Could a twelve-year-old Naruto truly defeat that level of power?
And that glowing jutsu in the picture...
"Dust Release (Jinton)?" Sasuke honestly couldn't recall if Naruto possessed such a bloodline limit, and this was twelve-year-old Naruto!
A deluge of unfamiliar and shocking information flooded Sasuke's mind. He looked up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, his expression one of desolate melancholy.
He had thought he was a max-level character returning to the starter village.
But now you're telling me the starter village has a max-level BOSS?
What the hell?
How did this world turn into this monstrosity?
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