Chapter 13: Sennin Mode II

What do you think of the pacing of the story? Is it too slow?

Don’t expect anything sexual for a while. Tsunade is a respectable woman, she will not enter into a relationship with Yujin right after losing the boyfriend she liked so much.

Their relationship will be built block by block.

Jiraya closed his eyes and focused. He painted his face with some kind of oil and joined his hands together, as if in prayer, but he was actually concentrating on the natural energy around him.

Yujin could see the natural energy converging towards Jiraya.

It was a small amount of energy, but enough to convince Yujin of Jiraya’s capability.

Minutes passed before he finally placed his hand on the ground. Strange symbols appeared on the ground, and two old toads appeared. Both jumped on Jiraya’s shoulders, and the one that looked like an elder with a beard asked while looking around.

“What happened? A fight?”

When he saw only Tsunade and Yujin standing, and realized they were not enemies, the old man relaxed, and the old woman responded.

“Looks like there won’t be a fight today. Why did you summon us, Jiraya?”

Yujin observed Jiraya’s physical features changing, and when he saw the two toads, he could vaguely understand what had happened. Before Jiraya could respond, he analyzed aloud.

“The Sage Mode is the fusion of Chakra with natural energy, that’s Tsunade’s explanation. But from my perspective, you used that oil as an intermediary for this fusion to happen. I felt a large amount of natural energy from the oil. But why did your appearance change?”

Before Jiraya could answer, Tsunade interjected.

“The oil is special, produced by the sage toads of Mount Myoboku. Jiraya isn’t skilled enough to enter Sage Mode without this help. The sage toads serve to balance the Sage Chakra so that he doesn’t turn into a toad completely.”

“So, he uses the oil as an intermediary, tunes into the natural energy, merges it with his Chakra, and the toads help balance the natural energy with Chakra so he can remain human? Hm ... Interesting, but it has many flaws.”

The old sage didn’t seem pleased with Yujin’s calm and disinterested analysis and responded.

“It’s the method we could come up with to help this incompetent use the Sage Mode. We at Mount Myoboku are experts in Senjutsu, but our relationship with natural energy is much more natural for us than for you humans. That’s why he needs special methods. We realized after years of study that our oil can help humans feel natural energy, and that’s why he uses it.”

Yujin approached Jiraya and, under his cautious eyes, took some of the oil on his face.

When the oil touched Yujin’s finger, he could feel the natural energy in the oil as well as in the surroundings more easily. But honestly, it wasn’t very useful for him. He already could do that on his own.

“I understand ... So, you basically skipped the necessary steps of the process and went straight to the conclusion, that’s why the result is so inferior.”

“Inferior how?”

Tsunade began to ignore Jiraya and the two sage toads, engaging in a discussion with Yujin, who explained.

“It took a long time to tune into natural energy, merge it with Chakra, and he still needs help balancing it before turning into a toad completely. Since its external assistance, he would probably have a better outcome if he did it on his own. It would require better control over his Chakra and natural energy, something necessary to understand his own strength, and thus wield it more effectively and efficiently. I think that’s what happens when you try to attain power for the sake of power without considering the step-by-step process.”

“But what about the strength he gains with this state? Even I am inferior when he’s like this.”

“I can’t say, only seeing it in action.”

The two then looked at Jiraya, who was at a loss. When he saw their gaze, he reluctantly agreed to show his power, even though he felt uncomfortable with the situation.

After entering Sage Mode, he had access to more specialized jutsus with the help of the toads, and his physical body became much stronger and faster. When Yujin saw the result, he found it interesting, as he didn’t expect it to be so strong, but was stilll disappointed in how Jiraya achieved it.

The old toad seemed interested in Yujin and started a conversation with him after the demonstration.

“You’re strange ... I can feel your affinity with nature. It’s not Sage Mode, but it’s as if you’re part of nature all the time. I don’t sense any Chakra from you, but I can tell, you’re strong. Want to learn Sage Mode?”

The old toad seemed quite interested in teaching Yujin, but he respectfully declined and said.