Chapter 442: Sage Body
Gamamaru looked at Ino very seriously, waiting for her answer.
"Er…" Ino mulled over her words, trying to bluff her way through this.
In her timeline, the Sharingan and the Sage Body had already been passed down through bloodlines.
Byakugan, Sharingan, Red Eye, Blood Dragon Eye—all these eyes had been passed down through bloodlines. There were also quite a few clans with a portion of Ashura's constitution: the Senju clan, the Uzumaki clan, and the family of the Gold and Silver Brothers.
If this were Ino's time, she could easily make up some excuse. But at this point in time… The old fossil's girlfriend had just been hung on the tree; he was currently a single dog. Since birth, he hadn't had any exchange of bodily fluids yet.
Ino, with the same kind of Sharingan, had just popped up so blatantly and been encountered by Gamamaru, who was very familiar with the old fossil. For a moment, she really found it hard to explain.
"This scent is really familiar. Is there something you can't talk about? Who are you to Hagoromo?" Gamamaru asked in a leading manner.
You smelled it out? Ino was aghast. Is this a toad or a dog? How can its nose be so sharp? How to explain this? There was really no good excuse. Of the thirty-six stratagems, running was the best!
Ino sensed the Flying Thunder God formula in the distance, tore open space, and vanished in an instant.
The Sage Talisman, her mission objective, was currently with Gamamaru. Should she kill him and take the talisman? The damage to the timeline would be too great. She could only wait for it to be handed over to Hagoromo and then figure something out.
Ino didn't want to use ninjutsu in public, worried about what impact it might have on the future.
However, she felt the Flying Thunder God was fine. It was a seal-less ninjutsu. No matter how incredible Gamamaru was, he couldn't possibly learn the Flying Thunder God just by looking at it, could he? If a toad had that kind of ability, all the ninjas in the world could go hang themselves.
Gamamaru indeed did not understand the Flying Thunder God, only thinking she had some kind of special ability.
Feeling quite wary, he thought for a moment in place, but with no leads, he could only set the matter aside.
Ino was a professionally trained ninja. The spot she had chosen allowed her to observe most of the village. Gamamaru thought it was a good spot and simply occupied it, secretly observing Kaguya and the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura.
Another two days passed. Gamamaru observed the future timeline through his dreams and found that the strange woman who had appeared that day had no impact on the future. He immediately took action.
He took advantage of a moment when Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had left her residence to tell the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura about the harm Kaguya was inflicting on the world and all living beings, hoping the two brothers would join him in resisting the Rabbit Goddess.
After gaining the brothers' agreement, he began to teach them how to use natural energy, a power that had existed on this planet before the God Tree was planted.
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, not yet the old fossil, and Hamura Ōtsutsuki, the future ancestor of the Hyūga and the Moon Ōtsutsuki clans, along with the Great Toad Sage Gamamaru—these three were all extremely keen sensors. Even though they were still young, Ino didn't dare to underestimate them.
She used the Yamanaka clan's secret jutsu to attach her consciousness to an eagle, observing them from afar.
The brothers Hagoromo and Hamura were accustomed to the animals of the natural world. This was all primeval forest; encountering a bear on the road was a common occurrence. They didn't think there was anything wrong with an eagle flying by in the distance. Under Gamamaru's guidance, the two began to learn how to use natural energy.
The talent of the two brothers made Ino green with envy.
For them, there was no such thing as "Sage Mode." It wasn't a mode, just an ability. Hagoromo effortlessly mastered natural energy. The energy was right there, and he could just take it and use it. Neither of the brothers' faces showed any sign of eye shadow markings. They learned it in two days.
Sage Mode cannot be copied by the Sharingan. Ino could only watch from a distance.
After teaching the two brothers how to use natural energy, Gamamaru handed Hagoromo a piece of paper the size of an A4 sheet, with a large character for "Sage" (仙) written on the front. He left with a "Good luck to you, brothers," and then bolted.
While the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura were hard at work practicing Sage Mode, Ino was also making preparations.
She hadn't touched the Power of Six Paths at all, but just having that energy residing in her body had brought her unimaginable benefits.
Previously, her recovery ability mainly came from the reanimated Hashirama Senju. At that time, Hashirama was already dead, and Ashura had awakened in Naruto's body with most of his chakra, so Hashirama's gift to Ino was actually very small.
Afterward, through delivering letters and casual chats, she managed to scrounge a bit of Ashura's chakra, but all of that combined only gave Ino a very rudimentary recovery ability—a beginner-level Sage Body.
Now, with the Power of Six Paths entering her chakra pathways, her constitution was changing every day. This change was much more powerful than that from Ashura's chakra. One was the son, the other the father; they were on completely different levels.
If Naruto could recover 50 points of mana per second, and Ino could recover 1 point per minute, she was now at a level of about 10 points per minute—10 times faster! And this improvement showed no signs of stopping. She felt she could already be called an intermediate-level Sage Body user.
Ino's Yang Release had been improved by shifting blame, and she had never been very good at using it. Even at the same level, its practical application was clearly inferior to her hard-practiced Yin Release.
Now, the old fossil's Power of Six Paths contained a very high level of Yin-Yang Release. This stuff was profound and mysterious, and she couldn't understand the specifics of how it worked. But from time to time, letting the Power of Six Paths circulate in her body would make her Yang Release more agile. With Yin and Yang complementing each other, the Spiraling Ring, which she had only started and then couldn't continue practicing, now had a new direction for research.
The cellular damage caused by nearly awakening her Mangekyō Sharingan twice was slowly being repaired. Ino's sensory abilities, lifespan, poison resistance, and ability to withstand harsh environments all improved to varying degrees. This improvement had nothing to do with combat, but was actually an advancement in her level of life itself.
Currently, the most useful ability for her was the intermediate Sage Body.
She formed a hand seal—Multiple Shadow Clone Technique! She created one hundred shadow clones, then rested. After her chakra was fully restored, she used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique again, repeating the process.
Only when the number of shadow clones exceeded five hundred did she feel she had a bit of confidence.
After participating in the war for half a year, if you were to ask what her biggest gain was, it would be that her way of thinking had made great progress.
Ino, following Shikamaru's habits, listed out the numerous unfavorable conditions and prepared response plans. Then, she sent out the shadow clones according to her plan. The main body hid far away, preparing to officially intervene in the event and make contact with the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura today.
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