He was curious if the absolute recovery of the body referred to recovery of the lost lifespan too. But that would only be known after he gets very close to dying or when his body weakens to that extent.
…
Reko was free and thought of getting a second opinion on his predicament.
Without wasting a second, he began the summoning ritual and called for his hamster.
"I was waiting for you to call me."
As soon as the Hamster king appeared, he looked around and spoke haughtily.
"I was preoccupied with a few things on my hand."
Reko smiled, this hamster summon was very powerful and yet he was so childish.
"By the way, do you happen to recognise this symbol?"
He pulled out a scroll which had the exact replica of the ritual drawn by Hidan.
Jiraya had reassured that he had requested the elders from Mount Myoboku to look into the ritual. But there were no positive results.
Since he had the connection, he decided to ask a mysterious tribe like hamsters for help.
"This…" His summon looked at the scroll for a while, thinking. "I did see it somewhere. I don't dwell into these diverse studies. I will let you know if someone back home knows."
He recalled seeing the symbol of something similar somewhere but didn't remember where.
Although, he was pretty sure that the elders back home would be able to trace its origins.
As for him? He was not a studious guy. He was more into practical techniques and strength than those lengthy researches.
Reko did not have much hope from the hamster king. It would have been different if the elder from his tribe had said no though. That would have been very disappointing.
"What is it though? Something serious?"
The hamster king asked curiously. He was curious if Reko had stumbled upon some relic or an inheritance from some of those ancient guys.
"Things happened… and this thing which is most likely to be a curse, was casted on me."
Reko briefly explained the curious hamster.
"A curse? You look fine though. Even your chakra has grown. What does this curse do to you?"
The hamster king circled around Reko before stopping. He was unable to spot the effects from the curse. Reko looked absolutely fine and healthy.
"I lose around twenty days of my lifespan every day. So, a few more years."
He explained the debuff from the curse. A total of twenty days lost every day, meaning he would live for only one twentieth of his total lifespan.
"That's sad. I thought I would see you becoming a strong human companion by my side."
Hamster king looked genuinely sad as he heard about the effect of the curse on Reko's life.
He was such a good human, even talented to an extent.
"Alas! Hey kid!" Suddenly , the hamster spotted Naruto and his tiny eyes widened for a second. Naruto noticed the hamster speaking to him and pointed his finger to himself, wondering if the creature was calling him.
"Yes you! Blonde. Do you want to sign a summoning contract with me? You look promising."
The hamster king nodded and Naruto came closer. But he stopped and looked surprised when the tiny creature offered to sign a contract with him.
"So sweet of you, already discarding me."
Reko looked at the hamster with unbelievable eyes. The tiny creature did not even waste a second to get another contract as if his death was absolute.
The hamster king looked awkward, rubbing the back of his head with his tiny hands as he smiled awkwardly.
He had gotten a little excited after seeing the human with another chakra source inside him.
It was his first time meeting a Jinchuriki and his summon also admitted that his lifespan would not last long. So, he quickly thought of getting another human being to be in a contract.
"I already have a contract with toads from Mount Myoboku."
Naruto looked confused but declined the offer. He didn't need another summon.
"Now that you are here, why don't you teach me that Senjutsu of yours?"
Ignoring the conversation, Reko chimed in and asked to be taught. His intention for calling the hamster king was mainly for the sage Jutsu.
"Ah right! You have fulfilled all the requirements set by me already."
The hamster king exclaimed. He had given Reko a scroll before but it still needed guidance.
"Sit here."
He pointed at a nearby large rock, signalling for Reko to sit.
"Follow my lead. Don't try to pace things up by yourself or you'd turn to stone."
With a swift jump, as if gliding through the air, the hamster king sat on his right shoulder.
The hamster king began to send his chakra into Reko's body, following the lead, Reko began to copy the movement.
'He is pulling in the nature energy for me! It doesn't matter whether I manage to sense it on my own if he just lets me experience the difference.
The first hurdle for learning sage mode was the ability to sense nature energy but the hamster king skipped it for him.
"Good! You have upped your chakra control."
The hamster king commented, surprised. He had expected to put in more effort but Reko was very adept.
"That's it. Now, open your mouth."
He fed an orange ball of energy, extracted from his chakra, to Reko.
"Feel that energy. Assimilate it with your chakra."
In a serious voice, the hamster king instructed Reko. He had already withdrawn his chakra from Reko before feeding him the orange ball.
It was the essence of their tribe. For someone to learn their Senjutsu, the assistance from their essence was needed.
With that, Reko would be able to acquire the unique racial traits that the hamster tribe enjoyed, different from the toads.
A day passed as Reko still remained seated on his spot. His chakra was immense and it took him time to assimilate the natural chakra with the assistance of Orange essence.
