At Mount Myōboku, the Great Toad Sage's presence drew vast amounts of natural energy together, making the plants grow unusually large. The place looked like something out of a fairy tale.
Beneath a waterfall, Naruto sat cross-legged on a stone pillar, bare-chested and with his eyes closed.
Not far away, Jiraiya, Sage Fukasaku, and Sage Shima watched him.
They were there to keep anything from going wrong while Naruto practiced Sage Mode.
Sensing natural energy gathering around Naruto, Sage Fukasaku nodded in satisfaction. "It's been over half a year, and this child has finally calmed down. He's nothing like when he first arrived, jumping at every little thing, with a mind so noisy it was like eight hundred people were holding a meeting in there."
"Not so fast, old man." Sage Shima glanced at Sage Fukasaku. "The Eight Trigrams Seal in this child's body converts the Nine-Tails' chakra into his own, giving him far too much chakra. With his current mental strength, he simply can't control such an enormous amount."
"Without controlling all that chakra, he can't master Sage Mode. Besides, who knows whether the Nine-Tails will deliberately interfere with little Naruto's senjutsu training?" Sage Shima said.
"What's the rush, old woman? Little Naruto is still young. Give him another couple of years. Right now, we're just letting him get familiar with it ahead of time," Sage Fukasaku said irritably.
Just then, Jiraiya chuckled. "Heh, Great Sages, I actually have a way to solve that problem."
Both sages turned to Jiraiya and asked, "What's your solution?"
"The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!" Jiraiya said with a chuckle.
"Of course! How did an old woman like me not think of that?" Sage Shima muttered in frustration.
"That's right. The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique divides chakra evenly. That would reduce little Naruto's chakra