Senjutsu Training (1)

When Sakura Haruno first arrived at Shikkotsu Forest a month ago, she never imagined that Sasuke would have such a turn of events in Konoha.

She had barely landed when she was almost startled by the Sage Katsuyu's loud voice.

"Sakura Haruno... I've been waiting for you for so long."

Sakura Haruno strained to lift her head, stretching her long neck, before finally finding the head of the Sage Katsuyu from the towering clouds.

It was a bright, clear day; the sky was a deep, clear blue, with a few clouds drifting high in the air, and the July sun was dazzlingly bright.

Sakura Haruno squinted and looked over. The Sage Katsuyu's half-body was perched on a giant tree, gnawing on the bark. Its translucent body, thousands of meters long, was raised high, like a skyscraper piercing the clouds, leaning against the tree. The dark green fleshy wall almost blocked her view. Looking even higher, all the way to the top of the dome, Sakura Haruno finally saw the midday sun and the two tentacles swaying on the Katsuyu's head.

Despite having witnessed it once before, Sakura couldn't help but hold her breath in front of the Sage Katsuyu's incredibly long and imposing body.

As far as the eye could see, all that could be seen was the Katsuyu's dark green, translucent flesh. The Sage Katsuyu needed nothing else; its sheer physical strength, grown to its limit, was enough to dispel any thought of fighting it...

In its presence, the slender Sakura Haruno felt as insignificant as an ant before a towering tree.

Even with her pride, she maintained a sense of awe before the Sage Katsuyu.

Sakura Haruno couldn't help but swallow, her tilted neck bobbing slightly as she calmed down.

"Have you been waiting long? I'm sorry, Sage Katsuyu." Sakura smiled apologetically, but secretly thought to herself, for an extraordinary long-lived being like the Sage Katsuyu, a year or two shouldn't be that long...

"I was going to invite you to lunch," the Katsuyu said without looking up, continuing to nibble on its food, "But I waited a long time and you still hadn't come, so I started eating first."

It turns out it was only a few tens of minutes...

Sakura Haruno's face twitched; she realized she had misinterpreted her feelings.

To think that Sage Katsuyu would wait for her for a year or two is really overthinking it... Is it because I've been receiving so much flattery and admiration lately that I've developed this misconception?

Awkward.

"Sorry, I was saying goodbye to my students just now," Sakura Haruno explained with an awkward laugh, touching her hair. "You know, kids are always a bit sentimental, and I—"

"But luckily I left you a bite," the Sage Katsuyu, completely oblivious to what Sakura Haruno had said. "It's not much, but it should be enough for you humans with your appetites."

Bang!

A huge white object suddenly fell from a great height, landing right in front of the girl, narrowly missing her.

It was a piece of white bark peeled from the giant tree, wider and wider than Sakura Haruno when she spread her arms and legs, and as thick as three times hers—or two Hinata if you were to compare it to.

Sakura Haruno's carefully prepared thoughts were immediately swallowed back down her throat.

"Um... Sage Katsuyu," she said timidly, raising her hand, "We humans generally don't gnaw on tree bark..."

--Unless I splurged on in-game purchases again at the beginning of the month.

"Eat up." However, the Sage Katsuyu, engrossed in its meal, completely ignored everyone and disregarded Little, who was jumping around on it, trying desperately to attract its attention.

Okay, we can't expect a mollusk that has only seen three living people in the last hundred years to know what social interaction or emotional intelligence is.

The Sage Katsuyu eats only once a month, and in one go, it can devour the bark of half a giant tree and consume hundreds of tons of organic matter. Although Shikkotsu Forest is vast, it is still not large enough for the Sage Katsuyu's astonishing appetite. If it were to eat to its heart's content, its eating speed would soon surpass the growth rate of the giant trees in Shikkotsu Forest. Therefore, the Sage Katsuyu deliberately suppresses its appetite, making its monthly feast time particularly precious. Even major events are not as important as the Sage's lunch.

So after it had finished its feast, the immortal belatedly realized that there was a guest in the Shikkotsu Forest.

Sakura Haruno sat listlessly on that piece of tree bark.

If a girl were a proud and aloof type, being ignored like this would probably cause her to throw a tantrum, right?

--Then you're wrong. Sakura Haruno was certain that even if she was usually able to keep her emotions in check, no matter how willful or arrogant a girl was, she would never dare to act recklessly in front of the Sage Katsuyu.

"Ah, sorry... I get so engrossed in eating that I easily lose track of time," the Sage Katsuyu said softly. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Wait, speak softly...?

Okay, you can tell it's trying really hard to be gentle...

But the thunderous roar lingered, making the girl's ears ring, and she couldn't feel any gentleness at all.

"Humans don't eat tree bark, immortals," Sakura Haruno explained, tilting her head back as she unrolled her scroll. "Don't worry about me, I brought food."

Because there was no normal food in Shikkotsu Forest, Sakura's mother bought all sorts of delicacies and forced them on her, squeezing out a significant portion of the space meant for compressed rations. Actually, being able to eat rations at all was already quite good; at least they were easier to swallow and digest than tree bark, since humans can't digest cellulose. Apparently, Mount Myōboku serves a whole insect feast when entertaining guests; I'm really looking forward to the day Naruto trains in Senjutsu...

