I, who just wanted to be lazy, was forced to become the Hokage.

Chapter 292 [Sage Mode - Mount Myōboku]!

Going to Mount Myoboku?

Nara Rinka was slightly startled, not expecting that Fukasaku would extend such an invitation.

Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest are three sacred sites renowned far and wide, and countless people in the ninja world have heard of their names.

However, in stark contrast to the resounding fame of the three holy sites, the number of "admitted persons" is pitifully small.

Aside from contractors like Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade.

For outsiders, let alone entering the three holy lands, even getting close to them is extremely difficult.

Nara Rinka wants to develop his own unique Sage Mode, and he does have the idea of ​​searching for the three sacred sites.

However, we are currently in a period of war.

Secondly, the locations of the three holy sites are indeed difficult to find.

Let's leave aside Shikotsu Forest, where virtually no information has leaked out.

The exact location of Yongji-dong has not been disclosed.

As for Mount Myoboku, which received the most attention...

Nara Rangsuke only knew that if he wanted to get to Mount Myōboku, he would have to travel for a month.

Moreover, going to Mount Myoboku doesn't mean you can reach the sacred site by enduring wind and rain for a month.

The real Mount Myoboku is not just an ordinary little mountain.

It is hidden in a mountain range known as "Maze Mountain".

Even if you reach the foot of the labyrinth mountain, you won't be able to enter the real Mount Myōboku without knowing the specific secret passage.

The simplest and most convenient way to travel to the three holy lands is to sign a psychic contract with them and then use the power of either psychic summoning or reverse psychic summoning techniques...

Nara Rinka is pondering general information about Mount Myōboku.

Then, the hermit Fukasaku continued speaking.

"Child, you have already mastered, well, a rudimentary method of manipulating natural energy, which shows that you certainly have the aptitude to learn Sage Mode."

The hermit stroked his goat beard, gradually clearing his thoughts.

"The sage techniques of Mount Myōboku are generally not passed down to outsiders, but for some exceptionally talented humans, exceptions may be made."

Unlike the solitary Shikkotsu Forest and the lofty Ryuji Cave.

Among the three holy sites, Mount Myōboku is indeed the most "friendly" to human practitioners.

The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku even makes prophecies for humanity, guiding them on their path forward.

If Nara Ranke were just an ordinary genius ninja, even if he could fly to the heavens and the earth and command the wind and rain, Fukasaku the Sage wouldn't give him a second glance.

However, Nara Rinkei had already "rudimentarily" mastered the means of manipulating natural energy.

Fukasaku, the Sage, still had considerable interest in such "Sage candidates".

As for Jiraiya standing to the side...

There has never been a rule that states that Mount Myōboku can only have one contractor.

It just so happens that Nara Rinkei wants to learn Sage Mode, and Mount Myōboku has a lineage of Sage Techniques.

In Fukasaku's view, if Nara Rinka could be taken to Mount Myōboku, trained there, and become a member of Mount Myōboku, the fame of Mount Myōboku would surely spread even more widely.

"I'm sorry, senior."

Nara Rinka took a deep breath and said solemnly.

"This is a very important matter, and I need to think about it carefully for a while."

Despite saying that, Nara Rinka had already made up her mind.

He doesn't want to go to Mount Myōboku!

the reason is simple.

Nara Rinkei wanted to learn the Sage Mode of Mount Myōboku, but he didn't want to see the Great Toad Sage.

As the saying goes, toads are a kind of spirit that becomes more cunning with age.

Nara Rangei has always kept his distance from the Great Toad Sage, a transcendent being capable of prophecy.

If Nara's strength is so great that they can ignore the existence of the Great Toad Sage, then taking a trip to Mount Myōboku wouldn't be a problem.

However, at this stage, Nara Rinka's strength is still far from that of the "immortals" of the three holy lands!

Don't be fooled by the fact that Nara Rinka's overall rating has already reached the pinnacle of the film genre.

If he were to use all his methods, even ordinary Shadow-level powerhouses would be no match for him.

However, the three sacred sites have the Toad Immortal, the White Snake Immortal, and the Live Slug Immortal.

The strength of these three is definitely not just A-level or S-level.

Nara Ranke strongly suspects that the combined rating of the three "divine beasts"—the Great Toad Sage, the White Snake Sage, and the Live Slug Sage—has reached SS level, or even touched the threshold of the Six Paths level!

