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Though extremely faint, a single wisp of natural energy had indeed been accepted by Kagaya's ocular power!
That single wisp of natural energy was certainly of no practical use, but it signified that Kagaya's path toward Senjutsu had seen an unprecedented ray of light!
However, Kagaya wasn't swept away by this sudden, pleasant surprise. He carefully and cautiously controlled that tiny strand of natural energy, slowly combining it with his chakra.
The fact that his ocular power had accepted the natural energy meant that Kagaya now had a genuine possibility of successfully mastering Senjutsu. But on the other hand, natural energy that had already been accepted by his ocular power could no longer be expelled using that same ocular force. Therefore, in the subsequent process of absorbing and fusing natural energy, if Kagaya didn't want to undergo serpentification, he had to proceed with the utmost caution!
Not a single mistake could be permitted!
Because in the past, if a mistake had occurred, the Eternal Mangekyo had always been there to back Kagaya up. As long as he activated the Eternal Mangekyo, natural energy simply couldn't erode him. But now, once his ocular power began accepting natural energy, then, gradually, his ocular power would no longer be able to serve as his safety net.
If the natural energy went out of control and serpentification occurred, then serpentification it would truly be.
Thus, at this moment, Kagaya was being extraordinarily careful. He began the fusion process with just that one tiny wisp of natural energy.
Bit by bit, drop by drop, he slowly fused with the natural energy.
To guarantee that not a single error would occur, even though his ocular power had started accepting natural energy, Kagaya's cultivation still proceeded at an agonizingly slow pace.
This was only to be expected. After all, Kagaya no longer had any margin for error. To ensure he never made a single mistake, he absolutely had to take it slowly.
The White Snake Sage sensed the state within Kagaya's body, closed her eyes once more, and murmured softly to herself.
"It seems this lad hasn't had his head turned by a momentary surprise. He understands his own situation. Of the Uchiha clan, is it... such a calm and composed young one. Which era of the future does this Uchiha come from? Ah, well, never mind. We shall meet again someday, I'm sure. After all, in my eyes, this boy is practically the next Uchiha Madara. In his own era, he shall surely be among the most dazzling few."
Having said that, the White Snake Sage drifted off to sleep.
For beings like them, whose lifespans were virtually infinite, the thing they did most often as time stretched on was sleep.
The most classic representative of this was the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, who spent almost all his time sleeping, only occasionally waking for brief periods.
Of course, the Great Toad Sage's lifestyle of near-constant slumber was indeed somewhat excessive. The White Snake Sage was nowhere near as somnolent as the Great Toad Sage. However, generally speaking, the time the White Snake Sage spent asleep still vastly exceeded the time she spent awake.
The same was more or less true for the Five-Tails outside.
When the Tailed Beasts had first been released into the world by the Sage of Six Paths, they had roamed and played with great excitement. But as the eons stretched on, the Tailed Beasts' interests had been all but completely worn away. Now, they too had adopted a lifestyle predominantly consisting of sleep.
It wasn't that they necessarily needed to sleep for such long periods. It was simply that, having nothing else to do, they slept for that long.
In truth, for beings like the Tailed Beasts, never sleeping at all was entirely possible. Take the One-Tail in the original story, for example. It constantly watched Gaara, and the moment Gaara fell asleep or let his guard down, it would rampage. This forced Gaara to be perpetually afraid of sleeping, locked in a constant stalemate with the One-Tail.
So, for Tailed Beasts, never sleeping forever was perfectly fine.
They slept mainly out of sheer boredom. Like the Nine-Tails in the original story, which would lie around sleeping inside the cage within Naruto's body whenever it had nothing better to do, occasionally waking up to lend some power or loosen the seal a bit.
The White Snake Sage took a brief nap. By the time she awoke, ten days had passed.
She looked down. Kagaya was still seated there, cultivating. In the White Snake Sage's perception, traces of Senjutsu chakra had already appeared within Kagaya's body. The amount wasn't insignificant anymore. Of course, considering that he was now capable of fusing with natural energy, yet had only accumulated this much Senjutsu chakra over ten days, it was still very, very slow.
It seems this lad has been maintaining a state of extreme caution throughout his cultivation.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the White Snake Sage closed her eyes again and resumed her slumber.
The next time she woke was a month later.
By this time, a shade of purple eyeshadow had already appeared around the corners of Kagaya's eyes. Sensing that the White Snake Sage had awakened, he immediately lifted his head and, without even waiting to greet her properly, asked,
"White Snake Sage, can this be considered having successfully trained in Sage Mode?"
Everyone who successfully trained in Sage Mode would develop facial markings unique to it. Generally speaking, the more talented the person, the simpler their Sage facial markings tended to be.
At this moment, Kagaya had purple eyeshadow around the edges of his eyes, which closely resembled—almost identically matched—the eyeshadow that Kabuto would have in the original story. The difference, however, was that when Kabuto had successfully trained in Sage Mode, because he had absorbed Orochimaru's cells, his entire person had become somewhat... snake-like in appearance.
