In Konoha, This Naruto Has Decided To Take It Easy

There was a knock at the bathroom door, and Hanabi's voice came from outside.

"Sister, are you in there?"

"Huh?" Hinata's heart skipped a beat. She was lost in her thoughts, as if someone had suddenly seen right through her, "I'm here, what's wrong?"

"Nothing much. Are you going on a mission tomorrow? I wanted to ask if you'd like to go shopping with me."

"No need, I'll be right out." Hinata pushed herself up and then immediately sank back into the water, "Hanabi... can you wait for a little while?"

"What's wrong?"

"Bathing takes a bit of time."

Although Hanabi outside the bathroom was confused, she didn't press further. She glanced down at her shoes and replied with a simple 'okay'.

Hinata's face flushed, and she let out a soft sigh, submerging her head underwater as bubbles rose to the surface.

…

"Ah! This feels great!" Naruto emerged from the water and spit out a mouthful of water. Around him, the water was rushing fast, "Pervy Sage, are you sure it's safe to bathe in the river?"

Mount Myoboku, with stars hanging low over the vast plain.

Jiraiya curled his lips in the water, "You sure are demanding. There aren't even any women around here, so why bother bathing? What's the point of worrying about appearances?"

"Wouldn't it be great if you could squeeze out this little time to practice?"

"Didn't we already train enough during the day?" Naruto said as he swam to the shore, standing there dripping wet, shaking the water out of his ears.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "You ate during the day, too. But you're still hungry by night, aren't you?"

"Don't remind me about lunch. It made me sick." Naruto said as he put on his clothes. "It was all bugs! I had to force them down!"

"You still had to eat them." Jiraiya also came ashore, put on his clothes and said seriously, "It's the price you pay for learning Senjutsu."

Under the starry night sky, Naruto collapsed onto the grassy riverbank, staring up at the heavens as he muttered his complaints, "But bugs, really? And besides, my training failed today, didn't it? All the Natural Energy I absorbed got expelled. It's no use."

"Stop with the nonsense." Jiraiya sat beside him, unwilling to give up, "We'll try again tomorrow and figure out what went wrong."

Naruto turned his head slightly and glanced at Jiraiya, "Whatever you say."

"Really? You brat, at least show some motivation! Damn it!" Jiraiya was angry, "Am I the one learning Senjutsu, or are you?"

"There's nothing I can do about it." Naruto replied lazily, "I've been telling you for a while now, Natural Energy and I just don't get along. Do you believe me now?"

"What kind of nonsense is that!" Jiraiya sat up, took out the notebook he carried with him and began to continue drafting his novel.

Naruto casually glanced over and, pretending not to care, asked, "Hey, Pervy Sage, it seemed your manuscript looks pretty thick. Are you almost done?"

"What's this? You're interested now?" Jiraiya paused and turned to ask, "Don't you always say that what I write is boring?"

"It's for Kakashi-sensei. He really likes your books. He's helped me a lot, so I thought I'd get him two pre-release copies of Icha-Icha Paradise if you're finished."

"Oh, it's for Kakashi? Sure, no problem." Jiraiya replied casually, "It's almost done, but it may take a while. Why two copies, though?"

…

The next day.

Fukasaku, holding an iron staff, stood in front of the Toad Oil Waterfall. The waterfall roared like distant thunder. Jiraiya stood nearby as he watched with his expression serious.

"That's toad oil. Applying it on your body can help draw in Natural Energy into your body." Fukasaku dipped his finger into the toad oil and applied it on the back of Naruto's hand.

"Didn't we already try it yesterday?" Naruto felt a little helpless. He then feels the Natural Energy enter the back of his hand, only for it to immediately be expelled with a soft pop.

"What's going on?" Jiraiya walked forward, grabbed the back of Naruto's hand and inspected it from all angles, "It's really strange. Logically speaking, after absorbing Natural Energy, it will at most turn your hand into a frog's hand."

"Why is it bouncing off? I've never seen anything like this before."

"Let's try again." Fukasaku said, "Maybe it was just a fluke. We can try applying it somewhere else."

Hearing this, Naruto rolled his eyes.

At the same time, he secretly thought, 'This is probably because Asura's Chakra has been erased from my body. It seemed that without Ashura's influence in my body, my compatibility with Natural Energy had dropped to nearly zero.'

Naruto already expected the failure. As for the Natural Energy bouncing off, he had no idea and didn't care to think much about it.

Without Asura's Chakra, Naruto actually felt more at peace. No matter how much the Sage of Six Paths tried to help him, he was still an Otsutsuki, an outsider, just like him.

The biggest difference might be that Naruto came from a higher-dimensional world.

Senjutsu was valuable, but if he couldn't master it, so be it. This was the price he paid, the cost of being a soul transferred into another body. Everything he had now was essentially granted to him by the system.

"Failed." Fukasaku shook his head and looked at Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-chan, did you notice anything wrong?"

"No." Jiraiya also looked frustrated.

On the contrary, Naruto, the person involved, remained optimistic and consoled both Fukasaku and Jiraiya, "It's fine, maybe I just don't have the aptitude for it."

He had already mentally prepared himself for this, so when the result came, he actually felt relieved. Putting aside the system, he was just an ordinary Shinobi, which was good enough for him.

Jiraiya, however, looked at Naruto in disbelief, "Without Senjutsu, how do you plan on facing the Akatsuki? Even just Uchiha Itachi alone would be too much for you."

Hearing this, Naruto thought about it carefully and said, "I know Sealing Technique."

"When did you learn Sealing Technique?" Jiraiya was slightly stunned and turned to look at Naruto, "You mean actual Sealing Technique?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded.

"After the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan, Sealing Techniques have become extremely rare." Fukasaku said with emotion, " If it's just basic Sealing Technique, though, it'd be better to focus on learning Senjutsu."

"Even if we can't figure out the problem right now, there's no need to rush." Fukasaku said with his hands behind his back, "Jiraiya-chan, you two can stay in Mount Myoboku without worry. You can train for as long as you want."

"And there's plenty of food!"

"What?" Naruto gasped, immediately recalling the fear he felt at being dominated by the bug feast.

Those fat, squirmy insects, and the gooey, greenish juices… just the memory made his stomach churn, 'No way! If I stayed here any longer, I'd be ruined.'

"Thank you, Fukasaku-sama." Jiraiya said with a bitter face.

Although Jiraiya didn't want to eat bugs every meal, he also didn't want to give up so easily. After all, he had returned to Konoha with the sole purpose of bringing Naruto to Mount Myoboku to learn Senjutsu.