Attempt

"What do you want? You attacked the Child of Prophecy who went to Konoha?" Katsuyu's enormous head didn't move, yet her voice came from all around them. It was impossible to tell where her body was, or how big it was.

But the content of her words caught Nagato's attention. "You know about the Child of Prophecy too? What's your connection to the toads of Mount Myoboku?"

Konan stood to the side, watching Katsuyu's enormous head. She seemed to be thinking about how many Explosive Tags it would take to blow something that big to pieces.

Her gaze made Katsuyu uneasy. The four enormous feelers on her head twitched. She fell silent, not answering Nagato's question.

Clearly, the Three Great Sage Regions were connected in some way, but those matters had nothing to do with Nagato, an "outsider."

"You're not going to answer? Fine. I didn't come here for that anyway. Let's get straight to the point, Katsuyu. I'm here to learn Senjutsu."

"Senjutsu...?" Katsuyu had remained silent in response to Nagato's earlier question, but this time she answered immediately, her voice full of surprise. "How did you know you could learn Senjutsu here?"

"That doesn't seem like something you need to worry about, does it?"

To Nagato, Katsuyu was nothing more than a tool—a slug that could teach him Senjutsu. Why ask so many questions?

Katsuyu fell silent again for a while. It was clear that neither of them was happy with the other's attitude.

Just as Nagato was about to urge her on, Katsuyu spoke again. "Very well. If you want to die, I won't stop you. But first, in exchange, I want you to let me treat Tsunade."

Tsunade, who was being held by the Asura Path, had been unconscious for a long time. Back in her old-lady form, her shriveled body was covered in blood, and Black Receivers skewered all four of her limbs. She looked like a slaughtered old sow—about as pitiful as anyone could look.

Nagato glanced at Tsunade's current appearance without a trace of sympathy, then looked at Katsuyu. "As long as you agree to teach me Senjutsu, I'll let you use one of your clones to treat Tsunade. But you can't restore her Chakra, and you're not allowed to touch the Black Receivers in her body."

Sage Katsuyu's true body was probably powerful, but her clones were another matter. Tsunade was similar. Her Strength of a Hundred and Strength of a Hundred Technique were troublesome, but she needed a long time to build up her Chakra.

Without the vast reserves of Chakra in her Yin Seal, Tsunade was nothing. Nagato could kill her in an instant.

Tsunade didn't matter to Nagato anymore. What mattered was learning Senjutsu from Katsuyu. He hadn't expected her to agree so readily. He'd been planning to threaten her with 600 Billion Paper Bombs...

As he thought this, Nagato had the Asura Path toss Tsunade and Hinata to the ground. No matter what they'd looked like before, their current forms—a granny and a blind girl—were hard to look at.

If the information in Tsunade's head hadn't still been useful, and if Nagato hadn't had some conscience left and wanted to spare Hinata's life, he would have thrown them both away like trash long ago.

"Senjutsu? Is it the same kind of jutsu Jiraiya-sensei used?" Konan asked, watching Katsuyu's clone crawl over Tsunade and treat her injuries.

She finally understood why Nagato had come here.

"Yeah." Nagato nodded. He didn't hide it from Konan or bother to keep it from Katsuyu. He answered frankly, "This place is called Shikkotsu Forest, one of the Three Great Sage Regions, alongside Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave. Senjutsu can be learned here too, but it has different qualities from the Senjutsu Jiraiya-sensei learned at Mount Myoboku.

"During my battles with Jiraiya and Naruto, I saw the power of Senjutsu. The toads of Mount Myoboku caused me a lot of trouble too. That made me realize the Shinobi World isn't as simple as just us humans. Powerful forces like the Three Great Sage Regions exist as well. I could have ignored them before, but now Mount Myoboku's power has not only come to light, it's also taken our side as its enemy. So we have to deal with the power of all Three Great Sage Regions—including Mount Myoboku—in advance."

As soon as Nagato finished his long speech, delivered as if Katsuyu weren't there, the clone treating Tsunade twitched her feelers and offered her opinion in a cute, girlish voice. "How presumptuous. If it weren't for Lady Tsunade, I would have killed you with my acid long ago."

After splitting off from her main body, Katsuyu's voice and personality seemed to have changed quite a bit.

"Multiple personalities?" Nagato blinked. He didn't answer Katsuyu, but he was curious about how strong the slug was.

In theory, neither the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku nor the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave was someone he could take on in his current state. Katsuyu's true body was Sage Katsuyu, who was their equal, so it made sense that she thought she could kill Nagato.

But a real battle wasn't just about comparing strength and abilities. Nagato believed that while he couldn't do much against these colossal beings with their enormous reserves of Senjutsu Chakra, they wouldn't be able to kill him easily either. If they fought, it was hard to say who would win. And if he couldn't beat them, he could always run.

It was like when Naruto and Sasuke fought Kaguya Otsutsuki. Kaguya was so powerful, but her ultimate attacks couldn't hit anyone. She was a complete fool, with no battle experience at all. In the end, she was completely outplayed by her own unworthy descendant. Naruto's Sexy Jutsu had utterly ruined Kaguya's dignity, making her look nothing like a final boss.

Konan frowned. Seeing that Nagato had ignored Katsuyu's "provocation," she didn't say anything either.

Nagato was the strongest in her eyes, but since he wanted to learn Senjutsu, she wouldn't do anything to make things harder for him.

Konan had seen how much Jiraiya's abilities had improved after he used Senjutsu. If Nagato could gain the same kind of boost, it would be far more effective than it had been for Jiraiya. The thought excited her. Her hand, hidden inside her sleeve, clenched into a fist of its own accord.

"That's enough. Tsunade definitely won't die now," Nagato said, having kept an eye on the amount of Chakra inside her.

He had no intention of letting Katsuyu treat Tsunade until she was back on her feet. He wasn't afraid of that, but he hated trouble.

Katsuyu seemed to realize that Nagato wouldn't let her continue treating Tsunade. Her clone crawled off Tsunade and covered Hinata instead, beginning to treat her.

A cold glint flashed in Nagato's eyes. He was getting impatient, but he didn't stop her.

It was already almost time for the Fourth Shinobi World War. Obito Uchiha might have already ordered the White Zetsu to search the whole world for him. Time was precious, but since he wanted to learn Senjutsu in Shikkotsu Forest, he needed Katsuyu's help, so he didn't plan to push her too hard.

After a while, when Hinata's face had lost some of its pallor under Katsuyu's treatment, Nagato frowned and spoke. "Are you done? Can we start learning Senjutsu right away?" He'd made up his mind: if Sage Katsuyu said no one more time, he'd have Konan show off the 600 Billion Paper Bombs and teach this giant slug what a merciless carpet bombing looked like.

"If you're in such a hurry to die, I'll grant your wish." Sage Katsuyu's enormous voice echoed leisurely from all around them.

Another slug, about the size of an ordinary person, split off from her body and crawled in front of Nagato. "Come with me. I'll take you to the real Shikkotsu Forest."