Jiraiya, would you like some lemon?

When facing the unknown, one must always maintain reverence and humility towards nature, as relying on habitual thinking can lead to significant losses.

For instance, a certain Hokage was often glared at by his wife's family. If people didn't know the truth, they'd think the husband was incompetent!

Jiraiya made a huge mistake.

After discussing Mount Myōboku and Sage Mode with Uchiha Itachi that day, he became extremely curious about the first person to successfully cultivate Sage Mode. He secretly used a reverse summoning jutsu to go to Mount Myōboku.

Jiraiya thought Gamamaru might be the second or third generation offspring of Shima Sage, and even excitedly asked if it was some debt it left behind when it was young…

Males… it's normal to have a little unknown past.

For some reason, Jiraiya was chased and beaten by Shima Sage until the Great Toad Sage was awakened… The learned Great Sage didn't dwell on it and told him the answer.

Jiraiya left Mount Myōboku bruised and battered, returning to Uchiha Itachi and Beiyuan…

Then he was hit with another blow… It was understandable that Uchiha Itachi could cultivate Sage Mode, but the crow's method was highly problematic. How could a sage directly transmit sage chakra!

Beiyuan communicated and transferred sage chakra into Itachi's body, forcefully compelling the spiritual and physical energy within Itachi to fuse with natural energy, thus enabling him to enter Sage Mode faster…

"Sage Mode activated!"

Uchiha Itachi shouted with a childlike voice, his eyes instantly turning blood red. At the same time, a pair of huge, jet-black wings slowly spread out on his back!

Bang!

The oppressive aura stirred up dust from the ground…

A new crow Sage Mode…

Let's not even mention how much better its appearance is compared to Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode, but just the service Beiyuan provided to the young one…

Jiraiya felt a pang of envy. To activate Sage Mode himself, he still needed the assistance of Shima Sage and Ma Sage to absorb natural energy, which took a long time… and even carried the risk of failure.

In Sage Mode, Uchiha Itachi quickly formed a hand seal: "Sage Art: Great Fireball Technique!"

Flames erupted from Itachi's mouth, forming a massive fireball…

Unlike his normal state, the fireball continuously absorbed the surrounding natural energy, its temperature rising, its size increasing, and the scorching heatwave washed over them!

Boom!

The flames burned the sandy ground, melting it. Under the sunlight, it crystallized…

It was just an ordinary C-rank fire jutsu, but with the enhancement of Sage Art, it could rival the B-rank Great Fire Dragon, and even had a wider range!

"Jiraiya-sensei? You're back!" Uchiha Itachi, flapping his wings, flew joyfully to Jiraiya's front: "Sage Mode? We succeeded!"

"..." Jiraiya was disinclined to speak.

Uchiha Itachi noticed the injuries on Jiraiya's face, and his joyful expression turned to concern: "Sensei… you're hurt?"

"..."

Jiraiya wanted to speak even less. His body was injured, but his heart was also hurt!

Uchiha Itachi seemed to guess something and exclaimed, "Sensei… you didn't actually go to Mount Myōboku…"

When Beiyuan communicated via chakra that day, he sensed a hidden joy of a successful prank from the crow. It seemed this matter was not simple.

"Caw~"

Hearing this, the crow flew to Uchiha Itachi's head and provocatively glanced at Jiraiya… as if to say, I was right, wasn't I?

"The Great Toad Sage told me the answer. The first one to successfully cultivate Sage Mode was actually the Sage of Six Paths."

Jiraiya gritted his teeth secretly, remembering the Great Toad Sage's thoughtful and nostalgic silence when he asked who Gamamaru was…

"Little Jiraiya, I haven't heard that name in a thousand years. If I haven't been sleeping too much over the past millennium, I believe my name should be Gamamaru…"

The ancestor of Mount Myōboku didn't hold it against him and not only told him the answer but also entrusted Jiraiya with a message to convey greetings to Beiyuan.

As the saying goes, it's easy to meet the king, but hard to deal with the minions… Jiraiya sighed that these proverbs were truly practical. Before leaving Mount Myōboku, he was beaten by Shima Sage once again.

Uchiha Itachi liked to bring up sensitive topics: "That fellow called Gamamaru, did you meet him, Sensei?"

"..."

Jiraiya was so angry he wanted to cover Itachi's mouth: "Show some respect! That's the Great Toad Sage, the master of Mount Myōboku!"

"..."

Beiyuan and Uchiha Itachi shook their heads in unison, looking at Jiraiya with pity… It was unclear what right the instigator had to pity the one they had tricked.

"Let's not talk about this topic anymore… Hiss…" Jiraiya couldn't help but touch the bruises on his face: "Itachi, you need to learn to extract natural energy yourself and synthesize sage chakra…"

The young boy nodded: "It's just too easy to lose control. If Beiyuan hadn't helped, I might have been assimilated by the excess natural energy and turned into a crow."

"...I thought everyone turned into toads..."

"Perhaps it's because Beiyuan helped me extract the natural energy!" Uchiha Itachi shook his head, took out a fruit, and handed it to the crow on his shoulder.

Jiraiya's heart turned sour again. This kind of treatment was usually only given by sages when assisting in battles to extract natural energy.

During normal training, he still had to perceive and absorb natural energy himself… While it might sound independent and perhaps lead to better training results, but…

Look at that crow sage, what kind of decent thing did it do?

It helped with extracting natural energy during normal training, and when it mattered, it directly synthesized sage chakra and transmitted it, forcefully activating Sage Mode!

The problem was that the tacit understanding between them was unrepeatable; not everyone was willing to open their minds to Beiyuan.

"Caw!"

The crow wasn't blindly doting on its young; it just felt that after activating Sage Mode, Uchiha Itachi would be able to sense the properties of natural energy more easily.

Simply put, it was like using a trial version of a product first.

After the trial version expired, one would definitely be familiar with the product to some extent. After all, having used Sage Jutsu, Uchiha Itachi should already be able to distinguish natural energy.

Uchiha Itachi closed his eyes and said softly, "About that... I can already sense natural energy..."

"???"

Jiraiya was completely bewildered. What kind of teaching method was this! You couldn't just force Sage Mode without being able to sense natural energy!

What was the difference between what they were doing and cheating!

The methods for cultivating Sage Mode were generally the same: extracting natural energy and fusing it with the body's spiritual and physical energies. However, it was very difficult for beginners to sense natural energy.

At this point, the help of the sages in the sacred land was needed. For example, Mount Myōboku had unique oil paints to help improve sensory abilities...

But after successfully activating Sage Mode, one would become increasingly familiar with controlling natural energy and using Sage Jutsu chakra.

It was like a freshman student who couldn't even recognize letters yet, and someone gave him the answers to the final exam, then asked him to learn the letters from the answers...

However, it also depended on talent. After all, if that person truly couldn't learn, there was nothing that could be done...

But Uchiha Itachi was clearly not that type of person. Apart from romance, his talent was excellent...

As a novice author, I crave more support... like recommendation votes and such