About a month had passed, and Haseo's injuries had first improved, then completely healed.
During this time, he focused on nothing else—most notably, Orochimaru's freshwater aquaculture experiments. Yet since it seemed Orochimaru hadn't achieved any results yet, Haseo finally decided to turn his attention to something he'd long intended to explore.
The issue of the corrosion affecting Haseo's body couldn't be resolved temporarily, but aside from that, his physical condition had now fully recovered. The mass lost from his body had also been "replenished."
So, deep within the Shikkotsu Forest.
Haseo kept advancing along a dark and secretive passage. He'd already been walking in this passage for quite a while—so long, in fact, that he could no longer tell whether he was inside Katsuyu's barrier or simply in an ordinary cave outside her body.
After who-knows-how-much time had passed, Haseo finally noticed light appearing ahead.
"Katsuyu, is it this way?" He asked the guiding slug.
But his question got no reply at first. Haseo glanced downward, discovering that the small Katsuyu on his shoulder appeared to have fallen asleep.
Therefore, Haseo could do nothing but stop and decided not to advance recklessly.
A few minutes of silence passed before Katsuyu finally spoke, "This is the place, Lord Haseo... Sorry, I've lived far too long. Those important memories were buried deeply at the furthest corners of my mind, and retrieving them takes considerable time.
Besides..." Her tone hesitated slightly. "...this tends to create confusion and dissonance within me."
Haseo nodded. He accepted this explanation. It wasn't strange for such issues to develop when one lived so long.
Even Katsuyu herself couldn't recall exactly how many years she'd survived. In her memory, there was a time when she had only been a weak creature climbing among forest leaves, and then suddenly she had taken on a massive form.
From the beginning, Katsuyu had indeed felt somewhat unfamiliar to Haseo, and... just now, she seemed to require a brief moment of recognition before confirming the person beside her was Haseo—not Senju or someone even earlier.
"Compared to a lifeform like you, ninja lives, in the end, are fleeting and fragile. Duration of existence equates to a kind of wisdom, which is why you possess knowledge that should originally belong solely to the world's secrets."
The voice seemed both familiar and unfamiliar—more precisely, it was Katsuyu's "deeper consciousness."
"Please proceed forward, Lord Haseo."
Following Katsuyu's instruction—or rather, receiving her permission—Haseo continued moving forward step by step toward the light ahead.
Then, he exited the cave. A vast space stretched endlessly before him.
Something was wrong.
A spatial dissonance compelled Haseo to turn his head, but strangely enough, he didn't see the deep tunnel through which he'd entered.
What lay behind him was grassland, and farther away, forest.
This place... was still part of the Shikkotsu Forest, though Haseo couldn't pinpoint exactly where.
Walking forward, Haseo's eyes fell upon an altar-like structure composed of huge, rough stone blocks. Perhaps because it was ancient, it didn't rise much above the ground, lying low like ordinary floor tiles.
Haseo crouched down and let his fingertips glide over the coarse, seemingly unprocessed primitive stones... His fingers had just brushed against a [Technique Formation] engraved onto one of the stones.
This deeply carved [Technique Formation] had lines that seemed simple at first glance, yet Haseo had every reason to believe it was incredibly complex—it formed a circular, spiderweb-like pattern spanning at least one hundred meters in diameter.
Katsuyu didn't need to explain further; naturally, Haseo walked straight toward the very center of this Technique Formation.
As soon as Haseo firmly planted himself at the center of the formation, he felt certain this must be a hidden spot inside Katsuyu—at least partially embedded in her body, no matter how open the space appeared. Though he could see the sky when lifting his head, such a secret place certainly wouldn't be casually left out in the open.
"Are you ready, Lord Haseo?" Katsuyu asked again.
"It's not like I'm aiming for instant success. For high-difficulty tasks, I always expect them to take a lot of time. This is just a preliminary, surface-level test—nowhere near crossing the threshold yet. So... do I really need special preparation?"