In particular, these three not only lived long and grew tall, but also possessed magical abilities!

Lacking sufficient strength, he ran to a toad monster with prophetic abilities and started hopping around...

Nara Rinkachi was genuinely a little apprehensive.

If I had to choose one of the three holy sites to make contact with...

When visiting Nara, I will only choose Shikkotsu Forest.

This isn't just because of Tsunade's connections.

More importantly, the Living Slug Immortal is unlike the other two immortals.

What kind of "prophecy" does the Great Toad Sage make, and why does he specifically trick idiots like Jiraiya into working for him, searching the whole world for the so-called "Child of Prophecy"?

This kind of fatalistic "predestined" view is really not to Nara Rinka's taste.

As for the White Snake Immortal, he doesn't make any prophecies.

It only eats people.

In contrast, the Living Slug Sage is simply a giant-sized wet nurse "baby".

She has a soft voice, a gentle body, and can also nurse.

The Living Slug Immortal of Shikkut Forest is far more competitive than the immortals of the other two holy lands!

"Very well, this is indeed a big deal."

Fukasaku was unaware that Nara Rangatsu had already given up on the idea of ​​going to Mount Myōboku for further studies.

"If you want to go to Mount Myōboku later, you can contact me through Jiraiya."

"Thank you for your guidance, senior."

Nara Langui went through the motions of expressing sincere gratitude.

"Ha ha!"

Jiraiya laughed out loud.

"If Lord Nara also becomes a contractor of Mount Myōboku, wouldn't he become my half-junior brother?"

In that case, learning [Camouflage] would be much easier, right?

"Jiraiya!"

Fukasaku tapped the white-haired man's head.

"Even if this young man really goes to Mount Myōboku, whether he can cultivate Sage Mode still needs to be approved by the Grand Master."

The "Master" mentioned by the immortal Fukasaku refers to the Great Toad Immortal.

"I was just saying!"

Jiraiya scratched his head and replied with a grin.

Who can predict the future?

"Stop talking nonsense, Jiraiya."

Shima-sensei also reached out and tapped Jiraiya's head.

"If there's nothing else, I need to dispel the Two Lives Technique and return to Mount Myōboku. I still need to prepare meals!"

The food at Mount Myoboku...

Jiraiya's expression changed slightly.

"Two immortals, please wait a moment, I do have something else to do."

Jiraiya took a deep breath, solemnly raised his left hand, and struck a special pose.

"With bare backs and a canopy to the sky, looking up, heroes will naturally come—"

Snapped!Snapped!

Fukasaku and Shima, as if by telepathy, raised their hands and punched Jiraiya in the cheek, interrupting his introduction.

The next moment, the two immortals simultaneously released the "Immortal Art: Twin Life Technique," restoring the parts of their bodies that had been fused with Jiraiya back to their original state.

After bidding farewell to Nara Rinka, the two little toad sages dispelled the "summoning jutsu" and vanished into smoke on Jiraiya's shoulder.

With the disappearance of the two sages, Jiraiya's face paint, eyeshadow, and even his nose all returned to normal, and he directly exited "Sage Mode".

"Huff... huff..."

A fine layer of sweat appeared on Jiraiya's forehead. The "hero" who had just seemed full of energy had fallen into a state of weakness in the short time after exiting Sage Mode.

Listening to Jiraiya's panting, which sounded like a broken bellows, Nara Rinka raised an eyebrow.

"I overlooked this point before, the refractory period after Sage Mode is deactivated..."

Sage Mode is essentially about absorbing natural energy from the outside world and fusing it with one's own chakra to form Sage Chakra. This Sage Chakra is then used to amplify one's abilities in all aspects, including ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.

Absorbing natural energy is already a very dangerous thing.

Guiding the fusion of natural energy and chakra is an extremely energy-consuming and troublesome task.

This is also why Jiraiya rarely uses Sage Mode.

In real combat, who would give him so much preparation time to refine chakra, absorb natural energy, and synthesize sage chakra?

Entering the Immortal Mode essentially signifies ceasing the absorption of natural energy.

Because the most basic requirement for absorbing natural energy is to remain still.

Unless someone can engage in combat with the enemy while remaining "stationary".

