The Practice of a Sack of Rice

After hearing what Katsuyu had to say, Nagato felt a deep sense of regret. According to her, the cultivation method of Shikkotsu Forest was the most suitable for him, yet due to the issue of timing, it had turned into this current situation. If only he had transmigrated a little earlier. The Asura Path asked, "How much earlier are we talking about?"

Katsuyu replied, "A few hundred years earlier, perhaps."

Nagato: ...

Forget it, he should just give up on the idea of communicating with this bug; there was no way for a human and a bug to reach mutual understanding, as the gap in their perceptions was simply too vast.

The voice of the Asura Path was already somewhat hoarse by now; under the influence of the surrounding acid mist, his throat was nearly ruined: "Then can't you just remove the wraiths from the Black Water? You are a sage, after all."

"Of course not. Shikkotsu Forest is essentially my true body, and the Black Water is produced by my true body. To change the Black Water would be like asking me to change myself—how could that be possible?"

Nagato frowned. Why couldn't he understand what this bug was saying?

"Changing yourself isn't that difficult, is it?"

"Absolutely impossible! Even if the sun were to rise in the west, all things were to go extinct, the stars were to fall, and the world were to be destroyed, I would never change myself!"

Katsuyu's voice sounded somewhat agitated, making Nagato feel like he wanted to carry some rice.

He suddenly recalled the time he first met this giant bug, when she had her head resting on a highland, looking lazy to the extreme.

The Asura Path's hoarse voice suddenly increased in volume: "You're just a shut-in bug, aren't you? A hopeless shut-in bug! How can you even call yourself a sage with an attitude like that?"

Katsuyu let out a huff, turned her head to the side, and ignored him. In her mind, Nagato was nothing but a huge nuisance, the type who would stubbornly cling to Shikkotsu Forest and refuse to leave no matter how much she tried to drive him away.

Nagato lowered his head hard, struggling to suppress the urge to call Konan right now and blow up Shikkotsu Forest. He kept warning himself in his heart that he and Katsuyu were not even the same species; he couldn't use his own way of thinking to speculate on her behavior.

Perhaps she was just a stubborn, incorrigible stinking bug? Since the era of Kaguya, had anyone ever heard of this stinking bug taking the initiative to leave Shikkotsu Forest for a stroll? Other sages were one thing; they were small enough to take a walk within their own sacred grounds. This giant bug's true body was as large as the entire Shikkotsu Forest, and she hadn't moved her main body in who knows how many years. She was truly the top boss of the shut-in world.

"Forget it, just tell me what I should do now? Jump straight into the Black Water?" By now, the Asura Path's throat could no longer produce sound. The Animal Path summoned the Asura Path away, and Nagato placed his hand on Katsuyu, using the Human Path's ability to communicate with her mentally.

"Why can't you just give up?" Katsuyu sighed mournfully, completely unable to understand Nagato's behavior. As a member of the Uzumaki Clan with a Sage Body, wouldn't it be better to find a place to hide and live a long life? Why must he seek death? And why come to her Shikkotsu Forest to do it? It was truly too much.

"Fine, I'll jump in right now! I refuse to believe that a living man like me can be killed by ghosts!" Nagato couldn't be bothered to say anything more. Combining the intelligence he had obtained from Tsunade, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He closed his eyes and jumped into the Black Pool.

Katsuyu was startled and hurriedly used her suction to fix herself onto Nagato. With a "plop," one man and one bug jumped into the Black Water together.

At this point, it was too late to turn back...

"You are too impulsive!" Katsuyu let out a shriek, but Nagato was already unable to answer her.

Washing in chili water, soaking in a pot of hot oil, smoking in volcanic ash—that was exactly how Nagato felt right now.

In just an instant, the Katsuyu acid contained within the Black Water was on the verge of killing him.

"Quick, try your best to absorb the energy in the Black Water," Katsuyu urged hurriedly. In her view, in less than a second, the skin on Nagato's body had already been corroded away, exposing the muscle tissue beneath the epidermis.

"Sizzle."

It sounded like meat being grilled until the fat rendered, echoing in Nagato's ears. Nagato bared his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain radiating from his entire body, and began to absorb the energy from the Black Water.

