After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 180

Chapter 180: Sage Mode and Toad

Not mentioning the schemes Obito was orchestrating behind the scenes, Naruto now seemed to face more pressing troubles that needed priority handling.

"Na—Naruto, are you alright?"

Jiraiya asked somewhat uncertainly.

This wasn't his fault—anyone seeing Naruto's current appearance would have similar concerns.

Unlike Shinnō, who was possessed by Zero-Tails and emanated black energy, after swallowing the entire Zero-Tails main body along with countless mixed grudges and Dark Chakra, Naruto had begun manifesting physical changes in his appearance.

Those uncontrolled mini hands extending from various parts of his body, along with that ominous aura that instinctively made people feel uncomfortable and repulsed, were things they had never sensed from Naruto before.

It was a temperament that aggregated countless malicious intentions. Even though Naruto's face still wore the same smile as before, anyone standing before him would feel this person harbored ill will toward them.

Countless whispers seemed to echo in their ears from the darkness.

Karin barely managed to resist that feeling through her respect for Naruto in her heart.

But Sasuke, who could observe from another perspective, wasn't so fortunate.

"Ugh..."

The power granted by the Misfortune Wolf to observe disasters and ill omens had become a burden at this moment.

That substantial black aura constantly stimulated Sasuke's nerves—he almost couldn't resist transforming.

Seemingly aware of his current unusual state, Naruto decisively knocked Sasuke unconscious.

His movement was so fast that even the Sharingan couldn't capture it.

Jiraiya and Karin only realized afterward—

"Naruto-san, this is—"

"My current state isn't suitable for close contact with Sasuke."

While speaking, Naruto reached out and snapped off the black mini hand that had "grown" from his chin.

Honestly, he hadn't expected this situation after completely devouring Zero-Tails.

After eating Zero-Tails and Shinnō, the Munch-Munch Fruit activated, and Naruto could sense he could perform some kind of "recompilation" on this hybrid.

Just like eating other materials, he could "decompose" the human and chakra into two separate parts.

Shinnō's main body was useless and posed no threat to him, so naturally he "expelled it from his body."

Without chakra, Shinnō rapidly aged, reverting to his original appearance.

But the newly "purified" Zero-Tails caused problems.

In the Munch-Munch Fruit's judgment, Zero-Tails in this state could be absorbed as an item, existing in forms like the Light of Nothingness or Grass Sword.

This was different from the previous Haki Ball.

Zero-Tails was a materialized chakra aggregate with its own form and even consciousness.

Absorbing it wouldn't risk turning himself into a "chakra state."

So Naruto, with a "since I'm here" mentality, tried it.

His Observation Haki hadn't detected any danger.

After absorbing Zero-Tails, its inherent whispers and malicious thoughts transferred to Naruto's mind.

If it were someone with weak willpower, they'd probably be driven insane by these constant mutterings.

But Naruto was different.

"His sense of 'self,' as powerful as his Conqueror's Haki, reduced this negative influence to almost negligible levels.

But that only applied to himself.

As "Zero-Tails," absorbing chakra and using malice to distort and influence others was survival instinct.

Like breathing—whenever Naruto relaxed, those influences would affect others through his body surface.

This was a passive effect that required Naruto's self-control to avoid.

Actually, Naruto could choose to separate "Zero-Tails" again—the Munch-Munch Fruit could do this.

But first, he'd never had the habit of spitting out what he'd eaten.

Second, without a host, Zero-Tails would quickly become an uncapturable mass of Dark Chakra.

This chakra would similarly affect ordinary people.

After all, its essence came from malice—accumulated malice over many years. Releasing it all at once would rename this place Gotham Town.

"I might need some time to balance this power."

After saying this, Naruto shouldered Sasuke and walked ahead, decisively leaving the town limits.

Fortunately, the residents had fallen unconscious from the previous Conqueror's Haki impact, or they'd probably already be killing each other.

"You rest here for a while. I'll come back after handling this."

Placing Sasuke on the ink carriage, Naruto turned to Jiraiya.

Though his tone remained the same as before, the pitch-black pupils and constantly appearing and disappearing mini hands around his body still caused unease.

Ordinary words sounded like threats in Jiraiya's ears.

But Jiraiya understood this wasn't Naruto's intention.

Suddenly, he thought of something and reached out to stop Naruto from leaving alone.

"Naruto, I have a method that might help you."

"Sage Mode?"

Naruto heard a familiar term from Jiraiya's mouth. He had some understanding of this from Orochimaru's memories.

The guy had even developed the Heaven Curse Mark based on this.

"Right, Sage Mode. Come on, let's go to Mount Myōboku first."

Jiraiya left Sasuke with Karin, then summoned a small toad, telling it to reverse-summon them both to Mount Myōboku.

With a sensation of weightlessness, Naruto experienced teleportation while conscious for the first time.

Vaguely, he seemed to grasp some key factor.

But first, he needed to understand Sage Mode.

"Jiraiya-sensei, is the Sage Mode you mentioned the same as Orochimaru's?"

In Naruto's memory, ninjas with curse marks were all bizarre-looking.

Though he wasn't particularly concerned with appearance, he didn't want to lose human form entirely.

"Orochimaru?"

Jiraiya recalled but found no related memories.

"Perhaps. He did sign a contract with Ryūchi Cave after all."

"Actually, the three great sage regions—Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest—each have their own exclusive Sage Mode."

"It's just a way to imitate and learn from the Sage of Six Paths, drawing natural energy into the body."

"Does the Sage of Six Paths really exist?"

Naruto knew the Sage of Six Paths legends, but only from books and stories.

"Of course! You should learn about this when you meet the Great Toad Sage."

Speaking of which, this was his first time bringing Naruto to Mount Myōboku. He'd had this idea before but was delayed by various matters.

"Back to the point—your current state is likely caused by imbalanced chakra attributes in your body."

This guess was quite close to the truth.

Currently, Naruto possesses six chakra attributes: Wind, Water, Lightning, Fire, Earth, and Yang.

Several common nature transformations he'd learned through years of exploration in the pirate world, but Wind and Yang were innate.

In other words, except for the Yin-attribute chakra, he basically had all attributes.

Though "Zero-Tails" was composed of Dark Chakra, its essence was still a mixture of many disordered chakras.

Sage Mode should be able to reorganize these chakras and combine them with natural energy to transform into senjutsu chakra.

That was something with far superior efficiency and destructive power compared to ordinary chakra.

More importantly, this would allow Naruto to regain complete control of his body.

Though this was all Jiraiya's speculation, trying it wouldn't hurt—better than letting Naruto handle it alone.

As they walked through Mount Myōboku's lush vegetation, a massive toad suddenly fell from the sky, landing before them.

"So big!"

This was Naruto's first time seeing such an enormous creature in the ninja world.

He almost instinctively compared it to Sea Kings.

Hmm—still smaller in size, just wondering about the taste—

A sudden chill made the large toad shudder, then its scarred eyes fixed on Naruto below.

"Hey! Weird-smelling brat! What are you thinking?!"