A new day, Wednesday.
Kitazawa arrived at the Anbu base early in the morning.
Yesterday, he had already told Kurenai about the summoning beast, the giant clam, but Gato's Shipping Company still hadn't found it.
If they kept waiting, they probably still wouldn't find anything. At this point, there was only one option left.
That was to use Impure World Reincarnation to resurrect Hōzuki Gengetsu, then force him to summon the giant clam.
Conveniently, he'd already learned Impure World Reincarnation through a system reward.
The only problem was that using Impure World Reincarnation required having some of the target's body.
Hōzuki Gengetsu was long dead, so they had to find his corpse and take a piece.
In other words, Kitazawa had to sneak into Kirigakure and play grave robber.
In the ninja world, messing with the souls of the dead was considered pretty immoral.
If it was exposed, it would definitely affect both Konoha's reputation and his own.
Kitazawa was thick-skinned, but a good reputation was useful in many situations.
Until he was truly invincible in the ninja world, he couldn't act completely without restraint.
Besides, he did have some bottom lines.
If it weren't for the giant clam, he wouldn't bother using Impure World Reincarnation at all.
Still, just letting the jutsu sit there unused was a waste. It ought to be put to work.
Ahem.
After thinking it through, Kitazawa finally decided to outsource this job to the Akatsuki.
At this stage, the Akatsuki would do anything for money.
Most importantly, they actually had the ability to pull it off. Even Konoha's Anbu weren't as efficient as them.
And he didn't even have to pay—because the Akatsuki, or more accurately Konan, still owed him quite a bit in unpaid rewards.
"Konan."
Kitazawa pushed open the door and walked in. "I've got a job I want to commission your Akatsuki to handle."
"What kind of job?"
Konan stood up, looked at him, and asked.
"The body of the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu."
Kitazawa's expression didn't change as he added, "We don't need the entire corpse, just a small piece will do."
Konan froze for a moment, not quite reacting in time.
The Akatsuki had taken on all kinds of commissions, but never one this… bizarre.
Steal the Second Mizukage's corpse, and not even the whole thing—what exactly was he planning to do with that?
"I understand. I'll head back to the Akatsuki today and arrange for them to handle it."
In the end, Konan didn't ask more and agreed on the spot.
"You're not even going to ask about the payment?"
Kitazawa smiled. "You answered so fast I almost thought the Akatsuki was Anbu."
"You've helped the Akatsuki a lot. We don't need payment."
Konan shook her head.
"It's a shame you're not a Konoha ninja."
Kitazawa sighed.
She was smart, sensible, and reliable—basically the perfect candidate for a Hokage's secretary.
It wasn't realistic now, but who knew about the future.
Konan was stunned for a second, then fell silent.
"Let me know when the job's done."
Kitazawa paused, then reminded her, "If possible, try to get it done before next Saturday."
"Mm."
Konan came back to herself and said, "Then I'll head out first. See you tomorrow."
Kitazawa watched her leave, then went to his office at the ninja academy.
"Kitazawa-senpai."
Iruka Umino, who had been waiting by the door, walked over. "These are the written exam papers for the Advanced Class."
"Time really flies. It's already the end of term."
Kitazawa took the papers and sighed.
"It's mainly because you were delayed for half a month in the Land of Demons, Kitazawa-senpai."
Iruka helped him open the office door.
"True enough."
Kitazawa walked in and sat down at his desk.
He opened the test papers and was just about to look them over when he suddenly remembered something.
"Iruka."
Kitazawa raised his head and looked at him. "The Priestess Shion from the Land of Demons is going to join the Advanced Class. Help her handle the enrollment procedures."
"Huh?"
Iruka couldn't help being stunned.
Wasn't the Priestess of the Land of Demons basically the same as a daimyo?
A daimyo actually coming to study at Konoha's ninja academy? If that got out, no one would believe it.
"She should be arriving at the Advanced Class classroom in a bit."
Kitazawa smiled. "Once you've finished her enrollment, send her to the training ground and let her meet the other students."
"Okay, Kitazawa-senpai."