"This requires mental and spiritual preparation. Although it's only brief contact, if I must describe it, it's like a gentle caress between two beings. However, the intense stimulation involved is something most ninjas cannot withstand. Those who can't handle it... die. It's simply that dangerous," Katsuyu explained.
Indeed, she acted differently this time compared to usual. Otherwise, if Haseo were about to attempt something so perilous, her attitude would surely have been completely different.
Her last words carried a slight tone of indifference, almost like saying, "Well, if you die, then you die."
Even with the warning in Katsuyu's voice, Haseo had come too far to turn back now.
"It's fine. I've always been quite confident in my psychological endurance and strength of will. So… we can begin directly," Haseo replied.
He honestly spoke the truth here—if he didn't have an iron will, how could he stay so unnerved? Well, scratch that—how else could he weave [Hand Seals] with such finesse?
Since Haseo had fully prepared himself, Katsuyu said nothing further, as if accepting whatever was about to happen.
Just as Haseo was about to ask what he should do next, the small slug on his shoulder suddenly expanded its body and immediately engulfed him entirely.
Indeed, swallowed whole by the giant slug.
"The timing is perfect. Remain upright, relax your mind, and don't resist too much."
Katsuyu's voice came again, but this time, it sounded muffled to Haseo, as though water had filled his ears.
But he still heard everything he needed to hear, although… getting into position, staying relaxed, timing it right—since when did this sound like preparing for conception?
Haseo definitely had nerves of steel. That he could think about random things at this moment only showed how truly "relaxed" he was.
His entire body was wrapped inside Katsuyu, completely losing control over its movements. The liquid within Katsuyu slowly began undulating. Without realizing it, Haseo's hands turned toward each other, and in the next moment, clapped together.
The giant slug enveloping Haseo acted as an ideal medium—an exceptional medium for channeling natural energy.
Exactly at the moment his palms pressed together, his sharp mind felt as if shoved straight into a concrete mixer. Intense pressure threw his senses into chaos.
Pure, vast, irresistible energy forced its way violently into Haseo's body, making him feel as though he might burst apart.
Then, deep within Haseo's mind...
All tangible matter vanished without a trace.
Only his thoughts and will existed within pure energy.
Beneath lay an endless abyss; above burned a sun hot enough to melt everything away. Haseo couldn't tell whether gravity was pulling him down into the chasm or dragging him upward toward the solar corona due to stellar force.
Weightless, or hurtling through infinite space.
At first, Haseo's sensations turned chaotic and confused. Then, his sensations disappeared completely—including even his sense of self.
You know, there's no problem touching natural energy itself. The issue is that Katsuyu let Haseo come into contact with too much of it. It's like sticking an infant inside a giant wine barrel. Actually, Haseo's situation was even worse than this metaphor suggests.
He lost his breath. Perhaps only for a few seconds, maybe forever.
"Cough, cough."
By the time Haseo regained consciousness, he was coughing violently, perhaps even awakened by this physical sensation so intense it felt like coughing up his lungs.
With unfocused eyes, his vision gradually returned. He found himself on both knees, upper body propped up with both hands—basically the most classic kneeling posture imaginable.
Then, shortly after, Haseo felt his limbs aching. The ground suddenly felt unusually intimate... So he lowered his face onto the surface and relaxed all four limbs... transitioning from a kneeling posture to lying face-down flat on the ground.
After another while, he struggled to roll over, changing from lying facedown to lying on his back.
The sky kept spinning within his vision. His senses remained chaotic, so he raised his forearm to cover his eyes. Hmm… This posture looked exactly like someone who'd been defeated and crying for hours on end.
He didn't know how much time had passed before his brain finally regained normal thinking ability.
Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest each had their own distinct [Sage Art]. Previously, Haseo had doubted whether the First Hokage needed to accumulate natural energy first before entering Sage Mode, or if he could activate it directly anytime.
After all, the First Hokage hadn't learned [Sage Art] from a toad, so it didn't necessarily possess such characteristics.
And now, Haseo was more inclined to believe that the First Hokage's Sage Art belonged to the latter.
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