"I hope so too," Jiraiya said without much interest in defending his overly cautious ally.
"Then, how far have you progressed in your Sage Mode training?"
Mizuki smiled awkwardly. "Frankly speaking, I've been stuck at the very first step with no progress at all."
"The first step? Natural energy perception?" Jiraiya asked in confusion. "Then how exactly did you manage to enter Sage Mode in the first place?"
"How should I put it? You could say I play to my strengths and avoid my weaknesses." Mizuki then explained to Jiraiya how he used Shukaku's chakra and his exceptional chakra manipulation skills to balance the energies within his body, eventually triggering Sage Mode.
"You're telling me that actually worked?" Jiraiya asked in disbelief after hearing Mizuki's explanation. "With a troublemaker like tailed beast chakra inside you, how did you manage to maintain the balance between your chakra and natural energy to complete Sage Mode?"
"This is basically the only thing I'm really good at."
Exactly how much effort Mizuki had invested to reach this stage was known only to himself—He'd basically spent all his free time practicing this technique.
"If you've managed to get this far, wouldn't sensing natural energy no longer be an issue? Shouldn't everything else just fall into place?"
"Quite the opposite, actually. Now I face a nearly unsolvable problem." Mizuki said seriously. "I may have mastered the perception and manipulation of natural energy, but without the tailed beast chakra, I simply cannot sense natural energy at all."
"That's just because you haven't practiced enough…" Jiraiya chuckled at first but suddenly realized the true nature of Mizuki's issue, his expression changing instantly. "Wait—you mean, without even a trace of tailed beast chakra, absolutely zero? Without any at all, you completely lose the ability to sense natural energy and can't proceed with Sage Mode?"
Mizuki nodded solemnly. "Even the faintest trace—if there's none at all, Sage Mode won't activate."
"How could it come to this?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.
Ordinarily, sensing natural energy was extremely difficult for humans—but the difficulty lay mainly in terms of chakra reserves and perception ability. Both of these areas, Mizuki should've long overcome through extensive practice. Moreover, during Sage Mode, even a tailed beast could be suppressed, indicating that Mizuki's proficiency shouldn't be at a beginner level. It shouldn't have reached the point where Sage Mode failed entirely due to a lack of perceptual medium.
Jiraiya himself had never encountered such an issue before. Without Frog Oil, movement became impossible, yet with two Great Toad Sage allies providing support, he'd never paid much attention to this particular aspect.
Frowning deeply, Jiraiya unconsciously extended both hands to stroke the patterns on his teacup.
"Mizuki, your condition isn't normal by any means," Jiraiya said gravely. "I can assure you that sensing natural energy doesn't require any external medium. The problem lies somewhere within yourself."
"In myself?"
Mizuki couldn't help but smile bitterly. Taking shortcuts always comes at a cost. You end up ignoring what seemed like minor details—only to realize they were crucial all along.
"Then, Lord Jiraiya, would you mind giving me a detailed account of how you mastered Sage Mode? Particularly the teachings passed down by Elder Fukasaku? The more detailed, the better."
In the following moments, Jiraiya and Mizuki had an in-depth conversation about sensing natural energy through Sage Mode, mostly with Jiraiya explaining how he learned it.
"Wait a second, Lord Jiraiya..." Gradually, Mizuki seemed to connect some dots. "Earlier you mentioned several times about blending into nature, keeping your body still while sensing natural energy?"
"What is it? Is there any problem? That's the first step towards Sage Mode."
"Blending with nature and remaining motionless?" Mizuki murmured as if recalling something.
Mizuki let out a bitter laugh, as if suddenly realizing something: "Maybe I really got it all wrong."
"Got what wrong exactly?"
Mizuki rubbed his forehead while answering, "All along I thought staying still alone would allow me to sense natural energy, but actually that wasn't the key point at all. Merging with nature—that's the real essential part."
All these practices—using Frog Oil and staying perfectly still—were meant to help sense natural energy. But the real key was merging with nature itself. When Mizuki used tailed-beast chakra as a medium for detecting natural energy, although control became more difficult, its active characteristics—much livelier than Frog Oil—actually made sensing natural energy much easier. Yet Mizuki had barely made progress in achieving true harmony with nature; his instinctive resistance toward natural energy prevented him from fully integrating into it mentally and physically. Without tailed-beast chakra, it was no surprise he couldn't sense natural energy at all.
"It seems you've figured it out. It'd be great if you could make good use of this realization."
"Thank you very much, Lord Jiraiya." Thinking in isolation often leads to stubborn misunderstandings (like the old saying 'closing the door to build a cart'). What once appeared only as minor issues puzzled Mizuki greatly, but by conversing with Jiraiya and cross-verifying perspectives, the insights gained were far more efficient than endless contemplation.
Why was Mizuki struggling without any support? Never mind finding allies—even someone willing to listen and understand wasn't easy to come by sometimes.
Jiraiya also felt deeply satisfied guiding such a brilliant younger generation.
"Mizuki, then, let's end our casual chat here. Now, there are several matters I want to hear your opinions on."
Saying this, Jiraiya grew serious as he asked, "What do you believe Sage Mode represents for humanity?"
Faced with such a direct question, Mizuki already had his answer ready. After slight reflection, he responded, "'Drinking poison to quench one's thirst'—that's what it is."
Nodding appreciatively, Jiraiya said, "Looks like you're not one of those poor fools blinded by power. Took me many years too before realizing that truth."
"You must have experienced profound feelings, Lord Jiraiya..."
"Naturally. Imagine knowing that decades ago, my entire life had already been decided. How could I ever accept that? Fate?"
"Hmph..."
At first, being the guide for the destined child was satisfying for Jiraiya—but over time, it started to feel more like a burden. As his power and status grew, how could a genius like him tolerate someone else deciding his path in life, or even control his birth, aging, sickness, and death—even if that decision came from something known as "Fate"?
As he reached this thought, Mizuki suddenly recalled that when Red Sand of the Desert had tried to persuade him to cooperate, he had spoken similar words too.
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