Sage

"Shit"

Kyou just laughed at that and started to climb the tower, with me following right behind him - Anime tears flowing gracefully from my face

Something I used to tell people all the time in my past life - I have a fear of falling. Not a fear of heights, no no. A fear of the world caving under me and then falling to my death. I can't stand unstable surfaces.

But I still climbed despite that fear

I needed to learn Sage Mode. It was an essential part in my plan, and if I failed, then....

"Take this" Kyou said, handing me a 2 ft x 2 ft square slab "Watch me"

Kyou took out his own stone slab and set it on top of the stone death trap, before leaping and doing a flip onto the platform - the slab not moving in the slightest

I gulped 'Holy shit...'

"This is what you need to be able to do, if you are to achieve our Sage Mode, Jack" he explained to me "If you don't learn complete stillness, it could take hours just to enter the most basic state of the Dragon Sage mode. Absolute stillness cuts that time down to a few seconds if you have mastered it further enough" I widened my eyes at that "If you completely master our sage mode... well lets just say you can fight while on the move, eh?" He winked at me, and I started drooling at the possibilities of entering sage mode on the move entailed

"Now then, take your slab and try to sit on it" he ordered with a sadistic smile

I gulped and tried sitting on top of the slab...

Before falling straight off, falling to the ground

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!!!" I yelled on the way down to the ground

This was going to be hard....

~ One Month Later ~

In the depths of the Ryū Wasteland, on top of the largest spike in the valley. One could see a young boy sitting on top of a small stone slab, his legs crossed, and in a relaxed position

The boy had shoulder length, blood red hair, Which was flowing slightly in the high altitude winds. He was only wearing a black pair of ANBU pants, with no Shirt nor shoes. His body was filled with springy, powerful pink muscle, which made him look like a world class swimmer, despite his age

Suddenly the young boy stood up to his full height, which was around 5'6" - A bit taller than the average boy his age, his deep forest green eyes opened and he grinned before jumping up high into the air and doing a few flips before landing an Iron Man pose back on the Stone Slab - It not being moved at all during the whole stunt

The young boy smiled widely and Cheered

"WOOOHHOOOO!!! YEAH! I FINALLY DID IT!!! I DON'T CARE IF YOU DID IT IN A WEEK NARUTO, I STILL BEAT YOU!!! HAHAAAA!" I was so happy. I could finally learn the next phase of the training

Kyou came flying in from the distance in his dragon form, before landing on one of the nearby spikes and grinning

"So you finally did it eh kid?" I nodded excitedly with my huge smile still on my face. He laughed "Well then, I guess it's time"

I was slightly confused "Time? Time for what?" What's next?

"Time for you to meet the great Dragon Sage"

I went wide eyed at that "Great Dragon Sage?? Like the Great Toad Sage?" Were they related in someway?

He snorted when I mentioned that "Don't mention that fraud. He makes up false prophecies to try and match up to our clan. See, the Dragon Sage and the Toad Sage were once best friends" I gaped "Yeah, I know. One day they had a huge falling out - The Toad Sage stole the Dragon's fiancee to be" Fiancee to be?? The hell? Was the Toad Sage a womanizer??? "Then the Dragon Sage, in a rage - Nearly destroyed Mount Myoboku" I was wondering why this place was so huge... "He then went on a huge training spree - Traveled all around the summoning realms, learning all he could about different sage energies. He knows, and has mastered, nearly all of the Sage Energies to their peak" I just breathed at that "The Toad Sage tried to copy us, but all of the summoning realms banned him from learning their secrets after we spread rumors about the toad sage taking advantage of women" I laughed a little at that

"Follow me" Kyou grinned, before taking off

I followed behind him closely - Jumping off the tips of the rock spikes at a speed even most Low-Jonin wouldn't see

We stopped around what looked like a huge U shaped mountain, with Dragon Oil surrounding the base of the mountain as if it were a moat. Inside the indent of the mountain, there was a small cottage, hidden in a forest of grass and giant mushrooms.

