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The next day, Sasuke approached Naruto and let him know about the changes that occurred inside his head as well as the current status of Ashura and Indra.
Naruto asked Ashura if he wanted to take up residence back inside Naruto's head once more, but Ashura rejected it, for the time being, stating he needed to stay with his brother for a while more.
Naruto spent the next few hours working with Sasuke and Jiraiya in analyzing the Cursed Mark that Orochimaru provided him with.
"This disgusting piece of crap. That bastard placed a soul shard of himself inside the seal and is using it as a safety net in case his actual body dies. What twisted methods for immortality." Naruto spat in disgust seeing the intricacies of the seal.
"Can you take it out quickly? I don't mind Indra staying inside my body, since he is technically me, but having the soul of a gay pedo inside me is a horrifying thought." Sasuke pleaded with Naruto and Jiraiya, who were looking at Sasuke with pity.
"Sorry, Sasuke. But it is still very hard to safely remove the seal without essentially ripping out your chakra pathways as well.
The seal that Naruto has placed on it is restricting it from reaching your brain and affecting your thought process, but there is already enough damage done by it to harm you if it is treated carelessly. The seal has seeped inside your chakra coils and is essentially now a parasite, leeching on your chakra to survive." Jiraiya explained patiently, feeling bad for the kid.
"Naruto?" Sasuke turned to his best friend for help.
"There is a way, but it is not possible at the moment. The other way would be to find Orochimaru and look at the way the seal was developed from scratch to find a way to disarm it." Naruto expressed his opinion.
"The second one's really hard. He's a slippery bastard and he will not under any circumstances reveal the method to disarm his life-saving ticket." Jiraiya shook his head in disappointment.
"Naruto, you mentioned another way. What is it?" Sasuke looked at the boy with hope.
"It's dangerous and will change the power balance of Konoha if done. It will also cause a war with the other countries, resulting in the fourth shinobi war.
The method that I thought of is to use a chakra so potent that it would literally burn the parasitic seal right out of your chakra coils.
But the only place to find chakra so potent would be a chakra beast that has developed enough power to level a mountain in a single move.
Such power can only be found in Tailed Beasts, such as my Nine-Tails. Currently, there aren't any tailed beasts roaming around freely. Most of them are with the five great nations, while a few are in smaller villages, but getting them inside you will cause other villages to think we are trying to destroy the status quo, and take over their enemies. So, this is a dangerous and risky option." Naruto explained, causing the boy to drop his head down in disappointment.
"But don't be so down, Sasuke. If you don't activate the seal on your own, it will not do anything to you.
Also, we also found a new type of energy inside the seal that will help us grow even stronger." Naruto changed the topic with excitement.
"Yes. It's an energy called Sage Chakra. It is a type of energy that is the mixture of physical, mental/spiritual, and natural energy that is ever-present in the world.
I myself have access to this energy since I trained with the Toads in Mt Myoboku when I was young.
This is also the energy that the first Hokage used, which was one of the reasons he was so powerful.
I believe you guys are ready to learn this energy, and if you want, I can teach it to you. However, this would require you to make a contract with the toads at Mt Myoboku, as they have the required skills, equipment, and knowledge to safely help people learn." Jiraiya explained.
"No need Ero-Sennin. From what I understand, The First didn't use the method from the toads to enter his sage mode. I believe he had another method. And I think I have the method that he used to enter sage mode.
All we would require is a sample of sage energy to understand what it is and then use the method that the first left behind to cultivate it ourselves." Naruto rejected Jiraiya's offer.
"What!! That's impossible. How did you find a way to enter sage mode without training with the summon animals." Jiraiya asked incredulously, staring at Naruto in shock.
To answer his question, Naruto pulled out a small scroll from one of the seals on his body and showed it to Jiraiya.
"This is something that I found in Mom's house. Apparently, Mito Uzumaki, wife of the first Hokage gave her some sealing formula scrolls and some jutsus that she thought might be suitable for her. However, she didn't get a chance to review and learn them all before she passed.
This one was a modified version of the first's technique, since his body's constitution allowed him to gather natural energy into his body without needing external aids such as those provided by the toads.
This technique, however, requires a person to sense the nature chakra when it's inside their bodies. We don't have to make a contract with the toads if we can get a sample of it inside our bodies." Naruto explained it to the two.
However, most of this was a lie. Hiroki developed the method to enter sage mode without having to get into a contract with an animal summon, as doing so gives the natural energy inside you an affinity to the certain animal.
