Ninja World: I, Kisame Hoshigaki, am no longer human!

"Lord Kisame, thank you for your praise. You know, when Lady Tsunade first came to Shikkotsu Forest, she said it was too gloomy and disgusting, with slime everywhere, and kept saying she wanted to leave."

It said with a hint of resentment.

Did I say such a thing?

Tsunade's face stiffened upon hearing this, and she said sullenly. She hadn't expected that the slug would remember such a thing so clearly, and seemed to still be holding a grudge. How petty.

Bang!

Under their watchful eyes, the twenty-meter-long slug split into countless smaller slugs in an instant, like popcorn exploding.

Two slugs, each about the size of a palm, climbed onto Tsunade's and Kisame's shoulders, respectively.

"Please follow me, both of you."

As the slug spoke, it led the two into the woods and toward the central area of ​​the island.

Half an hour later.

Kisame and Tsunade traversed the dense Shikkotsu Forest and arrived at the center of the island. Here, Kisame finally saw the true form of the live slug for the first time.

In the original story, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tsunade and Sakura summoned a giant slug together, but it was only one-tenth the size of the slug's original form.

Knowing this information, even though Kisame was mentally prepared, he still had to admit that he was shocked.

Kisame raised his head, staring blankly at the mountain-like creature lying on the ground before him.

Calling it a mountain is not a metaphor or description, but a fact. This slug is roughly estimated to be over 400 meters long, and its height and width are also around 100 meters.

What is this if not a mountain?

"When I first saw the live slug in its true form, my expression was exactly the same as yours now. Isn't that incredible?"

Tsunade noticed Kisame's shocked expression and, unusually, didn't take the opportunity to mock him. Instead, she explained with pity, "The live slug has lived for thousands of years. Over the long past, it absorbed the natural energy of the Shikkotsu Forest, causing itself to continuously expand and grow until it almost became one with the Shikkotsu Forest."

As you can see, the live slug is not only unable to leave the Wet Bone Forest, but it can't even do the simplest thing like turning over; it's as if it's imprisoned here.

Fortunately, by signing blood pacts with ninjas like us, it can occasionally be summoned to detach a part of its body and consciousness to go out into the world and get some fresh air.

"It's so beautiful," Kisame suddenly said.

"What did you say?" Tsunade was taken aback, only then realizing that Kisame's eyes and expression seemed to have become somewhat strange.

He stared intently at the live slug, his eyes gleaming with a strange light, lost in thought.

"nothing."

Kisame snapped out of his daze, looked away, and gave a perfunctory reply.

Tsunade didn't think too much about it, assuming that Kisame was simply shocked by the slug's true form and lost his composure, which was normal.

At this moment, the little slug on their shoulders continued to remind them:

"My lords, the place for cultivating immortal arts is not far ahead."

Guided by them, the two walked several hundred meters along the massive body of the slug and finally arrived at a hot spring.

Indeed, in the heart of this island, there is a circular lake with a diameter of over 100 meters, where steam rises from the surface and bubbles constantly emerge.

"My lords, please remove your outer garments and enter this hot spring," the live slug said.

Upon hearing this, Tsunade's eyes widened in surprise:

"Live Slug, so-called immortal cultivation, does it mean I have to soak in hot springs? And with this guy, no less?"

She pointed at Kisame with her finger, her face full of resistance and disgust.

In response to her question, the live slug explained it this way:

"Below this island lies an underwater volcano, which erupted to create hot springs that flow into this lake. These springs are the source of Shikkut Forest's natural energy."

"I see."

Upon hearing this, Kisame seemed to understand something, and soon revealed a look of sudden realization.

158. Big is the heart of the beautiful Kisame.

Thousands of years ago, the Otsutsuki clan descended upon the Naruto world and planted the Divine Tree on Earth.

In the time that followed, as the Divine Tree continued to grow, it almost drained the life energy of the Earth in order to condense the Chakra Fruit, turning most of the planet into a barren wasteland.

Fortunately, in some remote or hidden corners of the world, there are places that have escaped the invasion of the sacred tree and still retain enormous natural energy.

These are the so-called three holy sites.

Based on the information Kisame has obtained so far, and his speculations:

Among the three sacred sites, Mount Myōboku is located in the far west, and it takes a month to reach it from Konoha. It is a long mountain range.

Ryuchi Cave is most likely hidden deep underground in the Land of Rice Fields, near a village inhabited by the Jugo clan.

In the original story, Jugo was affected by the natural energy leaking from Ryuchi Cave, which caused him to become irritable and berserk. Later, Orochimaru discovered this and, through his research on Jugo's physique, developed the Cursed Seal.

As for the final Shikkotsu Forest, Kisame has now seen it; it is located deep in the ocean in the far east.

Furthermore, the forms in which natural energy exists are also quite different in the three sacred sites.

