I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 600 Sometimes, just a glimmer of hope is enough to make people risk everything.

Minato suddenly spoke up: "Let me do it. Although my Sage Mode skills are far inferior to Tatsuma's, if I can extract the natural energy from Tatsuma's body, I should be able to barely control it."

Orochimaru and Tsunade turned around at the same time, both with doubt in their eyes, because Minato had never shown his Sage Mode. When Jiraiya occasionally asked about it, Minato always said that his skills were terrible.

Faced with the two questioning gazes, Minato was not angry. He simply put his hands together and said, "Sage Mode is not suitable for me, so after the initial learning, I have never made any further progress in it."

But if it's not for combat, I should still be able to help.

The moment he finished speaking, the Sage Mask appeared on Minato's face. Unlike the Great Sun Mask of Shikkotsu Forest, and not as exaggerated as Jiraiya's, Minato's Sage Mask only had a little bit of red around his eyes.

However, since Minato's facial features remained unchanged and his "one" was exactly the same as that of the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku, Tsunade and Orochimaru knew that Minato's Sage Mode, at least in terms of compatibility and integration, was far superior to Jiraiya's.

"However, the amount of chakra in your body is completely incompatible with the natural energy in Tatsuma's body right now."

Zhi Yu suddenly spoke up, bringing bad news. In her opinion, Minato's control over Sage Mode was indeed quite good, and he was already very close to Tatsuma, but his chakra reserves were a major weakness.

To control Sage Mode, the energy within the body must be balanced. This balance is crucial, not only in terms of manipulation but also in terms of quantity. If the energy is not properly balanced, even the most perfect Sage Mode will not be very effective.

"I have plenty of chakra."

Kushina spoke up defiantly, then glared at the grinning Kurama. Kurama snorted and strolled back to Kushina's side as if taking a walk.

Zhiyu was not pleased by this, but continued to remind him: "You need to think clearly that you need to control the natural energy from Tatsuma's body, and you also need to control the chaotic chakra from the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

Once the energy in your body becomes unbalanced, the consequences are unimaginable. The toad sage from Mount Myōboku should have taught you that all the major holy sites have ways to deal with small amounts of natural energy.

However, the natural energy within Chenma's body is far too immense. If it becomes unbalanced within you, you will die instantly. You cannot preserve your life like Chenma did.

Although Tatsuma is the successor of Shikkotsu Forest, Yuu still doesn't want others to take risks out of ignorance. She also believes that Tatsuma wouldn't let Minato do something foolishly either.

Minato took a deep breath, the Sage Mask disappeared, and he said, "There's no other way, is there?"

Minato was certainly aware of the risks involved. He could indeed use his own chakra to mix with natural energy and control the resulting Sage Chakra almost perfectly.

He also knew that he could borrow Kushina's chakra, and Kushina was willing to lend him as much as he wanted, but Minato never borrowed a large amount of chakra to make up for his lack of endurance in Sage Mode.

The reason is that the chakra that Kushina lent him was too chaotic, containing Kushina's own chakra, the Nine-Tails' chakra, and a mixture of chakra.

The difficulty of organizing these chakras and integrating them with natural energy is unimaginable, let alone having to introduce natural energy from Tatsuma's body.

But there was no other way.

If there were no hope and all we could do was watch this unfold, Minato wouldn't have taken the risk so recklessly. But isn't hope right in front of us?

As long as there is hope, nothing is considered an adventure; it's just the road and the snow along the way that you have to take to reach your destination.

Seeing that Minato still chose to act after analyzing the risks, Zhiyu stopped talking and his impression of Minato improved a lot. As expected of Tatsuma's best friend, this kid didn't make a mistake in choosing friends.

Tsunade then asked, "How can we extract the natural energy from Tatsuma's body? Does Shikkotsu Forest have such methods?"

"No, if the Holy Land could extract the imbalanced natural energy from every cultivator's body, there wouldn't be countless failures."

The Slug Immortal spoke up, revealing that even as the founder of the Wet Bone Forest, there were many things she couldn't do; otherwise, the three holy lands wouldn't need successors to spread their fame.

She has a way to absorb natural energy, but she can only absorb natural energy from the natural world. She has no way to absorb the natural energy inside Chenma's body.

Moreover, after the natural energy was extracted from Chenma's body, she had no better way to dispose of it. Her body could hold a large amount of natural energy, but it had to be natural energy that she had absorbed and transformed.

As for the other slug clones, they do not have the ability to carry natural energy, which is why she did not speak up and use herself or her slug clones as containers.

Not only could she not do it, but neither could the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku or the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave. Powerful is never synonymous with omnipotent.

Moreover, different races have their own advantages. For example, although humans are weak, they can always make good use of various energies and tools. This is the advantage of this race, and it is the choice and distribution of nature.

Unless one can transcend nature, like the Sage of Six Paths, it is impossible to do so.

When Tsunade heard that the Slug Sage couldn't do it, her face became anxious again. It was so frustrating that every time she found a solution to a problem, a new one would appear.

