Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Fukasaku Immortal said respectfully.

The Great Toad Sage remained silent. He didn't actually know much about the Rinnegan's abilities, but his prophetic abilities had just allowed him to see the White Snake Sage's fate.

The White Snake Sage's eyes transformed into enormous Rinnegan eyes, suggesting that he most likely became a puppet summon controlled by Madara Uchiha.

The secrets of heaven must not be revealed.

His prophetic abilities are powerful, but the price is also high, requiring him to sacrifice his lifespan. And this is the price he hasn't mentioned yet; once he does, the price will be even greater.

His prediction just now concerned the secret of the Rinnegan. Once he reveals it, the price he will pay will likely be unbearable.

Seeing that the Great Toad Sage remained silent, the Immortal Fukasaku grew increasingly alarmed.

He knew that the Great Toad Sage must have discovered some huge secret using his prophetic abilities, which he couldn't possibly reveal outright, and could only warn them in a roundabout way.

It seems that Madara Uchiha was definitely planning some kind of scheme against summoned beasts.

Because of the Great Toad Sage's silence, the two other sages also remained silent, and the room fell into complete silence.

“My lord, you have said that we should not interfere in the conflicts of the ninja world, but Uchiha Madara is now pressing us step by step. If our Mount Myōboku continues to remain neutral, I am afraid that we will be in grave danger. I think it is time for our Mount Myōboku to clarify our allegiance.”

After a long while, the sage Fukasaku, who had been pondering a solution, shared his thoughts.

Fukasaku had just been comparing the strength of Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, and found that while Mount Myōboku was indeed stronger than Ryūchi Cave, it wasn't by much. If Madara Uchiha were to attack them, Mount Myōboku would most likely be unable to withstand it.

Even if we manage to block it, it will definitely come at a huge cost.

The returning clansmen told him that the entire Ryuchi Cave had been transformed into a bottomless meteorite crater, suggesting that Madara Uchiha possessed some terrifying ninjutsu involving the summoning of extraterrestrial meteorites.

Like Ryuchi Cave, Mount Myōboku is located in a fixed place; there's no way to escape it. If Madara Uchiha were to use the same terrifying ninjutsu he used against Ryuchi Cave against Mount Myōboku, it would be an absolute catastrophe for the mountain.

He was very confident in the Great Toad Sage's strength, but the fate of the White Snake Sage made him realize that Mount Myōboku alone could not stop Madara Uchiha by relying on the Great Toad Sage, and they had to seek powerful external assistance.

The ninja world is currently undergoing tremendous changes, and Mount Myōboku is destined to be drawn into them as well. They can no longer try to remain neutral and play both sides as before.

When the Great Toad Sage heard what Fukasaku Sage said, he fell silent again.

He personally did not want Mount Myōboku to be directly involved in conflicts between humans.

Moreover, the chosen one he predicted has not yet appeared, so placing a bet so soon makes him feel uneasy.

Myobokusan's development to its current state has not been easy. If it makes the wrong bet, it's hard to say what the future will hold, and it will most likely decline from its peak.

However, the events at Ryuchi Cave made him realize that his previous prophecy had likely deviated significantly. Hisoboku Mountain could no longer remain aloof as before, as the new Rinnegan Child was pressuring them.

"Sigh~, you'll see for yourself. Fate is unpredictable. I can't see what the fate of Mount Myōboku will be. But since enemies have come knocking, we can't just sit here and wait to die."

The Great Toad Immortal remained silent for a while, then let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

The next moment, he closed his eyes again and instantly entered a dream once more.

Chapter 350: Madara Uchiha Begins to Clear the Area

"It seems that those toads are also aware of their precarious situation, but they specifically named me as their psychic contractor, which makes me feel like I'm at a disadvantage."

The next day, in Konoha, in the Hokage's office, Kirito lay on a sofa and said somewhat lazily.

Not long ago, his main body was conducting research on the giant Tenseigan for three days and three nights. He originally planned to continue the research, but Tsunade called him over and told him that he had to sign a summoning contract with Mount Myōboku.

Kirito himself wasn't very enthusiastic about this. He had already signed a summoning contract with the Ninja Cat Clan and Shikkotsu Forest, so he no longer had any need for summoning beasts.

As for the sage techniques of Mount Myōboku, he had little interest in them.

"Don't say that. Mount Myōboku is the strongest summoning beast force in the ninja world. Signing a summoning contract with them will definitely have its benefits. Besides, their Sage Mode has its unique features. For the sake of Konoha, just sign it."

Tsunade smiled wryly upon hearing Kirito's words.