Silence ensued as Reko was being monitored by the hamster king, Jiraya, and Naruto.
They were all waiting for Reko to finish the assimilation, curious about the strange sage mode of the hamster tribe.
Finally, Reko opened his eyes, his black iris had turned to dark orange, bordering on light red.
But that was it, there were no other changes on his body. No irregularities, no random growth. It was a perfect sage mode.
"It took you time but alright."
The hamster king chuckled happily after seeing Reko successfully activate the sage mode. It was his first time teaching someone.
But Reko's successful attempt strengthened his belief that he was a great teacher too. He tilted his chin up in pride as he showed off.
"You were curious about the sage mode of my tribe right? This is it. Enhanced body, stronger chakra, and ability to compress space."
He looked at Jiraya and Naruto who were seated together with him and explained.
As he mentioned the ability to compress space, he puffed his cheeks. It appeared as if the hamster king had swallowed something the size of his head.
However, what happened next was not something they could have expected.
"See? Just like this."
The hamster king pulled out a new king sized bed from his puffed cheeks.
Jiraya, Naruto, and even Reko who was just getting the feel of his newly learned Senjutsu was left in shock after seeing the hamster king do it.
Reko had thought that the extraordinary sensing he had just gotten was because of Senjutsu only.
But after seeing what the hamster king had done, he understood why it was so vivid to him.
"How do I control the space?"
He asked absentmindedly, already trying to sense the space with his eyes closed.
"You must be able to sense something, like a new affinity."
The hamster thought for a second before he found a proper example. This was like a new affinity but instead of learning it from scratch, Reko would be able to use it instantly.
"You'd have to train in that."
The hamster king pondered before answering. He knew he could teleport perfectly even before learning sage mode but telling Reko that would be detrimental so he decided not to tell.
"Or maybe not?"
The hamster king uttered in surprise as he saw Reko completely disappear from his initial position to appear in another.
Being able to use teleportation just after getting started with Senjutsu was impressive.
"Have you learned space time techniques?"
The hamster inquired. He was able to sense that the space where Reko teleported was already marked. The technique that Reko used was not naturally from sage mode. It was something else, another technique.
"I have."
Reko admitted honestly. He has indeed learned Flying Raijin technique. His application of that technique was already very thorough, able to jump twenty kilometres in an instant.
"No wonder."
The hamster king nodded in understanding while Naruto and Jiraya kept processing the events happening in front of their eyes.
Especially Jiraya, he was surprised by Reko's remarkable speed of learning with sage mode already but to have acquired such traits with sage mode? He was flabbergasted.
Not to mention, this was not even surprising for the sage mode of this strange hamster tribe.
Learning to use space time techniques was the norm for anyone having learnt Senjutsu.
'Is this how he keeps appearing and disappearing?'
Reko closed his eyes, sensing the space around him. The Senjutsu had already made his senses reach very far and now he was even able to sense his markings without even trying.
While in sage mode he was able to sense the area around his mark too. The time needed was also shortened. He didn't need any hand sign to actively teleport. A single thought was enough.
…
Few hours passed, and the hamster king had gone back.
Reko was trying out some techniques he found interesting and continued to experiment with the sage mode.
"Are you able to use space time techniques? No wonder you were so confident in that fight back then."
Jiraya commented as he was unable to wait any further. He had been waiting for Reko to rest for a while now.
"I had requested that technique from the Hokage. I managed to learn it without much trouble."
Reko explained. Jiraya had seen him training with kunai, there was no way he would not recognise the technique.
"Since it's possible, you might as well go and visit Tsunade. I need to send her some information and you can get yourself checked too."
Jiraya nodded, not minding that Reko kept this as a secret. A shinobi needed a few secret techniques to survive at their level.
Instead, he was rather impressed by it. To be able to use sage mode, already put Reko in the cream on top. But space time techniques too?
He wanted to send the information about the two Akatsuki members and Reko's health quickly.
The messenger summon had gone off but Reko would be able to reach even before that. And while at it, Reko could also get checked for the curse.
Even though his trust in Reko's talent has been strengthened even further. He still believed that Tsunade would be able to know about the course and cure him.
"What do you think?"
He asked for Reko's opinion. This was not an urgent matter. Only the part about Reko's treatment was a problem here which needed a quick visit.
Otherwise, the information would anyways reach the village in a few more days.
"That's fine. Give me the scroll."
Reko agreed. There was no need to delay here anymore. His main goal was learning Senjutsu and he had managed to do it. It was time to head back to the village.
A minute later,
Reko managed to enter sage mode with ease. This would help him familiarise with the activation and would also save him chakra because the range of teleportation was almost four to five times higher after activation of the sage mode.
....
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