Soon, Natsuro met with the Third Hokage in the hospital room.
"You've returned from Mount Myoboku, I see," the Third Hokage said with a warm smile upon seeing Natsuro.
"Yes, I encountered some unexpected situations there that delayed me a bit," Natsuro replied.
"As long as you're alright," the Third Hokage responded, not pressing the issue further, leading to a brief silence in the room.
"Third Hokage-sama, I assume you've heard the rumors spreading around the village?" Natsuro broke the silence.
"Yes," the Third sighed and said, "I imagine you've figured out who's behind it."
"Danzo," Natsuro answered bluntly.
The Third Hokage nodded. "Yes, but rest assured. Based on what I know of Tsunade, she won't care about these rumors. They shouldn't have much of an impact on you."
"I trust your judgment on that," Natsuro agreed, but he wasn't done. "However…"
"Danzo doesn't have the authority to expose the identity of a former Anbu squad captain, does he? Even if I'm no longer part of Anbu," Natsuro added.
The Third Hokage looked at Natsuro's expressionless face, and after a long pause, he finally nodded.
"So, shouldn't Danzo be punished for his misconduct?" Natsuro continued.
The Third Hokage remained silent for a while before slowly nodding again. "Of course, I'll handle it."
Without further words, Natsuro left the room, aware of the stiff atmosphere.
Walking through the hospital, he reflected on the Third Hokage's attitude toward Danzo. Even though the Third never intended to hand over the Hokage position to Danzo, he had always tolerated Danzo's actions, allowing him to cultivate his own power in Konoha's shadows—something he found absurd.
Letting someone else build their own power base while serving under the Hokage? If the Third Hokage were truly manipulative, this kind of behavior would be an embarrassment to anyone with that level of cunning.
It wasn't a matter of being secretive or clever—it was just plain stupidity.
For example, if Natsuro hadn't directly brought it up, forcing the Third Hokage to confront the issue, he likely wouldn't have done anything to punish Danzo. In the Third's mind, such "small matters" probably weren't worth dealing with.
Even now, despite Natsuro's direct confrontation, the Third Hokage would likely only give Danzo a slap on the wrist—some light reprimand or inconsequential punishment.
That was the Third Hokage Natsuro had come to know: an aging leader who had lost his edge.
Still, despite all his criticisms, Natsuro didn't regret saving the Third Hokage. For him, repaying kindness and seeking vengeance were principles to live by.
With that resolved, Natsuro turned his thoughts to Sasuke. He planned to have Sasuke sign the Ryuchi Cave summoning contract, which would allow him to somewhat catch up with Naruto. The summoning technique shouldn't pose much of a challenge for Sasuke.
However, when he checked with the nurse, Natsuro found out that Sasuke had already been discharged from the hospital.
Natsuro slapped his forehead. Of course, it had been seven days. Although in his mind, he had only seen Sasuke in the hospital yesterday, the time lapse hadn't fully registered.
He focused his chakra on the Flying Thunder God mark he had placed in the Uchiha district.
In an instant, he vanished from the hospital and reappeared in Sasuke's room, where Sasuke usually left the Flying Thunder God kunai when he wasn't carrying it.
Closing his eyes, he used his sensory abilities and soon detected Sasuke's chakra at the familiar Uchiha training grounds.
Sasuke had thrown himself into intense training after leaving the hospital.
Natsuro made his way to the training ground effortlessly, where he found Sasuke panting heavily but continuing his drills.
He clapped his hands to get Sasuke's attention.
"Who's there?!" Sasuke started, but upon seeing Natsuro, his expression brightened. "Natsuro! You're back from your mission?"
"More or less. But I won't be staying long before I have to leave for another mission," Natsuro explained, thinking about his impending deployment to the battlefield at Otogakure.
"Can I join you?" Sasuke asked, suspecting it was the mission Kakashi had mentioned.
"No need. It'll be over soon," Natsuro said with a smile.
Sasuke didn't doubt his words. Every promise he had made to him had come true, including the one about defeating Itachi.
"Do you remember Naruto's summoning technique from back then?" Natsuro asked.
"Of course," Sasuke replied, recalling the giant toad Naruto had summoned. Just its size was awe-inspiring, let alone its strength.
"That was the toad from Mount Myoboku, one of the legendary Three Great Sage Regions. I've also signed a contract with them," Natsuro explained.
