The morning sun filtered through the windows of the Nanami Bakery, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air. Usually, this was the busiest time of day, with the smell of yeast and sugar filling the street. Today, however, the ovens were cold.
Nanami Kento stood by the door, a simple travel pack slung over his shoulder.
"Do you have enough rations?" his mother, Haruka, asked, wringing her hands on her apron. "I packed the dried fruit you like. And extra bandages. And a change of socks."
"I have everything, Kaa-san," Nanami assured her, flashing a relaxed, comforting smile. "It's just a training trip. I'm not going to war."
"You always say that," his father grumbled, though he gripped Nanami's shoulder tightly. "And then you come back with new scars or engaged to royalty. Just... try to be boring for once, Kento."
"Boring," Nanami mused, looking up at the ceiling. "I'll try my best. But no promises. The world has a way of finding me."
He hugged them both. It was a brief, warm embrace. He wasn't the type for long, tearful goodbyes.
"I'll be back before the snow falls," Nanami said. "Keep the ovens hot."
He stepped out into the street. The village was waking up. He walked through the familiar paths, heading toward the heart of the village—the Senju district.
The Senju compound was quiet.
In the garden, Tsunade was waiting. She wasn't training today. She was sitting on the stone bench, tracing the lines of the wood with her finger.
Next to her, Nawaki was bouncing on his heels, wearing a brand new, slightly oversized backpack.
"Kento-niichan!" Nawaki shouted, running over and tackling Nanami's legs. "Look! Look! I got my bag! I start the Academy on Monday!"
Nanami ruffled the boy's brown hair. "So you do. You look like a proper shinobi, Nawaki."
"I'm going to be Hokage!" Nawaki declared, puffing out his chest. "Just like Grandpa!"
"A worthy goal," Nanami smiled gently. "Listen to your teachers. Don't eat in class. And if anyone tries to bully you, tell them your brother-in-law creates explosions for a living."
Nawaki giggled. "Okay!"
Mito and Kaede watched from the porch. Nanami bowed to them.
"Mito-sama. Kaede-sama. Thank you for looking after ARIA while I am gone."
"She is currently in the library debating history with Tobirama," Mito said with a small smile. "I think he enjoys the argument. Go, Kento. The forest awaits."
Nanami walked over to Tsunade. She stood up. She looked strong, beautiful, and worried.
"Don't turn into a slug," she said, punching him lightly in the chest.
"I have no intention of becoming slimy," Nanami promised. "I prefer my skin dry."
He leaned in and kissed her forehead.
"Watch the village, Princess. I'll be back stronger."
"You better be."
Nanami stepped back. He bit his thumb.
He slammed his hand onto the grass.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
POOF.
A small, cat-sized Katsuyu appeared in a puff of smoke. She looked up at him with her eyestalks.
"Kento-sama," the slug chirped politely. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, Katsuyu-san. Requesting reverse summoning to the Shikkotsu Forest."
"Understood. Please hold your breath."
Nanami closed his eyes. He felt a sudden, hooking sensation behind his navel, like a fish being reeled in by a giant line. The world twisted. The sounds of Konoha—the wind, the birds, Nawaki's laughter—vanished instantly.
ZIP.
The Shikkotsu Forest
The air hit him first.
It was heavy. Thick with humidity, smelling of ancient moss, wet stone, and raw, unfiltered life. It felt less like air and more like soup.
Nanami opened his eyes.
He was standing on a giant, white surface. It took him a moment to realize he wasn't standing on stone. He was standing on bone.
Around him, massive trees twisted into the sky, their roots gnarled and thick as houses. The canopy was so dense that only shafts of green-tinted light filtered through.
And in front of him... was a mountain.
A mountain of white flesh and blue streaks.
Nanami tilted his head back. He looked up. And up. And up.
He couldn't see the top.
The Great Slug Sage, Katsuyu, was not an animal. She was a geographic feature.
"Welcome, Nanami Kento," a voice echoed. It didn't come from a mouth; it resonated in the air, in his bones, in the water vapor around him. It was a voice of thousands speaking as one.
Nanami bowed deeply, his hands clasped in prayer.
"Greetings, Great Sage. Thank you for granting me an audience."
"Mito speaks highly of you," the massive voice continued. "She says you have the mind of a builder and the soul of a warrior. You seek the Sage Art?"
"I do," Nanami confirmed. "I seek to harmonize my internal energy with the external world."
