After his little experiment, the next few days were spent just chilling, training, and helping Tsunade around the medic area. He knew for certain his Special Jōnin rank would not last long. For fuck's sake, he forced a Jinchūriki to retreat... if that wasn't Jōnin material, he didn't know what was.
Also, as to why they couldn't sense the Bijū chakra in his own chakra... well, there were two reasons for that. One, they were all under his illusion. Two, the seal he had planted on himself before all of this started worked as a purifier, fusing the beast's chakra with his own—so as far as they were concerned, that was his chakra.
On a second note, his Hundred Healing Seal was full once more. Hm. He should really start feeding that thing more chakra.
Make the seal stronger and all.
Thankfully, the seal wasn't in his forehead—it was on his chest, so it could be hidden quite well.
Anyway, the boy was in the middle of perfecting his swordsmanship... you know, to be a better killer and all.
As he finished the fifth kata, he heard a voice in the background.
"Seijuro," she said calmly.
He slowly turned his head toward her.
"Tsunade-sensei, it is quite unusual for you to visit at such a time. Is there an emergency?" the boy said calmly. It was very early in the morning—we're talking like 5 a.m.—so the fact she was here was a bit odd. She didn't train until way later.
She muttered something about him being uptight before she finally asked the big question.
"The seal I gave you," she snapped, arms folded. "The summoning scroll."
His eyes cracked open slowly, blinking at her blearily.
"...The... summoning... scroll..." Seijuro's brow furrowed. He had genuinely forgotten about it. In his grand ambition to get stronger, he had ignored such an easy path to power.
Hm. It wasn't his fault—he had so many plays at play. But for real, he needed a spy network. Using his shadow clones was beginning to be... quite bothersome.
Hm. The Village Hidden in the Waterfall hadn't made a noise... which meant they did not figure out that he had stolen a very huge chunk of chakra from their Bijū. That was good.
"Seijuro."
Upon hearing his teacher's voice slightly raise, he sighed a bit, looked up at her before saying,
"It appears that I forgot. I apologize. My mind must have been too preoccupied with making seals and going on battles. I am sorry to appear so ungrateful for such a wonderful gift." The boy bowed to his teacher, truly sorry.
Tsunade's eye twitched a bit, but she controlled it. Knowing how much this boy overthought, she could let this slide... for now.
"Bring it out," she said in an authoritative voice.
And he listened to her, doing exactly as she wanted.
Wordlessly, she shoved the sealed scroll into his chest.
"Open it. Now."
He did as she asked.
Bit his thumb, drawing some blood, and noticed Tsunade's name above his, signed in blood. There was a random Senju name above hers, but oh well.
Speaking of Senju... holy shit, was this list just 90% Senju? Goddamn.
Though Hashirama's name was nowhere to be found.
Hm.
He signed it.
Poof.
A tiny portion of Katsuyu appeared—a cute, grapefruit-sized blob of healing goop and ancient chakra wisdom.
As the boy looked at the slug, he tilted his head.
"Sensei... what is this weird energy around her?" the boy asked cautiously. In his eyes, he felt something around the slug. His ass meditated a lot, and his soul was—well, let's say—quite close to nature. Yeah, let's go with that.
He had gone through the reincarnation cycle. He was definitely not cast out of heaven and thrown here. Hm. Wouldn't that just make him a fallen angel?
Anyway, he was curious.
Tsunade's brow furrowed.
"What are you talking about, Seijuro?" she asked, making sure of something.
"Hm... how do I explain myself... when she was summoned, there was this light earthy nature to her. It felt natural, like nature energy," the boy said with quite a thoughtful look.
Lady Katsuyu's little antennae seemed to perk up at that.
"How does that energy look like?" the slug asked.
"It's too faint to tell. There was a lot of it when you were summoned here, but now... I can barely feel a thing," Seijuro said honestly.
Katsuyu stayed quiet for a while... the boy could sense nature energy. And since Katsuyu had just come from her Sage area, somewhere filled with nature energy, she hadn't expected the boy to sense it.
"Tsunade-sama, it seems like your pupil has a knack for the Sage Art."
Seijuro was confused. The heck were they on about?
"Sage Art?" He looked confused.
The slug then explained what it was.
"Natural energy is a form of energy that exists in the atmosphere and the earth. By gathering the natural energy in the surroundings, you can mix it with your own, creating Senjutsu that allows you to enter Sage Mode."
"Can... I learn it?" That was just a curious question. He knew it existed now, so hey, add one more to his list of obsessions.
Katsuyu paused.
"You're not ready."
Oof.
"Excuse me?"
"You're too young. Your body can't handle the natural energy yet. Your chakra pool is large, yes—but wildly unstable. Come back to me only after you fix that."
Hm... so the Bijū chakra was messing with him. Oh well, he could fix that just fine.
"I assume if I practice it in this state... something catastrophic will happen to me."
"Yes. If you are unable to gather the nature energy properly, and unable to mix it with your own chakra, you'll turn to stone."
"I appreciate your guidance. I have one more question."
"Ask away," the slug said eagerly.
"How do I fix my problem?"
"Meditate," Katsuyu said simply. "Meditate and learn to feel nature chakra without absorbing it. Train the body to recognize the flow, not fight it. Think of it like tuning your senses. You must become aware before you can become one."
The slug turned back to Tsunade before saying,
"He might become a sage before you."
Ouch. Her pride. Why did her pride have to catch a stray like that?
Her pride was pounded harder than a widow during a shinobi war.
...don't ask questions.