Chapter 111: Sage Mode and the Part That Wasn't in the Plan
In the vast underground cavern, the strange stone pillars stood in a hazy purple mist.
Dana was floating cross-legged in a giant sphere of acid, his spine continuously absorbing the rich natural energy of Shikkotsu Forest.
It had been four days since he had started training in Sage Mode.
Katsuyu, her body as large as a mountain, had come to see him again.
"Yotsuki-kun," her pleasant voice echoed in his mind, "how are you feeling today?"
Dana opened his eyes and checked his condition. "Something seems to be different today."
"Different how?" she asked, curious.
"The speed... it's getting faster."
He hadn't noticed any change before, so he hadn't paid it much attention. But now, he could feel that the rate of absorption was significantly faster than last night.
But... some things were reaching their limit.
His stomach rumbled. Dana's face turned pale.
"Are you hungry, Yotsuki-kun?" Katsuyu asked enthusiastically. "I've just developed a new dish. It's much better than the last one. Would you like to try it?"
His face turned even paler. He didn't know how she could have heard his stomach rumble from a distance of several stories, but he remembered his last unpleasant dining experience and decided he could hold out a little longer.
It had been a glob of some thick, unknown liquid, created with her signature "Omnipotent Acid" and then spat at him with her "Oral Transmission Jutsu: Hock-tooey." Since then, he had politely declined all of her "food." But she was undeterred. In her long life, she probably hadn't had many opportunities to cook for someone. She had been searching for "ingredients" in Shikkotsu Forest, trying to create a unique dish for him.
The latest version, he had heard, included moss, mushrooms, and a very nutritious type of insect, with a "three-dimensional texture" that preserved the "original flavor of the food."
The thought of it...
After careful consideration, he decided to refuse. He could hold out a little longer. It was almost time for him to go back to the village. The first phase of his sage training was about to end.
Just as he was about to speak, he felt the absorption rate of his spine increase again. It's only been a few moments. How has it gotten so much faster?
Even Katsuyu had noticed the anomaly. His current speed was astonishing.
"Yotsuki-kun," she said urgently, "are you feeling any discomfort?"
He checked himself over but found nothing wrong. But the absorption rate was still increasing. A few moments later, a vortex of air began to form around him, a result of the massive amount of natural energy being drawn to him. The special acid sphere, under the pressure of the natural energy, quickly lost its effectiveness and dissipated into an ordinary liquid. But his absorption rate only increased.
Katsuyu, fearing that without the buffer of the acid, his training would go wrong, supplemented it with a large amount of new acid, but that, too, quickly lost its effectiveness.
Dana closed his eyes, his hair blowing in the wind. He had a feeling that something was about to change, that he was about to become like Katsuyu and the Great Toad Sage, a one-in-a-million being, that his physical body was about to undergo a transformation.
The tide of natural energy continued to surge, accelerating towards him. It reached its peak, and then, just as suddenly, it subsided. The wind died down.
A crisp, cracking sound. As if something had broken free from its shackles.
The lower part of his spine, from his waist down, had turned from purple to gold. His lumbar vertebrae and tailbone emitted a faint golden light, and then the strange phenomenon faded, hidden beneath his skin and flesh.
He carefully examined the changes and began to understand. So that's how it is.
With a thought, the chakra in his body, without his control, automatically combined with the vast amount of natural energy in his spine, forming sage chakra.
Without any movement on his part, his hair began to float. Pale blue, lightning-shaped markings appeared at the corners of his eyes, extending up to his temples, crackling with electrical light. A vertical, lightning-shaped mark appeared between his eyebrows, forming a trident-like pattern with the markings at the corners of his eyes, making him look like a roaring bolt of thunder.
He clenched his fists, feeling the surging power. He closed his eyes and activated his "pulse" vision. Shikkotsu Forest, whose boundaries he had not been able to perceive before, was now clearly defined. He didn't know how much his range had expanded.
