You know, given what just happened I should feel some type of way but honestly I just wanna go home and sleep. But before I can do that I should probably solve the whole petrified hand thing, hands are kind of important. The eye I can worry about later still works just as well.
"Sozo!"
"Huh? What? sorry I wasn't listening," I say looking up at the Hokage.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Lord Third asked.
"I… have no idea. One second I'm asking Kumo over here," I say pointing to her, "if she can use a Yamanaka jutsu on me out of curiosity, she agrees after some pestering, the next I'm in my room? Then my apartment, then the hospital, then the forest, then I hear Kakashi call out to me and I'm back here."
Let's keep the old man thing to myself.
The Hokage was thoughtful for a moment before turning to one of the Yamanaka, "Inoichi, what did you see in his mind."
"Not much sir his mind was incredibly difficult to even enter and even more so to navigate. Kakashi may be able to offer better insight as he wasn't rejected like I or Kumo was but he has no experience in matters of the mind so I doubt it."
Kakashi for his part was sitting next to me with a thoughtful look on his face.
Did he see him too?
"Kakashi report," the Hokage said.
"I don't know sir I couldn't keep up with Sozo every time I saw him it was only for a moment before he'd disappear."
Yamanaka's can pull someone else into another's mind. Why couldn't I have been a Yamanaka. Their abilities are fascinating.
"I couldn't make sense of anything sir. Everything I saw was nonsense. All I could do was yell out to Sozo."
The Hokage didn't look pleased with the lack of answers.
The entire time ths was happening Orochimaru was looking at me as if I was a newly acquired book form his favorite author.
"I don't suppose anyone knows how to fix this?" I say raising my hand
"Jiraiya."
Oh that's his name… wait he's another one of the Sannin.
"It should eventually revert on its own but I'll summon Fukasaku just in case."
Jiraiya bit his thumb before going through some hand seals and placing his hand on the ground. A puff of smoke appeared before quickly dissipating revealing a… frog in clothes.
The frog in question looked around for a moment before speaking.
"Jiraiya-boy what is it now?"
Cool a talking frog hopefully they are nicer than the talking snakes. Or at the very least not assholes.
"Pa, could you take a look at this kid's hand and eye," Jiraiya asked.
The frog approached me, jumping up onto my lap and grabbing my hand and examining it. Looking up at my eye for a moment he hopped off.
"Jiraiya summon me again in a few minutes," he said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
When the Frog was summoned again he had a stick.
What's that for?
Approaching me again he hopped up into my lap before hitting me with the stick.
"What was that for you stupid frog?"
In response he hit me again.
"I'm a toad!"
"Oh my apologies."
Taking a moment to compose myself I refrazed my words, "What was that for you stupid Toad!"
"That's what you get for messing around with Natural Energy before you're ready, didn't your summons warn you!" The toad said, trying to hit me again but I blocked it with my arm.
Oh my hand is back to normal, that's a relief.
"What are you talking about?" I ask.
"Orochimaru, did you have Sozo sign the snake contract?" Asked the Hokage.
"No Sozo hasn't signed the snake contract."
What's a summoning contract have to do with my hand and eye?
Pa looked at Minato and Jiraiya before pointing the stick at Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya, did you teach this boy Senjutsu," he accused.
"No! This is my first time meeting the brat." Jiraiya said defending himself.
Pa turned his gaze back to Minato.
"Nope," Minato said.
"So you're telling me this kid managed to absorb Nature Energy on his own," Pa said, looking at me.
I am missing some crucial information to completely understand what's going on.
"Not exactly, Sozo was lost in his own mind when it happened, unaware he was even absorbing Nature Energy." Said the Hokage.
"When I was ejected from Sozo's mind I tried to enter back in to pull him out without success. His hand began to slowly petrify four hours ago when I immediately notified Inoichi-sama." Kumo said.
I was in my own head for that long.
"Pa have you seen anything like this before?"
"No, I've never seen someone able to unconsciously absorb enough Nature Energy for them to begin to turn to stone." He said.
Ok I'm clearly not part of this conversation and have no need to be here. I'll pester Sensei for into later.
"Can I leave?" I ask.
"You may go Sozo, Kakashi keep an eye on him,"
"Yes Hokage-sama."
Alright let's get out of here.
"Sozo."
"Yes Sensei?" I say turning around.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
Not responding, I continue on my journey of sleep.
…
The next couple days were relatively uneventful. I didn't get much out of Orochimaru other than why it was a big deal that I was able to absorb Nature Energy. Apparently it's difficult to even sense Nature Energy let alone absorb the stuff.
I was also expected to go to Minato to check if I had any Nature Energy in my system, which I'm doing right now. Unfortunately Minato wasn't with Kakashi this time but Kakashi told me where his house was so I'm going there.
Arriving at his place I can sense someone inside but it definitely isn't Minato, given I can only sense Minato when he lets me i was still going to check if this is where he lives.
Knocking on the door the rather lively chakra approached. The door opened revealing a young lady who looked around Minato's age with red hair.
A girlfriend perhaps?
"Hey kid, what can I do for ya?" She said looking me over her eyes lingering on my headband.
"Hi I'm Sozo Akinori. I'm looking for Minato. Is this where he lives?"
"Yeah come on in," she said.
Entering the house I take off my sandals and leave my bag and sword by the entrance.
"Minato! You have a guest!" She yelled.
After waiting a few minutes Minato had yet to show himself.
"He's back there in his study. Feel free to interpret whatever he's doing."
"Alright."
Taking her advice I venture deeper into the house opening and closing doors until I find one with a blond in it.
"Minato I've arrived for my daily check up," I say as I enter the room he's in.
Looking around the room was quite the mess of books and paper, I even saw some ink on the floor over there, and in the center of the mess was Minato who was quite focused on some Fuinjutsu.
"And done," said Minato, "here for your check up."
"Yep."
We relocated to his living room as the process took a few minutes. Minato sat down on the floor and closed his eyes while I got comfortable on his couch.
"What's going on here?" Said Minato's red haired roommate.
"Minato checking my system for Nature Energy so I don't turn to stone… again," I explain.
She looks a little dumbfounded before dismissing what I said.
"You're good Sozo," Minato said, opening his eyes.
"Cool, mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Go for it."
"So what is Senjutsu?"
"Senjutsu is the mixture of Chakra and Nature Energy. But just absorbing Nature Energy won't create Senjutsu, you need to balance your chakra with Nature Energy which isn't easy." He explained
"So I didn't create Senjutsu, I just absorbed Nature Energy?" I asked
"No, if you did your eye shouldn't have changed," Minato looked deep in thought, "it's quite confusing you should not have been able to create Senjutsu and yet you did your eye changing is all the proof needed. But even that is quite peculiar. I don't understand what you did, neither did Jiraiya-sensei or Pa and they can become a Sage."
"Sage?"
"A Sage is what someone can become when they balance out their chakra with Nature Energy. It isn't easy and requires large chakra reserves so I wouldn't try to absorb Nature Energy again," Minato explained.
"If large chakra reserves are needed then how did I even balance out my chakra to create Senjutsu?"
"I don't know." Minato said.