At eight decimal places, he managed to keep the Senjutsu Chakra stable for about half an hour.
By this point, Kimura Takuya's control couldn't improve any further.
But that was fine.
Because he could now begin training in Sage Mode.
As long as he replaced all the chakra in his body with Senjutsu Chakra within half an hour, he could enter Sage Mode.
How long he could fight depended on how quickly he could replace it.
If he could finish the replacement in one minute, he could fight for 29 minutes.
Of course, that was clearly impossible.
After a whole night of practice, Kimura Takuya could complete the replacement in 29 minutes.
In other words, he could maintain Sage Mode for one minute!
Don't think that's pathetic. He'd only been working at it for one night.
Early the next morning, Kimura Takuya eagerly tested it out in the woods.
"Sage Mode, activate!"
Kimura Takuya's body visibly transformed into energy. This was different from the blue chakra that appeared when he opened the Eight Gates.
Instead, it was the color of nature: a tender green, the color of life.
That was the natural color of Senjutsu Chakra.
"Sage Art: Long-range Spiral Cannon!"
Without wasting any time, Kimura Takuya fired the Long-range Spiral Cannon as soon as he entered Sage Mode.
A tender-green spiral energy projectile shot out at incredible speed.
It struck a large tree in the distance.
"Boom!"
The force of the massive explosion even reached the spot where Kimura Takuya had been standing.
He instantly retreated dozens of meters. The ground where he'd stood had been blasted away to a depth of half a meter.
The Spiral Cannon's effective damage radius was probably a full 50 meters.
That was nearly half a soccer field!
And that was just the effective damage radius, not the full blast radius.
The actual explosion had reached much farther.
"Damn, did I just fire a Tailed Beast Bomb? This is way too ridiculous!"
Kimura Takuya deactivated Sage Mode and stared at the damage he'd caused, swearing excitedly.
This was what Sage Mode was really like! He'd thought it would only make ninjutsu several times stronger, but it had boosted it by dozens of times or more!
It was absurd!
If he increased his chakra output a little more and used an Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan as the projectile, its destructive power would rival a Tailed Beast Bomb, and might even surpass one.
"Good thing I didn't do this near the village. The town's still far away. I'll roughly fix the terrain first. The tree in the middle's already been blown to smithereens, so all that's missing is a patch of forest. No big deal."
Kimura Takuya immediately got to work, using several Earth Release techniques to repair the ground. There was nothing he could do about the other plants and trees.
Once he was done, he took off.
The explosion wouldn't affect the village, but the surrounding area was another matter.
An Anbu member pursuing Orochimaru couldn't resist stopping by the Forest of Death to sneak a bite of the three-color dango.
Not long after Kimura Takuya left, a purple-haired woman in a khaki trench coat arrived.
"That explosion just now came from here. Strange, I can't sense anyone else. And there's no sign of an explosion on the ground, so where did this huge clearing come from?"
After looking around, Mitaraishi Anko spotted clues in the trees near the clearing.
Every tree trunk around it showed signs of an explosion, but there was nothing in the middle of the clearing.
"Was it covered up?"
She took out a kunai and dug into the ground beneath her feet.
She found tiny wood chips, then dug in a few more places.
That was when she finally confirmed that an explosion had indeed taken place here—and that it had created this clearing!
Every tree that had originally stood there had been blasted to dust!
What kind of explosive force was that?
Could it have been Orochimaru?
No, that wasn't his style of ninjutsu.
Then who was it?
Had they deliberately used Earth Release to cover up the explosion? Whoever it was must be hiding somewhere in Konoha, right?
But if this person had been hiding so well, why set off such a massive explosion?
Could they have been trying to cover something up?
Anko immediately went to the Hokage Building to report what had happened to Tsunade.
Inside the Hokage Building.
Tsunade had only just arrived at her office that day.
As soon as she entered, she saw Anko waiting for her.
"Anko, did you find anything?"
"Yes, Lord Hokage.
"I found traces of a large-scale explosion in the Forest of Death. I sensed it this morning. When I reached the site, I didn't find anyone else.
"I only found traces of an explosion that had been covered up with Earth Release. The blast radius was over 50 meters, and the explosion was incredibly powerful.
"I suspect there may be an unknown powerful shinobi hiding in Konoha. Their purpose is unknown."
"I see! I understand. I'll handle this. Keep searching the village with your team, and make sure you find Orochimaru.
"That man has never been one to give up until he gets what he wants. He failed to get the Sharingan this time, so he'll definitely sneak into the village again.
"Thanks for all your hard work."
"Yes!"
Anko bowed and left.
Tsunade let out a long sigh.
She'd only been in office for a little over half a month, and so many things had already happened one after another.
First came Danzo's scandal and the disbandment of Root.
Then Orochimaru returned to steal the Sharingan.
Now there was another mysterious powerful shinobi hiding in Konoha, with an unknown motive.
Why had all these things fallen to her?
No!
She needed someone to take the blame.
Shizune?
Huh? Where had Shizune gone? Why hadn't she come home last night? Had she found a boyfriend?
Tsunade murmured to herself, smiling.
"That's right. Shizune's old enough to get married."
"Huh? Who's getting married, Lady Tsunade?"
Shizune's voice suddenly came from behind a pile of documents in the corner. She poked her head out and crawled free of the papers.
She stretched as she asked Tsunade who was getting married.
Tsunade jumped at the sight of her.
"Whoa! Shizune, did you sleep here last night?"
"Yaaawn... Well, I was dealing with paperwork until late yesterday and got a little sleepy, so I lay down on the pile of papers for a bit. It was so comfortable that I fell asleep."
Shizune rubbed her eyes, yawned, and turned to look at the documents behind her.
"Huh? They're all mixed up. Oh no, now I have to organize them all over again!"
"Honestly, you. I thought you'd finally grown up and were going to find a boyfriend. But you're still the same as ever. I can't imagine how you'd manage without me."
Tsunade shook her head helplessly and started sorting the papers with Shizune.
But Shizune, who was always so patient around Tsunade, finally snapped.
"What? Lady Tsunade, I'm the one who takes care of you, aren't I? You're the one who couldn't get by without me! And now you're suddenly talking about me getting married. That's so unfair!"
"Uh, haha. Women have to get married sometime. What girl doesn't dream about romance? I'm speaking from experience. You're at the right age to marry, too. Isn't there anyone you like? You've spent so long wandering from place to place. Maybe the men in those little towns weren't your type, but what about the nice young men in Konoha?"
Tsunade wrapped her arms around the indignant Shizune and patted her soothingly.
As Shizune calmed down, images of all the men she'd met flashed through her mind. Apart from the men she and Tsunade had seen in casinos—the sleazy ones who'd ogled Lady Tsunade—there was only Kimura Takuya.
That child had rested his head on her thigh. While treating him, she'd looked at his sickly-looking younger brother's face and blushed a little.
And when she'd carried him back, she hadn't felt tired at all.
Thinking of that, Shizune blushed again.
She shook her head.
"No, no. The age gap's too big!"
"Oh? So there is someone? Is the age gap really that big? Tell me all about it, Shizune. I'm not gossiping, honestly. I'm just concerned about you."
Before you continue