In a strange world, giant insects were everywhere, along with toads of all sizes.
White smoke flashed, and a white-haired man appeared in a clearing.
"Jiraiya, you're here!" Sage Shima waved her spatula and greeted Jiraiya.
"Isn't it time to eat yet?" an elderly voice called from afar.
"What's the hurry? Can't you see Jiraiya is here? We have to invite our guest to eat with us!" Shima brandished her spatula as though she meant to smack him on the head.
"Jiraiya's here! Come on, let's eat together! I'm starving!" A short, elderly toad emerged from a distant room.
"Sage Fukasaku! Sage Shima, I don't need anything. I've already eaten!" Jiraiya waved both hands. He had no desire to fill his stomach with insects.
Grrr...
Jiraiya's stomach growled at an inopportune moment. Naturally, he hadn't eaten; he'd been too busy looking at beautiful women. Perhaps their beauty had been enough to keep his hunger at bay, but now his stomach was protesting.
"Do you dislike this old woman's cooking, Jiraiya?" Sage Shima's eyes filled with reproach.
"Your cooking is so delicious. How could Jiraiya dislike it?" Sage Fukasaku looked at his wife with a smile.
"Ah! Didn't the Great Toad Sage say he wanted to see me?" Jiraiya seized this small opportunity.
"Oh, there's no hurry." Sage Shima waved a hand. "The Great Sage has fallen asleep again."
"Aren't Gamabunta and the others eating with us?"
"The children have grown up. Their appetites are too big, so they've gone to find their own food. Jiraiya, do you dislike my cooking?" Sage Shima looked puzzled.
"No, no, no!" Jiraiya hurriedly shook his head and forced a smile. "I love it!"
The three arrived at a dining hall, where several small toads were squatting.
Jiraiya warmly greeted the little toads.
Sage Shima fussed over Jiraiya, bringing out bowls of dark green soup filled with all sorts of insects. The sight made his stomach churn.
After finally finishing a large bowl of insect cuisine, Jiraiya hurried to see the Great Toad Sage. He didn't want another bowl.
Sage Fukasaku even laughed at Jiraiya for not appreciating fine food. With insect dishes this delicious, failing to eat several bowls was really doing Sage Shima's cooking a disservice.
Fortunately, the little toads put in plenty of effort, each eating several bowls, and Shima and Fukasaku stopped urging him to eat more.
After the meal, the two sages took Jiraiya to see the Great Toad Sage.
The three passed through the hall and arrived at the Great Toad Sage's resting place.
The old toad sat upright in a stone chair, snoring steadily. His breath sent Jiraiya's white hair fluttering.
"Great Sage!" Sage Shima hopped up in two or three bounds, landed on the Toad Sage's face, and tugged at his eyelid.
"Achoo!"
The Great Toad Sage sneezed, rubbed his nose, and opened his eyes. Looking at the white-haired man before him, he rolled his eyes upward as though pondering something.
"Oh, oh, oh, Jiraiya. I was just looking for you!"
"At least he remembered!" Sage Shima jumped down to the floor, muttering under her breath.
"Sage Shima said you wanted to see me, Great Sage. Have you had a new prophecy?"
"Oh, a prophecy..." The Great Sage scratched his head, seemingly deep in thought. Only after a long while did he slowly say, "In my dream, I saw a sage without facial markings. Behind him was a pair of purple eyes!"
"A sage without facial features? Does that mean perfect Sage Mode?" As a practitioner of senjutsu, Jiraiya naturally knew how difficult Sage Mode was to master. The more perfect one's Sage Mode, the fewer toad features appeared on one's face, but he'd never even heard of a sage without facial features. He didn't know whether even the legendary Sage of Six Paths could accomplish that.
The Great Toad Sage shook his head and continued, "I don't know. It was as though a vast mist shrouded everything. Nor do I know whether this sage without facial markings will be good or bad for the Shinobi World. I only sensed immense malice. Be careful, Jiraiya!"
"I understand, Great Toad Sage. I'll keep an eye out," Jiraiya said seriously.
The Great Sage sank into contemplation again, and Jiraiya didn't dare disturb him.
