"Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato passed away valiantly during the fight against the Doombringer."
Spoke White Snake Sage in a rather casual manner, looking aloof as it puffed smoke out of its cigar-holding mouth.
"Although he and old Sarutobi failed to preserve his life, they managed to stop the Doombringer from achieving his objective, which was to take nine tails out of Uzumaki Kushina."
"Yes. Therefore—"
"Therefore,"
Orochimaru stepped up, trying to elaborate, but was stopped by White Snake Sage who stared at Akashi knowingly.
"Doombringer will return. The hatred that he possesses for Konoha, we identified. You aim to defeat him... through the nigh replica of the Doombringer, except that this replica does not possess rinnegans, lack an eye, and doesn't know senjutsu."
The gigantic snake's eyes met Akashi's lone eye.
"Yet, I see no fear in you. What is the source of your confidence?"
"With due respect,"
Akashi, not fazed by the slightest to the fear-inducing words of White Snake Sage, snorted instead.
"Do you know me?"
Orochimaru's eyes widened, not having expected such vulgar words out of Akashi who is usually reposed.
"So what if he has the rinnegan? So what if he knows senjutsu that I don't? All that they serve to do is to provide me with the information of the enemy. Such facts aren't something that I should be fearing about; instead, I should rejoice that I got to learn them, for I now can prepare against them."
"...Prepare?"
Even the White Snake Sage appeared stupefied by Akashi's remark.
"We are talking about the better version of yourself, one who managed to dominate this world with nothing but a sheer strength. How would you prepare against a calamity like him?"
"Then what would you do? Cower and await for your death? Hide and hope that you are ignored? Watch as he destroys the nature that you so love?"
Akashi stepped forward even further, nearing the gigantic white snake even as the surrounding snakes hissed at him upon his action.
"You know that an action must be taken. However, your wise self seem to have acknowledged that whatever you attempt to ploy against my other self, it will fail. In facing him, there will be no perfect plan."
White Snake Sage was filled with a bizarre emotion.
She clearly recalled the image of the Doombringer—the alternate Akashi.
He was initially brazen and headstrong. With the strength to back it up, he appeared fearless.
However, she saw at the end, that when Minato and Hiruzen together performed the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and almost sealed his soul, he exhibited that of fear and panic.
Yes, she knew that the Doombringer was, on the inside, a coward greater than any other.
Akashi in front of her... he appeared to be the exact opposite.
"...How are you able to maintain your calm?"
In the end, she couldn't help but ask.
"Is it because of the belief that you will be able to find your way back to your own world? That you wouldn't be facing the consequences?"
Even as she asked, she knew that such wasn't the reason behind Akashi's fearlessness.
"Again, do you know me?"
As Akashi replied, the White Snake Sage saw a blaze within his lone eye.
"I am someone who fought countless since young. I climbed up from the bottom of the pyramid with nothing but grits. Compared to what I've gone through in the past... this is nothing."
White Snake Sage then understood.
Akashi was a sword, honed and refined by the harsh environment around him.
Therefore, she assumed, that the life he led must have been the near opposite as well. Unlike the Doombringer who was taught by the best teachers and was hailed as the prince of Amegakure from the long past, this individual in front of her was a wanderer, more familiar with the laws of the wild than the laws of a city.
What does it take to be a shinobi?
"Teach me senjutsu."
At last, Akashi demanded once more.
A powerful ninjutsu? A bloodline limit? An incomparable talent?
"Then, we will see how things go."
White Snake Sage puffed smoke out of her mouth, watching Akashi thoughtfully.
The answer is no. What dictates a winner and a loser in the world of ninjas, is whether they can see the underneath of the underneath.
"...A man who formed a contract with a strange moth-like creature."
At last, White Snake Sage responded; Chakka flinched as the snake mentioned its name.
"Should you so wish to become the snake sage..."
She sighed.
"So be it."
Upon her statement, the snakes surrounding them parted.
White Snake Sage stared to the right. Following her eyes, Akashi saw an area filled with thick mist.
"That is where you will train. Manda, you will teach him."
"...As you wisssh, great White Snake Sage."
Manda bowed in compliance.
"Ha..."
From Akashi's back, Orochimaru wiped the sweat off his forehead, sighing in relief as he did so.
...
Nature.
Plants. Worms. Microorganisms.
There were countless lives in the nature. Some were visible, some were invisible.
Therefore, it could be said that the nature is alive.
Therefore, it could be said that the nature possesses an intent.
Intent. Be it positive or negative, it converts chakra into what is considered more primal and wild—positive and negative chakra.
Within humans, positive and negative chakra could be considered impurities. However, the natural energy is the impurity itself.
"Sssenjutsu is about integrating the very impurities into oneself. It is about embracccing."
Being impure was, in other words, being natural.
In a way, senjutsu was the exact opposite of the purification that Akashi performed for the sake of Yang Release.
"You are currently ssseated within the natural-energy-rich area. Feel the nature. Accccept the nature."
As Manda stated, Akashi was seated on top of a rock that lied in the middle of the lake, surrounded by the thick mist.
His eye was closed as he sat with his legs crossed and his hands atop his knees with their palms facing up.
"Absssorb the natural energy into your chakra reserve. You mussst balance it perfectly. It mussstn't be excessive nor insssufficient. Finding the right balance of it, and being able to maintain that ssstate during movement, is the key."