So this is Sage Mode.
It was different from the Sage Mode he knew. The markings on his face glowed and crackled with electricity, the difference between paint and an LED strip. It was likely because he had used lightning-natured chakra instead of non-elemental chakra. Even with all her knowledge, Katsuyu had never heard of such a thing.
And, he thought, if before, lightning chakra was like clay in my hands, to be molded at will, now... it's like my own hand, a part of my body.
A ball of lightning chakra appeared in his hand. It did not spin like a Rasengan, nor did it shoot out like a ninjutsu. It flowed like mercury, changing into various shapes, a lifelike little snake, then a goofy-looking slug.
He had not just mastered the Sage Mode of Shikkotsu Forest, but his own, unique Sage Mode.
A playful urge came over him. He was about to explore this miraculous new ability when his stomach rumbled again. His face fell, and the LED-like markings faded. He hung his head, weakened.
Well, he thought, even a sage has to eat. And a sage needs a bath.
"Lady Katsuyu," he said, "I have mastered Sage Mode. I've been away for a few days. I should be going."
Though she was a little disappointed that he hadn't tried her latest dish, she congratulated him. "Then I will send you back to the location of the contract scroll."
She had sealed the summoning passage to Shikkotsu Forest to refuse new contractors, but she had now reopened it.
"No need," he said. "I have a pre-set Reverse Summoning." He was in a hurry to get home, take a bath, and eat. He didn't know where the contract scroll had been put away.
He bowed to her. "Thank you for your hospitality," he said. "I will be going now."
"Safe travels, Yotsuki-kun," she said, her antennae twitching.
He formed a hand seal and disappeared from Shikkotsu Forest.
Land of Fire, Outskirts of the Forest of Death
Kayo was carrying Kushina, cornered by a dozen Root ninja, her face filled with panic.
This wasn't in the plan! What do I do? Wait, I have the thing Onii-chan Dana gave me!
She quickly took a small scroll from her ninja pouch. On it was written the character for "summon."
When she had graduated, Dana had given this scroll to her and Hiroto, telling them to use it if they were ever in danger. She had always carried it with her. And this was the most dangerous situation she had ever been in.
She unrolled the scroll, activated it, and threw it in front of her.
Poof.
A milky-white, arm-length snake appeared on the ground, coiled up and apparently asleep.
Kayo's face fell. What is this thing supposed to do? Did Onii-chan Dana make a mistake?
Even the bound Kushina looked confused.
The little white snake, as if just waking up, opened its eyes and found itself surrounded by a group of menacing ninja. It jumped in fright and slithered up Kayo's body.
"Hiss! (You scared me! What's going on?! This wasn't in the plan!)"
"Are you kidding me?!" Kayo hissed at the snake on her head. "Do something! Why are you hiding?!"
The leader of the Root ninja didn't even bother to give a surrender ultimatum. He just held out his hands, and a swarm of black insects flew from his body, like a black cloud, and enveloped them. Kayo felt the insects around her releasing some kind of gas. Her eyelids grew heavy, and the already weak Kushina passed out.
The little white snake on her head's eyes lit up. Its intelligence had finally rebooted. It remembered what it was supposed to do.
"Is it done?" one of the Root ninja asked his captain, looking at the black cloud of insects.
"Take them back to the base," the Aburame clan ninja replied.
Just then, a poof sound came from within the cloud.
Before they could react, a flash of lightning erupted, and the insects were electrocuted, falling to the ground. And the people inside were gone.
A figure leaped from the cloud and landed on a large tree.
Kayo, breathing in the fresh air, slowly regained her senses. The first thing she saw was a set of eight well-defined abs. A drop of water slid down them, and she could smell the faint scent of soap.
The completely naked Dana was holding her under one arm and Kushina under the other. He even had a bar of soap in one hand and a toothbrush in his mouth, his head still covered in shampoo.
His face was a mask of fury.
"Dammit! This wasn't in the plan!"