Konoha's Genius is a bit Ordinary?

One day, Natsuro was continuing his training and evaluating the progress he had made over the past several days.

As he focused on the various chakra natures within his body, it was no surprise that wind and lightning remained the strongest, followed by fire, with water and earth still the weakest.

Although weak, Natsuro could now sense traces of his developing mastery water and earth natures.

If he were to use a chakra nature paper test, it would reveal all five natures, albeit with varying strengths.

Even so, any shinobi learning of this would undoubtedly be left stunned.

Normally, most shinobi are born with only one nature. As they mature into jonin, they may gradually develop a second attribute, but this process takes a long time, and even then, the strength of the newly acquired nature rarely matches the innate one.

This was precisely why Natsuro had initially avoided trying to train water or earth natures, training even one additional natures was an arduous task, let alone two.

But now, Natsuro's method could only be described as "cheating."

Typically, acquiring a second nature involves consistent use of a specific chakra nature's jutsu, gradually leaving traces of that attribute within the body until a new nature emerges.

In Natsuro's case, he bypassed this entirely by directly absorbing natural energy containing specific attributes and converting it into chakra, embedding the corresponding nature into his body continuously.

Compared to the conventional approach, this was indeed cheating.

At this rate, Natsuroestimated that by the time the Fourth Great Ninja War arrived, his water and earth attributes would still lag behind wind and lightning but would be strong enough for basic use.

However, it was his ongoing Yang Release training that truly left Natsuro stumped. He had no concrete way to measure his progress.

All he knew was that his recovery rate was becoming increasingly absurd.

If this continued, even Naruto's healing capabilities, enhanced by Kurama, might pale in comparison.

Lacking a direct benchmark, Natsuro could only speculate about the effectiveness of his Yang Release training.

Still, overall, Natsuro felt he had made notable strides in his chakra nature training.

Even his already strong wind and lightning attributes had shown minor improvements. While not groundbreaking now, such incremental gains could accumulate into something significant over time.

As Natsuro prepared to resume his training, a familiar sight approached, a small toad hopping toward him. It was one of the messenger toads.

"Is something the matter?" Natsuro asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Master Natsuro, Elder Fukasaku has requested your presence at Mount Myoboku. It seems to concern Naruto's training," explained the messenger toad.

"Oh? Alright." Natsuro nodded, realizing it had been quite some time since he left Naruto there.

Given Naruto's compatibility with Sage Mode, it seemed about time for his training to show results.

Just as Natsuro was about to use the Flying Thunder God Technique, the messenger toad spoke again.

"Um, Master Natsuro, could you take me back to Mount Myoboku as well? I wasn't summoned through a contract and would need to hop a long way to return."

"Of course," Natsuro said, smiling. It wasn't a big deal to help.

"Thank you so much, Master Natsuro!" The toad happily leapt onto Natsuro's shoulder.

"No problem," Natsuro replied, activating the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport both himself and the messenger toad to Mount Myoboku.

After bidding farewell to the toad, Natsuro followed his senses to Naruto's location.

Arriving at the oil pool, Natsuro found a slightly troubled-looking Naruto, Fukasaku, and Shima.

"Oh, Natsuro, you're here!" Fukasaku's eyes lit up as he greeted Natsuro.

"Natsuro!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"Natsuro!" Shima's expression brightened as she called out. She hadn't seen Natsuro in a while, and hearing about his previous sudden departure had left her a bit annoyed.

But upon learning the reason from Fukasaku, namely the impending crisis foretold by the Great Toad Sage, she had forgiven him. After all, if the prophecy was coming to fruition soon, his rigorous training was entirely justified.

"Granny Shima, long time no see," Natsuro greeted her with a smile before turning to Fukasaku and Naruto.

"What's wrong? Why the gloomy faces?"

Fukasaku explained the situation to Natsuro.

After Natsuro left Mount Myoboku, Fukasaku began teaching Naruto the basics of Sage Mode.

Naruto's innate talent for Sage Mode was nothing short of shocking to Fukasaku. In a remarkably short period, Naruto managed to sense natural energy, something that typically required far more time and effort.

Even though the use of toad oil aided the process, Fukasaku knew from experience that the oil alone could not account for such rapid progress. Jiraiya himself had taken significantly longer to learn.