"In any case, let's start our cultivation as soon as possible!" she urged.

"I was originally planning to chat with you first..." The immortal clicked his tongue regretfully. His true form was trapped in the Shikkotsu Forest, so it was a rare opportunity for him to have a conversation with someone.

"Then let's begin our cultivation of Senjutsu."

It thought for a moment, then separated a Katsuyu from its body.

"Then, I will now guide you in cultivating Senjutsu!" the clone said. "First, before we begin, I will give a complete introduction to the knowledge of Senjutsu. Please listen carefully..."

Of course, Sakura Haruno already knew about the concept of Senjutsu before coming to Shikkotsu Forest.

However, she still managed to act like a good student, paying close attention in class.

Senjutsu are a completely different system of techniques from ordinary Chakra Ninjutsu. When a ninja uses ninjutsu and Genjutsu, the Chakra consumed is a mixture of spiritual and physical energy. Senjutsu, on the other hand, consume Senjutsu Chakra —a high-level Chakra formed by mixing ordinary Chakra with Natural Energy.

As for Natural Energy, as the name suggests, it is the free-floating energy that exists throughout the entire biosphere and the vibrant natural world. In Sakura Haruno's previous world, "Natural Energy" was probably the resources like oil and coal that supported the operation of human society; while in the world of Hokage, the sun's energy, after being absorbed by the biosphere, seems to be more inclined to be transformed into this ethereal yet ubiquitous and incredibly abundant Natural Energy...

Aside from using slightly higher-grade and more powerful Chakra than regular Chakra, Senjutsu are largely no different from regular Ninjutsu.

"... Therefore, the key to cultivating Senjutsu is learning to combine ordinary Chakra with Natural Energy. To achieve this, one needs to harmonize and integrate Natural Energy with physical and mental energy in equal proportions."

The Katsuyu, which is only about ten meters long, explained.

"It doesn't sound too difficult," the girl said with a smile after thinking for a moment.

"Don't be careless! Senjutsu training is very dangerous!" The Katsuyu shook its antennae. "Although you, Lady Sakura Haruno, have great control over ordinary Chakra, your past experience won't be effective against entirely new Senjutsu Chakra... Speaking of which, Lady Sakura, have you tried controlling the ratio of physical energy to spiritual energy within your Chakra?"

"Of course!" the girl nodded matter-of-factly. "When using Medical Ninjutsu, you usually need to transform your Chakra into Yang Release Nature Transformation. At this time, by fusing about 70% of your physical energy and 0% of your spiritual energy into Chakra, you can increase the degree of Yang Release Nature Transformation."

"Or, when using Genjutsu, it's usually necessary to use a 20/80 ratio of physical and mental Chakra. Mental strength plays a crucial role in Genjutsu, so Chakra with a high proportion of mental strength has the best genjutsu effect. For Water Release, Fifty-Fifty of Chakra is more suitable, but some special Ninjutsu are different."

"In short, controlling the ratio of the two energies is just basic stuff for a ninja like me who's used to surprising maneuvers. So I think Senjutsu Chakra shouldn't be too difficult for me."

The Katsuyu chuckled.

"It's good to be confident, but, Lady Sakura, the cultivation of Senjutsu is not as simple as you imagine! Your body and spirit originate from yourself, so it's easy to operate. But Senjutsu requires the absorption of Natural Energy, which comes from the external natural world, and it's not so easy to control!"

It glanced at Sakura Haruno and continued, "Moreover, before we can control Natural Energy, the first thing we need to do is learn to sense Natural Energy!"

"So, how do we get here?" Sakura asked.

Although Natural Energy is everywhere, humans cannot perceive it; just as people breathe every moment, but no one can perceive the nitrogen that makes up nearly 80% of the air... In fact, after learning about the existence of Senjutsu, Sakura Haruno also studied whether she could perceive Natural Energy on her own; last year in the Land of Snow, she secretly trained for a month or so, but apart from drinking plenty of northwest wind, she had no effect whatsoever.

"Without guidance, humans would probably need about a hundred years to sense Natural Energy." The Katsuyu used the word "about a hundred years" quite skillfully. "Hmm... a hundred years might be too long for you humans. However, the three great Senjutsu cultivation holy sites each have their own cultivation methods that can shorten the cultivation time to within a few seconds! The Toad use Toad Oil to help absorb Natural Energy, the snake clan's spirituality is mysterious and unclear, as for me—"

"My true form is constantly absorbing Natural Energy, and I am very familiar with it..." The Katsuyu smiled mysteriously, "So if you want to quickly learn Senjutsu, I have a method that is more direct and effective than Toad Oil— "

"Merge with me!"

"... What?!"

Sakura Haruno was suddenly stunned.

"To... to merge?"

The Katsuyu nodded. "Yes, merge. Accurately..."

"I'm the one who ate you."

[I originally planned to write two chapters and post them together, but it's too late and I'm not feeling well. I'm short of a thousand words and can't write anymore, so this will be the only update today (the 8th).]