After hearing what Katsuyu said, Nagato felt regretful too. According to her, the Shikkotsu Forest's method of cultivation was exactly the one best suited to him. But because of the timing, things had turned out this way. If only he'd crossed over sooner. The Asura Path asked, "How much sooner? When?"
"Probably a few hundred years earlier," Katsuyu replied.
Nagato: ...
Forget it. He should give up on trying to communicate with this slug. Humans and slugs could never understand each other; the difference in their ways of thinking was just too great.
The Asura Path's voice had grown hoarse. The acidic mist around them had nearly ruined his throat. "Then can't you get rid of the Wraiths in the Black Water? You're a sage, aren't you?"
"Of course not. The Shikkotsu Forest is essentially my body, and the Black Water is produced by my body. Changing the Black Water would be like changing myself. How could that be possible?"
Nagato furrowed his brow. How could he not understand what this slug was saying?
"Changing yourself isn't that hard, is it?"
"Absolutely impossible! Even if the sun rose in the west, all life went extinct, the stars fell from the sky, and the world was destroyed, I would never change myself!"
Katsuyu sounded agitated, making Nagato want to shoulder a bag of rice.
He suddenly remembered how, when he'd first seen the giant slug, she'd been resting her head on a patch of high ground, looking utterly lazy.
The Asura Path's hoarse voice suddenly rose. "You're a shut-in slug, aren't you? A hopeless shut-in slug! And you think you deserve to call yourself a sage?"
Katsuyu snorted, turned her head away, and ignored him. In her mind, Nagato was nothing but a huge nuisance—the sort who clung to the Shikkotsu Forest and refused to leave no matter how many times he was driven out.
Nagato lowered his head, doing his best to suppress the urge to call Konan right then and have her blow up the Shikkotsu Forest. He kept reminding himself that he and Katsuyu weren't even the same species, so he couldn't use his own way of thinking to judge her behavior.
Maybe she really was just a stubborn old slug. Ever since the era of Kaguya, had anyone ever heard of this old slug willingly leaving the Shikkotsu Forest for a stroll? Other sages were one thing—they were small enough to take a walk around their own sacred grounds. But this giant slug's body was as large as the Shikkotsu Forest. Hadn't she gone without moving her body for who knew how many years? A true top-tier shut-in.
"Forget it. Just tell me what I'm supposed to do now. Jump straight into the Black Pool?" The Asura Path's throat had gone completely silent by now. The Animal Path summoned him 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. She couldn't understand Nagato at all. As an Uzumaki with a Sage Body, couldn't he just find somewhere to hole up and live a long life? Why did he insist on courting death—and in her Shikkotsu Forest, no less? How unreasonable.
"Fine, I'll jump in right now! I refuse to believe a living person can be killed by a ghost!" Nagato couldn't be bothered to say anything more. After combining what he'd learned from Tsunade with the information he already had, he knew exactly what he had to do. He shut his eyes and jumped into the Black Pool.
Katsuyu was startled and quickly used suction to cling to Nagato. With a splash, man and slug plunged into the Black Water together.
It was too late to change their minds now...
"You're way too reckless!" Katsuyu cried out, but Nagato could no longer answer her.
Washing his cock in chili water, bathing in a pot of hot oil, smoking in volcanic ash—that was what Nagato felt like now.
In an instant, the acid in Katsuyu's Black Water was about to kill him.
"Quick, absorb as much energy from the Black Water as you can!" Katsuyu hurriedly called out. In her view, less than a second had passed, yet the skin on Nagato's body had already been corroded away, exposing the muscle beneath.
"Fizz..."
The sound of meat sizzling and dripping with grease rang in Nagato's ears. Grimacing through the agony that wracked his whole body, he began absorbing the energy in the Black Water.
The stupid slug had clearly forgotten that the most important part of cultivating her Senjutsu was being able to endure pain. Nagato's forehead veins bulged as he hurt so badly that "I'm screwed" nearly burst from his lips.
