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Seeing this, Asachi Midorima also felt surprised.
Over the past two months, the two had coexisted peacefully, giving Midorima an illusion that Jūgo had already gained control over his body.
However, this moment, with the sudden appearance of the berserk Jūgo, still shocked Midorima.
In the blink of an eye, Jūgo was in front of him, his face ferocious, his eyes revealing a terrifying, malevolent aura.
Savage, cruel, bloodthirsty.
Midorima immediately used "Shunkan" to create distance between himself and Jūgo. Simultaneously, he formed hand seals, and a gigantic tree erupted from the ground, blocking Jūgo's path.
Using his Cursed Seal-enhanced arm, Jūgo shattered the tree and prepared to charge at Midorima again, but more trees grew wildly.
Frustrated, Jūgo unleashed the "Multi-Lotus Blast."
Cells, like barnacles, fired compressed chakra cannons in all directions, smashing the repeatedly sprouting trees to pieces.
Roars echoed through the mountains, carrying for hundreds of meters. Birds fled the forest in panic.
Midorima concentrated fully, not daring to be careless in the slightest.
The chakra cannons that pierced through the trees shot straight towards Midorima. He swiftly dodged using body movements while performing an Earth Release technique again.
After multiple attempts, Jūgo's body was finally bound by vines. The vines rapidly coiled around his body, and soon, only his head was visible.
Jūgo struggled desperately, seemingly trying to break free, but each struggle only made the vines bind tighter. Eventually, the slender branches even cut into his flesh, yet Jūgo still didn't cease his struggles.
"I want to kill... kill... kill..." Jūgo's mouth hung open, the ferocity in his eyes undiminished.
"Enough!" Midorima slapped Jūgo's face. "Snap out of it. There's no one here for you to kill."
"Kill!"
"Hurry up and come to your senses!" Midorima held Jūgo's face with both hands. "If you don't wake up now, you'll become like this permanently!"
Jūgo didn't calm down because of Midorima's words, but after multiple struggles, his body was completely immobilized, unable to move at all.
After repeated, futile attempts, Jūgo also showed signs of fatigue. The cursed markings on his body gradually faded, and soon, he began regaining consciousness.
"I... I..." Jūgo panted heavily, his mood despondent. "I'm sorry... I lost control again."
"It can't be helped. As you are now, due to lacking ability, you still can't control your own energy." Midorima sighed.
Jūgo remained silent, his eyes showing disappointment.
He had really tried hard these past two months.
He could clearly feel that even in places brimming with natural energy, he could now restrain himself. However, this restraint wasn't about suppressing the desire to kill; it was about absorbing as little natural energy as possible.
For this entire time, he had been using this method to maintain his reason, but it also gave him an illusion—that he was capable of staying calm even while absorbing large amounts of natural energy.
The result was this crisis.
Midorima dispelled the jutsu, freeing Jūgo. Looking at Jūgo's attire, he frowned.
The long pants had been worn into shorts, and the shirt was gone. Now, he looked no different from a savage.
Midorima stared at Jūgo for over ten seconds, then shook his head. Whatever, it's not me who should be embarrassed, no need to worry.
"Clean yourself up. We're leaving this place," Midorima said.
"Leaving... here? But I still haven't gained control over my energy..." Jūgo quickly said.
"I know. But staying here any longer won't help, will it?" Midorima retorted.
Jūgo nodded.
"A bottleneck..." Midorima shrugged. "Both you and I have hit a bottleneck. To progress further, we need to use our brains."
"Use our brains?"
"Exactly. I want to learn Sage Techniques, and you can't fully control natural energy. So, learning how to master Sage Techniques is our goal for the foreseeable future."
"Including me?" Jūgo pointed at himself, surprised.
"Do you want to stay here alone?" Midorima countered.
Jūgo shook his head repeatedly, joy bursting from his eyes. When he looked at Midorima again, his feelings had completely changed.
In his understanding, Kimimaro was already a very good person.
Because Kimimaro could prevent the harm caused by his out of control without hurting him, Jūgo considered Kimimaro a good person.
Although Orochimaru imprisoned him, deprivation his freedom, and repeatedly drew his blood, he never resented Kimimaro.
He knew all this was deeply connected to his own body.
He didn't extravagant desire change; he only hoped not to hurt others—the remorse after regaining wide awake haunted him to this day.
And now, Midorima could not only stop him, giving him room for mistakes, but was even willing to help him enhance his own strength. This was practically treating him like a normal person.
He hadn't felt this way in a long time.
Jūgo restrained his emotions, trying to stay calm. "But... where are we going?"
"The three sacred lands, do you know them?"
Jūgo shook his head.
"They are Mount Myōboku, the Shikkotsu Forest, and the Ryūchi Cave. These places have 'Sages,' and 'Sages' can perform Sage Techniques. If we can find any of these three places, both our problems could be solved."
Jūgo rubbed his hands together repeatedly, his eyes shining. "Which sacred land are we going to?"
"Reaching Mount Myōboku and the Shikkotsu Forest is very difficult. So, we choose the Ryūchi Cave," Midorima said.
"Ryūchi Cave?" Jūgo repeated the name, finding it unfamiliar, and couldn't help asking, "How do we get there?"
"Good question." Midorima snapped his fingers. "I'd like to know that too."
"Huh!?" Jūgo was greatly disappointed.
So after all that talk, Midorima was just drawing empty promises.
"However, I don't know how to get there, but that doesn't mean no one knows," Midorima said with a smile.
"Who?"
"Orochimaru," Midorima said.
Because Orochimaru's body wasn't strong, he couldn't master Sage Techniques before obtaining a suitable vessel.
But Orochimaru not knowing Sage Techniques didn't mean he hadn't been to the Ryūchi Cave.
In fact, it was after reaching the Ryūchi Cave that he realized his body was too weak to withstand that kind of power.
Kabuto later must have obtained clues from Orochimaru and followed them to find the Ryūchi Cave.
Actually, the most convenient method would be to summon a large snake and have it lead the way, just as Fukasaku led Naruto to Mount Myōboku.
However, Orochimaru was dead. Even if Midorima knew the summoning technique, without a contract scroll, he couldn't summon a large snake. So, the most reliable approach now was still to find the clues leading to the Ryūchi Cave.