"Do you have any ideas, Orochimaru?"

"If there was no other way, I wouldn't have brought it up."

Orochimaru remained remarkably calm, but instead of arms, his sleeves now contained two enormous snakes as thick as bowls.

"Over the years, I've also researched quite a few projects related to natural energy. While I can't make the cultivation of Sage Mode stable and controllable, I still have some understanding and achievements."

Orochimaru controlled the giant snakes formed from his hands, one end hovering above Tatsuma and the other in front of Minato, and said, "But as I emphasized, we need to be quick, or my body won't be able to take it."

"I will do it as quickly as possible."

Minato nodded, raised his fist towards Kushina, and reached out with his other hand toward the giant snake's gaping maw.

Kushina also raised her fist, ready to exchange punches and share chakra with Minato at any moment. Minato looked at Orochimaru, who pursed his lips, and then the two giant snakes pounced at the same time.

"Ninja Art! Bashe Technique!"

Long, sharp teeth pierced Chenma's body, while the snake's body coiled back, pulling Chenma's body out of the pool. However, the large snake that had come into contact with Chenma quickly dehydrated and dried up. The snake, which was originally as thick as a bowl, became less than the thickness of an infant's arm.

Orochimaru's face was also covered in sweat, but it was still manageable. At this moment, the other end of the snake's mouth also grabbed Minato's hand, and the sharp teeth pierced in.

Minato also exchanged punches with Kushina the instant the snake's fangs pierced her flesh.

As various chaotic energies surged into Minato's body simultaneously, his complexion turned grim, and he began sweating profusely, his features showing signs of frog-like transformation.

Using the Sage Art of Mount Myōboku to forcibly transform the natural energy that had been transformed by the Sage Art of Shikkotsu Forest was still too difficult. Moreover, Kushina's chakra was quite volatile and chaotic, making it impossible for her to integrate well with the natural energy.

"Do you want me to loosen my grip?"

Orochimaru asked, and Minato shook his head. He looked at Tatsuma, who was getting thinner and thinner after being out of the water, gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and used all his energy to sort out the energy in his body.

Seeing Minato's reaction, Orochimaru knew he needed to focus, so he didn't disturb him further. He simply tried to make the natural energy within his body as orderly as possible, rather than letting it become disordered.

The entire Shikkotsu Forest fell silent, watching the four people connected to each other. Even the Nine-Tails' condensed form lay on the ground, its nine tails swaying. Kushina noticed that the chakra she had refined had become more docile.

Although Kurama rarely stopped Kushina from refining and extracting its chakra anymore, it had never helped Kushina regulate that abnormally active, even volatile, chakra. But this time, it seemed to be regulating it.

Under everyone's gaze, a crimson sage mask gradually appeared on Minato's face, but it looked terrible.

Not only around his eyes, but also his forehead, cheekbones, and even his cheeks were covered with a crimson immortal mask. Moreover, his facial features had changed significantly; his nose had become sunken, and his lips had become large and thick due to the pulling of an invisible force.

On the skin, bumps appeared, and those bumps seemed to be secreting mucus, just like the bumps on a toad.

This is already a sign of a severe energy imbalance. If it continues, Minato will either die from dehydration, a result of the uncontrolled use of the Wet Bone Forest Sage Technique, or from petrification, a result of the uncontrolled use of Mount Myōboku.

Tsunade, who had a basic understanding of both Sage Modes, knew this as well. Worry appeared in her eyes as she watched the stratum corneum gradually creep up on Minato's skin. Her expression became extremely solemn, and her hands clenched tightly.

"Hang in there a little longer!"

As Tsunade prayed in her heart, suddenly a huge drop of water fell and washed over Minato's body, and the petrification on his body seemed to lessen somewhat.

"Can it only wash away this little bit of natural energy?"

The slug sage's tentacles clashed; that was all she could do to help. If Minato still couldn't sort out the chaotic energy within his body, she would be powerless to do anything more.

But things seemed to take a turn for the better at this critical juncture. The petrified stratum corneum on Minato's body disappeared, and even the small bumps on his skin smoothed out again.

Even the facial features are being restored, the immortal mask on the face is gradually shrinking, and the color has changed. It is no longer a bright red, but has turned into an orange, an extremely warm color.

"It's a success."

Although the natural energy within Chenma's body has not yet been cleared, the slugs' tentacles are already constantly colliding, seemingly celebrating. Once the balance between energies is restored, the next step is simply a matter of "quantity".

When Orochimaru, the middleman, became so thin he was practically skin and bones, everything stopped. No more natural energy was being extracted from Tatsuma, and Minato also ceased his exploitation of Kushina's chakra.

Orochimaru withdrew the giant snake that had bitten Tatsuma and Minato, slumped to the ground, wiped the sweat from his face with his wet sleeves, and took deep breaths to relieve his weakness.

As the last bit of natural energy merged with his chakra, Minato opened his eyes. His "one"-shaped eyes radiated a warm light like the sun, and he smiled, saying:

"I finally did it."

(End of this chapter)