After nearly two hours of conditioning, Kurama Yakumo's complexion had become noticeably rosier.
The slug perched on Yakumo's forehead slowly lifted its head and withdrew its feelers. "Kiyonari-sama, please extend your hand. Once I clean off the natural energy you've been exposed to, we'll be finished."
"Okay." Hyuga Kiyonari nodded and brought his hand close to the slug.
Just then, Yakumo asked curiously, "So what's the difference between natural energy and chakra?"
Katsuyu explained, "Chakra is the energy inside a shinobi's body, while natural energy is energy that exists in the natural world."
"Trees, rocks, air, flowing water… all natural things contain natural energy. It's only a matter of more or less. If through training you can perfectly fuse natural energy with chakra, then you can—"
Katsuyu's voice abruptly stopped. It looked at Kiyonari with obvious surprise.
"What is it? Is something wrong?"
A hurried voice came with the sound of the door sliding open—it was Hinata.
"Hinata?" Kiyonari looked surprised.
"W-wait—sorry… I… I was just worried about you, Kiyonari, so… I came to check…" Her voice grew smaller and smaller until it was almost inaudible.
Seeing how nervous and helpless she looked, Kiyonari couldn't help laughing softly. "It's okay. Thanks for worrying about me."
"That's really surprising…" Katsuyu's voice was full of admiration. "Kiyonari, your body's affinity with natural energy is extremely good."
"Affinity… good?"
Hinata blinked, not quite understanding what it meant, but it sounded like a good thing. Then—oh no!
In an instant, Hinata's cheeks flushed red. She turned as if to run, but Kiyonari grabbed her wrist.
"Since you're here anyway." Kiyonari naturally led her into the room by the hand. "Perfect timing—let's meet properly."
He pointed first to the girl on the bed. "This is Kurama Yakumo." Then he turned to Hinata. "And this is Hyuga Hinata."
Hinata lifted her head. The two girls' eyes met, hanging for a brief, delicate pause.
"Hello. I'm Hyuga Hinata."
"Hello. I'm Kurama Yakumo."
After they introduced themselves, Katsuyu continued, "Simply put: you have the aptitude to train Sage Mode, and your aptitude is very good. How strange… why didn't I notice last time?"
"Sage Mode… what kind of power is it?" Kiyonari asked humbly, pretending he didn't know.
As Katsuyu continued cleansing the residual natural energy, it explained in careful detail.
"I just said natural energy can fuse with chakra. If you perfectly combine natural energy, physical energy, and spiritual energy in a one-to-one-to-one ratio, refining Sage Chakra, you can enter Sage Mode."
"In that state, a shinobi's abilities increase dramatically. Strength, speed, sensory ability… all physical functions reach an entirely new level. Ninjutsu used with Sage Chakra also becomes far stronger than ordinary ninjutsu—we call it Senjutsu."
"However, training Sage Mode carries enormous risk. Natural energy is extremely violent. One mistake can be fatal. Even if you have the aptitude for Senjutsu, you must not train alone in secret. Wait until you're a bit older and come to Shikkotsu Forest to find me."
"I understand." Kiyonari nodded seriously.
"Oh, right." He pulled out his notebook and said to Hinata, "Help me take a look at a new chapter I wrote—how is it?"
Hinata nodded. "Okay."
At the same time, Katsuyu didn't hurry to leave. Instead, it crawled up onto Kiyonari's head with interest and peered down at the notebook in his hands.
"This time," Kiyonari said as he opened it, "the story is set on a continent isolated overseas. Two races live there, each establishing their own nation. Their writing and culture are extremely similar, as if they split from the same ancient people."
"However, the two races are vastly different. One race is intelligent but physically frail—so weak they're even weaker than ordinary untrained humans. We call them Race A. The other race is physically powerful. With pure physical strength, they can even contend with an Ultraman of the same size. They're Race B."
"The first can't defeat the second and flees into the human world. They live in this place with no enemies and no war, work hard, and try to integrate. J and their companions investigate, and agent K believes the fleeing A people truly long for peace, which is why they behave this way."
"But then, Race B sends a warrior to the human world to hunt down these fleeing A people. During the chase, some humans are accidentally injured, drawing J's attention."
"And as J digs deeper, they discover the A people didn't come to the human world to flee at all—they came searching for a weapon called 'Orifam.' It's a weapon created from the combined genius of their entire race, specifically designed to counter Race B. But during development, Race B discovered it. After several twists, it ends up accidentally lost in the human world."
"…"
…
Land of Rain, Amegakure.
Konan held a brand-new monthly magazine and read the story aloud, sharing it with Pain.
"With J and their companions' help, Race A finds 'Orifam' and prepares to leave the human world. At the farewell, agent K can't help sighing: 'If only war would end sooner.'"
"Race A smiles and nods, answering in a very flat—almost matter-of-fact—tone: 'Yeah. Now we can kill them all.'"
"At the end, the narrator delivers the conclusion: 'We just received the report that Race A and Race B on that overseas continent… have been annihilated. How foolish. Compared to them, our world today is so peaceful.'"
Konan froze slightly and lowered the magazine. "So… they perished together in war, just like that."
Pain didn't understand why Konan looked like this. "It's just a fictional story."
Konan kept flipping pages, her eyes fixed on the illustration of the smiling Race A person, unable to let go. This illustrator really was incredible—capturing two different kinds of smiles before and after finding "Orifam" with such vivid precision.
"Look—whether Race B was hunting Race A, or the two races were fighting over 'Orifam,' neither side truly harmed any human. They only knocked people out. That shows they aren't, at their core, a cruel, slaughter-happy race."
"And yet, when Race A finally finds 'Orifam,' what they say isn't 'we can finally end the war,' or 'peace is coming.' They say, as if stating a simple fact: 'Now we can kill them all.'"
"For them… hatred isn't something seared into the bone anymore—it's as ordinary as breathing."
~~~
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