Otherwise, once in immortal mode, it becomes virtually impossible to draw natural energy from the outside world.

In other words.

During the period after entering Sage Mode, the Sage Chakra within the human body only decreases and does not increase!

However, the amount of regular chakra that the human body can store per unit of time is limited, and the amount of sage chakra that can be synthesized is also limited.

Even in the thousands of years of history of Mount Myōboku, the longest duration of Sage Mode was—

Only five minutes!

Once the Sage Chakra is exhausted, it will exit Sage Mode.

At this time, the human body had neither Sage Chakra nor any original Chakra, and the original Chakra was completely exhausted due to the synthesis of Sage Chakra.

(When maintaining Sage Mode, the chakra in the body is in a precise ratio with natural energy, and chakra cannot be extracted at will.)

For a short period after exiting Sage Mode, the ninja will encounter the predicament of having no chakra left in his body.

This is also what Nara Rinkaku refers to as the "period of refractory period".

If a ninja loses his chakra, wouldn't he be no different from a salted fish?

To overcome the short duration of Sage Mode, Mount Myōboku specially developed the "Sage Art: Two Lives Technique".

By separating the "static" state required for absorbing natural energy from the "dynamic" state responsible for combat, the Sage Mode can be utilized to the fullest extent.

to be honest.

"Sage Art: Two Lives Technique" is a trinity of Jiraiya, Fukasaku, and Shima.

Fukasaku and Shima took turns absorbing natural energy and synthesizing Sage Chakra, so Jiraiya only needed to fight.

of course.

Even with the use of "Sage Art: Two Lives Technique", Jiraiya only extended the duration of Sage Mode.

Even after exiting Sage Mode, he still faces the awkward situation of running out of chakra.

Although Nara Rinka has not yet mastered Sage Mode.

However, Jiraiya's weakened state at this moment still served as a reminder to him.

It's highly unlikely that Nara Rinka will learn the "Sage Technique: Twin Life Technique" from Mount Myōboku, as he strongly opposes the idea of ​​merging with a toad.

However, "dividing tasks according to Sage Mode" is not a problem for Nara Rinkei.

The true form of Nara Rinka has always remained motionless in the shadows!

AFK training is one of Nara Rinka's strengths.

"Lord Jiraiya."

Nara Rinka deliberately pretended not to notice Jiraiya's current weakness, and instead asked politely.

"You don't look well right now, do you need any help?"

"It's okay, it'll be fine in a bit."

Jiraiya wiped the sweat from his forehead, his breathing gradually calming down.

The two sages returned to Mount Myōboku so quickly that Jiraiya didn't have time to relocate in advance, thus exposing one of the major weaknesses of "Sage Mode" to Nara Rinka.

This kind of thing should never have happened!

But Jiraiya couldn't turn back time at this point, and could only accept the fact that Nara Rinkei had grasped the weakness of Sage Mode.

"He was trying to gather intelligence, but instead he exposed the strengths and weaknesses of his own most powerful techniques. What kind of nonsense is that!"

Jiraiya sighed inwardly.

"Let's go back to the camp."

Nara Rinka created a "shadow creature" and brought Jiraiya, who was recovering rapidly, back to the camp.

"Nara-sama."

Back at the camp, Jiraiya taught Nara Rinkei the "Telescope Technique".

"Don't forget our next sparring session!"

"I'll definitely do it next time."

Nara Rinka accepted the [Telescope Technique] with a smile, and taking advantage of the luck from the loot, opened the secret scroll obtained after completing [Sage Jiraiya].

[Opening...]

[This S-rank ninja scroll includes: Techniques]

[S-Rank Technique: Sage Mode - Mount Myōboku]

[Technique Description: Surpassing the limits of ninjutsu! Reaching the realm of sages!]

[Technique Effect: Absorbs natural energy from the atmosphere and earth, merging it with one's own chakra to create Sage Chakra, resulting in a leap in one's ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu abilities.]

Note: Sage Mode - Mount Myoboku is a Sage Mode developed by the toads of Mount Myoboku. Humans who practice Sage Mode - Mount Myoboku will experience a certain degree of physical mutation, the extent of which depends on individual constitution.

[Skill Evaluation: The Toad's Immortal Cultivation Tale]

My mind is blank, my legs are dangling...

Goodnight everyone...

(End of this chapter)