The massive body of the Sage shifted slightly. The ground shook. A pair of massive eye stalks, the size of watchtowers, lowered until they were level with him.
"You have massive chakra," the Sage observed. "Your spiritual energy is dense. Heavier than most humans."
Squelch.
A section of the massive body detached itself. A "small" Katsuyu—still the size of a large horse—landed in front of him with a wet thud.
"This division will guide you," the Great Sage said. "Follow her to the Acid Pools. And try not to dissolve."
"Thank you."
The Great Sage returned to her slumber, becoming a mountain once more.
Nanami followed the smaller Katsuyu. They walked deeper into the forest. The chakra here was wild. Plants grew visibly as he watched. Insects the size of dogs skittered through the underbrush.
They reached a clearing dominated by a pool of bubbling, green liquid. Yellow fumes rose from the surface.
"The Acid Pools," Katsuyu said cheerfully. "Please remove your clothes, Kento-sama. Down to your undergarments."
Nanami blinked. "Is the nudity strictly necessary?"
"The oil must make contact with the skin," Katsuyu explained. "Clothes interfere with the absorption."
"I see."
Nanami dropped his bag. He stripped off his shirt, his pants, his sandals. He stood in his boxers, the cool, damp air hitting his skin. His body was a map of muscle, honed by thousands of hours of gravity training.
"Sit," Katsuyu instructed.
Nanami sat cross-legged on a large, flat rock near the pool.
"Now," Katsuyu said, sliding closer. "I will apply the Sage Oil. It is a secretion from my body that forcefully draws natural energy into you. It acts as a catalyst."
"Slime," Nanami sighed. "Wonderful."
Katsuyu reared up and spat a glob of thick, viscous liquid onto his chest. Then another on his back. Then his shoulders.
She began to spread it with her body, coating him.
It didn't feel like water. It felt like liquid fire.
"It burns," Nanami noted calmly, though his skin was turning red.
"It opens the pores," Katsuyu said. "Now, close your eyes. Do not move. Do not think about the pain. Feel the energy around you. The oil will pull it in. Your job is to acknowledge it."
Nanami closed his eyes.
He assumed the Netero mindset.
Stillness.
He breathed. In. Out.
The burning on his skin faded into a dull throb.
He reached out with his senses. Not his chakra sensing, but his Nen sensing. His life force.
Feel the world.
He thought of the mountains. He thought of the wind.
In his previous life—or rather, the life of Isaac Netero—he had spent years in isolation. He had punched until his ego dissolved. He had become nothing, and in becoming nothing, he had become part of everything.
Gratitude.
He felt grateful for the air filling his lungs. He felt grateful for the rock supporting his weight.
And then, he felt it.
It wasn't a sudden rush. It was a hum. A vibration in the air. It was everywhere. In the soil, in the trees, in the moisture on his skin. It felt wild, chaotic, yet perfectly ordered.
It was Nature Energy.
Nanami opened his inner eye to it. He let it brush against his consciousness.
"I feel it," Nanami whispered.
Katsuyu froze.
"You... feel it?" she asked, her voice sounding surprised.
"Yes," Nanami said, keeping his eyes closed. "It feels like... static electricity. But wet. It is heavy. It wants to enter."
Katsuyu checked the time.
"Ten minutes," she muttered. "It has been ten minutes."
"Is that bad?"
"Hashirama Senju took three days to sense the energy," Katsuyu said, awe coloring her tone.
Nanami smiled slightly.
"I think I am a genius when it comes to Sage mode."
"Very well," Katsuyu recovered her composure. "Sensing it is the first step. Now comes the danger."
She moved closer to him, her body coiled and ready.
"You must draw it in. But you must balance it. The ratio is strict. One part Physical Energy. One part Spiritual Energy. One part Natural Energy."
"The Trinity," Nanami nodded.
"If you take too little, nothing happens. If you take too much..."
She didn't need to finish. Nanami knew. He would become a frog. Or in this case, a slug. He would turn to stone and be part of the forest forever.
"Begin," Katsuyu ordered. "Slowly."
Nanami focused.
He tapped into his chakra reserves. The massive ocean of blue energy within him.
He tapped into the Natural Energy hovering outside his skin, drawn by the oil.
Open the gate.
He pulled.
The Natural Energy flooded in.
It wasn't gentle. It was aggressive. It slammed into his chakra system like a tidal wave.
