The Essence of Natural Energy

White Zetsu, standing to the side, watched this strange scene with eyes full of curiosity and couldn't help but ask Nagato, "Leader? What's going on?"

Due to the year-round rainfall and excessive humidity in the air, wealthy families in the Land of Rain never bought too much food at once to ensure it stayed fresh.

Konan and Nagato usually operated the same way, so he hadn't expected them to suddenly purchase three months' worth of rations at once. Was the Akatsuki planning some kind of event?

Clearly, this guy, whose entire body was as white as toothpaste, was overthinking things.

"It's nothing. Have you gotten the results for the intelligence I asked you to investigate?" Nagato withdrew his gaze from the Amegakure ninja and asked White Zetsu.

"Orochimaru's ring, along with his hand, has been found by my clone and is on its way back," White Zetsu replied. "The supplies the daimyo of the Land of Fire intended to send to Konoha are ready. They are expected to set off in two days; everything is under control. As for the ninja named Anko you are looking for, she is currently not in Konoha, and my clone is continuing the search."

"What about Hidan?"

"Hidan has been found. He is still alive, but his condition... is a bit poor."

When he said this, White Zetsu couldn't help but reveal a gloating smile, causing Nagato to glance at him sideways. He understood that Hidan's current state was certainly not just "a bit poor"—it was likely miserable beyond belief. One only had to look at the expression on this dog-like creature before him to know; look at how happy he was...

Nagato tilted his head, signaling with his eyes for White Zetsu to continue his report.

White Zetsu handed him a scroll directly: "This is the internal information from the major nations regarding the upcoming Five Kage Summit, collected from the Five Great Nations."

It was a very ordinary intelligence scroll, not even protected by any sealing jutsu.

Nagato took the scroll and opened it immediately, scanning the dense content inside. He did not spare his praise: "You did well."

Only a day had passed, and White Zetsu had already collected almost all the intelligence. This ability to gather information was truly impeccable.

Nagato was very satisfied with this.

"Next, we just need to wait for Kisame and Sasuke to return here, and then we can head to the Land of Iron to handle the issue of the Five Kage Summit." Nagato looked at the rain curtain outside the window, appearing quite relaxed.

White Zetsu's gaze remained fixed on the expression on Nagato's face, showing no interest in the rain of the Land of Rain.

"Leader, do you need information on Taka?" it asked.

"Go ahead."

Although Nagato already knew about the situation with Taka, he felt that hearing more about it wouldn't hurt.

At this moment, Konan also walked over, seemingly noticing the content of the conversation between Zetsu and Nagato.

White Zetsu began to tell Nagato everything about every member of Taka, one by one.

Their abilities, physical characteristics, personalities, combat habits, weaknesses, reasons for following Sasuke, and so on.

Of course, this also included their names: Hozuki Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin Uzumaki.

Nagato compared the information provided by White Zetsu with the memories in his brain and found no conflicts. In fact, it was even more detailed, which meant that at least on this point, White Zetsu was not planning to play any tricks on him.

"Do these people reach the standard of official Akatsuki members?" After listening to White Zetsu's report quietly alongside Nagato, Konan asked.

White Zetsu looked at Konan, then shifted his gaze back to Nagato.

Nagato shook his head decisively. Even if the Akatsuki organization was short on people, it wouldn't drag these half-baked individuals in just to embarrass itself.

Karin was completely unqualified; she relied entirely on shouting when fighting. Suigetsu was too green; he couldn't even carry the Kubikiribōchō properly. As for Jugo, if he could control the Natural Energy within his body, he might be able to become stronger.

Natural Energy...

Thinking of this, Nagato was slightly stunned. He blinked, suppressing the strange emotions rising within him.

Originally, he had intended to teach Jugo how to control the Natural Energy in his body after recruiting him. However, thinking about the abilities and weaknesses Jugo displayed when using Natural Energy, Nagato suddenly felt enlightened.

"So that's how it is," he thought.

