Chapter 153: Sasuke's fate and Sage Training
The tension in Konoha had barely settled. The trial was swift, the outcome inevitable. Despite Danzo's attempts at political maneuvering, a single shared glance from Naruto and Harry—steely, cold, and knowing—crushed any schemes he might have had. The Warhawk, for once, chose silence over conflict.
Sasuke Uchiha's fate was sealed. His clan's wealth was redistributed as reparations, with those who bled for his retrieval receiving their due. And once the final percentage was paid... the sentence was carried out.
The chapter of Sasuke Uchiha closed, and with it, an era ended.
But Naruto and Harry had no time for rest.
A ripple of chakra preceded the pop of a sudden arrival—a small, familiar figure.
Naruto immediately recognized the visitor. "Gamakichi?" he blinked. "What's up, big guy?"
The toad's tone was urgent. "Boss! You and Harry—yer needed. Now. Great Elder Sage wants to see ya both."
Before either could respond, space folded—Naruto felt the familiar tug of reverse summoning, and in an instant—
Poof!
They landed in a place that felt like a living, breathing dream. Towering, ancient trees stretched toward an endless blue sky, their gnarled roots weaving through luminous moss. Warm mist carried the scent of earth, moss, and something distinctly... toadish.
"Mount Myōboku," Naruto murmured with a grin, his eyes scanning the familiar landscape, he had visited it a few times with Jiraiya when the pervert was too lazy to run from the angry women he had peeped on. "Man, it's been a while."
A pair of familiar elders awaited them—Fukasaku and Shima, their wizened faces calm but expectant.
"Well, if it ain't the boy who made Jiraiya proud," Fukasaku greeted warmly before his sharp, amphibious gaze flicked to Harry. "And you... You're somethin' special. Heard the tales, but seein's believin'."
Harry gave a slight nod, his eyes glinting with curiosity. "So, what's the occasion?"
Before Fukasaku could reply, the air thickened with presence. The towering, ancient form of the Great Toad Sage, with his cloudy eyes and weathered skin, loomed above them. His voice, deep and resonant as the earth itself, rumbled:
"I have foreseen paths... futures entwined with yours. But before you shape destiny, you must master the forces you wield."
Naruto's brow furrowed. "Master... forces?"
Fukasaku interjected, "Senjutsu, boy. Ya gotta refine your connection to nature's chakra. Both of ya. That's why we're here."
Naruto blinked. "Wait—Harry, too? But he's already—"
Fukasaku shook his head. "He may've touched nature chakra, but mastery? That's a different beast." His eyes gleamed with something like challenge. "I want to see if he can do it the proper way."
Naruto folded his arms, a competitive spark lighting in his eyes. "Heh. You're in for a show, then. I've already done this once. I can do it again."
Harry cracked his neck lazily, his grin sharp. "Good. I like a challenge."
They started the next day.
Naruto, with his previous training, swiftly returned to a meditative state on one of the massive stone toad statues. Still as the stone beneath him, he welcomed nature's embrace—the warm, pulsing energy of life itself. Yet, the Sage techniques demanded absolute balance. Too little nature chakra, and the power wouldn't ignite. Too much... and his body would turn to stone.
Fukasaku monitored closely, flicking him with his staff whenever he sensed imbalance.
"Focus, boy! You may have done this before, but yer cockiness'll sink ya!"
Meanwhile, Harry—meditating on a different pedestal—was a curiosity. His chakra felt... different. Where Naruto's flowed like a river, Harry's moved like a storm—chaotic, layered, and seemingly endless.
But nature... nature resisted him. It was like the world sensed something not entirely mortal within him and balked at giving him its power freely.
Fukasaku noticed. "Yer fightin' it. Don't wrestle nature... accept it."
Harry's eyes, half-lidded, flicked open, glowing faintly. "...I see. It's... like death. You don't fight it. You become part of it."
He closed his eyes again. And this time... he didn't pull nature in. He opened himself—and let nature take him.
The effect was instantaneous. His skin took on markings, not of a toad, but fractals—patterns that looked like life and decay intertwined. His power surged, but it wasn't violent—it was complete. A balance of creation and destruction.
Fukasaku's eyes widened. "...Well, I'll be a tadpole's uncle. You... did it."
Naruto, fully in Sage Mode, hopped off his pedestal, eyes sharp with orange pigmentation. "So, Harry... up for a little spar? Let's see whose Sage Mode's better."
Harry chuckled, his voice a bit deeper from the nature chakra coursing through him. "You're on."
Fukasaku and Shima barely had time to leap clear before the two launched at each other.
The first clash shattered the ground beneath them.
Naruto struck with his signature blend of raw power and speed—a sage-enhanced fist tearing through the air. But Harry's reactions, heightened by his own nature sense, saw him weave aside fluidly, his counter a swift palm strike that cracked the air with pressure.
Naruto grinned, flipping midair to land on a tree trunk sideways. "Not bad!"
Harry, still grounded but unmoving, grinned back. "You're holding back."
Naruto's hands blurred into a rapid seal—Shadow Clone Jutsu! Two clones burst into existence, each forming a Rasengan. "Alright, then. No more holding back—Rasenrengan!"
Two spiraling spheres screamed through the air—one from each side.
But Harry's hands moved like a conductor weaving a symphony. His Sage Mode bent nature itself—roots burst from the ground, coiling and snapping the clones out of existence before they could strike.
Naruto burst through the smoke, a third clone flanking him, each with a Rasenshuriken crackling ominously. "Take this—!"
But Harry, his eyes glowing with something ancient, simply whispered:
"Return."
The wind itself turned against Naruto, the currents of nature dispersing his technique into harmless wisps. Naruto landed hard, wide-eyed but exhilarated. "You... countered my jutsu using nature chakra itself?"
Harry smirked. "Senjutsu isn't just about power, Naruto. It's about being one with the world. And the world... bends when you ask it to."
Naruto's grin was blinding. "Heh. I'm so stealing that trick."
The battle ended in laughter, not blood. The Great Toad Sage's voice rumbled once more, carrying through the mist.
"You have both reached heights few ever touch. And yet... your journey is only beginning."
Fukasaku hopped forward, his voice gruff but warm. "Ya done well, boys. But remember—Senjutsu ain't just a tool. It's a bond with the world around ya. Respect it."
Naruto and Harry exchanged a look—one of mutual excitement and understanding.
The experiments on the Six Paths chakra would wait. For now... they had unlocked something even more precious:
Mastery over the very essence of life itself.