Training.

That morning, Tendo was in the forest with Ryutama and Nodama training with his spear.

Ryutama: "Keep your feet apart! Don't stop moving! Make your movements fluid! Keep your breathing steady and attack with accuracy! Your spear must be able to pierce anything with one thrust! Keep your eyes on his vital points, use that Byakugan to your advantage! Nodama! Don't hold back!"

Tendo was sparring against Nodama and Ryutama was correcting every mistake he made. This was his first with this weapon so he did in fact make a few mistakes at first. Nodama was a spear master and a ruthless one at that. If Tendo didn't have a healing factor he would've already taken many injuries from his attacks.

As the battle went on, Tendo slowly started to pick up on Nodama's movements, copying his spear style and after a few hours, it was like Nodama had been looking at a copy of himself.

Ryutama: "Good! You've gotten the basics of the spear down! Be faster next time! You must remember that we have no weapon styles here in the Senju Clan. Our weapon skills just follow one rule; Each strike must be Fast, Fluid, and Powerful. Thats it. Let your heart guide you and eventually, you'll develop a style of your own! Alright, it's noon! Pick up the sword!"

Ryutama had told Tendo that he had to train the spear in the morning, the sword in the afternoons, and the staff in the evenings. At night, he would stand atop the highest tree in the forest and master the natural energy that was already inside of him. Mastering that would allow him to go back to his normal appearance. After going through the same thing with the sword, he picked up the staff and started training again.

When the sun had finally gone down, Ryutama instructed him on how to absorb natural energy and turn it into Sage Chakra. Ryutama told him if he could turn all of his chakra into Sage Chakra, eventually, he would become a sage. Tendo wanted to go to Ryuchii Cave to learn the snake sage mode so Ryutama told him where it was but he couldn't go there until he gave him some kind of 'inheritance'.

When the old men made sure that Tendo was absorbing the natural energy properly, they left him there and went back to the clan. As soon as they left, Tendo opened his eyes and brought up the system in front of him. It was time for him to get the techniques that he had been saving up for.

Tendo: 'Finally, they left. System, buy the Black Lancer Spear Style, the Pulverizing Staff Technique, The Blood Dance Killing Formation, The Doh Family Spear Style, The Flying Flash Sword, and the Black Dragon Cosmic Technique.'

[Ding]

[Accepted, Host. 600 points deducted.]

The Black Dragon Cosmic Technique was a technique that allowed the user to refill their chakra reserves when it was empty. Tendo wanted to use this technique as a kind of 'pathway' to absorb natural energy. He wondered if he could unlock a 'Black Dragon Sage Mode' if he continued using this technique. Snakes were the descendants of dragons, at least in the fictional world, so Tendo knew that also going to the Ryuchii Cave might help. Tendo followed the instructions for the technique and the natural energy around him started to flow in like a tsunami, almost turning him to stone right away.

Tendo fell off the tree and stopped himself from absorbing the energy.

Tendo: 'The rate this technique absorbs energy is crazy! I'll have to try and suppress it to absorb natural energy slowly.'

Every day from then on, Tendo followed the same routine, training his spear techniques in the morning, sword techniques at noon, and staff techniques in the evening. As the days went on, he could absorb natural energy at a faster and faster pace. In the second week, he learned to mix the natural energy with his chakra and created his Sage Chakra. He could feel something trying to form on his body but he couldn't tell what it was as it always disappeared when he opened his eyes. Whatever it was needed an absurd amount of natural energy to function.

In the third week, Tendo started learning Senjutsu. All of the Jutsu he knew were on another level when he tried it with Sage Chakra instead. For example, the amount of water he created by using the Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu with Sage Chakra compared to his normal chakra was like an ocean being compared to a puddle. It could never be compared in the first place.

In the last week, Tendo was at the top of the tree at night doing his normal routine. He couldn't sleep at night because the old man said he had to regain his stamina by absorbing natural energy, so that means he hadn't slept in almost a month. It was going normally until he sensed a few unknown chakra signatures rushing towards him. They felt kind of familiar but foreign at the same time. They reminded him of a specific set of Shinobi.

Tendo: 'So the Hyuga Clan has finally come huh? Hiashi must've been getting impatient. They're powerful, must be some Jounin then. Well, let me go meet the visitors. Hmm, I'll choose my staff. I don't want to kill them without at least taking their eyes first. Absorbing their Byakugan should allow me to empower mine.'

Tendo stood up and jumped off of the tree, picking up his staff from the ground. He then flickered away to the direction the men were coming from. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited to fight seriously against some Jounin opponents after training for so long.