New Life

Nagato had no idea how much time had passed. Only when the senjutsu chakra pathways throughout his body were fully woven together did he realize with delight that he no longer needed Katsuyu's healing techniques. His new chakra pathways radiated an ever-stronger pulse of life, warming his entire body and lifting his spirits.

The ratio of Natural Energy to Katsuyu's acid in his muscles gradually reached perfection. As he absorbed and controlled more and more Natural Energy, he began to feel as though he had merged with the Black Pool through it.

The green Natural Energy acted like a catalyst, causing the new muscles in his body to grow and strengthen like bamboo shoots after rain. They pushed out the rotting flesh that had once seemed like mud, expelling it from his body. His entire body itched as if countless bugs were crawling over him.

"Splash, splash." A string of wet thuds sounded as pieces of rotting flesh fell into the water. Nagato opened his intensely itchy eyes and, by moonlight, was delighted to discover that he felt as good as new.

From Katsuyu's explanation, he had already known that the senjutsu here had healing properties, but he hadn't expected it to work this well.

At that moment, every cell in his body was brimming with vitality. His skin had grown back, pale as a baby's, and was covered in green markings with elegant lines that looked incredibly mysterious.

The Black Receivers on his body had long since disappeared, and his once numb, heavy legs had become light and nimble.

Comparing his current condition to Hashirama Senju in the memories of both his lives, Nagato felt that while his Sage Body still fell far short of Hashirama's in terms of recovery and chakra reserves, it seemed to surpass him in vitality and vigor. It gave Nagato the illusion that he was a little cockroach who simply couldn't die, no matter what.

He felt that he was now the strongest living person in the world. Even without using the Six Paths of Pain, he had nothing to fear from Obito or Black Zetsu.

The only ones who could oppose him were probably the dead. Thinking this, Nagato lowered his head and gazed at the moonlight before him, sighing, "Ah, moonlight..."

Then his eyeballs suddenly fell out.

His sigh turned into a cry of alarm. "Oh, shit! My eyes!"

He didn't see the dense buds of flesh sprouting inside both his eye sockets, writhing and weaving together in a horrifying sight.

"They're not even your eyes, so why are you in such a hurry?" Katsuyu, who was perched on his shoulder, said, at a loss. "As expected of a Sage Body. In such a short time, you've not only rebuilt your chakra pathways, but even grown your eyes back."

Katsuyu had calmed down by now and accepted the fact that Nagato had learned senjutsu.

Using the sensory abilities of Sage Mode, Nagato retrieved the Rinnegan from the Black Water. After confirming it was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Why wasn't the Rinnegan corroded by the acid in the Black Water?"

"Because the Black Water contains Natural Energy," Katsuyu answered. "If you want to dissolve the Rinnegan, I can spray acid at it directly..."

"Heh." Nagato gave a cold laugh. He pressed his eyeballs with his fingertips, suppressing the activity of the cells in his eye sockets, then put the Rinnegan back in place. "No need. Without these eyes, how else would I use the Six Paths techniques?"

Katsuyu shook her head. She didn't know what the Six Paths techniques were, but she could guess that he meant the Rinnegan's abilities. "Why cling to a power that isn't yours? I'd advise you to throw the Rinnegan away."

Maybe because he had succeeded in learning senjutsu, Nagato felt that Katsuyu treated him much more kindly than before. She no longer seemed to be constantly trying to drive him away.

But there was no way he would give up the Rinnegan. No matter where it came from or who it originally belonged to, once it was in his hands, it was his. It had always been his!

"Are there any risks to the senjutsu of Shikkotsu Forest?" Nagato glanced at the green markings covering his body and chose to change the subject. Just as Katsuyu kept certain things from him, there were things he wouldn't tell her.

"Risks? How could senjutsu possibly be dangerous?" Katsuyu replied, displeased.

Nagato blinked at her. "That can't be right. As far as I know, Mount Myoboku's senjutsu comes with risks. Ryūchi Cave's is the same. Is Shikkotsu Forest's senjutsu different?"

Katsuyu lowered her head and studied the still surface of the Black Water. "Didn't I tell you? Those are just the half-baked practices of the younger generations."

When she saw Nagato still staring at her in confusion, Katsuyu sighed. "Fine. To answer that, we first need to understand what senjutsu is. You should understand by now, shouldn't you? Senjutsu is simply the product of combining Natural Energy with chakra. And Natural Energy is just the energy of nature, filling the sky and earth. Think about it. What risks could that energy pose?"

"But..." Nagato narrowed his eyes.

"I know what you're going to say," Katsuyu interrupted. "All you need to understand is that Natural Energy is the energy of nature and represents the wild force of life. For all living things, Natural Energy is like chakra is for you shinobi. If even that carried risks, life couldn't exist in this world."

After a moment's thought, Katsuyu added, "If Natural Energy has any risks, they come from its wildness. Most creatures can be affected by Natural Energy, but can't control it. And for humans like you, absorbing it without restraint can cause you to temporarily lose your reason, like a beast. But that's because humans are greedy. Animals don't behave that way. You, on the other hand, have already learned to balance senjutsu chakra. As long as you don't do anything reckless, you won't face any risks."

Nagato frowned. What Katsuyu said made sense, but it was completely different from what he knew about senjutsu.

With no time to think it through, he could only chalk it up to a special benefit of Shikkotsu Forest's senjutsu. It wasn't as though it did him any harm.

"In this world, every gain and loss has its cause," Katsuyu warned meaningfully, gazing into the black pool. "It took me a long time living in Natural Energy to understand that. Pursuing power you can't control always comes at a price. Take senjutsu chakra. You gained the power of senjutsu not for any other reason, but because you already had a Sage Body. Even if you did nothing, as long as you gave up the Rinnegan and healed your body, you'd enter Sage Mode in a few years, once your Sage Body matured. But the Rinnegan is different. That power was never yours. The Rinnegan is the risk you should be worried about."

Katsuyu's words seemed to carry a hidden meaning, as if she were hinting at something, but Nagato couldn't bring himself to listen.

Of course he knew his Rinnegan was trouble, but so what? How could he give up a power he already had? Nagato felt a little helpless. He wanted to know what it was about being lectured by an elder that felt so strange. Was Katsuyu his long-lost father? Bah, he wasn't obsessed with finding a dad, and this bug even had a feminine voice.

Tilting his head slightly, he saw that Katsuyu was still waiting for him to respond. Nagato looked around, searching for a new topic. Then he spotted the silvery moonlight on the Black Pool, and his eyes lit up. Remembering what he'd said earlier, he asked Katsuyu, "What's with the moonlight? How can it shine through the dense fog here? In the daytime, even sunlight can't shine directly down here, can it?"