They waited for a long while, but the Great Sage remained motionless. All they heard was his steady breathing. Sage Shima finally lost patience and jumped onto his face again to lift his eyelid.
The Great Toad Sage slowly opened his eyes and said, just as slowly, "Ah! Jiraiya, you're here?"
After lunch, Shinsei went to his underground base as usual.
At this stage, he no longer needed to create shadow clones to train his chakra natures. Apart from someone with Naruto's monstrous stamina, no one could endure prolonged training with shadow clones. Shinsei now had a whole pile of ninjutsu that needed further development, and shadow clones couldn't do that work for him.
First, shadow clones disappeared after taking a certain amount of damage. That was also why Shinsei's shadow clones couldn't use Lightning Release: Lightning Sword. Second, orders could only be given to shadow clones when they were created; once separated, they couldn't be controlled. It all depended on whether their creator's personality suited cooperation. If the creator liked cooperating with himself, then shadow clones with the same personality as the original could naturally work together.
If the original liked messing around, his shadow clones would naturally be the same. That was why one could sometimes see Naruto's clones fighting with his original body.
Whether Shinsei was meditating or developing ninjutsu, he needed either his real body or his real intellect. Only his original body could carry out these tasks.
The Bringer-of-Darkness Technique was a ninjutsu created by the master of forbidden techniques, Tobirama Senju. (This story follows the anime version. Tobirama Senju was a more suitable user; Hashirama Senju really didn't seem like the sort to develop ninjutsu.)
After reading through the entire text, Shinsei gained some understanding of the ninjutsu, though this was his first encounter with genjutsu.
He formed hand seals with both hands.
Darkness rose around him like a vast curtain, about to shroud everything.
As the black curtain unfolded, it dispersed like bubbles.
Uh... a few mishaps were inevitable on the first try.
He continued forming hand seals.
The black curtain rapidly unfolded, enveloping the entire hall. Shinsei felt that if he used his full strength, its range should reach a radius of around a hundred meters. Once he became more familiar with the ninjutsu, he should be able to increase it further.
The ninjutsu required twelve seals in total, with no simplified version. If he wanted to simplify it later, he would have to work that out himself.
With every ninjutsu, Shinsei always wanted to cast it with a single seal. A ninjutsu that required twelve seals was simply unbearable.
Releasing the ninjutsu, Shinsei created another shadow clone, then continued forming hand seals.
Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!
Darkness spread, enveloping the shadow clone. Shinsei saw the clone roll his eyes.
As the caster, he could move freely. He watched the other Shinsei stretch out his hands and grope around.
"Can you see?"
The shadow clone didn't answer. He formed a seal and dispelled himself, and a rush of memories came flooding in.
Everything around him had been pitch-black. He couldn't even see his outstretched fingers, as though thick black cloth had cut off everything. His hearing and sense of smell, however, remained unaffected.
The first step of this ninjutsu had met his requirements. The second training objective was to allow his teammates to remain unaffected within the darkness.
The third step was to reduce the number of hand seals.
Shinsei could currently form about four seals per second, but he didn't intend to keep practicing. He would let that improve over time. Any time spent practicing would be better spent simplifying the ninjutsu's seals. Otherwise, even reaching Uchiha Itachi's six seals per second wouldn't make much difference to him.
Another day passed. After breakfast, Shinsei went to report at the Hokage Building as usual.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had only just arrived at work. With his pipe in his mouth, he strolled down the corridor to his office door.
"Lord Hokage!" Shinsei hurriedly bowed.
"Shinsei, you're here early!" The Third Hokage pushed open his office door while smoking. "Come in."
Shinsei followed the Hokage into the room, and Hiruzen Sarutobi took a white scroll from inside his robes.
"I've had some ideas about the sensory ninjutsu you mentioned. I've written them all down here." Hiruzen Sarutobi looked kindly at the young man before him.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage!" Excitement showed on Shinsei's face.
"It's part of my duty as Hokage." Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to say more about the Will of Fire or something along those lines, but he saw several ninja already waiting at the door. "Well, you can go now."
"Yes, Lord Hokage!"
Leaving the Hokage Building, Shinsei couldn't wait to get home and see what solutions the Third Hokage, known as the Professor, had offered for the problems in the ninjutsu he was developing.