This confirmed what Natsuro had said before: Naruto was exceptionally suited for Sage Mode.

What astonished Fukasaku even more was that Naruto, through his own determination, mastered Sage Mode without requiring external assistance during battle, unlike Jiraiya.

Although the process of gathering natural energy still required significant time, Naruto's ability to independently enter Sage Mode was reminiscent of the Fourth Hokage.

The Fourth Hokage had also mastered Sage Mode, but the long preparation time conflicted with his combat style, so he seldom used it.

However, a well-known limitation of Sage Mode is its short duration. Even with Naruto's immense chakra reserves, the mode could only be maintained for about five minutes at a time.

To address this limitation, Fukasaku and Shima often employed the Sage Art: Amphibian Technique, a fusion technique in which they partially merge with the user's body.

This technique allows the user to fight without needing to gather natural energy themselves. The toads handle energy absorption and transfer it directly to the user via the fusion point, enabling continuous Sage Mode use during combat.

But here was the problem: every time Fukasaku attempted to fuse with Naruto, the Nine-Tails would interfere, preventing the Amphibian Technique from succeeding.

As a result, despite mastering Sage Mode, Naruto was limited to five minutes of use at a time, requiring significant breaks to gather natural energy. This greatly reduced its practical combat effectiveness.

"Natsuro, what should I do? I've already talked to the Nine-Tails and asked it not to interfere, but it keeps refusing!" Naruto said in frustration after Fukasaku explained the issue.

"Of course, it won't agree. The Nine-Tails is a legendary disaster beast. Since it's partially fused with you already, it's naturally resistant to allowing anyone else to merge with you," Natsuro said, rolling his eyes.

"But if that's the case, doesn't that make learning Sage Mode pointless? Five minutes is way too short!" Naruto scratched his head, clearly distressed. Though he had experienced the immense power of Sage Mode, its short duration was a significant limitation.

"Actually, there's a solution, and it's surprisingly simple," Natsuro said with a smirk.

"Huh?" Naruto's eyes lit up as he looked expectantly at Natsuro. Even Fukasaku turned his attention toward Natsuro, eager to hear the proposed solution.

"The best way is to have the Nine-Tails gather natural energy for you. Since you've already learned Sage Mode and absorbed natural energy, the Nine-Tails, being what it is, should have no trouble sensing and gathering it," Natsuro explained.

Naruto's hopeful expression instantly soured. He muttered, "That's impossible. If I can't even convince the Nine-Tails to let Fukasaku fuse with me, how could I possibly get it to help gather natural energy?"

Fukasaku nodded in agreement, finding the idea implausible given the Nine-Tails' stubborn and uncooperative nature.

"It's not impossible," Natsuro countered. "The reason it seems impossible is that your relationship with the Nine-Tails, while improving, hasn't reached a true state of reconciliation."

"True reconciliation…" Naruto repeated, confused.

"For example," Natsuro said, raising an eyebrow, "do you even know the Nine-Tails' real name?"

Naruto blinked in surprise and, after a pause, asked, "Isn't its name just… Nine-Tails?"

"That's just a title. From the One-Tail to the Nine-Tails, all of them have titles like that. For example, when you helped save Gaara, you heard about the One-Tail's name, Shukaku, right? So, the One-Tail's real name is Shukaku, and naturally, the Nine-Tails has its own real name too," Natsuro explained.

"Oh, I see!" Naruto suddenly realized. He immediately turned inward to ask the Nine-Tails about its name, but was met with silence. Scratching his head, he said, "I just asked the Nine-Tails for its name, but it's completely ignoring me."

"That's the thing, Naruto. Just because the Nine-Tails is willing to lend you its power doesn't mean it fully acknowledges you, let alone that it has reconciled with you. From what I understand about the Nine-Tails, it will only reveal its true name to you if you manage to achieve complete reconciliation with it," Natsuro explained thoughtfully.

Among the Tailed Beasts, some are proud of their names like the Eight-Tails while others dislike their names and don't want anyone to call them that. The Nine-Tails falls into the latter category.

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Currently on Chapter 277 - 'Truth-Seeking Balls'