Sage

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke bluntly. "Danzo, I'm not discussing this with you. I'm ordering you."

"Don't forget, I'm the Hokage!"

Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi call himself the Hokage, Shimura Danzo felt a deep sense of grievance.

I had a chance once, too. I'd made up my mind back then, too. If I hadn't been a moment too late... I should have been the one sitting in the Hokage's seat!

Of course, he could only think those things. If he dared say them aloud, Hiruzen Sarutobi would show no regard for their friendship.

Forget running for Hokage in the future. He might well end up locked away in some dark little room and put under arrest.

"Hiruzen, you..." Danzo had just started to speak when Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted him.

"Danzo, I'm the Hokage!"

Shimura Danzo was absolutely seething!

It was bad enough that they wouldn't let him become Hokage. Now they wouldn't even let him finish speaking!

Unwilling to say another word to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzo left the Hokage Building.

He waved, and a Root shinobi appeared beside him.

Shimura Danzo glanced up at the Hokage Office atop the Hokage Building and said, "Cancel the mission. Have everyone pull back."

"Yes!" The Root shinobi bowed his head, then disappeared into a streak of shadow.

Shimura Danzo turned to look at the Senju Clan Grounds once more, then headed silently toward Root.

"Big Sister Katsuyu, you're so soft here!" Senju Genma said excitedly as he rubbed the giant slug beneath him.

"Master Genma, I'm glad you like it," Katsuyu's soft voice came from beneath Senju Genma.

"It's warm and smooth. This feels so good!" Senju Genma rolled over comfortably on Katsuyu's body.

Tsunade, who had been beside the training ground, leaped onto Katsuyu's body, which stood dozens of meters tall, and knocked Genma on the head.

"Genma, show Katsuyu some respect."

Unlike the snakes of Ryūchi Cave and the Toads of Mount Myoboku, all the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest were essentially clones of the Slug Sage, Katsuyu.

Katsuyu called her summoners "Master" simply because of her personality.

Tsunade actually had a great deal of respect for Katsuyu.

Katsuyu's voice came through urgently. "Lady Tsunade, please don't bully Master Genma."

Tsunade stared, dumbfounded. She couldn't understand how Senju Genma had become so close to Katsuyu the very first time he summoned her.

"Katsuyu, have you really betrayed me?"

Katsuyu separated a palm-sized slug from her body. It crawled onto the top of Senju Genma's head, intending to heal him.

Cute Senju Genma together with cute Katsuyu was more than the sum of their parts. Tsunade felt herself starting to melt.

"No, Lady Tsunade. Master Genma's body just feels so comfortable to me. I like it very much!"

Senju Genma pressed his face against Katsuyu and rubbed it against her. "Big Sister Katsuyu's body feels great, too!"

Tsunade clutched her heart.

She couldn't believe that the Genma she had painstakingly raised from childhood had been lured away so easily by a slug.

She couldn't accept a world like this.

Senju Genma stood up and took Tsunade's hand.

"Big Sister Tsunade, come try it, too! It really feels good."

Tsunade let Senju Genma pull her down, then lay on Katsuyu, still only half convinced.

"It really is comfortable." Tsunade hugged Genma tightly and nodded.

After playing on the slug for a while, Tsunade returned to the Clan Head Residence, while Genma continued training at the training ground.

"Big Sister Katsuyu, when are we going to Shikkotsu Forest to learn Sage Mode?" Senju Genma asked.

"Hmm... You don't need to go," Katsuyu replied.

"What?! Why? Didn't we agree?"

Sage Mode was important. Senjutsu was effective against the Otsutsuki Clan, too, and would be an important means of fighting in the future.

Senju Genma really wanted to learn it, so the thought of not being able to go to Shikkotsu Forest made him anxious.

Katsuyu bent down and gently stroked Senju Genma's little head with a tentacle.

"Master Genma, there's no need to worry. It's not that I won't let you go. You simply don't need to."

"Your body is very special. You can use Natural Energy freely. You don't need to go to Shikkotsu Forest. You only need to know how to enter Sage Mode."

After hearing Katsuyu's explanation, Senju Genma breathed a sigh of relief.

"Big Sister Katsuyu, you scared me to death! Next time, don't leave me hanging like that!"

"I understand, Master Genma!"

Senju Genma's body attracted Natural Energy far too strongly. Katsuyu's body was filled with it.

After discovering this, Katsuyu grew even fonder of Genma.

Senju Genma was very clever. After spending only a short time with Katsuyu, he already knew what she liked, so he simply lay down and hugged her.

"Big Sister Katsuyu, can you teach me how to practice Sage Mode now?"

Katsuyu was delighted, so she agreed to teach Genma Sage Mode.

She split off a small clone, which crawled onto Senju Genma's shoulder and explained how to enter Sage Mode.

Senju Genma listened to Katsuyu's instruction like a devout believer.

At Mount Myoboku, learning Senjutsu required using Toad Oil to master the knack of absorbing Natural Energy. Once you got the hang of it, you no longer needed to use anything. If you failed, you turned into a Toad statue.

At Ryūchi Cave, the White Snake Sage used her own fangs to inject Natural Energy into practitioners, forcing their bodies to adapt to it. If a practitioner couldn't withstand the energy and turned into a snake, the White Snake Sage would eat them.

By comparison, learning Senjutsu at Shikkotsu Forest was much gentler. There was no turning to stone or getting eaten if you failed, but it was also much more difficult. There were no shortcuts; you had to rely on yourself.

The Sage Modes of the Three Great Sage Lands weren't stronger or weaker than one another. They simply had different outward appearances.

Fortunately, Genma's constitution was special, so absorbing Natural Energy wasn't difficult for him.

After Katsuyu explained how to practice Sage Mode, Genma needed less than a day to refine Senjutsu Chakra and enter Sage Mode. It took him longer than the Sage of Six Paths, but since Genma hadn't gone to one of the Sage Lands, a day was still within what he could accept.

After entering Sage Mode, no strange markings appeared on Senju Genma's face, but he had indeed gained Senjutsu Chakra.

At that moment, Senju Genma also understood the truth behind the Six Paths Power the Sage of Six Paths had given Naruto and Sasuke.

The Sage of Six Paths had mastered Sage Mode, but because of his special constitution, which let him use Natural Energy freely, Sage Mode had become his normal state.

He no longer needed to enter so-called Sage Mode, because he had become a true sage.

After Naruto obtained Six Paths Power, he entered Six Paths Sage Mode with some of the chakra from the Nine Tailed Beasts. Sasuke, after obtaining Six Paths Power, didn't enter Sage Mode, yet he could use Senjutsu attacks. Both of their fighting strengths increased tremendously.

Six Paths Power was the power of a sage.

Senju Genma was in the same situation now. He had become a true sage, in a state even more complete than Senju Hashirama's, who could enter Sage Mode whenever he wished.

It was only the limitations of his chakra and physical stamina that kept his fighting strength lower.

But compared to before, his strength had already undergone a qualitative transformation.

If his former strength had been comparable to a Jonin's, then with his chakra reserves unchanged, the power of his ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and genjutsu had now increased tremendously. His strength had reached at least the level of an Elite Jonin.

And Senju Genma hadn't been in this world for long. The growth of his Sage Body had only just begun, and his rate of growth was still nowhere near its peak.

Six Paths: Yang Power and Six Paths: Yin Power were the sealing formula for Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei. They had no other use and were two different powers from Six Paths Power.