"Is this Shikkotsu Forest?"
Naoki Senju rubbed his eyes and looked around. The general environment here was no different from some ancient forests in the Shinobi World, only much more humid, with tree species he had never seen before, and the sunlight blocked by thick dark clouds.
Tsunade nodded, speaking with nostalgia:
"Yes, this is Shikkotsu Forest, but it's been a long time since I last came here. Come to think of it, it's been almost ten years."
Once Katsuyu returned to Shikkotsu Forest, she was no longer as timid as before, and her speech carried a bit more confidence.
"Lady Tsunade, Lord Naoki, please follow me."
Katsuyu slowly crawled between the trees. Naoki Senju and Tsunade followed behind Katsuyu. As they passed those strange and huge trees, Naoki noticed that every tree here had several Katsuyu clinging to it, some only slightly larger than a palm-sized leaf.
However, these Katsuyus seemed very shy, daring only to hide among the leaves and timidly peek at the ninja they had never seen before.
Occasionally, some huge Katsuyus that Tsunade recognized would appear and proactively greet Tsunade.
"Lady Tsunade!"
"Long time no see, Lady Tsunade!"
Tsunade would also smile and respond to them one by one, without the slightest bit of impatience.
After passing through the tall forest, there was a humid swamp, but the swamp did not emit a foul, putrid odor; instead, there was a faint 'fragrance'.
The source of this 'fragrance' was the brightly colored mushrooms growing in the swamp. These mushrooms came in various sizes, the largest being over ten meters high, and the spores they spread even reached a naked-eye visible degree.
Tsunade, prepared in advance, took out two antidote pills, handed one to Naoki, and said:
"The spores of these poisonous mushrooms have strong hallucinogenic properties. They are ineffective against Katsuyu, but for humans, getting poisoned is quite troublesome."
Naoki Senju chewed and swallowed the thumb-sized pill. The intense bitterness made Naoki's eyebrows instantly wrinkle, and he almost spat it out directly.
Tsunade laughed unscrupulously:
"Hahaha, who told you to chew and swallow it directly? This antidote pill only needs to be held in your mouth to detoxify, and it won't be particularly bitter."
Seeing Naoki Senju's face growing darker and darker, Tsunade patted Naoki's shoulder and loudly 'comforted' him:
"It doesn't matter, swallowing it has an even better effect, it just tastes bitter for a few hours,hahaha..."
Without needing any evidence, this was definitely Tsunade's revenge for just now, which was why she deliberately didn't tell him how to take the antidote pill.
Naoki Senju's aggressively predatory gaze swept over Tsunade's proud assets. Just wait, sooner or later I'll get my revenge back...
Tsunade seemed to read Naoki Senju's gaze. After giving a few rather 'fierce' glares, she turned around to catch up with Katsuyu's pace, though Tsunade's footsteps seemed somewhat disordered...
Not long after walking, the outline of a shrine appeared in the center of the swamp. Naoki Senju could clearly perceive that the natural energy there was extremely rich, even so active that it would proactively approach living creatures.
For example, right at this moment, a large amount of natural energy was lingering around Tsunade, only Tsunade could not proactively perceive them, and the natural energy surrounding himself and Katsuyu was likewise not a few.
The closer they got to the shrine, the richer the natural energy became. Finally, Katsuyu stopped at the shrine's entrance and respectfully said:
"Lady Tsunade, Lord Naoki, please enter. The Sage is waiting for you inside."
Tsunade and Naoki exchanged a glance and pulled open the shrine's doors together. The wind chimes in front of the door made a crisp sound.
Upon entering the shrine, Naoki found that it was almost identical to other shrines, except that what was enshrined was no longer various deities, but a huge Katsuyu statue.
Beneath the statue, there was a miniature real Katsuyu, but 'miniature' was only relative to the statue; the real Katsuyu's body length was about three meters, and her aura was much steadier than the other Katsuyus, while also being stronger-this came from Naoki Senju's intuition.
The Katsuyu Sage's aura was extremely heavy yet felt like a breeze brushing across one's face, making both body and mind relax. It was the most upright and balanced aura Naoki Senju had ever felt; even Tsunade's aura inevitably carried aggressiveness and wildness.
"Little Tsunade, it really has been a long time, and little Naoki, nice to meet you for the first time, please take care of me."
The voice was much more mature than the other Katsuyus. It seemed this was the Katsuyu Sage... Naoki Senju did not dare to be negligent, bowed and returned the greeting:
"Naoki Senju of the Senju Clan, greets the Katsuyu Sage."
"Tsunade Senju, greets the Katsuyu Sage."
"Hehe, no need for formalities."
The Katsuyu Sage slowly turned around, her neck suspended with a precious bead necklace, on which the character 'Sage' was engraved, confirming Naoki's guess.
This necklace-the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave and the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku each had one, though the engraved characters differed.
The Katsuyu Sage looked Naoki Senju up and down, finally nodding with satisfaction, and praised:
"Not bad, steady aura, resilient mind, even more outstanding than little Hashirama and little Tsunade back then; both little brats were all rashness."
"Haha, Katsuyu Sage, you are magnanimous and won't hold a grudge against us youngsters, right? Isn't there still business today?"
Tsunade awkwardly interrupted the Katsuyu Sage. Talking about her and her grandfather's 'glory deeds' in such an occasion made her almost too ashamed to show her face. At the very least, she should wait until they talked about it in private, and besides, she also wanted to know her grandfather's black hist-bah, she meant his 'glory deeds'.
"Little Tsunade is right; there really is a very important matter this time."
Without seeing the Katsuyu Sage make any movement, right in the center of the Katsuyu statue, a small mechanism opened, and a wooden box floated out from the mechanism, finally landing slowly in Naoki Senju's hands.
Tsunade marveled at this sight. Driving objects with chakra was not difficult; for example, puppet masters controlled puppets to fight through chakra threads, but something as trace-less as the Katsuyu Sage's method was terrifying. If puppet masters could do this as well, the entire Shinobi World would be crawling with puppet masters.
Tsunade could not see it, but Naoki Senju saw it crystal clearly: the Katsuyu Sage was supporting the wooden box with pure natural energy, rather than senjutsu chakra, which is a combination of chakra, spiritual energy, and natural energy.
Yet pure natural energy was even more terrifying than senjutsu chakra, because ordinary ninjas could not see it at all, nor even perceive it, and even Tsunade, at the peak combat strength of the Shinobi World, could only vaguely perceive it.
After receiving the wooden box, Naoki Senju sighed with heartfelt admiration:
"The Katsuyu Sage's methods are brilliant."
Tsunade also nodded in deep agreement.
However, the Katsuyu Sage's aura fluctuated for a split second, and she instead asked seriously:
"Little Naoki, can you see the natural energy I used? Or do you only vaguely perceive it?"
A thousand thoughts flashed through Naoki Senju's mind. In the end, he chose to conceal the truth, nodded, and said:
"I can indeed see the natural energy condensed by the Sage."
Tsunade's cherry lips parted slightly, not knowing what to say. Back then, she had also practiced senjutsu; although she ultimately failed due to various reasons, just the step of perceiving natural energy alone had completely blocked her, whereas Naoki could directly see natural energy-was this a true genius...
The Katsuyu Sage's tone carried a hint of urgency:
"Little Naoki, demonstrate your Wood Release for me."