This silly bug had clearly forgotten that the key to cultivating the senjutsu here was the ability to endure pain. Nagato's forehead veins were bulging, and a curse nearly slipped out of his mouth.

Fortunately, his body had long been accustomed to pain from the torture of the previous Nagato, so this bit of "pain" was nothing to him.

The entire Black Pool began to swirl as Nagato absorbed the energy. With his body as the center, ripples of energy converged toward him.

"You're absorbing too much! Forget it, you are a Sage Body after all. Quickly use the power of the Rinnegan to combine the natural energy with your chakra."

Nagato's muscles were trembling uncontrollably, as if they were about to detach from his body and fall into the Black Water.

The natural energy, acid, and chakra containing resentment within the Black Water were, with Nagato gritting his teeth, sucked into his body like a whale drinking water.

Through the internal vision of the Rinnegan, these energies appeared entirely green upon entering his body, like violent magma erupting the moment it entered, making the gaps between his skeleton and muscles seem even wider.

"It's over, I'm done for." Nagato felt his entire physical body collapsing; he estimated he was about to die again.

"Run your chakra in this way. Quickly!"

At the critical moment, Katsuyu's voice echoed in his ears. A chakra circulation diagram appeared in Nagato's mind. With no other choice, he began to circulate his chakra according to this method.

As if a flock of geese were automatically following the lead goose, the natural energy carrying the breath of life flew out from the green magma and merged into the circulating chakra, forming Senjutsu Chakra.

"Pay attention to the ratio of natural energy to chakra; maintain the current balance."

Only by mixing natural energy and chakra in the correct proportion could one obtain Senjutsu Chakra. Nagato knew at least that much.

He opened his eyes wide, desperately controlling the ratio of the two energies, while his internal chakra continued to circulate in the way Katsuyu had provided. More and more natural energy began to flow into the chakra, forming more and more Senjutsu Chakra. Once these Senjutsu Chakras reached a certain quantity, they began to take root and sprout within the rotting flesh, transforming from energy into physical substance, forming new chakra meridians within Nagato's body.

As Nagato's body festered and his muscle tissue tore on a massive scale, the newly formed Senjutsu Chakra meridians, like a galaxy hanging in the nine heavens, formed their own system. With powerful vitality, they ignored the surrounding broken and rotting muscles and began to act on their own within Nagato's body. Where there were existing meridians, they connected directly; where there were none, they created them; where meridians were blocked, they forced them open. It was incredibly domineering, possessing an aura of rebuilding heaven and earth, which gave Nagato a mental boost.

The violent natural energy also began to become controllable as the new Senjutsu Chakra meridians gradually formed. Following the information in his brain, Nagato hurriedly tried to use the natural energy to resist the acid.

"Not bad, continue to maintain the ratio and circulation of the Senjutsu Chakra. Then, absorb more natural energy and use the power of the Rinnegan to control the ratio of this natural energy to the acid in your body." Katsuyu's voice continued to ring in his ears.

Ratio this, ratio that—Nagato couldn't care about that anymore. If he could, he would have loved to expel all the Katsuyu acid from his body right now. This urge was so strong that his Rinnegan widened, though unfortunately, he couldn't do it despite using all his strength.

The Senjutsu Chakra within him circulated incessantly, and more and more natural energy became controllable.

These natural energies accumulated in Nagato's body, mixing with the green acid. Where natural energy was abundant, the acid was surrounded and could not exert its effect; where natural energy was scarce, the acid became uncontrollable, corroding his body into a sieve.

Seeing this situation, any normal person would know what to do.

Nagato began to use the control of the Rinnegan to extract natural energy from areas where it was abundant and inject it into areas where it was scarce, preventing the acid from corroding his body.

The muscle tissue in his body, which had originally been corroded into something like mud, gradually transformed into a texture like stinky tofu as the natural energy was continuously injected. It would neither turn back into white tofu nor continue to rot.

Naturally, Nagato mastered the balanced ratio of natural energy and acid.

"Very good, you actually managed it." Katsuyu's voice continued to ring in Nagato's ears, "The wraiths have appeared too; you can die now!"