The Ageless Sage

The Ageless Sage

The feeling of being subjected to Reverse Summoning was strange.

If he had to put it into words, it was as though his consciousness and body twisted into a single rope in that instant. In a daze, he vanished from the real world and reappeared somewhere else, his body returning to normal.

After passing through that infinitesimal span of time, Hyuga Yuto and Tsunade appeared in a strange place.

It was a vast, boundless... forest.

It was not particularly eerie, but the trees were simply too enormous. Each had a diameter of at least twenty meters, their luxuriant branches and leaves completely blocking out the sky. The ground was an endless swamp, thick with moisture.

Normally, a gigantic forest and swamp of this scale should have nurtured countless animals.

Yet even after observing carefully for a long time, Hyuga Yuto saw no life besides the trees—not even insects, supposedly the most resilient of living creatures.

No other life could dwell on this land.

This was Wet Bone Forest, where the Sage resided.

"Stop looking. Aside from the two of us, only the Katsuyu Sage is here." Tsunade let out a breath. Even as a Senju, she did not much like this silent wasteland of life.

"Come a few more times and you'll get used to it. But remember, don't stay here too long. There aren't even microorganisms in Wet Bone Forest. If humans live here for too long, their bodies will develop serious problems... You've been studying medical ninjutsu with me for more than half a year now. You should understand that."

Hyuga Yuto blinked and asked curiously, "I thought there would be countless Katsuyu here..."

"How could there be?" The blonde woman rubbed her student's head and realized he had grown a little taller again.

"There is only one summoning beast Katsuyu in this world. All those Katsuyu, large and small, split off from the Katsuyu Sage."

"...Huh? But, Teacher, don't they seem to have minds of their own?"

"Katsuyu's division includes its body, chakra, vitality, thoughts, memories, and consciousness. It's somewhat like the Shadow Clone Technique. When summoned, the main body divides itself according to the amount of chakra released by the caster."

"Only when they are completely merged together are they the Sage."

"As for those that split off, you can think of them as Katsuyu's offspring in a sense. Of course, once the summoning ends, they still have to return to the main body."

The only one in the world. Hyuga Yuto thought of those words. This way of existing differed from both the White Snake Sage of Dragon Cave and the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku.

The branch family youth seemed to think of something and asked uncertainly, "So Explosive Blade: Splash... was reforged here?"

"Mm." Tsunade began leading her student forward.

"That piece of silk had very strange properties. It could conduct chakra while also withstanding extremely intense impacts. I could only ask the Katsuyu Sage for help."

Hyuga Yuto followed behind Tsunade, deep in thought.

Even when he had read the manga in his previous life, the three great sage regions of the ninja world had been mysterious places shrouded in clouds and mist. Mount Myoboku, which appeared most frequently, could be said to have influenced the entire main storyline.

From the Toad Sage revealing the truth about the Divine Tree to the Otsutsuki brothers a thousand years ago, to telling Jiraiya of the prophecy in his dreams and teaching him Sage Jutsu decades ago, that toad that had lived for who knew how long had watched over the ninja world from the depths of Mount Myoboku, nudging fate at its most crucial moments.

The "White Snake" and "Katsuyu," who stood alongside the Toad Sage, had not received much attention in the original work. But after crossing into the real world of Naruto, Hyuga Yuto had no choice but to consider what these two Sages thought.

After all, what he intended to do in the future would inevitably alter the predetermined fate of the Naruto world.

Tsunade led Hyuga Yuto onward for a long time before they finally arrived at a clearing. Great trees and swamps surrounded them on all sides, yet this spot alone was an abrupt patch of flat ground.

At its center stood a stone platform, upon which lay a long black bandage. There was nothing else.

—There was no sign of the Katsuyu Sage.

Yet in the next moment, both the swamp and the sea of trees trembled. A gentle female voice came from beneath the earth.

"Little Tsunade."

Hyuga Yuto realized that the Katsuyu Sage dwelled deep underground in Wet Bone Forest. The natural energy and chakra seeping from its body were so abundant that they had created this strange Wet Bone Forest.

But it was precisely because the entire Wet Bone Forest was affected by the Katsuyu Sage that no life besides trees could exist here.

Still, Katsuyu Sage, why didn't you come out? Were you afraid that your majestic Sage body, vast as mountains and seas, would bring devastation to all living things... or could you not come out at all? A deeply disrespectful thought arose in Hyuga Yuto's heart, but he showed none of it. He knelt on one knee alongside his teacher and listened to the Sage's instruction.

"Little Tsunade, the thing you asked me to make is on the stone platform."

"Thank you, Katsuyu Sage." The blonde woman replied sweetly. She had often visited Wet Bone Forest since her girlhood, and the Katsuyu Sage was like an elder to her.

"Little Tsunade... Is the youth beside you the one who wrote his name on the summoning blood contract last time?"

"Yes, Katsuyu Sage. Yuto..."

"Hyuga Yuto greets the Sage!" The branch family youth spoke at just the right moment. His manner was respectful, without the slightest flaw to pick at.

However, the ageless Katsuyu fell silent for a long time.

Just as Hyuga Yuto and Tsunade began to wonder whether the Katsuyu Sage had fallen asleep, the gentle female voice rumbled from underground once more.

"Hyuga Yuto... Your eyes seem to reflect a future beyond my imagination."

The branch family youth's heart nearly skipped a beat. He almost jumped up and used Reverse Summoning to send himself back to the real world.

But in the end, he held himself together. He forced his muscles to relax and calmly replied, "May I ask what the Katsuyu Sage saw in my eyes? As a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village, will the peace I hope for truly appear in the future?"

"Ah... the future." Katsuyu seemed to sigh.

"No one can clearly see what the future looks like. Even the three of us can only glimpse insignificant cracks in fate..."

Good. So you can't see it. You scared the hell out of me. Hyuga Yuto breathed a sigh of relief.

He secretly glanced at the blonde woman beside him and found nothing unusual in Tsunade's expression. On the contrary, she looked somewhat pleased and gratified. When she noticed him looking, she even gave him a grin.

In Tsunade's eyes, the Katsuyu Sage's words about a "future beyond my imagination" were probably praise and affirmation, implying that her student might one day reach an unimaginable realm as a ninja.

"Little Tsunade, take that new ninja tool and return to the Hidden Leaf Village first. An old fossil like me should spend more time chatting with children."

The blonde woman was completely unsuspecting. She cheerfully answered, "Okay," then went to the stone platform and picked up the black bandage. She patted Hyuga Yuto on the shoulder.

"Keep the Katsuyu Sage company."

Having shared a blood contract with Katsuyu for over twenty years, and having been cared for by Katsuyu since childhood, Tsunade truly trusted it. The relationship between the Toad Sage and Jiraiya was much the same.

Hyuga Yuto watched helplessly as Tsunade left, feeling like a child whose parent had brought him to visit relatives, then abandoned him there to play mahjong.

After the blonde woman left, the Katsuyu Sage's voice sounded again. This time, its words were even more... direct.

"Many, many years ago."

"A man who had glimpsed fate made a prophecy to the three of us."

The ageless Sage paused, as if recalling that man's words.

"The toad dies of old age, the white snake sheds its skin, and Katsuyu lives forever."