Cultivation Ends

"Alright, alright, let me interrupt you two for a moment. Pervy Sage, from what you just said, I should have met the requirements and mastered it completely!"

"Isn't it time you honored your promise? Hurry up and hand over the secret technique!"

Seeing Mirai speak with such a bandit-like tone, Jiraiya immediately choked up.

When he had said it back then, hadn't it just been to lure this kid in?

Who would have thought this kid would be such a freak? He had truly failed to catch the chicken and lost the rice besides.

"A secret technique? What secret technique?" Fukasaku Sage asked with a puzzled expression upon hearing those words.

Then, seeming to recall something, he stared wide-eyed at Jiraiya. "You mean..."

Jiraiya could only nod with a bitter expression.

Afterward, to fulfill his promise, Jiraiya pulled Fukasaku Sage aside.

The two of them discussed things heatedly, occasionally even breaking into direct arguments.

In the end, in order to get Fukasaku Sage to agree, Jiraiya even said, "I suspect he may be the Child of Prophecy mentioned in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy."

Hearing Jiraiya say that, Fukasaku Sage did not object further.

Fukasaku Sage looked at Mirai, then at Jiraiya, and fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he finally agreed to Jiraiya's decision.

"Hey, kid, your name is Mirai, right? Since Jiraiya has said so, I'll make an exception and take you back to Mount Myoboku to train in Sage Techniques!"

"I'll return to Mount Myoboku first. Then I'll use the Reverse Summoning Technique to bring you there as well!"

Upon hearing Fukasaku Sage mention Sage Techniques, Naruto immediately started shouting.

"I want to learn Sage Techniques too! I want to learn them too!"

With a bang, Jiraiya smacked Naruto on the head.

Another huge bump immediately rose up.

"Pervy Sage, what are you doing?!" Mirai glared at Jiraiya angrily.

"What are you yelling for? You'll only be qualified to learn Sage Techniques once you can summon Fukasaku Sage!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fukasaku Sage vanished in a puff of smoke with a bang.

Right afterward, Mirai also disappeared with a bang.

After a dizzying whirl, Mirai arrived at the kingdom of toads—Mount Myoboku!

The moment he arrived at Mount Myoboku, Mirai felt a sense of tranquility.

It was a peace that came from deep within, calming even his heart.

At that moment, Fukasaku Sage began showing Mirai around Mount Myoboku, introducing the place as they toured it.

Before long, it was mealtime.

Fukasaku Sage pulled Mirai along and invited him to eat at his home.

But Mirai, who had read the original work, knew full well that he absolutely could not eat this meal.

They were all toads—what else could toad food possibly be?

Despite Mirai's desperate refusal, he was still dragged to the dining table.

Shima Sage carried plate after plate of colorful insect dishes and set them on the table.

"Try some. The old lady's cooking is excellent!" Fukasaku Sage praised his wife's cooking.

Looking at the table full of colorful bugs, Mirai's scalp went numb.

Mirai lifted his chopsticks, raised and lowered them three times, yet still could not bring himself to pick up a bug.

In the end, he simply put the chopsticks back down.

Seeing Shima Sage's expression suddenly turn unpleasant, Mirai abruptly said in a serious tone, "Two Sages, this is my first time at Mount Myoboku, and I'll need to rely on your care from now on. Today, I've decided to cook something delicious from outside for you two."

Hearing Mirai say that, the two of them were immediately stunned.

Before they could refuse, Mirai had already taken several scrolls from his ninja pouch and opened them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

For a moment, white smoke billowed everywhere as a pile of items was summoned from the scrolls.

There were all kinds of cooking utensils and seasonings, along with a large amount of game and seafood.

He had prepared these during his last camping trip with a few girls, and they had not finished eating them.

Mirai had taken the opportunity to seal them away in summoning scrolls.

Those summoning scrolls really were incredible—their preservation abilities were even better than a refrigerator's.

After a flurry of clattering and rummaging, Mirai began preparing his feast.

Yet who knew these toads would have such enormous appetites? In no time at all, they wiped out a small portion of Mirai's supplies.

Mirai's face turned green.

Facing the impending food crisis, Mirai hurriedly asked Fukasaku Sage to begin teaching him senjutsu as soon as he finished eating.

Fukasaku Sage looked at Mirai approvingly and let out a satisfied burp.

He then led Mirai to a small square filled with stone statues.

Looking at those stone statues, Mirai knew they were people who had failed to cultivate Sage Mode.

Beside the statues was a small waterfall of toad oil.

It was used to accelerate a practitioner's perception of natural energy.

However, the toad oil was a shit-yellow color and greasy as hell, making Mirai's scalp tingle again just from looking at it.

Afterward, Fukasaku Sage solemnly began explaining senjutsu and natural energy to Mirai.

Finally, he even demonstrated the power of so-called natural energy for him.

Although Mirai had seen it before when reading about it, watching it firsthand was far more exhilarating.

Once everything had been explained, Fukasaku Sage told Mirai to apply the toad oil and begin sensing natural energy.

But looking at the shit-yellow toad oil, Mirai hesitated again and again, unable to bring himself to touch it.

In the end, Fukasaku Sage could no longer stand watching and directly shoved Mirai down.

The moment the toad oil touched his hand, Mirai could no longer spare attention for anything else.

Because in that instant, a violent force began rampaging through his body.

That was natural energy!

"Holy shit!"

Mirai cried out in shock, clearly stunned by the sudden influx of energy.

"The power inside your body is natural energy. Hurry up and control it!"

Fukasaku Sage immediately recognized Mirai's condition and reminded him.

Then, he grabbed a huge black staff and stood ready.

This black staff was specially made to help with Sage Mode training. Without it, the number of statues here would probably have multiplied several times over.

Following Fukasaku Sage's guidance, Mirai began trying his best to control the force inside his body.

Just as Mirai was prepared for a long, grueling battle, he suddenly realized something.

After entering Mirai's body, the natural energy was initially somewhat incompatible, but soon it directly began harmonizing with his chakra.

The two energies were like family, coexisting peacefully.

"What's going on? I thought this would be hard. That's it?"

Mirai suddenly felt inexplicably awkward.

A moment later, a touch of golden eyeshadow appeared around Mirai's eyes.

Fukasaku Sage was now completely dumbfounded.

This was the initial manifestation of perfect Sage Mode. In over a hundred years of teaching Sage Mode, he had never seen such a genius.

Not to mention anyone else—even Jiraiya had needed to take more than two hundred hits before learning it.

Yet Mirai had entered Sage Mode on his very first attempt.

Could it be that he was born with the aptitude of a sage?

Fukasaku Sage began to doubt himself, while feeling even more astonished by Mirai's monstrous talent.