This results in those entering the sage mode to gain those features, such as Orochimaru and Kabuto gaining snake-like features, and Jiraiya and Naruto gaining Toad-like features.
The benefit of having non-affinity-related sage mode was that the energy was mouldable and versatile to boost your body in a multitude of ways.
Snake Sages would have flexible bodies with increased speed, toad sages would have higher power and strength, while other animals would have specific boosts.
The all-natural sage modes would allow for an overall improvement with the cost of it being a tiny bit harder to learn for regular people.
However, Sasuke and Naruto, both of them being reincarnated with traces of Ashura's chakra inside them, allowed them to get a perfect sage body very easily.
"Wow. This technique should be a SSS rank secret scroll that the Senju family developed. Keep it safe, alright. Don't let anyone know about it." Jiraiya, realizing the importance of the scroll persuaded Naruto to hide it.
"Yeah. Don't worry. We'll practice this after this exam finishes, ok? At that time, please provide us with a sample of Sage chakra that you happen to form." Naruto spoke as he hid the scroll back into his seals.
For the rest of the day, Naruto and Sasuke then roamed around, checking out the remaining competition.
Surprisingly, only 6 teams have made it through the forest of Death, and from the number of scrolls that were collected from the participants that have completed the course, it was apparent that no more people were going to finish.
Naruto tried to approach the team from Suna and try to talk with Gaara, but the bloodthirsty vibe from the redhead gave off the feeling that a fight would break out if he talked with Gaara.
"Congratulations young ninjas. It is truly my pleasure to see such a wonderful display of strength and skill shown in this round.
From the initial 51 teams that took place in the first round, only 19 teams made it to the next round. Furthermore, now, only 6 teams have made it so far. It is truly heartening to see such splendid shinobis in front of me today.
Now, as one would expect, this tournament will not be finished before there is a clear winner crowned. So, let us quickly move on with the selections for the next rounds." After the final day of the second assessment, Hiruzen announced the completion of the round and congratulated those that passed, and explained the importance of the Chunnin Exams.
This resulted in him letting the participants know that the final round of the exam will be a tournament-style one-on-one competition that will be held in a month's time, in front of a wide audience from various countries.
"Excuse me. But I would like to forfeit. I have injured myself, which will not recover before the next round, hence, I would like to forfeit." Just as Hiruzen was asking a ninja to bring forward a box for their random selection, Kabuto walked forward with his arm in a sling, wrapped in heavy bandages.
"Really. Ok then. If that is your wish, you may withdraw from the exam. However, by doing so, you will forfeit the chance to be in consideration for becoming a chunnin. Is that understood?" Hiruzen asked the boy, his mind moving fast, processing the information.
"Yes. I understand. I would still like to forfeit." With that, Kabuto left the hall that was used for the Hokage to give his little speech.
"Ahem. Now, if everyone can please take a number from the box." The ninja holding the box with a hole cut out approached the remaining participants and presented it.
"Here are the matchups for the matches that will take place one month from now.
1. Neji/Hinata. The winner of this match will fight with Tenten.
2. Misumi/Kankuro
3. Shikamaru/Yakumo
4. Yoroi/Kiba
5. Shino/Sasuke
6. Choji/Temari
7. Ino/Lee
8. Naruto/Gaara" The announcer announced the matchups as they were displayed on the huge screen in the right corner of the room.
"Tsk. I got the bug freak in the first round. How boring." Sasuke clicked his tongue as he whispered to himself in annoyance.
"This is my chance." Neji thought as he eyed his cousin.
"What a drag" Guess who.
"Munch. Munch."
"Oh my god. I have to fight that bushy-browed creep. Ughh!!" Ino shivered when she saw the green spandex-wearing boy looking at her with a burning youth.
"I wonder if she is strong." Lee thought.
"Mother will have your blood."
Everyone looked around themselves, analyzing their opponents, before they were led out of the hall, and got to prepare for their match.
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As those that are perceptive may realize. This chapter is quite different from those that I usually write. This is due to me not having time to write over the weekends.
For some reason, my uni decided that it would be nice to have a 25% weighted assignment due on the second week of the semester, with only 3 days of prep time. While it was an oral and online assignment, it was very difficult. I hope I pass though.
Anyway. I didn't get the chance to create any stockpile for this week. So, there may be a chance this week that I would have to skip uploads if I can't write during the day.
Thanks for understanding.
And. Enjoy!!
