"Perverted Sage, is this ninjutsu hard to learn?"
Naruto trained at set times every day.
Thanks to his Nine-Tails-powered training room, he'd also been practicing all the jutsu he'd learned before.
He'd even mastered Scorch Release.
The amazing thing about it was that he could dry anything out in an instant.
"It's not ninjutsu. It's a power you can only learn with tremendous resilience, willpower, and chakra control."
Jiraiya explained Natural Energy: how to turn it into Senjutsu Chakra, how to sense it, and how to learn and master Sage Mode.
For Naruto, there was little else Jiraiya could teach him besides Sage Mode.
The important thing was that Naruto was a Chunin who could develop the Rasengan into various forms, use Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and wield the Flying Thunder God Technique with ease.
If he wanted to learn an even more unusual power,
then Sage Mode was the obvious choice!
Jiraiya wanted to see the day Naruto stood at the pinnacle of the Ninja World.
Watching Naruto train so hard, he thought to himself,
If Tsunade really agrees to become Hokage, then by the time she's as old as the Third Hokage, Naruto will have made a name for himself just like Minato Namikaze and become Sixth!
"Are you thinking about that big sister we met outside the hot springs again, Perverted Sage?"
Naruto sat cross-legged atop a tree branch, balanced on nothing but a wooden plank.
The howling wind did nothing to move him.
"Idiot! Don't get distracted at a crucial moment like this! Do you think Sage Mode is easy to master?"
"And how dare you think that about my Toad Great Sage of Mount Myoboku! Do you really think I'm that kind of person?"
Jiraiya punched Naruto on the head.
If Naruto was going to get distracted, they might as well take a break.
They'd been training all morning, and it was time for lunch.
"Is Sage Mode really that hard? I can learn any jutsu on the first try."
Naruto rubbed his head.
He formed hand seals and blasted a stream of water out of the river.
Several plump fish landed on the bank.
Whoosh!
He roasted them with Fire Release and sprinkled on the barbecue seasoning he'd brought from home. It was delicious.
"Is this how you waste chakra? What shinobi from any village would use Water Release to catch fish?"
Jiraiya took a bite of the grilled fish, then rubbed Naruto's head.
"Chakra's such an inconvenient thing. The more you use, the more you get!"
Naruto had realized chakra needed to be put in its place.
The more he used, the faster it recovered. As long as it didn't kill him, he'd use it until he dropped!
"By the way, Naruto."
"Did the Third Hokage teach you many jutsu?"
The grilled fish smelled delicious.
Naruto glanced at the river and casually tossed in a pebble.
"No."
"At the Ninja Academy, my best of the Three Basic Techniques was the Clone Technique. But compared to everyone else, I was useless. I could only make a tiny clone that was good for playing with like a toy."
"How many people would care about a Demon Fox?"
"There was someone who pushed me on a swing, someone who bought me a bowl of ramen, someone who came when the rogue ninja attacked, someone who brought me medicine, someone who sparred with me, and someone like you, Perverted Sage, who taught me all kinds of jutsu. That's almost enough people to count on both hands!"
Naruto held up both hands, spreading his fingers.
To most people, every single thing Naruto mentioned was perfectly ordinary.
But Jiraiya knew better.
In Naruto's world, each one of those people was rare enough to count on one hand!
What had this child been through?
Jiraiya had spent years traveling the world in search of the Child of Prophecy, and after saving countless people, he had finally come to offer Naruto a hand.
"What an idiot."
"Very few people can make it through what you did and grow strong like you have! Following the shinobi way in pursuit of the light is the hardest path of all! We're already lurking in the darkness."
Jiraiya thought it was incredible that Naruto had managed to leave behind such a dark childhood.
Anyone else would have succumbed to Blackening.
Especially in the Ninja World—there were examples everywhere.
"Why would I leave it behind?"
Naruto swallowed his grilled fish, then took another one and offered it to Kurama in the Sealing Space.
"I won't eat human food! I'm made of chakra!"
Kurama couldn't be bothered with the idiot Naruto.
"Is that so? What a shame, Kurama."
Naruto took it back and continued eating.
Jiraiya and Kurama were both at a loss for words.
Huh?
Something wasn't right!
