Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI - Chapter 248 - Theories about Sage Mode.

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Mount Myōboku, Year 42.
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Weeks had passed since Minato's first day training and adapting to the Senju Mode.

He was the first to perfect the mode in its best form, while only his eyes had changed and his body had remained completely human, but that was only externally, while the powers Minato now possessed had been elevated to an even greater level.

He had been training day after day maintaining that form as best he could, and now he understood why the original Minato only used it on a few occasions, as it was a very exhausting technique while he also had difficulty controlling natural chakra.

But this Minato was different, he certainly had some difficulty, but the fact that he had already mastered Sage Mode from the beginning revealed that he had unlimited potential.

And so it was, the days went by, while Minato trained from circulating Sage Mode on his own body, at the same time he kept Fukasaku along with Shima on his shoulders, the same way Jiraiya did when using this mode.

Minato could choose the much safer second option if he had to maintain Sage Mode for a long time, while the two toads would keep the natural energy circulating the whole time, entering them as receptors to pass their chakra to Minato, not needing to worry about him drawing energy, while Minato could just focus on the enemy.

But Minato wanted more than that, trying to use a theory that Juugo himself had, having a natural body to attract natural energy... Minato wanted somehow to start attracting it in that way, even if it was just one point in his body...

But for that, he would first need to find a way for his body to absorb natural energy automatically, while at the same time his subconscious had to learn to control it in a way that Minato wouldn't even need to worry about it anymore.

They say someone becomes a master in something after 10,000 hours of experience, but Minato would maybe need 100,000 hours or even a million, to develop this in his brain.

He wanted the energy to circulate his body all the time, entering and exiting, something that should be impossible, but it was still a theory Minato was studying, if he could maybe develop it, he would have unlimited chakra and one even more powerful than common chakra.

Minato looked at his hands at that moment, as he opened and closed them, testing the energy circulating through all his chakra veins.

His thoughts continued in the direction of his theories, thinking about how to implement them while he also had thoughts focused on his other powers, natural energy had certainly strengthened his strength.

But there was still the matter of his hakis, fruit, and his naturally powerful body with the six marine styles.

"You’re thinking about what, Minato. It’s your turn to throw the rock!"

A booming voice came as Minato looked at the giant toad who had spoken, none other than Gamabunta.

It wasn’t just him, but other giant toads were waiting for his turn, after all, he had agreed to play a certain game with them.

"Ah, all right. I was a little distracted..." Minato said as he approached a group of rocks near them.

Everyone waited as Minato, using Sage Mode, since his eyes were those of a toad, picked up a huge rock making Minato look like an ant while the rock itself weighed tons.

However, that didn’t stop Minato from simply lifting it with ease, he prepared by going to a giant line with all the toads still waiting, and Minato didn’t even need to look at where he should aim, as he simply took a few steps back and ran toward the line.

Before stepping on the line, he hurled the enormous rock flying far away while everyone watched it soar before crashing into an empty area filled with other rocks, surpassing them as it hit the ground a moment later and rolled several dozen more meters before coming to a stop.

“Damn... the kid is beating us...” Gamabunta wasn't in a good mood about it.

All the toads agreed, while another toad began moving forward to where Minato had picked up the rock, as he stepped away from the throwing line. The same happened with the other toads.

They threw rocks in that direction without crossing the line, only to gain momentum while their rocks flew a few meters before falling to the ground, landing among the stones.

“...” The toad who had thrown the rock with his toad-like feet seemed in a bad mood as he left the place and another toad was grabbing a stone to throw.

This was a simple game, where the one with the farthest giant rock won. Minato stayed among the toads for a while, while the last one threw, but it didn’t go well.

“Victory goes to Minato Namikaze!” a small toad exclaimed from atop a rock, announcing the winner.

Some toads began collecting on bets placed, while another group was watching the rock-throwing competition, gambling all sorts of things that seemed valuable—even larvae and worms—like Miss Shima, who was there gathering all kinds of such food, happy to have some good ingredients for a nice dinner, having coughed for Minato and bet on him.

Minato left them aside and advanced out of the place, while the toads still seemed quite embarrassed for losing to a human.

“Damn... how clumsy I am,” one of them muttered.

“You’re not, anyway. You did really well, Gamaken!” Minato said as he walked out of the area.

