Alex knew he needed to earn another feat as soon as possible since there was no way he could hope to not be ousted as the one who helped tsunade without an additional affinity to mess up his chakra signature. this was a pain for alex since besides knowing that there were other feats he couldn't just open a list and work towards one of them. he eventually got *suicidal by eating every poisonous thing in the forest and using celestial release to keep his vitality up while suffering from their effects. this gave him very few points but did give him two roulette tickets which he used immediately.
One of the spins gave him the only basic affinity he was missing earth and the change that came after that was immediate and awe inspiring. alex suddenly felt a strange energy in the air that gathered around him and moved as if eager to please him. at first he thought it was just ambient chakra but he quickly learned that he was VERY wrong. he drew in some of the energy and without any warning the stuff began to flood into his body and fuse with his body.
Alex didn't know it at the time but the only reason he didn't turn into a stone statue was because there wasn't a single cell in his body not flooded with his chakra. this lead to the most perfect sage mode possible as the chakra and natural energy in alex's cells reached perfect fusion making alex's base form sage mode. alex actually had to figure out how to leave sage mode since without having trained with natural energy before it flowed through his body freely before leaving. alex had reached as close to one with the world as possible making sage mode cost him nothing while giving him all of the benefits.
The second spin was far less impactful as it just gave alex diamond release which was supper useful for him as he could create super hard crystalline materials in any fashion he wished. it also let him petrify liquid based things which made him a nightmare against water users. once those two changes occurred in alex's chakra he knew he would be safe from tsunade so long as he didn't show off the vitality restoring properties of celestial release. he returned to the village and the lack of presence he now had was quickly noticed and reported to the hokage.
Minato observed alex when he reported in after his "training" but despite his best effort it was like alex was the air itself. the closest minato had ever felt someone like this was his teacher jiraiya who had a faint presence that blended in well but was still noticeable. "i take it you learned sage mode during your "training"?" minato asked alex while making it clear he knew exactly why he had been absent from the village. alex looked startled then confused at the hokages question , startled because his leaving the village while tsunade was on the prowl gave him away and confused because he had no clue what sage mode was.
He made this clear with his answer "what the hell is sage mode?" he asked confused. minato looked dumbstruck "how did you achieve sage mode if you don't know what it is?!" he asked a bit loudly. alex shrugged "again no clue what the hell this sage mode you are talking about is , but all i know is that i noticed some sort of energy everywhere and when i took some i got flooded with the stuff and have been like this since." alex said honestly.
"You mean to tell me you have not been controlling the natural energy inside you?" minato asked in clear disbelief. "it's called natural energy huh? also am i suppose to control it , seems harmless to me minus that all of my jutsu got way harder to use in small amounts." alex said honestly. minato took a deep breath and sent a message to jiraiya that he needed his help. while waiting for jiraiya to show up minato switched to a different subject "so what did you use to reinvigorate tsunade" he asked seriously.
Alex froze "this isn't one of those questions i can refuse to answer huh?" he asked and minato shook his head. "fine , but i swear if she learns it was me i'll go rogue , i already have my hands full with four strong personalities and would rather avoid having a fifth." alex threatened jokingly. "i swear she won't hear of it from me." minato says honestly. alex looked at the shadows near the ceiling " that includes you two as well." he says sending a shiver down the hidden anbus spines as they also swore not to spread the information.