Kagaya, on the other hand, merely had snake-like eyeshadow around the corners of his eyes and vertical slit pupils. Everything else about him was completely normal and unchanged.
The White Snake Sage observed the purple eyeshadow at the corners of Kagaya's eyes and couldn't help but voice her admiration.
"What a remarkable brat! You actually managed to succeed. Little one, do you realize—someone who has trained Senjutsu as a fourth energy and still succeeded... this old one, in all her countless years, has only ever seen one such person: you. And what's more, ordinarily, Senjutsu is something only those with enormous chakra reserves can train in. Because the greater one's chakra, the easier it is to suppress natural energy during the fusion process, thus greatly reducing the failure rate. But you, brat—your chakra reserves are hardly vast, and you had your ocular power stirring up trouble on top of that—and yet you still managed to succeed. I cannot help but marvel at the level of control you have over your ocular power and chakra. If not for your extreme, supreme level of control, you could never have succeeded in cultivating Sage Mode."
Kagaya scratched his head.
"So does this mean I've successfully trained in Sage Mode?"
The White Snake Sage nodded.
"Yes. In truth, you didn't even need to come to me for confirmation. The moment you entered Sage Mode, you should have felt the difference yourself."
Kagaya lowered his head and clenched his fist.
"That's true."
At this moment, Kagaya's most immediate sensation was that he didn't feel like a person anymore—but rather like a stone, or a tree. Perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate, but Kagaya could feel that he had genuinely merged and become one with nature.
In the past, the relationship between Kagaya and nature had been "man and nature." But now, Kagaya was a part of nature, and nature was Kagaya.
The two had fused into a single entity.
The White Snake Sage clicked her tongue.
"Actually, I had intended to wait until you had been fusing natural energy for a while, and once you hit an obstacle, then tell you that the proper ratio for natural energy, spiritual energy, and physical energy is exactly one-third each. But I truly never imagined that when I woke up, you would have already cultivated Sage Mode entirely on your own."
Kagaya smiled slightly.
"Something like that... honestly, if you just keep exploring it slowly, you'll figure it out eventually."
The White Snake Sage laughed.
"Which is precisely why your talent has genuinely astonished me. Very well. Since you've already cultivated Sage Mode, what I should teach you next are the exclusive techniques of our Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode."
Kagaya nodded.
"Mm."
The White Snake Sage's expression grew serious.
"Then, watch closely."
As her words fell, Kagaya felt the earth beneath his feet suddenly soften. Then, the surrounding ground and walls seemed to come alive, sprouting branch-like tendrils that coiled around him.
"Th-this is..."
Kagaya was utterly awestruck by the scene. In this moment, he could sense that everything around him was truly, genuinely alive! To achieve such a degree—to bestow life upon that which had no life—this was power on the level of the Sage of Six Paths!
The White Snake Sage smiled.
"Surprised, aren't you? This is Inorganic Reanimation—a technique that can only be used by those who have completely mastered our Ryuchi Cave Senjutsu. This is what you will be learning next."
The surrounding scenery slowly returned to its original state. The White Snake Sage extended her tail and pointed at the ground beneath Kagaya's feet.
"Start with the ground under your feet. Try using the Senjutsu chakra within your body to control it."
Kagaya spoke with a hint of surprise. "It's that simple?"
The White Snake Sage was first taken aback, then burst into loud laughter.
"Simple? Bwahahahaha! That's the greatest joke I've heard all year. Let me tell you something. Among the Three Great Sacred Lands, the techniques of our Ryuchi Cave are the most difficult to learn. Did you think that merely injecting your Senjutsu chakra into the ground would allow you to control the ground? How utterly naive! The essence of Inorganic Reanimation is the granting of life! This is the highest tier of ability in the entire shinobi world! Merely injecting Senjutsu chakra isn't nearly enough to bestow life."
Embarrassed, Kagaya asked. "Huh? Then what am I supposed to do?"
The White Snake Sage answered.
"This is precisely why our Ryuchi Cave techniques are the hardest to learn. Take Mount Myoboku, for instance. They have a technique called Frog Kata. While theirs is also not easy to learn, that kind of technique can be mastered through continuous practice. But Inorganic Reanimation is different. For this technique, even I cannot tell you how to do it. You must comprehend it yourself. You can't even really practice it. If your innate talent is sufficient, you might master it in four or five days, maybe ten or so. But if your talent is lacking, then... you could spend a lifetime and never learn it. It can be said that our Ryuchi Cave's Senjutsu techniques demand the absolute highest degree of innate talent among the Three Great Sacred Lands. Mount Myoboku's demand the lowest."
Kagaya's eyes widened.
"Even you, honored Sage, cannot instruct me?"
The White Snake Sage nodded.
"Yes. I can only tell you this: inject your Senjutsu chakra into the ground and attempt to control it. As for the rest, whether or not you can learn it is entirely up to you."