He went back to training again in an isolated part, recharging his vital energy, while punching some spots there, destroying anything that was in front of him.

He quickly began to create a layer of haki over his left arm while punching as well.

The destruction began in that area with debris falling everywhere as Minato moved on to the next target immediately.

It was only after a while that he stopped, with everything scattered, while his left arm was black, the right filled with natural energy, but neither of them had the same characteristics.

“How strange...” Minato muttered, his perception was greater and that enhanced the observation haki even more, but the armament haki was a bit different.

First, it wasn’t that Minato made the natural energy disappear when wielding haki on his arm, but it decreased rapidly. No wonder Fukasaku’s staff didn’t work when hitting a region with armament haki. His strength became slightly stronger, resulting in a bit more destruction from the left arm than the right.

Minato still didn’t fully understand how these two forces worked, especially since armament haki is something from another world—not to mention that both haki and chakra were supposed to come from the spirit of the being—it was likely these energies couldn’t merge.

Second, Minato didn’t know if it was even possible to combine Sage Mode with the power of haki, with both powers intertwining to the point of uniting and sharing their forces in harmony. Minato could feel the chaos the two energies created when trying to unite them in a part of the body.

“But the armament Haki always overpowers natural energy and makes it retreat, no wonder the latter decreases the moment I use haki...” Minato muttered, returning to think about it.

There were several theories being built in his mind, one of which was that he could use his own haki to reduce the pressure of natural energy in his body, maintaining better control.

"What are you whispering about over there, Minato-Boy?"

Fukasaku’s voice reached Minato as he turned to see the elder toad standing nearby. Not that Minato hadn’t noticed him before, but it didn’t stop him from thinking out loud, trying to work through his chakra issues.

"Some things that are still difficult for me..." Minato commented.

"Are you talking about your black arm that makes all the natural energy retreat... that’s certainly something we’ve never seen, Minato-boy. Did Jiraiya know about this?" he asked, already having seen Minato use this ability a few times. And surely, seeing it make natural energy flee Minato’s body on its own was something inexplicable for any toad who trained in natural energy.

Minato shook his head. "No... this ability is something I developed after the last time I saw him," Minato said.

"Interesting. Either way, you haven’t stopped thinking about this since the early days... maybe you should practice something else while the answer comes to you later..."

Minato had poured most of his effort into this, trying to develop haki with natural energy over the past few weeks.

"I know... it’s just..." he murmured stubbornly. This was a challenge for him, and he intended to overcome it.

"You’re the greatest Sage Mode user in the history of Mount Myouboku. I never wanted to say much about it so you wouldn’t get arrogant, but you don’t even seem to care about that. Instead, you intend to get even stronger with all these crazy theories and powers I’ve never seen..." Fukasaku said.

"..." Minato looked at him for a moment and sighed.

"I think you’re right. I’ll rest a bit," Minato decided.

"Then let’s go to my house. Shima got a lot of ingredients from the bet you made today. The food will be unique and delicious!" he said excitedly.

"I’ll pass," Minato simply said, as he had his own food prepared—not wanting to eat Shima’s food under the pretext that he was on a diet.

Either way, they went to Fukasaku and Shima’s house, while the female toad served food to her husband, and Minato ate his ramen, which had nothing to do with a diet, though the two toads didn’t know that.

"What a waste, you not eating Mom’s food. It’s delicious!" Fukasaku said while eating all the larvae and worms in the stew.

"No, thank you," Minato simply said, ignoring that thing on his plate and focusing on eating his own dinner.

"You know..." He wiped the last noodle from the bowl and turned back to Fukasaku. "I think you’re right. Maybe I should train something else while I try to figure out the answers to my questions in the future. So I want to focus on something different."

"Like what?" the toad asked.

"I want to summon a friend tomorrow. He’s my second summoning contract," he said.

"You have another contract?" Shima looked surprised, just like her husband, while Minato nodded to both.

"Yes, I haven’t seen him in a week. I wanted to know how things are going," he said, and Fukasaku nodded.

"All right... you can summon him here, just don’t let him damage any important places—like the larva nest, the big waterfall where the toads bathe, or the elder’s cave."

He spoke while Minato nodded.

"All right, I’ll keep that in mind," he said in the end, as he went to rest—preparing to summon a dragon for the first time.