Iruka suppressed his shock and left.
Kitazawa started going through the test papers.
These days, all the Advanced Class theory exams were written by Iruka; he didn't participate.
But as the academy's vice-principal and homeroom teacher of the Advanced Class, he needed to check them in advance.
If there were no issues, they could send them down for printing.
After two or three years of experience, Iruka was no longer that completely green academy instructor.
Kitazawa finished reading through the papers and didn't find any mistakes.
In the original story, the fact that Iruka eventually became the principal of the academy proved he was actually very capable as a teacher.
Though yes, Naruto becoming Hokage had a lot to do with it.
After setting the papers down, Kitazawa started thinking about how to divide up the groups for the practical exam.
He'd already led each of the top eighteen students in the Advanced Class on at least two missions.
Now the grouping could be a bit more flexible.
Suddenly, Hōzuki Gengetsu came to mind.
It felt like using the giant clam only for one purpose was a waste.
Hōzuki Gengetsu could also serve as the target for the Advanced Class to defeat in this practical exam.
The Impure World Reincarnation he used was the "vanilla" version.
Once revived, Gengetsu's strength shouldn't reach even half of what it was in life—just about right for the Advanced Class to use him as a live-combat exercise.
The real question was which students to send.
Even with his power cut in half, he was still the Second Mizukage, with extremely rich combat experience.
Thinking about it carefully, the only real candidates were Naruto and Sasuke.
The others were weaker. Throwing them at Hōzuki Gengetsu wouldn't really be training—it'd just be getting beaten up.
As for Kurama Yakumo, she was out of the question. Mangekyō-level genjutsu was way too broken.
Kitazawa rubbed his chin.
After mulling it over, he decided on Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyūga Hinata.
Even though he'd just taken them to the Land of Demons, they hadn't really gone all out in battle.
Moryo and the undead army had all been taken care of by his Wood Release.
The kids had only fought the undead for a short while at the start.
Kitazawa picked up a pen and began arranging the groups.
Before long, six new groups were down on paper.
He glanced at the time, then headed for the training ground.
The place was already lively, all because of Shion.
For the Advanced Class students, both the Land of Demons and the Priestess were completely unfamiliar concepts.
Shion didn't get annoyed at all by their endless questions. She patiently answered them one by one.
After all, back in the Land of Demons, she barely even had two people she could talk to.
Of course, there were also a few students who didn't join in.
Like Hyūga Hinata.
The moment she saw Kitazawa, she ran over to him.
"I still have things to take care of."
Kitazawa patted her head.
After saying that, he went to find Hiruzen and the others to brief them on the grouping.
Nine o'clock in the morning.
Training for the Advanced Class officially began.
Since Shion had already gotten acquainted with everyone before class, they skipped the self-introduction.
Kitazawa brought her to a tree by the edge of the training ground.
Chakra control training naturally started from the classics: tree-climbing and water-walking.
Shion took a deep breath, gathered chakra at her feet, and began climbing.
Step by step, she quickly passed the midpoint of the trunk and headed for the top.
Kitazawa watched, thoughtful.
Her chakra control was slightly better than he'd expected.
But he quickly understood why.
Shion had been learning sealing jutsu since she was a child.
Sealing techniques inherently demanded excellent chakra control, so she already had a fairly solid foundation.
A pleasant surprise, honestly.
But this level of control still wasn't enough.
His goal was to get her to control her power even without the bell.
If she could do that, she'd become another Kurama Yakumo.
The entire morning passed in no time.
After lunch with the Advanced Class, Kitazawa headed to the Hokage's office.
He pushed open the door and saw Tsunade sitting cross-legged on the sofa, eyes closed.
His gaze fell on the way her clothes were rising and falling.
She was cultivating her Yang Release Chakra Mode, and the way her clothes subtly shifted with the activation of her cells made them look anything but calm.
Kitazawa silently thought it was a shame.
After helping her complete the Yang Release activation on her hands, he'd been ruthlessly "discarded" and hadn't gotten to help with the rest of her body.
Thinking that, he walked closer.
