The next morning Naruto was woken by the voice of the system.
"Collection mission: Collect Hashirama Cells. Current progress: 0/100%."
In his previous life, Naruto had the habit of lazing in bed. Whenever the alarm rang, he'd press the snooze button for another ten minutes.
But now, in this body, even sleeping just an hour or two each day left him bursting with energy.
After washing up, Naruto pondered the new mission.
This was his first time encountering a collection mission.
Hashirama Cells.
The cells of the so-called "God of Shinobi," Hashirama Senju, contained unparalleled vitality and regenerative power. Even though Hashirama himself had long been dead, his cells still survived within the shinobi world.
When it came to collecting such a thing, the first person Naruto thought of was Danzo.
That old fossil had once carried out human experiments with Orochimaru, transplanting Hashirama Cells into others.
The only half-successful result had been Yamato, the so-called "house-building specialist."
Naruto figured Danzo and Orochimaru probably still had some leftover Hashirama Cells.
But with his current strength, trying to take on Root—or the whole of Konoha—was still too dangerous.
For now, he put that mission aside and considered how best to grow stronger.
After thinking it through, Naruto remembered an ability he'd envisioned before.
Sage Mode!
This ability could raise his power by leaps and bounds in an instant.
When activating Sage Mode, his physical body's durability would soar, and ninjutsu fueled by Sage Chakra would receive a tremendous boost in power—enough to damage even Kage-level shinobi!
Learning Sage Mode required both high chakra control and immense chakra reserves.
Naruto already had both.
Previously, he had a theory: using Breath of Wind to absorb natural energy from the air, he might be able to create a Sage Mode unique to himself—outside of the three Great Sage Lands.
He had always been too busy with system tasks to try it, but now seemed like the perfect time to test this idea.
He made a simple breakfast of beef patties and a glass of milk.
Then he sat cross-legged on the floor and began focusing fully on Breath of Wind.
At the same time, he opened the Transparent World.
The key to Sage training was absorbing natural energy while refining chakra—both had to be fused in a perfect 1:1 ratio.
That balance sounded simple, but in reality it was extremely difficult. Even the slightest misstep would cause an imbalance, leading to terrifying consequences.
For example, training in Mount Myoboku's Sage Arts: failure would turn one into a stone toad statue.
But with the Transparent World's perception, Naruto could perfectly overcome this greatest obstacle.
By observing every detail of his own body, he could keep his chakra and natural energy precisely balanced at 1:1.
As his Breath of Wind circulated, natural energy was drawn into his body.
In his vision within the Transparent World, the energy appeared pale blue-white.
The moment it entered his body, the energy showed its violent nature.
It reminded him of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
But this natural energy was not chakra, so even his absolute chakra control couldn't subdue it.
As soon as it flowed in, one of his fingers began to petrify.
The sudden transformation shocked Naruto.
He had expected danger, but not this sudden and severe!
Inside the seal space, the Nine-Tails opened its eyes wide, its face full of alarm.
"Brat, what the hell are you doing?! That energy isn't something you can control right now! Stop immediately!"
"Kurama, shut up for now!"
Already focusing all his attention on the natural energy, Naruto snapped at the Nine-Tails.
The instant it fused into his body, the energy seemed intent on transforming it completely.
If left unchecked, his whole body would soon turn to stone!
The Nine-Tails felt the natural energy rushing into Naruto and grew grim.
'This brat's playing with fire…!'
He worried Naruto might kill himself this way.
Naruto quickly summoned massive amounts of chakra to clash against the invading natural energy.
With precise control, he began fusing them in a perfect 1:1 ratio.
Fortunately, with the aid of the Transparent World, he could accomplish what was impossible by feel alone.
The process was dangerous, but in the end successful.
To the Nine-Tails' astonishment, the petrification on Naruto's fingertip began to fade, his skin returning to normal.
In less than half an hour, Naruto had already fused his first trace of Sage Chakra.
"How is that possible?! This brat's talent—could it be greater than the old man's?!"
The Nine-Tails, having lived for nearly a thousand years, certainly knew of Sage Mode.
It could even absorb natural energy itself.
But Naruto's training speed left it utterly shocked.
At the same time, it felt a twinge of relief. It had chosen the right host to cooperate with.
If not, once Naruto grew to his full potential, the fox would truly be nothing more than a tool.
Naruto, fully immersed, continued greedily absorbing natural energy.
Each time it entered his body, he instantly guided chakra to fuse with it in perfect balance.
As Sage Chakra built up, a faint blue-green pattern of small diamonds formed at the corners of his eyes, glowing softly.
This mystical, natural aura was something no cosmetic could ever replicate.
"Already?!" The Nine-Tails scratched its head like a stunned cartoon cat.
But it wasn't over yet.
As the markings appeared, Naruto's right hand began to shine with a bright white light.
The light gradually shaped itself into a sword.
At last, it became a cyan blade of light condensed entirely from Sage Chakra.
The edge shimmered, lengthening and shortening erratically, semi-transparent yet sharper than any ninja blade he had bought before.
Perhaps even comparable to legendary swords like the Kusanagi Blade.
Most importantly, this sword could perfectly carry Naruto's Sage Chakra.
Looking at the blade in his hand, Naruto had a sudden thought.
If he used Breath of Wind sword-forms enhanced with Sage Chakra, and slashed at someone nearly unkillable like Muzan—what would happen?
Feeling the surging Sage Chakra within him, Naruto was extremely satisfied with his Sage Mode.
Although he had only just managed to enter it, to master instant activation would take much more training.
On the rooftop, Yamanaka Kei's eyes narrowed.
From within Naruto's house, he sensed a chakra so powerful it made him sweat in shame.
At first he thought it was the Nine-Tails' chakra.
But with careful sensing, he realized it belonged solely to Naruto—though it had suddenly grown more than ten times stronger.
Having monitored Naruto for years, he might have been the person who knew Naruto's chakra best aside from Naruto himself.
After weighing it, he decided to report this strange event to the Hokage.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi listened to Yamanaka Kei's report in silence.
"His chakra changed suddenly? Its quality increased at least tenfold? You're certain it wasn't the Nine-Tails?"
Yamanaka Kei shook his head firmly. "That chakra definitely wasn't from the Nine-Tails. Its source was completely identical to Uzumaki Naruto's own."
Naruto's string of oddities was enough to leave the Third Hokage overwhelmed.