"Someday, you'll become someone like the Sage of Six Paths."
Naruto caught that key phrase in the White Snake Sage's words.
She didn't think he had surpassed the Sage yet—and Naruto was fine with that.
After all, his opponents so far had been too weak. Right now, in the entire ninja world, there weren't many people he could even compare himself to. Maybe Nagato at full strength could count. The likes of the Two-Tails or the Fourth Raikage? They could only act tough in front of ordinary people.
Even the Five Kage, the pinnacle of conventional power, were just there to cheer and shout "Amazing!" when the real gods came out to fight in the later stages of the story.
Naruto wasn't sure if the White Snake Sage had seen through all his power or just part of it—but one thing was clear: a thousand-year-old being like her was no simple creature.
Power, or battle strength, is a vague concept. It's not something you can reduce to clean numerical values.
Who's stronger than who? That's all theoretical—until they actually fight.
Most importantly, in the later stages of the Naruto world, the power scaling goes completely off the charts.
Since Madara's arrival, the stakes had skyrocketed.
Even early "gods" of the series became nothing but cannon fodder later on.
Naruto had tried to measure his own strength before. The destructive power of Demon King Piccolo's full-power strike, for example, felt similar to Madara's Chibaku Tensei.
Of course, that was just Naruto's speculation. It wasn't exactly a fair comparison—not even the same universe.
"Still, the White Snake Sage—despite the 'Sage' title—is ultimately just a surface-dwelling lifeform. Even after living for a thousand years, her worldview is still very limited."
Naruto and Sasuke followed her into the deeper parts of Ryūchidō, arriving at a vast open-air space.
As he walked, Naruto's gaze drifted upward—toward the sky.
And beyond the sky… was space.
In space existed a race called the Ōtsutsuki.
The Ōtsutsuki were much like the Frieza Force from Dragon Ball—they plundered other worlds. But while Frieza sold planets, the Ōtsutsuki drained their life energy.
A thousand years ago, humanity on the surface of the ninja world was nearly wiped out by them—the result became the army of White Zetsu.
It was from that truth that Naruto's growing sense of crisis over the years had been born.
The Ōtsutsuki would return to the ninja world eventually.
It was only a matter of time.
While other ninja still obsessed over surface-level wars, Naruto was already looking out to space.
"Strike back against the Ōtsutsuki."
Naruto set himself a small goal.
For anyone limited to just the Naruto universe, such a goal would sound insane—delusional.
But ever since Kakarot had appeared within him, this dream… didn't seem so impossible anymore.
"Once I'm strong enough, I'll go to the Ōtsutsuki's home planet and wipe them out."
"Only question is… can the ninja world's tech even build a spaceship?"
"Doesn't seem like I can fly through space using just ki."
Back to the present—
"Sage Mode requires exceptional talent," the White Snake Sage explained in her signature rasp as she began teaching Naruto and Sasuke about Sage Arts.
"Out of millions of ninja, you might not even find one who qualifies."
Take Orochimaru, for example. He was a genius by any standard—even the Third Hokage had called him a "ninjutsu professor."
Yet even he couldn't learn Senjutsu.
He simply didn't have the aptitude.
That's why he created the Cursed Seal system instead.
If there was a better, more complete option available, why else would he waste time making a flawed substitute?
"Sasuke-kun, that mark on your neck… it's one of Orochimaru's, isn't it?" the White Snake Sage asked, easily spotting the seal hidden on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Not bad as a sealing technique—but it won't slip past these old eyes."
"Orochimaru really was a genius… developing a seal that mimics Senjutsu. Too bad he lacked the potential to learn it himself."
"Otherwise, he might've truly stood at the top of the Sage path."
"Let me remove it for you," she offered.
"No need."
Sasuke refused coldly. He wasn't the type to easily accept help from others.
Then, activating his Mangekyō Sharingan, the hexagram in his left eye lit up.
"Analyzing. Curse Mark fused with chakra. Can be disassembled."
Hearing the mechanical voice inside him, Sasuke nodded.
"Disassemble."
"Confirmed. Disassembling."
A hexagram appeared over Sasuke's right shoulder. As it spun rapidly, the cursed seal broke down into countless particles—completely erased.
Sasuke's Mangekyō abilities were:
Left Eye – "Ōkuninushi no Mikoto": Analysis
Right Eye – "Shuten": Disassembly
Both were born from Sasuke's strong desire to "find answers and solve problems."
They weren't overwhelmingly powerful—but extremely practical.
"No wonder… you really are Indra's reincarnation. Those eyes are still terrifyingly strong," the White Snake Sage said with rare admiration.
To enter Sage Mode, one had to balance Natural Energy, Physical Energy, and Spiritual Energy in a perfect 1:1:1 ratio to generate Senjutsu chakra.
The key was mastering balance.
Once you achieved that, you could step into Sage Mode.
Physical energy was essentially Yang Release, spiritual energy was Yin Release.
Naruto had already been training both for a long time.
The only unfamiliar concept… was Natural Energy.
"What is Natural Energy exactly?" Naruto asked, clearly confused.
The White Snake Sage didn't answer—instead, she raised a finger and tapped the center of Naruto's forehead.
No matter how much you explain, nothing beats experiencing it yourself.
The moment Naruto felt the Natural Energy she channeled into him, he froze.
It wasn't that he'd never seen it before.
It was… too familiar.
"Ki?"
Or more accurately—not his own inner ki, but a special kind of ki drawn from nature itself.
Naruto had seen it before—when training with Kakarot.
Genki. Spirit Energy.
"Natural Energy is the most powerful force in this world. Everything depends on it. It's everywhere, yet intangible—something truly mysterious," the White Snake Sage said patiently.
"I spent quite some time before I could even sense it myself."
While she kindly guided Naruto, Sasuke was left to train under Tagitsuhime, whose methods were… significantly less gentle.
The moment Sasuke's focus slipped, she'd raise her little whip and lash it across him.
"Naruto, don't stress over not sensing Senjutsu chakra right away. All you need to do is grasp the feeling of it."
"Then, with the aid of Ryūchidō's special tools, you'll improve your perception rapidly."
As she went on with her lecture, Naruto raised his right hand.
"Like this?"
In his palm, a faint glowing orb began to form.
This was just the most basic form of the Spirit Bomb (Genki Dama). He had barely scratched the surface of it when Kakarot disappeared. All he could do now was absorb traces of spirit energy from the surrounding air—not enough to form a full-fledged attack like Kakarot.
But when the White Snake Sage saw the glowing orb…
Her eyeballs almost popped out.
"Did he just grab Natural Energy… in his palm?"
"What did you just say?" Naruto asked, distracted by his focus on gathering genki and having missed her last words.
The White Snake Sage stared at him, the rest of her sentence stuck in her throat.
Finally, she choked out:
"…What are you?"
Naruto: "???"
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