As the distance shrank, he could clearly see the pale skin beneath her clothes trembling ever so slightly with each breath.
"Why didn't you knock?"
Tsunade opened her eyes.
"I figured you were training, so I didn't knock. Didn't want to disturb you."
Kitazawa answered seriously.
"You think I don't know what you're really after?"
Tsunade glared at him, annoyed. "And you're still staring?"
"Tsunade-sensei, you've got the wrong idea. I'm observing your training."
Kitazawa looked straight at her. "If something goes wrong, I can point it out right away."
"Then, is there anything wrong?"
Tsunade dropped her legs and leaned back, her clothes shifting, her posture utterly unrefined.
"No problems."
Kitazawa shook his head and praised her. "As expected of the best medical ninja in the entire shinobi world, Tsunade-sensei."
With that, he walked over and sat down beside her.
Tsunade had just opened her mouth to speak when Kitazawa suddenly took her hand.
She instinctively tried to pull away, but couldn't.
"You came here just to mess up my Yang Release training, didn't you?"
Tsunade couldn't help complaining.
"Training needs a balance of work and rest."
Kitazawa looked at her pretty, fair face. "You've been practicing for a while. Now it's time to take a break."
"Full of nonsense."
Tsunade pursed her lips, but didn't yank her hand back again.
Feeling his movements and the warmth from his palm, her mood gradually settled.
"You've been working on Wood Release lately?"
Tsunade relaxed, her tone turning lazy.
"Yeah."
Kitazawa nodded. "I'm learning Wood Release: Wood Transformation Technique."
"You've already learned Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees and Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique. That's more than enough Wood Release for the time being."
Tsunade thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you planning to learn Sage Mode?"
Putting chakra aside, the real reason Hashirama was invincible in the shinobi world wasn't just his Wood Release—it was Wood Release plus Sage Mode.
Like that Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands that left Madara and the Nine-Tails completely helpless.
Kitazawa had already learned Wood Release; now all that was missing was Sage Mode.
Even though Sage Mode was notoriously hard to learn, Tsunade felt he might be able to pull it off.
Ever since she'd met him, Kitazawa had been a walking string of miracles.
"Of course I'm going to learn it."
Kitazawa answered without hesitation.
"No time like the present. Let's go today."
Tsunade stood up. "We'll go to Shikkotsu Forest together."
Kitazawa blinked, thought it over, and didn't refuse.
He probably didn't have the natural talent for Sage Mode, but learning it wasn't something you did in a few days anyway.
It could take a year, or even several.
He could at least give it a try. Who knew, it might even trigger a system quest.
Tsunade tugged her hand, saw he still hadn't let go, and promptly stepped on his foot.
"Oops, forgot. My bad."
Kitazawa released her hand—and lightly scratched her palm as he did.
Tsunade rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. She bit her thumb and pressed her hand to the floor.
In a puff of smoke, a slug about the size of a fist appeared.
"Katsuyu-sama, please use Reverse Summoning to send me and Kitazawa to Shikkotsu Forest."
Tsunade went straight to the point. "Kitazawa wants to learn Sage Mode."
"Understood, Tsunade-sama."
Katsuyu disappeared after speaking.
Kitazawa waited for a moment and then felt a pull from somewhere beyond.
He stopped resisting, his body flickered, and the scene around him changed—he had arrived in Shikkotsu Forest.
It was his first time here.
He looked around and saw trees everywhere, but nothing that seemed particularly special.
"Come with me."
Tsunade appeared and headed deeper into the forest.
Kitazawa followed her and, after a while, finally saw the real Katsuyu—or rather, Katsuyu's true body.
Everywhere he looked, it was just its massive body stretching into the distance.
Nearby were countless smaller slugs, but they were all just its split bodies.
Kitazawa suspected its total size might actually exceed the Nine-Tails'.
It had lived for over a thousand years, and it was the only slug in all of Shikkotsu Forest, meaning it had this entire place's natural energy all to itself.
"Tsunade-sama, Kitazawa-sama, welcome."
Katsuyu lowered its head to look at them.
