Fukasaku, perched on Jiraiya's shoulder, had been secretly observing Naruto.
Seeing that he was calm and at ease, he couldn't help but be a little surprised.
"Rumble~~~"
The Toad Oil Waterfall roared, its golden oil shimmering with a strange luster in the sunlight.
"Naruto!"
Jiraiya's voice was loud and solemn.
"What I'm about to teach you next is a power that transcends the realm of ordinary Ninjutsu—Sage Mode!"
"This is the ultimate technique for perfectly harmonizing one's own Chakra with the natural energy in the world, forming a more powerful 'Sage Art Chakra'! It brings a terrifying, all-encompassing improvement in perception, strength, speed, and defense! However, it is extremely dangerous! Once you fail, your body will be eroded by natural energy, turning into a toad stone statue, forever remaining here!"
He pointed to the several toad stone sculptures of various poses by the waterfall, his tone low and solemn: "Do you see them, Naruto?"
"These are all failures who tried to master Sage Art power but were ultimately devoured by natural energy. They couldn't complete the harmonization of Chakra and natural energy; both their bodies and minds were assimilated, forever solidifying here, becoming part of Mount Myōboku. This is the consequence of failing to cultivate Sage Art."
"So, the first step, and also the most crucial and difficult step—calm your mind and feel and absorb natural energy!"
"This requires extreme focus, powerful Chakra control, and… a little bit of luck."
"Fukasaku and I will guide you, but ultimately it's up to you. Are you ready?"
Naruto stood beneath the Toad Oil Waterfall, feeling the omnipresent, surging energy in the air that seemed to permeate his bones. There was no fear in his clear blue eyes; instead, they were filled with a eager light: "Of course I'm ready, Pervert Sage! Let's do it!"
"Good!"
Jiraiya nodded.
"First, try to enter a state of 'stillness,' like a stone blending into nature. Then, concentrate your mind and imagine your body like a sponge, slowly absorbing the invisible, intangible, but truly existing 'qi' in the surrounding air—"
He was about to explain in detail how to guide Chakra to capture and merge with natural energy, and how to resist its erosion, saying "absorbing the surrounding qi—"
Naruto closed his eyes and began to use his Blood Demon Art.
Jiraiya nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, just like that, take your time, don't rush, feel it—it's already amazing if you can vaguely sense it in the first step—"
"If you can't feel it, it's okay, you can use toad oil to assist—"
However, before he could finish his sentence, a sudden change occurred!
Around Naruto's closed eyes, several slender, translucent, ribbon-like golden streamers suddenly appeared without warning.
These streamers were not solidified Chakra; they emitted a more ethereal, more primordial aura, as if extending directly from the void!
Even more astonishing, as soon as these streamers appeared, they began to wildly dance like living things!
They greedily and efficiently absorbed the dense, almost palpable natural energy in the air of Mount Myōboku.
Visibly, vortex-like energy flows even appeared in the air, frantically converging towards Naruto and being sucked into his body by those streamers.
"What—what is this?!"
Jiraiya's eyes nearly popped out, and his jaw dropped to the ground.
He could clearly feel that the dense natural energy around him was being "plundered" by Naruto at an unprecedented speed and in an unimaginable way!
Fukasaku even jumped directly from Jiraiya's shoulder, croaking in astonishment: "Impossible! This, this isn't Mount Myōboku's Sage Art absorption method!"
"This feeling is so strange! But also so overbearing!"
Jiraiya was both shocked and puzzled, but he didn't hesitate. He quickly explained the complete method of cultivating Sage Mode to Naruto: "
Naruto, listen! Absorbing natural energy is just the first step, and then there's—"
Ten minutes later.
Naruto suddenly opened his eyes.
Around his eyelids, clear, powerful red eye shadow appeared.
That was the mark of perfect Sage Mode!
At the same time, a powerful, profound aura filled with natural majesty erupted like a storm from his small body!
"Is this Sage Mode? It feels good!"
Naruto looked excited, his voice full of vigor, carrying a strange sense of resonance.
He instinctively raised his hand and lightly pressed against a millstone-sized rock nearby.
"Crack—Boom!"
That hard rock instantly shattered like tofu!
There was no violent explosion, only pure pulverization.
Jiraiya was completely petrified.
He stood with his mouth agape, looking at his disciple who had clear eye shadow, a vast aura, and contained natural power in every gesture, feeling as if his brain had stopped functioning.
"Ten…minutes…to completely master Sage Mode?"
"Clear eye shadow? Such perfect power amplification?"
"And—what are these streamers?"
"Why doesn't my Sage Mode have them?!"
Jiraiya's voice sounded as if it was squeezed from his throat, filled with an unbelievable sense of absurdity.
He had endured countless failures and years of bitterness at Mount Myōboku for this very step!
Fukasaku, an immortal who had lived for eight hundred years, had never seen such an outrageous sight!
Naruto looked at Jiraiya's dazed expression and only then noticed the white streamers floating around his body without wind, suddenly realizing.
When Jiraiya enters Sage Mode, his face clearly shows some toad features, such as a rosacea nose like a toad's back, and pupils that turn into black horizontal bars, and there are no streamers around his body.
Naruto's streamers should be formed by Blood Demon Art.
Fukasaku jumped onto Jiraiya's shoulder and poked his stiff face with a small paw: "Little Jiraiya… this child seems to no longer need us to teach him…"
"And it's very strange; his Sage Mode is exceptionally stable, nothing like Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode."
Fukasaku really wanted to call his old partner over to study this "freak" together.
Jiraiya looked at the stably present Sage eye shadow on Naruto, felt the perfectly balanced, surging Sage Art Chakra within his body, and then recalled the perilous, toad-transforming pain he experienced when merging with natural energy back then—a huge, inexpressible sense of frustration and absurdity welled up in his heart again.
"Even the most difficult and riskiest Sage Mode was mastered in only ten minutes—"
Jiraiya muttered to himself, distraught, his eyes hollow.
He suddenly clutched his head and let out a furious cry: "What the hell is there left to teach?!!!"
"Fukasaku-sama! I feel like my 'Sage' title is a joke! Is my purpose in existence just to have my understanding constantly shattered by this kid?!"
"Croak!"
"Am I useless?"
"Croak—"