Akashi came to deduce that the methodology to reaching the sage mode was about the same for all the ninja summons. What truly differed was the environment; training in snake's area conditioned one to be a snake sage. Conversely, training in salamander's area conditioned one to be a salamander sage.
As he absorbed the natural energy around him, Akashi felt that said natural energy was paving its path in his body in a particular manner. Said path, although seemingly inefficient, was therefore natural and original. This pathway was the defining characteristic of the snake senjutsu.
...Interestingly, the more Akashi locked himself into this training, the more he became familiar with positive and negative chakra.
In the end, they were the energies that he was removing from his chakra in order to generate Yang Release. Because the purification was the exact opposite of the nature integration, they were, ironically, alike.
"Positive chakra has a tendency to expand. In contrast, negative chakra has a tendency to contract."
With his eye still closed, Akashi muttered what he discovered.
"Interestingly, the nature harbors positive and negative chakra in an exact 1 to 1 ratio. They are mixed in a way that best stabilizes their composition, and stabilization here means the lack of movement."
This stability was maintained upon absorption. The natural energy was much more dangerous than Akashi initially thought, for if this stability were to be disrupted, a literal implosion may occur inside his body, resulting in his immediate death.
And then, there was another piece of information that he found, one that may be more important.
"The natural energy, or positive and negative chakra, is being balanced with... none other than Yin and Yang Chakra."
Only upon the absorption of the natural energy could Akashi feel the composition of his chakra inside of him.
There was the Yin component, and the Yang component. In other words, they existed separate from one another within him.
However, whenever a jutsu was drawn, they were simultaneously extracted along with the positive and negative chakra debris, resulting in the conventional blue chakra.
Yin Release. Spiritual energy. Heaven. Comes from one's will and experience.
Yang Release. Physical energy. Earth. Comes from one's vitality and stamina.
Chakra is known to be the mix of one's spiritual and physical energies.
Akashi now knew what they meant by such.
"The purification of Yang that I was performing... how inefficient I've been."
There was no need to purify. He simply had to draw only the Yang within him from the start. Similarly, in order to utilize the pure Yin Release, he had to draw just the Yin within him.
...However, easier said than done. Being able to feel it didn't mean that he could do it. He knew what had to be done, but the question of 'how' remained.
Therefore, he decided to bypass this matter for now.
Sage mode.
Yin, Yang, and natural energy swirled within him.
The golden ratio, 1 to 1 to 1, or 2 to 2 to 1 to 1 if the natural energy were to be considered as the positive and negative chakra instead.
Now was the time to focus.
So Akashi did, entering the world of his own without being able to hear or feel anything else around him.
"That is..."
Therefore, he didn't manage to hear, the words of disbelief from Manda, who saw that Akashi managed to grow two large horns out of his forehead.
Manda's eyes trembled, unable to believe that the scene being unveiled in front of him was the reality.
"What we believed to be the perfect sage mode... wasn't perfect...?"
Something was going on within the hazel-haired, lone-eyed shinobi.
__________
__________
"...A talk of peace?"
Seated at his throne, Hanzo of the Salamander watched as the envoy from Konoha bowed and relayed the information.
"After Ame's successful defence and Suna's successful flank, Iwa has taken a severe loss to the point of being unable to continue the war! Upon Lord Hokage's offer of peace, they reluctantly accepted! Today, I came here to securely pass this letter to Hanzo-sama!"
A scroll was passed to Hanzo, who quickly opened it.
His eyes rapidly read through the words, before he mumbled,
"Land... of Iron? Meet there to finalize the peace treaty?"
"Yes! It was decided after a long thought that when talking about the peace, the neutral land, the land of samurais, would be the best!"
Hanzo closed his eyes for a brief moment as numerous thoughts entered him.
From the side with his arms crossed, Yahiko watched Hanzo with a blank expression.
Finally, Hanzo opened his eyes back up and gave his answer,
"I will be there."
...
Hanzo and Yahiko stood at the top of the tower, looking down on the Amegakure that has been enlarging over the past few years.
For sure, everything was livelier than what it used to be like during the Second Shinobi World War.
"Must you go, Hanzo?"
Yahiko expressed his nervousness, at last.
"Akashi and Konan are still in that accursed orb. Nagato is blinded. Ame suffered quite a loss in troops during the invasion. Although we are recovering, there is a chance that this talk of peace is nothing but a trap from Iwa and Kumo. In addition, there is that masked man who stole Nagato's eyes..."
"Even so, I must go."
"How come?!"
"I am the face of Amegakure."
Hanzo stated firmly.
"If I weren't to show up in the meeting where all the heads of the Elemental Nation will be gathering, Ame will be looked down upon. That's what politics is about."
"Still..."
"Hmph, don't think that this village will be left defenceless during my absence."
Hanzo crossed his arms. As he spoke, it seemed as if he was trying to convince himself rather than Yahiko.
"There are many elite jonins to fill my gap. The veterans too still stand. You may have gotten stronger too, but you still are nothing in comparison to them, brat. Have some faith in the village."
Yahiko clenched his fists. Collecting his breath, he looked up at the sky.
"...I suppose that you are right."
In the end, there was nothing that Yahiko could do in this situation.