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After waiting for Jūgo to return to the site of Orochimaru's collected scrolls, Midorima had a serious discussion with him. They ultimately decided to relocate from this place.
After all, this place was essentially Orochimaru's "legacy." Out of respect for the deceased, Midorima was reluctant to damage it.
Additionally, there was an even more important reason—the space was too small. Midorima was afraid that practicing just a few ninjutsu might cause the entire cave to collapse.
Subsequently, the two moved to a mountaintop nearby.
Using Wood Release, Midorima constructed a two-story house in one smooth process, leaving Jūgo utterly dumbfounded.
Midorima patted Jūgo's shoulder. "Stay calm."
However, even with a temporary residence secured, the frown on Jūgo's face didn't completely disappear.
He had worries.
The place Midorima had chosen was pristine, with clear waters and blue skies, surrounded by trees—an area abundant with natural energy.
Due to his special physique, Jūgo was prone to losing control in such an environment.
"Are you sure... it's really okay? Can I stay here?" Jūgo asked anxiously.
"It's fine," Midorima said without a trace of concern. "Look, this place is remote. Besides you and me, finding a third person would be difficult. Even if you lose control, you won't hurt anyone else. Besides, aren't I here? I'll stop you."
"I'm afraid I might kill you," Jūgo said, even more worried after Midorima's reassurance.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Midorima was displeased. "I am fully capable of stopping you. So, please put your heart at ease. However, you should also think of a solution; you can't stay like this forever. If you can control the natural energy you absorb, not only can you avoid unnecessary casualties, but you can also increase your own strength, consciously directing that power to where it's needed more. This is crucial for you."
Jūgo looked at his own hands, his expression grave. His confidence wasn't strong, but he finally nodded.
He also understood, as Midorima said, that as long as he couldn't control this power, he would have to worry about whether he might hurt others.
So, why not use this time to learn to overcome the fear?
"If I lose control, you must stop me," Jūgo urged.
"Understood," Midorima nodded.
"Try not to hurt me too much," Jūgo added.
"Understood," Midorima nodded again.
"And also..."
"Understood! Are you going or not!?" Midorima kicked Jūgo out of the house.
Time was exceptionally precious to Midorima; he didn't have much to waste.
After his confrontation with Obito, Midorima had a rough estimate of his own strength.
He hadn't used Wood Release, but Obito also hadn't gone all out. Under those circumstances, the situation reached a stalemate.
This meant that currently, he was most likely evenly matched with Obito, and that was with Obito having only one Mangekyō Sharingan eye.
What if Obito retrieved his second eye from Kakashi?
While this didn't happen in the original manga, Midorima couldn't rule out the possibility. After all, given all the "meddling" he had done over this period, the storyline had changed dramatically from the original.
What was even more frustrating was that Obito's strength in the Naruto world wasn't among the absolute top tier.
Even Konan nearly killed Obito, let alone the Six Paths of Pain.
They nearly destroyed Konoha, displaying combat strength superior to Obito's; they just weren't as underhanded as him.
Besides Akatsuki, there were the Kage of the various shinobi villages, whose strength was equally formidable. Additionally, if Midorima's luck was bad, he might even face Six Paths Obito and Six Paths Madara...
Just listing a few of the more notable figures made Midorima feel immense pressure, fueling his drive to learn ninjutsu even more.
However, the ninjutsu he had selected were all ones he had carefully chosen, and their chakra consumption was incredibly exaggerated—just raising the "Threefold Rashōmon," then immediately using "Ocean of Trees" or "Advent of a World of Trees" several times in a row left Midorima completely drained.
Late at night, Midorima would drag his exhausted body to jump into a stream, wash away the fatigue, then return to his dwelling and fall straight to sleep.
This cycle repeated.
During this period, Jūgo rarely returned, but every time he did, he would have new wounds.
The wounds healed easily enough, but his clothes were more troublesome.
Within a few days, Jūgo's upper garment was torn to shreds, and what remained of his pants only reached his mid-thighs, looking utterly disheveled. Fortunately, there were no outsiders here, and Jūgo seemed to be in good spirits, suggesting he had made some progress.
Out of the over one hundred ninjutsu, excluding forbidden techniques like "Impure World Reincarnation" that required mediums, and techniques like "Advent of a World of Flowering Trees" with their extremely exaggerated chakra consumption, as well as various Sage Techniques, Midorima roughly mastered sixty to seventy ninjutsu over the course of two months.
Finally, the previous dilemma presented itself once more—how to utilize the natural energy absorbed by the "Jūgo cells."
Logically speaking, Jūgo's ability to absorb natural energy allowed him to enter a Sage Transformation state. This meant his attacks were akin to Sage Techniques; he just lost control in places with excessive natural energy.
Did this mean Midorima could directly use the natural energy absorbed by the "Jūgo cells" to achieve Sage Transformation himself, thereby facilitating the use of Sage Techniques?
Midorima pondered this question seriously but never dared to attempt it.
Sage Techniques and ninjutsu were two completely different systems. Sage Techniques required balancing natural energy, spiritual energy, and physical energy in a 1:1:1 ratio to produce Sage Chakra.
But this also posed a problem: once the balance of these three energies was lost, severe consequences could occur—if natural energy was weak while physical and spiritual energy were strong, Sage Mode wouldn't manifest. Conversely, if natural energy dominated, facial markings would appear, like with Sage Jiraiya or Sage Kabuto. In more severe cases, one could turn to stone.
Therefore, the best approach was to have someone act as a teacher to instruct him in Sage Techniques.
Mount Myōboku had a good relationship with Jiraiya, and Midorima's relationship with Jiraiya... was nonexistent. It went without saying that he had little chance of going to Mount Myōboku.
As for the Shikkotsu Forest, Tsunade indeed had connections there, but she likely wouldn't be willing to help either, his identity and situation is too complicated.
That left only the Ryūchi Cave.
Judging from Kabuto becoming a sage of the Ryūchi Cave, the requirements regarding one's origins there probably weren't strict.
Although Midorima didn't particularly like Orochimaru or Sage Kabuto either, this was indeed the only opportunity. Moreover, he might find some clues about reaching the Ryūchi Cave among Orochimaru's collection.
Even Jūgo might learn how to control the natural energy within his body at the Ryūchi Cave.
Considering everything, the Ryūchi Cave was indeed worth a visit.
He would discuss this with Jūgo once he returned.
Just as Midorima made this decision, the sound of numerous trees falling suddenly erupted from the dense forest not far away.
He quickly turned around and saw a black shadow charging towards him at high speed—it was Jūgo, covered in dark skin.