Chapter 446: A New Mission?
Right now, Ino had two paths for enhancement: awaken the Mangekyō, or master Sage Mode. The two paths were opposite; the Mangekyō required drawing on furious power from within, while Sage Mode involved gathering stable natural energy from the outside.
Without much hesitation, Ino chose the latter.
The Mangekyō had a big name, but as Sasuke's Amaterasu showed, Mangekyō dōjutsu was basically useless against Kaguya. Ino had been stimulated by the Rinnegan once and by the Power of Six Paths once, both times bringing her to the verge of awakening the Mangekyō, but she had forcefully suppressed it.
The Sharingan-using ninjas after Hagoromo were actually taking a detour, but they had no choice. Their inherent conditions were fixed. They had to walk this winding path even if they knew it was one.
The Mangekyō was a pit they had to jump into.
Ino had a feeling that if she awakened her Mangekyō Sharingan now, not to mention its specific abilities, the eye itself would not be perfect and would cause great damage to her body.
To go directly from the three-tomoe Sharingan to the Eternal Mangekyō was not just a matter of accumulating ocular power; the body needed to keep up as well.
The Eternal Mangekyō was a means of repairing genetic damage, not a necessary part of evolution. If the body was healthy, there wouldn't be any problems.
Obito used his Mangekyō for over a decade with Hashirama's cells, controlled the Fourth Mizukage, controlled the Nine-Tails, and frequently went intangible during battles. For so many years, he never went blind, nor did he have any terminal illness. His body was in great shape.
To use the Mangekyō, the body is key.
Ino planned to continue accumulating power in her eyes for a while. For now, she would focus on Sage Mode.
Having a teacher was so much better than fumbling around in the dark by herself.
The Ōtsutsuki Sage Mode that Hagoromo had modified himself had incredibly high requirements. Fortunately, Ino had the Sharingan, an intermediate Sage Body, and was now loosely related to the Ōtsutsuki clan. The ten-percent-plus of the Power of Six Paths in her body was still slowly modifying her, evolving her bloodline in the direction of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Hagoromo had the talent to found Ninshū and was very gifted at teaching disciples. Plus, the observational power of the Rinnegan was countless times stronger than the Sharingan.
Whenever Ino failed to blend natural energy in her body, Hagoromo would immediately disperse the excess energy.
At Mount Myōboku, the elder toad Fukasaku would use a black rod to disperse Naruto's excess natural energy to prevent him from turning to stone. Hagoromo didn't have such fine control.
He seemed to assume Ino's constitution was as tough as his and his brother's. Every time, he would hit her with the Rinnegan's repulsive force.
The huge repulsive force hitting her body not only sent Ino flying but also dispersed the out-of-control natural energy.
As for the effect? It was certainly there.
Hagoromo mastered Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode in half a day, then spent another half a day modifying it. Ino, on the other hand, took eleven days to complete the initial training.
Before entering Sage Mode, she needed two to three minutes of preparation time. Instant activation was impossible.
In this world a thousand years ago, because of the God Tree's existence, the violent and malevolent natural energy had all been absorbed. Only in some remote corners could one find some natural energy, and this energy was relatively peaceful. The process of Ino using her physical and spiritual energy to harmonize with it went quite smoothly.
Sensing, discovering, communicating, and controlling. After Ino entered Sage Mode, purple stripes appeared around the corners of her eyes, and two faint white dots, like Kaguya's, appeared between her eyebrows.
According to Hagoromo, it was best to maintain Sage Mode at all times to let the natural energy nourish the body for the best training effect.
To this, Ino could only "heh heh." Never mind the mental effort required to maintain it, her own chakra couldn't withstand such an exaggerated consumption.
Ino was hard at work training in Sage Mode, Hagoromo was exploring the many functions of the Rinnegan, and Hamura was training his Byakugan, so that at least it wouldn't be a hindrance the next time he fought his mother.
As three of the four great rebels, their presence was a huge target. And it was true; on this planet now, only the three of them had chakra of the same origin. As the progenitor of chakra, it was only a matter of time before Kaguya Ōtsutsuki found them.
The reason this great figure hadn't acted yet was probably because she wasn't in a hurry. With an infinite lifespan, her way of thinking and perceiving time was completely different from that of ordinary intelligent life.
Was this really her mindset? Ino didn't know. Anyway, she was counting the days. As soon as the Treasured Tool, Plow's cooldown was over, she could say goodbye to Six-sensei.
Whether it was the Rinnegan or Sage Mode, the commotion the three of them made while training was enormous. To avoid interference, they separated and trained on their own.
Six-sensei still assumed Ino had enough survival experience and hiding techniques. Ino indeed didn't need anyone to hold her hand in these aspects. They trained dozens of li apart from each other.
Ino was sitting in front of a waterfall, diligently training in Sage Mode, when Gamamaru, who had been gone for a while, appeared before her once again.
"Hey, little girl, are you Hagoromo's disciple?"
A dozen days ago, Ino was an undocumented person. Now, she was not.
"Yes, I am my master's disciple."
Gamamaru looked at her carefully. Ino was quite calm at first, but after three or four seconds, she knew that the toad in front of her had probably discovered that she was from the future. Whether it was through prophecy or some other means, she didn't know.
"Please, Great Sage, you must keep this a secret."
Gamamaru didn't dwell on her origins. Instead, he said a lot of bad things about Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. The gist of it was that the Rabbit Goddess was now the enemy of all living beings, and only by eliminating her would the world be saved.
Ino gave a series of "sōdesune" in agreement. That's right, I came all this way to help you in your uprising.
Unifying their thinking was important. After Gamamaru confirmed she was on their side, he finally stated his purpose for coming.
"Hagoromo is very busy, but there is now a matter that must be dealt with. Are you willing to help?"
"Of course I am! Just tell me what it is. If I can help, I definitely will." Ino couldn't wait to get through the last few remaining days. Kaguya was simply too fierce. Naruto went from version 1.0 half-Tailed Beast mode, to 2.0 Sage Mode, to 3.0 Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, then 4.0 Kurama Mode, 5.0 Sage Fox Mode, and finally, after a power-up from Six-sensei in the afterlife, reached 6.0 Six Paths Sage Mode, and only then could he trade a few blows with Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
Ino had just entered Sage Mode. For a version 2.0 character like her to fight the version 6.0 final boss, the pressure was immense.
A jutsu as damaging to one's dignity as the Reverse Harem Jutsu could only be used once. Use it again? She was afraid Kaguya would tear her limb from limb. Besides, it wasn't appropriate. She was now Hagoromo's first disciple. Behind closed doors, they were all family. Could she use such a jutsu on her own grandmother?
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