Chapter 101: The Anomaly of Sage Mode
As Hiroto and Killer Bee were discussing whether the four-sword style should be held between the legs or with two swords in the mouth, like a pair of steel fangs, an ANBU ninja appeared at their side.
"Hiroto Uzumaki, Kayo Uzumaki," he said, "Lord Raikage summons you."
Hiroto was surprised, but he nodded. In the past few years, he had been focused on his training at the advanced ninja school, occasionally taking on missions within the village to earn some extra money. He didn't know why the Raikage would be summoning him and his sister.
The village was about to establish a specialized ninja school, and a talented ninja like him was naturally expected to continue his studies. The scholarship would be even more generous.
While others had to pay for their education, the Uzumaki siblings were getting paid to go to school.
Of course, he didn't think of himself as a genius. He knew his friend Dana was much stronger than him. He still had a lot to learn.
Speaking of his friend, he had heard that Dana had returned to the village, but he had been gone again for the past few days. But he and his sister were used to their friend's mysterious comings and goings.
Hiroto and Kayo went to the Raikage's tower and were led into his office.
There were already a number of people there. Besides the Raikage and a few ANBU, there was a male ninja he didn't recognize, with a short sword strapped to his back, and a very attractive female ninja.
How attractive? So attractive that Kayo instinctively puffed out her chest.
The Third Raikage was no stranger to the two of them. Not only were they his son's friends, but they were also important bloodline seeds for the village.
He gestured for them to be seated. "I have summoned you here for a special mission," he said. "It is urgent. You will be leaving shortly. The team leader will explain the details. The mission is tentatively ranked S."
Hiroto was shocked. An S-rank mission. But then his mind started to turn. An S-rank mission meant a reward of at least one million Ryō! His heart began to beat faster. Calm down, calm down. It has to be split.
The Raikage, assuming he was nervous, continued, "These two will be your team leaders. You will obey their commands. This is Samui, a Jonin from the Sealing Corps. And this is Kyohei Kawanishi, an elite Jonin from the ANBU."
Though the two of them were known as young geniuses in the advanced ninja school, Hiroto was only a Chunin, and Kayo, who was younger, was only a Genin.
Seeing the serious atmosphere, the two of them sat up straight, their hands on their laps. "Yes, sir!" they said in unison.
"Go home and inform your family. We will meet at the village gate in three hours."
In an unknown underground location, a purple mist filled the strange space.
Dana was bare-chested, wearing only a pair of shorts, his muscles lean and defined.
Learning Sage Mode required a calm and clear state of mind.
After a few moments, he felt his body and mind relax, a sense of peace washing over him.
"Lady Katsuyu," he said, "I am ready. We can begin."
She nodded and spat a special acid at him.
Hock-tooey!
He felt as if he had been hit by a water balloon several meters in diameter.
Calm down, calm down. A slug's... secretions... are not spit. They are acid.
The massive glob of acid enveloped him. He felt a brief stinging sensation, and then nothing. He wasn't suffocating.
Her pleasant voice echoed in his mind. "Now close your eyes and feel the natural energy around you. Guide it into your body."
He tried for a while, but felt nothing.
"Each step of learning Sage Mode is difficult," she said, unconcerned. "Even with the necessary talent, it can take days, even years, to succeed."
I don't have years, he thought.
But he forced himself to be calm, to feel the so-called "natural energy."
The process was... boring. If he wasn't covered in acid, he felt like he was just spacing out. It was supposed to be training, but there was no effort to be made.
As he sat there, his mind began to wander.
He knew that chakra was an external energy, and that natural energy was the native power of this world. He also knew that the combination of the two was sage chakra. But he had a question.
Did it have to be mixed inside the human body?
Chakra was a real, physical energy, not some metaphysical concept. It was like electricity or heat. It could be stored, consumed, and sealed. And natural energy was likely the same. It had a concept of quantity, of concentration. It could be consumed and stored.
So, if there was some kind of precise instrument or jutsu that could absorb natural energy outside the body, and then mix it with chakra in the correct ratio, what would that be? And what could it be used for?
After all, a 2:1 or 1:1:1 ratio didn't sound very complicated.
An idea sparked in his mind.
If he understood natural energy well enough, he could build a device to absorb it. Then, a person could just release their chakra in the correct ratio, and they could safely produce sage chakra. There would be no risk of turning to stone, because the mixing would happen outside the body.
And then... what? That was the question. Chakra that has left the body is difficult to reuse. There were many ways to store chakra in external objects, like sealing jutsu, but very few ways to absorb external chakra into one's own body.
As his mind was wandering, Katsuyu's voice boomed in his head.
"Yotsuki-kun! Be careful!"
He snapped back to reality, only to find that his arm had begun to turn to stone. The acid was now burning his skin.
"When did that happen? I didn't feel any natural energy!"
He quickly tried to circulate his own chakra to mix with the "natural energy," but he had been distracted. He had no idea what it felt like. It was like holding a bullet but not knowing where to aim, let alone the problem of precise mixing.
The petrification was spreading. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. The idea of turning to stone was one thing, but to actually watch your own flesh turn to rock was terrifying.
Just as he was about to ask Katsuyu to stop the process, he heard a familiar, yet unfamiliar, crackling sound.
"That sound..."
His purple spine began to glow faintly under his skin, a bizarre silhouette outlined by tiny arcs of electricity.
It had been years since his spine had shown any signs of its former strangeness, since he had "fed" his body with chakra.
And now, he felt the petrification in his arm rapidly receding.
"It's"... it's absorbing the natural energy?