"But... you can use it, can't you? You possess this ability, yet you cannot teach it?"
"Let me make an analogy. Your Uchiha clan's Sharingan—there should be something called ocular jutsu, correct? It seems that upon evolving to the Mangekyo, you gain a unique, exclusive ocular jutsu."
"Correct."
"Good. Then tell me: how do you activate your ocular jutsu?"
"Well... it's just natural. I activate it whenever I want to..."
"Exactly. That's the very feeling. Tell me, can you teach someone else how to use your specific ocular jutsu?"
"No... I cannot."
"Then there you have it. My use of Inorganic Reanimation feels much the same to me as your use of your ocular jutsu feels to you. I just activate it naturally."
After listening to the White Snake Sage's words, Kagaya couldn't help but feel an intense headache coming on. This kind of abstruse, esoteric technique was the absolute hardest to learn!
The last time he had learned a technique of this type was the Flying Thunder God. The time before that, it had been Shisui's Body Flicker Technique.
Every single one had been exceedingly difficult to learn. Absolutely none of them had been easy.
This type of technique relied most heavily on innate talent!
Unfortunately, Kagaya's talent seemed to be primarily concentrated in the area of Body Flicker techniques. For something like Inorganic Reanimation, Kagaya honestly had no idea whether he could learn it or not.
Seeing Kagaya's distressed expression, the White Snake Sage couldn't help but smile faintly.
"Alright, I know this gives you a headache. Techniques of this nature cannot be forced. Take your time learning it. Whenever you master it, come find me then, and I'll teach you the next technique. As for now... since you've already learned Sage Mode, let's resolve the impact caused by your travel through time and space."
As she spoke, a puff of smoke suddenly appeared before Kagaya. Then, a small, compact scroll materialized there.
"Take this small scroll. Travel back through all the places you've visited. It will automatically seal away the memories of you within the minds of everyone in the vicinity."
Kagaya looked at the small scroll before him with disbelief.
"It's that simple?"
The White Snake Sage countered.
"Do you think something like accurately prophesying the future is simple?"
Kagaya immediately replied. "Of course it couldn't possibly be simple. It must be incredibly difficult."
The White Snake Sage sneered.
"Yet that old toad of Mount Myoboku can do it simply by falling asleep."
The White Snake Sage continued.
"To you shinobi, many things are either unachievable or even beyond your wildest imagination. But to beings like us, who have lived for unfathomable ages, in certain specific aspects, our abilities often transcend your understanding. For example, that Tailed Beast you brought outside—the sheer magnitude of its chakra and its combat prowess are things you shinobi cannot even fathom. You have returned from the future to the present, disturbing history. And I... am a being whose role is to correct such errors. Thus, in this aspect, my abilities far surpass what you can conceive."
Kagaya gave a bitter smile. The White Snake Sage wasn't wrong. In the world of Naruto, creatures that had lived far too long always seemed to possess some extraordinarily formidable abilities.
He reached out, picked up the scroll, and secured it on his person.
But immediately after, another puff of smoke rose up. Then, a black robe and a mask appeared before him.
The White Snake Sage hastily added,
"Ah, right. I nearly forgot. Wear this robe when you go. Put on the mask. When you go back this time, do not reveal your true face to anyone. It's best if you don't make contact with people at all. Of course, contact is fine, but it must be kept to a minimum. And above all else, you absolutely must not show your true face to anyone."
Kagaya picked up the robe and examined it. It was a robe perfectly tailored to his size, complete with a hood. At the top of the hood, there was a pair of snake eyes embroidered on it.
This robe was identical in style to the red robe Kabuto would wear in the original story, except that Kagaya's was black.
And then there was the mask. The mask somewhat resembled those worn by the Anbu, but instead of a cat or dog face painted on it, there was a pair of snake eyes.
Kagaya stowed away the robe and mask, then asked,
"I understand, White Snake Sage. Is there anything else you need to instruct me on?"
The White Snake Sage asked curiously,
"Aren't you going to ask me why I suddenly became willing to help you erase your influence?"
Kagaya smiled faintly.
"A momentary whim, isn't it?"
The White Snake Sage paused for a split second, then burst into hearty laughter.
"Bwahahaha! You little brat... don't you know it's extremely unpleasant to be seen through by someone else? And yet you still blurt it out so directly."
Kagaya laughed along and spoke.
"Did I say something just now? I didn't say anything, did I? Ahem... White Snake Sage, may I ask why you've suddenly become willing to help me erase my influence?"
The White Snake Sage took a deep drag of her pipe and spoke.
"A momentary whim."
For a snake with an eccentric temperament and exceedingly high pride, whether she helped someone or not truly came down to whether it piqued her interest at the moment.
After all, for beings who had lived far too long, gains and losses mattered little. They acted more on emotion and whim.
Much like the Five-Tails outside—on a momentary whim, it had simply followed Kagaya all the way here.