Spending a full day sitting still without a single tough, but no matter how much he tried to feel the natural energy he couldn't even sense it. Suigetsu and Jugo scouted the entire island and Karin managed to learn the majority of the scrolls content. Saito and Co decided to move back to the mainland and try to find the swords.
Saito started talking with Jugo about his clan and how natural chakra overwhelmed his senses making him closer to a feral beast than a human. He told Jugo to try meditating and once he feels his mind about to be invaded release the overflowing chakra in the air. Jugo will never become a sage but using this method he could control himself most of the time, but he will need vigilance in order to control his own power.
Saito was still trying to feel Natural chakra but his concentration was broken when he suddenly received a flow of memories from one of his clones. After a few seconds he was shocked to find that his clone was destroyed by none other than Itachi Uchiha. He felt helpless looking back at the memories his clone couldn't even lay a finger on Itachi and his companion. At first he tried talking with Itachi but after they started fighting Itachi used his sharingan to create illusions, the clone managed to break free but just as he wanted to counter attack, Itachi's sharingan changed from the normal three tomoe sharingan to take a unique shape before long his clone was stuck in a strong Genjutsu where Itachi kept torturing him, after releasing the Genjutsu the clone was destroyed and Saito relived the same experience as his own clone. The reason Itachi didn't see that it was a clone is due to the nature of shadow clones.
Saito took a long time before calming down. He knew that doujutsus where quite powerful and usually they came with a plethora of strong abilities, but Saito was really angry because while he managed to reach higher levels of power he knew close to nothing about Doujutsus, In the Uzumaki compound Saito couldn't find anything about the Doujutsu's powers he knew that both the byakugan and sharingan originated from Kaguya but there was no mention of their powers, even the battle between Kaguya and her Sons was only mentioned in passage no information where given.
Life was truly unfair he finally knew why the Doujutsus costed so much R. points they were basically shortcuts to higher powers. Slowly Saito recovered from the chocked state he was in and he remembered that he could reach even higher power if he trains to the limit in every aspect. While he was far from reaching Hashirama's level of power he believes that if he uses his powers to the limit he should become an existence as powerful as him or even more powerful.
Saito knew that trying to use Natural chakra was a still far off goal, he shouldn't try to gain a new power and forget his own. Saito restarted his training at a greater intensity he is basically destroying and rebuilding his body in an endless cycle. He never expected that he won't even be able to put a scratch on a member of the organization he was fighting. His training was basically torture if it wasn't for his clone healing him after each cycle he would have died long ago.
His chakra channels where becoming more powerful and his strength was also rising at a scary pace. But he was far from satisfied he became used to the pain and he managed to control his chakra at with the fifth gate open but he still believes that he was far from reaching the top. His current level of power could make him a Kage level ninja but Saito knew that if he wants to break free from the bindings of fate.
Saito was using two clones in his training while the main body opened the gates and tried controlling the chakra, a clone used lightning chakra to stimulate his already strained muscles and last one was healing him by using chakra treads.
Karin, Fu, Jugo and Suigetsu were scared when they saw the state Saito was in after each training session. They didn't know what happened and could only think that Saito was once again in one of his crazy training fits.
Saito's chakra was growing as well even his control was strengthening. Saito had underestimated the enemy and as a result he paid the price. He swore that the next time he was faced with a Doujutsu user he will rip off their eyes before they could even look at him.
He even started doing pushups while training his own body. But his body finally reached its limits and he lost consciousness. When Fu and the rest called him they found him lying on the ground in a deep sleep. After Karin checked his body she was horrified by the level of damage he suffered. His body was destroyed but after she started using Mystical palm technique to try and heal him. She was shocked by his regenerative power. Unconsciously Saito activated his Medical Chakra mode and slowly his body started to heal up and rebuild.
A week passed by and Saito was still in deep sleep. Karin and Co were getting really worried.
While Saito's body was in perfect form his mind was exhausted not only from the training but also from the influx of information he received from his clones who travelled around. The moment he lost consciousness the clones where released and all there experience was received in a huge chunk. His brain shutdown in order to protect his sanity. That night Saito finally opened his eyes his eyes where filled with determination. After experiencing the helpless feeling of powerlessness against Itachi he lost himself in training. But now after he calmed down he finally saw that he was just a kid who desperately trying to run from his own insecurity. He didn't want to believe that all his training and experience amounted to nothing against an opponent of Itachi's caliber. But after calming down he could finally understand that Itachi had more fighting experience than him and even a Kage will have a hard fight against Itachi and his companion.
The boat already reached the mainland and Saito was in a room in an inn. Saito exited from the window and sat down on the roof, he for the first time watched the starry sky and admired the beautiful untainted sky. Suddenly he felt a strange energy, he directly knew what it was, Natural Chakra, trying to feel it and slowly started absorbing it Saito was shocked that it wasn't a normal neutral Natural chakra but an elemental one. Neutral Nature chakra had more power and was more potent but elemental natural chakra also existed but it was hard to sense it because it was present only in places where said element was present in great quantities. The inn was close to the sea so it could be said that Saito was really lucky to be able to feel that chakra.
Slowly Saito started to feel his mind becoming calmer and sharper he also had the weird feeling of total control over his body. But soon enough that state dissipated.
Saito opened his stats and was shocked by what he saw. [Look at Saito's stats in Volume 0 I will do all updates there]
He didn't achieve Sage mode but a he just touched the surface of Sage mode and was far from using it.