Its voice was gentle, but because of its sheer size, Kitazawa still felt a kind of visual pressure.
"Katsuyu-sama."
Tsunade nodded. "You already know why we're here, so let's get started."
"Very well."
Katsuyu thought for a moment. "I'll start by explaining the principles of Sage Mode and the steps of training."
Sage Mode, in essence, was just a special state where you could use senjutsu chakra.
And the core of Sage Mode training was synthesizing senjutsu chakra.
Senjutsu chakra was formed by mixing natural energy, physical energy, and spiritual energy in a one-to-one-to-one ratio.
Training was divided into two steps: first, perceiving natural energy and drawing it into the body; second, synthesizing senjutsu chakra.
Once you successfully created senjutsu chakra, markings—like eye shadow or facial patterns—would appear on your face, signaling that you'd entered Sage Mode.
The hardest part was clearly the second step.
If the three energies went even slightly out of balance, the result could be catastrophic.
For Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode, the consequences were turning into a frog and turning to stone.
Kitazawa had never known what the risk was for Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Mode.
Now Katsuyu told him: slugification and becoming part of the forest.
In other words, some tree in Shikkotsu Forest might actually have once been a ninja.
Still, it wasn't that common. Katsuyu would warn and stop them; as long as things didn't spiral out of control instantly, people could be saved.
Just like in the original story, when Naruto trained in Sage Mode, Fukasaku would smack him with a stick to snap him out of it.
That said, most shinobi still failed at step one.
If you couldn't even complete the first step, it meant you had zero talent for Sage Mode.
"Let's start with the first step."
Katsuyu opened its mouth and spat out a barrel.
The barrel was filled with a semi-transparent liquid that looked very clean, with no impurities.
"Spread this over your upper body. You can take your clothes off or leave them on."
Katsuyu explained, "This liquid will help you perceive the existence of natural energy more clearly."
Kitazawa glanced at the liquid and decided not to ask what it was.
Mount Myōboku had a similar aid for Sage training—Toad Oil.
He took off his shirt and with a flick of chakra spread the liquid evenly across his body.
A cool sensation spread outwards.
Aside from that, he didn't feel much.
Kitazawa sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and followed Katsuyu's instructions, trying to sense the natural energy in the air.
For some reason, the whole process reminded him of "drawing qi into the body" from xianxia novels.
Tsunade stood to the side, looking him up and down.
Not bad. Great physique.
After watching for a bit, she withdrew her gaze and left Shikkotsu Forest.
Sage Mode training ate up a ridiculous amount of time. As Hokage, she couldn't stay with him the entire time.
Time slowly passed.
After sitting there motionless all afternoon, Kitazawa finally opened his eyes.
How to put it… he'd gotten absolutely nothing.
"It's normal not to sense natural energy on the first day."
Katsuyu said gently.
"Thank you for today, Katsuyu-sama."
Kitazawa stood up and put his shirt back on.
"It's no trouble."
Katsuyu shook its head. "You can come here to train Sage Mode every day from now on."
"I'm pretty busy. I might not be able to come every single day."
Kitazawa replied casually. "I'll come when I have time."
"That's fine."
Katsuyu paused, then reminded him, "Training Sage Mode takes a very long time. There's no need to rush."
"I understand, Katsuyu-sama."
Kitazawa nodded.
"I'll send you back."
Katsuyu's tone was warm. "Until next time."
Kitazawa stood still as his body jolted—and he was back in the Hokage's office.
"How was it?"
Sensing the chakra fluctuation, Tsunade looked up at him.
"No luck."
Kitazawa answered honestly.
"Keep at it."
Tsunade didn't seem surprised at all.
If he'd managed to sense natural energy on the very first day, that would've been the real anomaly.
"Tsunade-sensei, how long did you train before you gave up?"
Kitazawa asked curiously.
"About a year."
Tsunade thought for a bit. "If you still can't get it after a year, continuing is just a waste of time."
"Then I'll give it a year too."
Kitazawa thought to himself that a year should be plenty of time to trigger a Sage Mode system quest.
~~~
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