Luckily, his body had already been conditioned to pain by the previous Nagato, so this little "bag of rice" was nothing to him.
As Nagato absorbed the energy in the Black Water, the entire Black Pool began to swirl. Ripples converged on his body from every direction.
"You're absorbing too much! Never mind, you have a Sage Body, after all. Hurry and use the power of the Rinnegan to combine Natural Energy with your Chakra."
The muscles all over Nagato's body trembled uncontrollably, as if they were about to tear free and fall into the Black Water.
Nagato gritted his teeth and sucked in the Natural Energy, acid, and resentment-filled Chakra from the Black Water like a whale drawing in water.
Through the Rinnegan's inner sight, all the energy inside him seemed green. It was like raging magma, erupting the moment it entered his body and seemingly widening the gaps between his bones and muscles.
I'm done for. I can feel all the flesh on my body falling apart. Looks like I'm going to die again.
"Use this method to circulate your Chakra. Hurry!"
At the critical moment, Katsuyu's voice sounded in his ear, and a Chakra circulation diagram appeared in Nagato's mind. With no other choice, he began circulating his Chakra according to the diagram.
Like a flock of geese following its lead bird, the life-giving Natural Energy flew out of the green magma and joined the circulating Chakra, forming Senjutsu Chakra.
"Pay attention to the ratio of Natural Energy to Chakra. Keep the balance you have now."
Only by mixing Natural Energy and Chakra in the proper ratio could he create Senjutsu Chakra. Nagato knew that much.
He opened his eyes wide and struggled to control the ratio of the two energies, while continuing to circulate the Chakra according to Katsuyu's instructions. More and more Natural Energy flowed into the Chakra, creating increasing amounts of Senjutsu Chakra. Once it reached a certain quantity, the Senjutsu Chakra began to take root in his rotting flesh, turning from energy into something solid and forming new Chakra pathways inside his body.
As Nagato's body decayed and his muscle tissue tore apart on a massive scale, the newly formed Senjutsu Chakra pathways shone like the Milky Way suspended in the heavens, forming a system of their own. Brimming with vitality, they ignored the broken, rotting muscles around them and began to forge their own path through Nagato's body. Where existing pathways were present, they connected to them; where there were none, they created new ones; where a pathway was blocked, they forced it open. They were utterly domineering, as if rebuilding heaven and earth itself. Nagato's spirits lifted.
As the new Senjutsu Chakra pathways gradually took shape, the raging Natural Energy also became controllable. Following the information in his mind, Nagato hurriedly tried using the Natural Energy to resist the acid.
"Good. Keep the Senjutsu Chakra ratio and circulation steady. Then absorb more Natural Energy and use the Rinnegan's power to control the ratio between that energy and the acid inside your body," Katsuyu's voice continued in his ear.
Ratios, balance—Nagato couldn't worry about any of that anymore. If he could, he would have driven every last drop of Katsuyu's acid out of his body. The urge was so strong that his Rinnegan widened, but even his utmost effort wasn't enough.
The Senjutsu Chakra inside him kept circulating, and more and more Natural Energy became controllable.
The Natural Energy built up inside Nagato and mixed with the green acid. Where it was abundant, it surrounded the acid and kept it from taking effect. Where there was too little, the acid became uncontrollable and corroded his body, leaving it riddled with holes.
Anyone with common sense could see what to do.
Nagato used the Rinnegan's power of control to draw Natural Energy from places where it was plentiful and move it to places where it was scarce, stopping the acid from corroding his body.
As Natural Energy continued to flow into the muscle tissue that had been corroded to something like mud, it gradually took on the texture of stinky tofu. It wouldn't turn back into white tofu, but it wouldn't keep rotting, either.
Without even realizing it, Nagato had mastered the balance between Natural Energy and the acid.
"Excellent. You really did it," Katsuyu's voice continued in Nagato's ear. "The Wraiths have appeared too. You can die now!"
Before you continue