Nanami gritted his teeth. Too fast!
The energy didn't want to balance; it wanted to dominate. It latched onto his physical energy and began to consume it.
"Too much!" Katsuyu shouted.
Nanami felt his arm go numb.
He opened his eyes.
His left arm... was melting.
The skin had turned white and slimy. His fingers were fusing together. He was turning into a slug.
"Interesting," Nanami observed, watching his own humanity dissolve. "The cellular structure is rewriting itself instantly."
"STOP ANALYZING AND STOP IT!" Katsuyu yelled.
She reared back and slammed her tail into Nanami's chest.
WHACK.
The impact knocked the wind out of him. But more importantly, her chakra struck his coils, forcefully expelling the Natural Energy he had gathered.
Nanami flew backward, crashing into a tree.
He gasped, clutching his chest. He looked at his arm.
It was human again. The slime was gone. His fingers were separate.
He panted heavily, sweat dripping from his face. That was terrifying. For a second, he had felt his mind slipping away, replaced by a simple, singular desire to crawl and eat leaves.
"You pulled too hard," Katsuyu scolded, slithering over to him. "You are greedy, Kento-sama. Nature is not a buffet. You cannot just gorge yourself."
Nanami leaned against the tree, laughing weakly.
"My apologies," he wheezed. "I am used to maximizing intake. Force of habit."
He stood up, his legs shaking slightly.
"That was... exhilarating."
"You almost died," Katsuyu pointed out dryly. "Or worse, became a permanent resident of my garden."
"Calculated risk," Nanami said, walking back to the rock. He sat down again. "Now I know the weight. I know the pressure."
He looked at his hands.
"I need to create a buffer. A filter."
He closed his eyes.
Nen.
If I use my Aura as a sieve... if I coat my intake valves with Ten... I can regulate the flow.
"Again," Nanami commanded.
"Are you sure?" Katsuyu asked. "Your chakra is disrupted."
"I am fine. Apply the oil."
Katsuyu sighed, but she complied. She spat more slime onto him.
"You are stubborn. Just like the other one."
"Hashirama?"
"Yes."
Nanami smiled.
He closed his eyes.
Round two.
He pulled the energy. This time, he flared his Ten. The white aura acted as a barrier, slowing the Natural Energy down. Instead of a flood, it became a stream.
He guided it. He mixed it.
Blue chakra. White Nen. Green Nature.
He felt the balance shift. It was precarious, like balancing a needle on a spinning coin.
His skin tingled. The markings began to appear around his eyes—dark purple pigmentation.
His arm didn't melt.
Then, the color changed.
The white aura of his Ten, usually pristine and pale, began to darken. As the green natural energy fused with his spirit, the white didn't turn green. It transmuted.
It turned Gold.
A heavy, metallic gold that shone like the sun at noon. The air around him grew heavy, not with the wet humidity of the forest, but with the dry, ancient weight of a temple bell.
Katsuyu stared. She had seen Hashirama's Sage Mode—it felt like a forest growing.
But this... this felt like metal. Like a statue coming to life.
"Gold..." Katsuyu whispered. "The color of enlightenment."
He held it for five seconds.
Then, the balance tipped. The nature energy surged.
WHACK.
Katsuyu hit him again.
Nanami flew into the mud. The gold faded instantly back to white, then vanished.
"Better," Katsuyu critiqued, though her voice held a new note of respect. "Five seconds. Hashirama took a week to hold it that long. And your chakra color... it is unique."
Nanami wiped mud from his face. He spat out a blade of grass.
"Five seconds," he grinned. "Tomorrow, ten. Next week, infinity."
He stood up. The sun was setting through the canopy.
Day one was over.
He hadn't mastered it. But he had touched the power of the world, and he hadn't been consumed.
"I'm hungry," Nanami announced, his stomach growling loudly in the silent forest. "Katsuyu-san, does this forest have anything edible? Or do I have to eat my ration bars?"
"There are mushrooms," Katsuyu offered. "Though some cause hallucinations."
"I'll stick to the bars."
Nanami sat by the acid pool, eating a dry ration bar. He watched the steam rise.
He felt the lingering buzz of natural energy in his fingertips.
It was dangerous. It was wild.
And it was exactly what he needed to break the ceiling.
Just wait, Madara, Nanami thought, looking up at the sliver of moon visible through the trees. By the time you wake up, I'll be ready to punch the moon back into orbit.