"Can I do that too?" Sasuke asked eagerly, intrigued by the idea.
"I don't have the Mount Myoboku summoning contract," Natsuro said, seeing Sasuke's disappointment, before continuing with a grin, "but I do have the summoning scroll for Ryuchi Cave, another one of the Three Great Sage Regions."
Sasuke's eyes lit up as he looked at Natsuro with anticipation.
Natsuro stopped teasing and handed Sasuke the large summoning scroll. "Open it to the end and sign your name in blood, then press your handprint."
Sasuke nodded and quickly did as instructed, but when he reached the end of the scroll, he saw only Natsuro's name, and his own surprise showed. He had expected Natsuro's full name to be written.
"Use your full name," Natsuro added, realizing the oversight.
Sasuke completed the contract and returned the scroll to him.
Natsuro then taught him the hand seals for summoning and gave him a brief explanation of Ryuchi Cave, warning him about the quirky personalities of the snakes and to be cautious when summoning the more troublesome ones.
As Sasuke practiced the summoning technique, he felt grateful toward Natsuro. Although he didn't show it, he realized that Natsuro had gone out of his way to retrieve this scroll for him.
While Sasuke trained, Natsuro sat nearby, contemplating the changes in his own body. To his surprise, his chakra levels had decreased rather than increased after his transformation. He also noticed that his cells had absorbed natural energy, almost as if it had replaced some of his lost chakra.
Furrowing his brow, he wondered how to use this natural energy. Should he merge it with his chakra to create Sage chakra?
He decided to give it a try. If it worked, he'd have gained a valuable advantage.
Unfortunately, he soon realized that his initial plan wouldn't work. The natural energy stored within his body couldn't mix with his chakra, and the two refused to merge, shattering his initial hopes.
So, how exactly was he supposed to use this natural energy?
Natsuro pondered for a moment and then extracted a portion of the natural energy. This time, instead of adding physical energy, he combined it directly with his mental energy. Soon, a familiar type of energy began to form inside his body.
It was... chakra again?
No, he took a closer look at this chakra and realized the reason it had formed into chakra was because that's what he was most familiar with. The natural energy had converted itself into chakra based on his familiarity with the concept.
Moreover, he observed the chakra formed from the natural energy and compared it to the chakra he usually extracted. Something was different! The chakra produced by the natural energy seemed to be distinct from his regular chakra!
The fact that the natural energy could be converted into chakra made him think of the Divine Tree. It, too, absorbed natural energy and produced chakra. Could this chakra he now possessed be the most primal form of chakra?
No, it might not be exactly the same... After all, he didn't know what the chakra produced by the Divine Tree was like.
As he continued to think, he realized that because his body had only undergone an initial transformation, the amount of natural energy stored within him was still limited. However, he should be able to use a small-scale Wind Release: Vacuum Blade.
In the next moment, Natsuro performed two Vacuum Blade techniques—one using his regular chakra and the other using the so-called primal chakra formed from natural energy. Neither of them involved any of his nature transformations.
Soon, he observed the two deep cuts he made—one significantly deeper than the other. His eyes lit up. It seemed that his jutsu's power had been substantially enhanced!
Furthermore, Natsuro calculated the amount of chakra produced by converting the natural energy within his body. It seemed to provide more chakra than his regular method.
In other words, he now had even more chakra than before!
With this discovery, not only had his jutsu become more powerful, but his overall chakra reserves had increased as well. If his body were to undergo a full transformation, both his chakra levels and jutsu power would likely experience a qualitative leap.
At this point, he wholeheartedly embraced the path that White Snake Sage had spoken of.
While White Snake Sage had mentioned that this path could lead him to the same level as the First Hokage, Natsuro had initially been skeptical. He accepted the idea outwardly, but deep down, he wasn't fully convinced. After all, it was just the White Snake Sage's words—there was no guarantee he'd truly reach the First Hokage's power.
He didn't doubt the potential of this path, but since he had to explore it on his own, potential didn't necessarily mean results. He could fail to develop it fully, and if that happened, he might end up losing access to the conventional path as well. That would spell the end of everything.
But now, it seemed that walking this path didn't mean abandoning the other. The versatility of natural energy allowed him to continue using ninjutsu, and its power had even increased.
Far from being a disadvantage, this path had given him substantial benefits.
How could he not be tempted by this?
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