"No wonder Sage Katsuyu said that Natural Energy itself carries no risks. Just look at Jugo; he is the most primitive form of Sage Transformation, having never studied at the Three Great Sage Regions. Even if he can't fully control the Natural Energy in his body, he only loses his sanity after absorbing too much. Where is the danger of turning into a toad or a snake, as taught by the Sage Arts of Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave?"

Previously, he had felt that being able to learn the Sage Arts of Shikkotsu Forest was a stroke of luck, but now it seemed that was not the case at all.

Just like the matter of the Sage of Six Paths, if one shifted their perspective and viewed the problem from Jugo's standpoint, they would find that the facts they saw were completely different. Perhaps someone like Jugo, who was born with the ability to absorb Natural Energy, simply couldn't understand why the Sage Arts of Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave were so bizarre.

"Whose problem is this, really?" In that instant, Nagato thought a lot. "According to Sage Katsuyu, Natural Energy is just the energy of nature itself. No matter which world it is, there is only one nature. It's impossible to have a theory as strange as Mount Myoboku having one nature and Ryūchi Cave having another. Yes, nature is a single entity, and Natural Energy should be the same everywhere. Otherwise, how could Naruto, who learned Sage Arts at Mount Myoboku, absorb Natural Energy from the outside world? This point has already proven that the Natural Energy of Mount Myoboku is no different from the outside."

"But if it's the same Natural Energy, why does it only make Jugo go mad, while it carries the risk of turning Jiraiya and Naruto into toads? Not only that, but after this Natural Energy is absorbed into Naruto's body, it not only poses a risk to himself but even becomes a risk to others. In other words, the Natural Energy that would only make Jugo go mad, once absorbed by Naruto and converted into Senjutsu Chakra, becomes a terrifying energy capable of turning Jugo into a toad statue. This is too bizarre, isn't it?"

Thinking of this, Nagato couldn't help but scratch his head, signaling Zetsu and Konan not to mind him, as he needed to think about some things on his own.

Right now, he really wanted to know: if Naruto and Kabuto both entered Sage Mode, and then their respective Senjutsu Chakra were mixed together, and both of them lost control of their Senjutsu Chakra simultaneously, what would they turn into? A stone-frog-snake monster?

Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave—these two places really knew how to play games.

The question now was, did these two Sage Regions teach others to use Natural Energy in this way out of malicious intent, or was it a matter of necessity?

In the words of Sage Katsuyu, the methods of Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave were merely half-baked.

This statement had no real substance; no one could judge from this sentence whether Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave had subjective malice.

Because those who learned Sage Arts in these two places were, in fact, half-baked.

One only needed to look at how long it took Jiraiya to learn Sage Mode to know. It was said to be ten years? Even after mastering it, he was still a half-baked user, barely able to enter Sage Mode on his own. Naruto learned it in half a month and was beaten black and blue by Fukasaku; compared to Jiraiya, he was already doing quite well. But one only had to look at his performance while learning Sage Arts to know—he started losing control the moment he came into contact with Natural Energy. Honestly, his performance might not even be as good as Jugo's. And there was no need to even mention Kabuto; after using Sage Mode, he became neither human nor ghost—hardly a sage. More like a freak.

Look at the truly powerful individuals; what was their performance when learning Sage Arts? Madara Uchiha mastered Sage Arts in just five seconds. Hashirama didn't even need to learn it; he was a natural.

This was what true learning of Sage Arts looked like. If you can learn it, you can; if you can't, you can't. Those who aren't qualified to learn it but insist on doing so will naturally end up half-baked. He, Nagato, didn't have the same dominance as Madara; it took him several hours to learn Sage Arts, which could only be considered barely enough not to disgrace his Sage Body.

From this perspective, it was truly impossible to judge whether the actions of Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave were well-intentioned. After all, those who went to the Sage Regions to practice were all so incompetent. Perhaps the Sage Arts that Jiraiya and Naruto learned were specifically developed by Mount Myoboku for the weaklings.

By comparison, Sage Katsuyu's approach was not half-baked, but almost everyone who went to learn Sage Arts there died, leaving only Nagato to remain alive and kicking.