Jiraiya and Kurama both froze in surprise.
The chakra within Naruto was changing!
"Naruto, what did you mean by that just now?"
Jiraiya asked curiously.
He reached out to sense the changes in Naruto's chakra.
"I said there's no need to leave anything behind. Darkness or no darkness, I'll trample it underfoot and make it my strength!"
"Become the strongest, surpass everything, then reach the pinnacle and see what fun the world still has to offer. That's my ninja way!"
As Naruto spoke,
the dark aura around him surged.
At the same time,
he successfully transformed Natural Energy into Senjutsu Chakra for the first time.
He hadn't accumulated much Senjutsu Chakra from the Natural Energy he'd absorbed yet.
But the telltale markings of Sage Mode had already appeared at the corners of his eyes!
Orange eye shadow!
Also known as the Sage Face.
"What kind of absurd talent is this?!"
Jiraiya had never seen a monster learn Sage Mode in a single morning.
Even if Naruto had only transformed enough Senjutsu Chakra to maintain it for one minute—or to make a single Rasengan—
it was still Sage Mode!
And aside from the Sage Face, Naruto showed no signs of turning into a toad. It was Perfect Sage Mode!
A genius among geniuses!
Damn you, Konoha!
Jiraiya was speechless.
If Konoha had raised Naruto properly, he might have been even more formidable than Itachi. He could've become an Anbu squad captain by the age of eleven!
What Jiraiya didn't know was that Naruto had brought this incredible talent with him from another world.
"You learned this too fast! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"I thought I'd need to teach you to quiet your mind and focus before taking you to Mount Myoboku for more training. The Natural Energy there is much richer."
"I didn't expect you to sit on a tree for a while, smear on some Toad Oil, and master it!"
"Konoha wasted a genius's time for at least ten years. What have they been doing all this time?"
Jiraiya was truly at a loss when it came to Konoha.
So many people wanted to protect the village's peace, yet there were so many idiots who could destroy its strong and gifted.
But then again,
Jiraiya remembered how Konoha White Fang had been hounded to death by rumors, with no one in the village speaking up for him.
It was as if someone had been deliberately fanning the flames.
The Uchiha had been wiped out in a single night.
Was Itachi some kind of flash?
Could he kill everyone in one second? The Uchiha lived on the outskirts of the village, not on the moon!
Not a single person came to help, and they all died?
It was as if they'd been left to fend for themselves.
Konoha was so dark.
They said Root drew nourishment for the great tree.
In Jiraiya's eyes, Konoha was a tree on the verge of withering.
Its roots were monopolizing the water supply, making sure the tree that was Konoha never went thirsty.
Naruto saw Jiraiya staring off into space, lost in thought.
"Is it really that hard?"
"I learned it as soon as I tried. Though the Natural Energy here does feel a little scarce."
Naruto could feel it, too.
An ordinary person would have to go to Mount Myoboku to learn it.
Otherwise, even with a Toad Sage's help and Toad Oil applied, sensing Natural Energy was one thing—gathering it was much harder.
The plentiful Natural Energy on Mount Myoboku made the process far more effective.
Still,
Naruto hadn't expected his talent to be this ridiculous, either.
He'd mastered Sage Mode even faster in such poor conditions.
"I'll take you to Mount Myoboku someday. You'll find a surprise there."
Jiraiya thought,
If Naruto trained at Mount Myoboku, he might learn it in an hour!
He'd absolutely shock the Toad Sage.
But mastering it somewhere outside Mount Myoboku, where Natural Energy is so scarce, is impressive enough to take him there and amaze them!
"Perverted Sage."
"I can't shake the feeling that Sage Mode isn't a complete form of power."
Naruto felt like this thing was a half-finished product.
"How could that be? This is the power that the legendary Sage of Six Paths mastered under the Great Toad Sage."
Jiraiya slapped Naruto on the back.
"Come on, let's go. Don't overthink it. The scarce Natural Energy must be giving you that impression. You'll understand once I take you to Mount Myoboku."
Really?
"Maybe I can improve it."
Naruto followed him.
The blazing sun couldn't diminish Naruto's enjoyment of studying jutsu.
He had to make Sage Mode even stronger!