I followed Kyou over a small wooden bridge that led over the moat, onto a pathway that led to the cottage. While we were walking, I made sure to examine the plants, as well as see the Yin-Yang particles around them. I had gotten quite proficient at toggling that sense as of late

We stepped onto the porch of the cottage and Kyou knocked on the door a few times

"Come in" from inside, an aged voice said

We both entered, and sat in the middle of the room on the ground in front of a large fire, was an Old Man. His face was wrinkled, and looked quite similar to Hiruzen's face during the original Naruto Timeline. He had long flowing silver hair that reached to his mid back, with his eyes closed. Despite his looks however, the Man was sitting with a perfectly straight posture, He didn't look at all frail, and was body was trained to perfection. He looked like he could take me out with one move...

"Ah Kyou, It's nice seeing you" He said warmly, to which Kyou nodded. He then looked at me "So it's that time eh?" Kyou nodded again

"I see..." He sighed "Come here young one, sit in front of me" I raised an eyebrow but did what he asked

He looked me in the eyes for a few moments, before closing them.

A few moments later a large staff floated from the hallway across the way. 'He has telekinetic powers??? Holy shit that's cool!'

The Dragon Sage grabbed the staff out of the air and started floating a little off the ground, muttering something under his breath

He kind of looked like the sage of six paths like this. All he needs were truth seeking balls and he'd look almost just like him...

I was cut off from my musings by the Sage poking me in the forehead and the world going black

~~~ Some time later ~~~

I awoke to the sounds of a raging fire and rain outside

I was in a foreign room, in a foreign bed

'Ugh god what the hell happened?' I felt like the Jugo incident but three times worse

Kyou entered the room a second later "Ah good, you're awake!" he smiled at me

"How long have I been out?" I asked him

"Oh.. three days give or take" I went wide eyed at that

"Three Days?!?! What the hell happened to me????" Three days of unconsciousness isn't something that just 'happened' randomly

"The Dragon Sage blessed you" he simply said before walking out

He blessed me? What?

"Ah I see you're awake" the old man walked in "Three Days is the longest we've had someone out, hehe"

"This has happened before? Hold on, what even happened to me?" I was really confused right now..

"I activated your Sen Pathways" I rose an eyebrow at that "Activating your Sen pathways before training sufficiently will kill you, so we had to make sure you passed the first few steps of training. You are now an official sage!"

"Wait, wasn't I a sage before that? what changed with the Sen Pathways open?"

"Well yeah you could have become a sage before that with only the limited training you had. There is a reason we do a preliminary to awaken your Sen ( A/N I'm just going to call it Sen from now on ) The toads send spies over here every so often, and we give them that as false information. If a toad summoner ever says that they are a 'Sage' they are lying. You need Sen to be able to fight in Sage mode efficiently in combat, if you don't have Sen, then you need to find a medium through a battery or something like that" I nodded at that. So it seems Naruto didn't obtain perfect Sage Mode eh?

"Wait does that mean I can absorb Nature Chakra while moving now?" I was excited... If I could do that then there was so much I would be able to do....

He grinned "That's exactly what that means, once you master using your Sen, you'll be able to enter and exit Sage Mode freely without any problems. You could potentially leave it on forever, like that old sage with the weird eyes" He knew Hagoromo? Holy shit, that's so cool...

Wait does that mean.. "Do I get my own sage outfit?" Please please

He sighed "Not at your age young one" I deflated "When you turn 15 or 16 we'll give you your own custom Sage outfit. We don't give out two outfits to the same person unless the original is Damaged somehow or it is lost" Damn, that sucks..

"But" I looked at him "You should see your sage mode in the mirror, I think you'll find it.. Interesting" He left the room after that

'Mirror?' I looked around and noticed a hand mirror in the corner of the room

I focused and activated my Sage Mode and looked at myself in the mirror

... I have to admit it was pretty badass

Before the Sen activation, when I went into sage mode I didn't have anything to discern the difference

Right now though, my pupils were changed into the Yin-Yang symbol, slowly rotating hypnotically. On my cheeks were two new markings of both the Halves of the symbol, Yang on my right and Yin on the left, both of the tails pointing down my neck. My hair had streaks of silver in them, as if I gained several years worth of stress suddenly.

To be honest it wasn't much, but it was still pretty sick

I was cut off from my examination by the system giving me a notification

[ Alert! Mission Complete!

Who said Sages can't be stupid?

Obtain a summoning contract and learn sage mode before Kurama is sealed into Kushina

Rewards - 100,000 MP, x1 Random Bloodline Token, x1 Random Summon, x2 Bloodline Purification pill ]

I grinned

'Fuck yeah'