Cotton Candy

At this moment, outside the reach of Nagato, who kept his eyes closed, the world remained unseen to him.

The originally calm Black Pool seemed to come alive, beginning to shimmer with vast patches of white light. Looking closely, one could see they were individual Wraiths with hideous, twisted faces, staring with hateful eyes at Nagato as he absorbed energy from the Black Water.

Once these Wraiths awakened, they surged into Nagato's body along with the energy from the Black Water.

Katsuyu watched the entire process, from the appearance of these Wraiths to them burrowing into Nagato's body, and promptly issued a death sentence for him.

No need to watch anymore, he's a goner. Might as well just give him a water burial. This was Katsuyu's thought at that moment.

At this time, the meridian pathways for Senjutsu Chakra within Nagato's body were steadily extending, and the balance between natural energy and acid was advancing step by step. Just as the situation was improving, it was as if a meteor shower had suddenly begun after the Wraiths burrowed into his body. Dense as raindrops, the meteors dragged white trails of light as they appeared out of thin air. With the ocular power of his Rinnegan, he saw at a glance that every meteor bore a face filled with hatred, carrying a curse of total destruction as they smashed into the Senjutsu Chakra meridians and his body, which had only just begun to reach equilibrium.

"Where the hell did all these bastards come from?" Nagato had barely spat out a curse before the meteor shower of Wraiths began to bombard his body wildly.

"This is the dispersed form of the Wraiths' chakra. Forget it, no need to explain; you'll be one of them soon enough anyway." Katsuyu's tone was listless, seemingly mourning for Shikkotsu Forest, because once Nagato died, 600 Billion Paper Bombs would come to scour the land clean.

Hearing Katsuyu's words, Nagato felt despair; he was completely powerless to stop the bombardment of such a vast number of "meteors" inside his body. As the white light flashed incessantly within him, it did not produce the world-shattering effect he had anticipated. Instead, it felt sweet, like cotton candy, giving Nagato the sensation that it was actually quite delicious.

"These Wraiths carry extremely strong negative emotions; you will lose your sanity very soon. Never mind maintaining the balance of Senjutsu Chakra in your body—even having a normal conversation with me will be impossible," Katsuyu sighed, seemingly having already foreseen Nagato's end. "Actually, there weren't this many Wraiths in the Black Water originally, but as the number of Wraiths inside increased, those around Shikkotsu Forest were also attracted and dissolved into the Black Water. Consider yourself unlucky; you were doing so well, yet you still couldn't escape death."

Nagato ignored Katsuyu's words. Looking at the Wraith energy that resembled white cotton candy in his mind, exuding a fragrant scent, he couldn't help but lick his lips. In his eyes, these little cuties were clearly here to deliver gifts.

"Huh? Have you already lost your self-awareness? I was actually going to beg you to tell your companion not to blow me up with those paper bombs. Forget it. Considering you are the most suitable person for practicing Senjutsu in so many years, I won't make things difficult for your companion. I'll just find somewhere else to be a holy land."

Katsuyu was still sighing to itself, not noticing at all that the meteor shower inside Nagato's body had stopped, and the Wraiths were scrambling to escape from Nagato's body.

This isn't the bus to kindergarten at all! All the Wraiths were expressing a similar sentiment to one another with expressions of terror.

In the Black Water, the Wraiths outside Nagato's body stopped their attempt to burrow into him in unison. After a moment of stunned silence, they began to flee in all directions. Feeling the sweetness of the "cotton candy" inside his body, Nagato recalled the feeling of devouring the original Nagato's soul when he had first transmigrated into this body.

"Well-timed! I come from a land of etiquette; I welcome guests from all over the world." Nagato's spirit surged, and a massive black curtain of spiritual energy descended within him, as if night had fallen, sweeping away all the Wraith energy carrying white light spots.

Katsuyu, perched on Nagato's body, was stunned to see the Wraiths that had been rushing toward Nagato suddenly flee his body at a speed faster than they had arrived, wailing and crying for their parents.

Why did it feel like these Wraiths were scared to the point of wetting themselves? What was the meaning of those panicked, distraught expressions? Why were they fleeing frantically as if they wished they had grown more legs? Why did it look as if they had seen some terrifying natural predator?

"What on earth happened here?" Katsuyu asked in shock.

The entire Black Pool had returned to calm.

Katsuyu looked around, sensing carefully, suspecting that some terrifying existence had arrived here.

"Why do you care so much? Just tell me what I should do next!" Nagato opened his eyes; he no longer cared about the acid mist in the outside world.

"Ah--?!!" Katsuyu was startled, letting out a massive exclamation. "You're actually still alive?"

You're actually still alive, still alive, alive...

The echo of Katsuyu's surprise resounded over the entire Black Pool.

It was as if Nagato surviving was something truly inconceivable.

"You homebody worm, has your brain rotted from staying inside too long? Tell me what to do next!" Nagato was so furious he was practically steaming; he was risking his life here learning Senjutsu, and Katsuyu was acting like this?

"Oh, right, okay, next... you're actually still alive!" Katsuyu had a good temper and wasn't angry despite being scolded by Nagato, but it just couldn't wrap its head around it, as if it wouldn't be satisfied until it saw Nagato dead.

"I'm so sorry I didn't die. If you want me dead that badly, I can have Konan use the 600 Billion Paper Bombs right now to send us both on our way," Nagato replied viciously.

"Oh... no need, really no need! I'll tell you what to do next right now." The 600 Billion Paper Bombs calmed Katsuyu down, and it continued according to procedure: "What you need to do now is use Senjutsu Chakra to repair your body. Of course, using the medical techniques unique to Katsuyu."

Nagato nodded and was just about to do so when he realized he didn't have enough chakra.

To completely resist the corrosive power of the acid in the Black Pool, he needed to continue controlling and injecting a large amount of natural energy into his body. Doing so required a massive foundation of Senjutsu Chakra. However, at this moment, all the chakra in his body had already been converted into Senjutsu Chakra, and his chakra meridians had stopped extending, making it impossible to control any more natural energy.

Katsuyu came to its senses, checked the situation inside Nagato's body, and spoke: "It won't work. You don't have enough chakra in your body; you must specifically absorb the chakra from the Black Pool! With your Sage Body, you can do this."

With his chakra meridians cleared and reshaped, Nagato's body could now hold more chakra than before. For an ordinary person in his state, absorbing chakra would be impossible—much like how a starving person cannot start by eating a feast, the newly opened chakra meridians were still fragile and could not operate at full capacity. But Nagato was different; his vitality was like a cockroach's—no matter how much he pushed it, he would be fine.

"Preta Path!" With no other choice, Nagato followed Katsuyu's instructions and used his ocular power to absorb the chakra from the Black Pool.

His blood-red long hair suddenly lifted upward, and his body emitted waves of powerful suction, churning the calm Black Pool into a massive vortex. He didn't know how long it took, but the chakra accumulated in the Black Pool was absorbed into his body at an extremely rapid speed.

"Watch out for the natural energy and acid mixed in with the chakra," Katsuyu reminded him.

This was the difficult part of practicing Shikkotsu Forest Senjutsu: natural energy, acid, and chakra filled with resentment were all mixed together. Every step required powerful control to filter and balance them; not a single mistake could be made. Moreover, he couldn't control it too thoroughly; he needed to leave some space for the acid to reshape his body.

Nagato's Rinnegan shone with a sharp light. The Senjutsu Chakra meridians within him continued to grow, and the three types of energy remained in balance under the control of the Rinnegan, coexisting peacefully.

Unknowingly, night had fallen, and the moonlight shone through the thick green mist onto Nagato's face.