Outside, countless ninjas yearn to sign a summoning contract with Mount Myōboku, but his younger brother regards it as worthless, even somewhat disdainful.

It has to be said that sometimes, comparing yourself to others can be really infuriating.

There was no other way; this time, Mount Myōboku specifically requested that her good younger brother sign a summoning contract before it would agree to formally ally with Konoha.

Clearly, Mount Myōboku allied with Konoha solely because it valued her younger brother's formidable strength.

It can be said that Mount Myōboku is actually allied with Kirito alone.

She knew in her heart that the reason why Mount Myōboku was allied with Konoha was because of pressure from Madara Uchiha, and not of its own free will. However, if Konoha could ally with Mount Myōboku, the benefits would ultimately outweigh the drawbacks.

Once Konoha forms an alliance with Mount Myōboku, it means that Konoha ninjas can go to Mount Myōboku to learn Sage Mode, which is a rare opportunity.

Although the number of people sent to train in Sage Mode is certainly limited, it will definitely further and rapidly improve Konoha's strength.

Kirito's method for cultivating Sage Mode is actually very good, but its requirements are also very high. It not only requires Kirito, the Sage, to provide the Sage Seal, but the cultivator also needs to have extremely high aptitude.

Finally, the method for cultivating Sage Mode that Kirito provided is difficult to master quickly.

She now knows from Kirito that he is the kind of person who is naturally suited to cultivating Sage Mode, and that he will naturally enter Sage Mode whenever he goes to a place with abundant natural energy.

This shows just how terrifying his talent is in cultivating immortal arts. Not everyone can achieve immortality at the age of eight like him. For others, without a complete inheritance and sufficient resources, they can forget about achieving anything in immortal arts in their entire lives.

Mount Myōboku is different; it has an excellent environment for cultivating immortal arts, as well as methods for rapid mastery.

Most importantly, their magical arts do not have very high requirements for cultivators.

This can be seen from the fact that Jiraiya was able to master Sage Mode.

“Sister, you can’t say that. Since Mount Myoboku is asking us for help, we must be firm. We can’t just do whatever they say. The initiative is in our hands. I personally think Mount Myoboku should show more sincerity. You’re just too soft-hearted.”

Kirito yawned softly, rubbed his sleepy eyes with the back of his fingers, and said.

Tsunade remained silent, a hesitant expression on her face.

But a few seconds later, her sharp ears caught Kirito muttering, "To put it bluntly, if Madara Uchiha were to deal with those old toads, wouldn't I be the one doing the work? Last time I asked them for a favor, that old toad refused me. Now he's in trouble and wants my help, without even offering me a little something in return..."

"Kirito, now is not the time to throw a tantrum. Mount Myōboku is showing us goodwill, so we can't take advantage of this and make exorbitant demands."

Listening to Kirito's rambling, Tsunade rubbed her forehead and gently tried to persuade her younger brother, who clearly had a lot of grievances against Mount Myōboku.

However, she was unaware of the incident where Mount Myōboku had embarrassed Kirito last time. Since Mount Myōboku had done such a thing before, she, as the older sister, really had to stand up for Kirito.

After all, Kirito was more important to her than Mount Myōboku.

"Don't worry, sister, I won't ask for an exorbitant amount. I just want to do business with Mount Myoboku properly."

Seeing that Tsunade was starting to loosen her grip, Kirito suddenly regained his composure and smiled slightly.

"Doing business?"

Tsunade asked, puzzled.

"Yes, doing business."

Kirito continued to smile, his eyes beginning to sparkle.

He personally had little interest in the magical arts of Mount Myōboku, but he was quite interested in some of the local specialties of Mount Myōboku.

For example, there's toad oil that can accelerate the training of Sage Mode, the Instant Water that has a magical teleportation effect, and the vast amount of historical documents about the ninja world accumulated at Mount Myōboku, etc.

……

Half a day later, Fukasaku, with a dark expression, formed a hand seal, released the summoning jutsu, and disappeared into Konoha as a wisp of white smoke.

His visit to Konoha was a successful alliance with the village, but he never expected Konoha to make such an outrageous demand, requiring Mount Myōboku to train five sages for Konoha within a year.

Such a demand was hard for this hermit of Mount Myōboku to accept. Hermits are not like cabbages; they can't be cultivated so easily. Mount Myōboku has a perfect way to cultivate human hermits, but the resources required to achieve it are not a small amount.

Even if the cultivator has good aptitude, Mount Myōboku still has to pay a huge price.