The natural energy of Mount Myoboku permeates the air between the mountains; the natural energy of Ryūchi Cave lies deep beneath the earth; and the natural energy of Shikkotsu Forest is contained in the flowing seawater.

As expected, the slug's next words further confirmed Kisame's guess.

"My lords, if you wish to cultivate immortal arts, you must first understand what natural energy is."

Natural energy, in this context, refers to energy that exists extensively in the air, earth, and water, aside from living beings themselves. It is ubiquitous, though it is less abundant in some places and more concentrated in others.

Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest are the three sacred sites with the highest concentration of natural energy in the ninja world. And within Shikkotsu Forest, the place with the most concentrated natural energy is this hot spring.

The live slug patiently explained and detailed the principles of magic to the two of them.

original.

The essence of magic is to absorb and utilize natural energy.

As is well known, chakra is a substance that is extracted from and fused from a person's physical cells and spirit through training, forming a kind of energy.

Sage Mode is based on chakra, and it incorporates natural energy to form a more powerful Sage Chakra that combines the physical body, spirit, and natural energy.

However, although it sounds simple and easy, in actual practice, cultivating immortal techniques is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

First, in the process of cultivation, practitioners must abandon their animalistic and active nature and achieve a state of "absolute stillness".

Simply put, it means remaining completely still.

"Lord Hashirama Senju once described that state. He said that he seemed to forget the existence of his own body and consciousness, and became a part of nature, like a tree, a flower, or a stone by the roadside. Only in this way can a person become one with nature, and thus perceive the existence of natural energy and absorb it."

The slug shared Hashirama Senju's experience in cultivating Sage Mode with Kisame and Tsunade.

The next step, which is more difficult and more important, is called "balance".

Even if an ordinary person successfully comprehends and absorbs natural energy, they will be unable to condense Sage Chakra because their chakra level is too low to achieve a balance with the massive natural energy flowing in from the outside world.

As for the consequences of failure, it is to be instantly swallowed up by natural energy and lose one's life.

Therefore, cultivating Sage Mode requires a very high amount of chakra.

Kisame and Tsunade both satisfied this requirement.

Needless to say, Kisame is now more than just a tailless tailed beast. Even compared to the nine tailed beasts, perhaps only the Nine-Tails' chakra reserves can surpass his.

After Tsunade received Hashirama's cells, her chakra levels surged dramatically as the Senju clan's bloodline was further purified, approaching the level of a tailed beast.

After learning about the two's situation, the live slug was optimistic about their training.

As the three chatted, they suddenly realized that the sun had already set and night had quietly fallen.

"Oh dear, it's getting late. Why don't you two rest for the night and continue tomorrow?"

As the slug spoke, it spat out two scrolls from its mouth and handed them to the two of them. "These contain Lord Hashirama's experience in cultivating Sage Mode, which will surely be of help to you."

Upon hearing this, Tsunade eagerly opened the scroll and said with delight, "I'll finish reading it tonight."

"Slug Immortal, you are so thoughtful and considerate of us."

Kisame also showed a look of joy.

However, instead of staring at the contents of the scroll like Tsunade, he intentionally or unintentionally stared at the live slug, focusing more of his attention on it.

The slug didn't notice Kisame's unusual behavior. After repeatedly reminding the two not to enter the hot spring prematurely, it retreated and didn't disturb their rest any longer.

At this moment, Tsunade gave Kisame a cold look and then walked to the side on her own.

She quickly formed a hand seal and then slammed her palm down on the ground.

Rumble.

As the ground shook violently, a complex wooden house slowly rose from underground.

Wood Release: The Four Pillars Technique

Seeing this, Kisame followed suit, forming the exact same hand seals as Tsunade, and then pressed his palms to the ground.

Rumble.

Amid an even more violent ground tremor, an even larger wooden house slowly rose from the ground.

Wood Release: Super Four Pillars Technique

Whether Kisame did it on purpose or not, the small house he built using Wood Release was at least five times the size of Tsunade's wooden house, instantly outshining hers.

"..." Tsunade's face immediately darkened, and she was so angry that she couldn't speak.

“Hey, your house is too small. It’s like a portable toilet next to my cabin. If you can’t live there, stay at my place. It’s very spacious.”

Kisame smiled and extended an invitation to Tsunade.

"Hmph." Tsunade snorted coldly, went into the wooden house without saying a word, and slammed the door shut.

Kisame shrugged, his smile fading, and returned to his mansion for a good night's sleep.

Silent all night.

The next morning, Tsunade yawned as she walked out of her room, went to the lakeside, and stretched out a big yawn, highlighting her beautiful body curves.

She stayed up late last night reading, and despite being very sleepy, she managed to finish reading all the contents of the scroll, only managing to sleep for less than four hours.