Take the most crucial cultivation resource, toad oil, for example. It has been accumulated little by little over thousands of years on Mount Myōboku. Every bit used is a bit less, and it is impossible to replenish it in a short period of time.

Also, there are so many Ninja Toads on Mount Myōboku. Fortunately, not all of them are qualified to cultivate Sage Mode, otherwise the toad oil produced on Mount Myōboku every day would not be left over.

Therefore, when Fukasaku learned of the request, he immediately jumped up and refused sternly. However, he was met with a cold reception from the Fourth Hokage, Tsunade, who left him in the VIP room for half a day, responding with a strong and silent attitude.

Left with no other choice, he sought Jiraiya's help, only to be told that it wasn't Tsunade who was unwilling to form an alliance, but rather that the problem lay with Kirito Tohsaka, the human sage who harbored resentment towards their Mount Myōboku.

"Sigh~, in the end it was the actions of Mount Myōboku that angered him, otherwise he would not have had to pay such a high price."

After returning to Mount Myōboku, the hermit Fukasaku looked at the temple where the Great Toad Hermit lived and sighed.

The following day, a startling piece of news was simultaneously announced by both Konoha and Mount Myōboku: Konoha had officially formed an alliance with Mount Myōboku.

This news caused an uproar throughout the ninja world, shocking all the major powers.

In the Land of Waterfalls, at the old Root's new headquarters, Madara Uchiha soon heard this astonishing news from Black Zetsu.

"Lord Madara, the situation is dire! Those toads from Mount Myōboku have actually dared to form an alliance with Konoha. It's obvious they're going to oppose us."

Black Zetsu said with a cold face.

They had just destroyed Ryuchi Cave not long ago, and then Mount Myōboku allied with Konoha. They didn't believe there wasn't something fishy going on. They figured these toads must have discovered something and were worried that they would come looking for them and wipe them out, so they hurriedly allied with Konoha.

"I have no reason to worry. This was an outcome I had anticipated. It seems I put a lot of pressure on these toads."

Madara Uchiha said casually, without feeling any pressure.

He has now successfully used the power of the Rinnegan to refine the corpse of the White Snake Sage into the Animal Path Pain, while the original Animal Path Pain, the Third Mizukage, has been re-refined into the Hell Path Pain.

It must be said that the White Snake Sage was indeed powerful; the Animal Path Pain created from its corpse is the strongest of the three Pains.

By relying on the power of the Rinnegan and the Gedo Mazo, he successfully preserved most of the White Snake Sage's strength, thus giving Animal Path Pain the power of a Kage.

Not only that, after he trained the White Snake Sage into Animal Path Pain, he successfully used it to find many escaped summoning snakes from Ryuchi Cave, then killed them and trained them all into Animal Path Pain's summoning beasts.

He currently commands thirty-six summoning snakes, each possessing at least the strength of a near-Kage. Among them, snakes like Manda, Ao, and Shinya even possess Kage-level combat power.

He now felt that he could sweep through all the major ninja villages except Konoha by relying solely on the White Snake Sage, Pain's Beast Path.

It can be said that he now controls most of the power that Ryuchi Cave has accumulated over thousands of years.

"Hehehe~, Lord Ban can sweep them away by himself. Now that he has the foundation of Ryuchi Cave, he will naturally put great pressure on these old toads. Lord Ban, since these old toads have openly become our enemies, why not kill them all and then let your animal realm cultivate a larger army of spirit beasts?"

"Lord Madara, you have no idea how talented these old toads are at teaching Sage Mode to ninjas. Now that they've allied with Konoha, Konoha might use this opportunity to have them teach Konoha ninjas Sage Mode. We absolutely cannot let them succeed."

Black Zetsu chuckled in agreement, then continued to act as Madara Uchiha's strategist.

Upon hearing this, Madara Uchiha was immediately tempted.

Destroying one Summoning Beast Holy Land greatly increases his available power; if he were to destroy another Summoning Beast Holy Land, he could certainly increase his strength even faster.

Moreover, Black Zetsu is right. The fact that Mount Myōboku has so openly allied with Konoha is clearly a sign that they want to oppose him.

Although Mount Myōboku did this because he was frightened, seeing Mount Myōboku openly opposing him still stirred up a strong murderous intent in him.

"Let these old toads roam free for a few days. I just wiped out Ryuchi Cave, so they're definitely on high alert right now. Kirito Tohsaka might even be lying in ambush there. Let's wait a while and let them lower their guard a bit. Send some White Zetsu who are good at disguise to monitor Mount Myōboku. They don't need to go inside; just keep an eye on things from the outside. Don't alert them."