Yin and Yang

Enma sat cross-legged behind Natsume and watched her closely. Seeing how she was waiting for Saru to do his test, he had mixed feelings. He had watched the two very closely the last nine months and saw their genuine emotions. He knew that without her influence, another sage monkey would not be so close to breaking through. Mount Kakazan had not seen a sage monkey since him… He sighed.

Natsume could vaguely see the red figure from beyond the clouds approach the barrier. As soon as he made contact with it, she saw the clouds scatter. Saru burst through like a rocket and landed on the platform with his palm. He pushed himself upright and looked around curiously. However, his body suddenly started glowing which forced him to sit down and meditate.

"What's happening?" Natsume was shocked at first but was scared to distract him. Enma walked over and nodded his head in satisfaction.

"When a monkey breaks through the peak, he is officially a sage monkey. Saru is undergoing his transformation. It will take time, but he is safe. You still have three months left. The peak of Mount Kakazan has the most abundant Nature energy. Also, countless generations of sages have left their mark on the wall of ancestors. You are free to explore and learn whatever you can."

Enma was very nonchalant about the situation. Anyone that could break through the cloud peak needed more than just strength. Only someone with pure intentions could go through. However, this wasn't always the case… He sighed again and returned to his meditation.

Natsume saw that Enma sat beneath a giant staff which she recognized as the Adamantine Staff. It was firmly buried in the ground while Enma stared at it in his meditation. She continued to explore the peak and discovered a lot of interesting things. The peak seemed to be built like an open temple. The ground was carved into smooth stone and there were several walls just for the sake of marking off different areas of the peak.

She saw something from above the walls near the back so she walked through the maze of entryways and found herself standing before a magnificent statue. The carving was so real and lifelike that she almost stepped back in shock. A fierce, giant monkey stood with its arms in front of his chest, forming a yin-yang symbol with his cupped hands. He had long fangs, horns and four tails which formed pillars behind him. The plaque at the base of the statue introduced him.

"Handsome King of the Sage Monkeys, Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Son Goku"

'Yonbi! Son Goku!' Natsume instantly recognized the statue. She stared into his eyes and felt like she was being watched. Something about the statue just didn't sit well with her. However, she turned her attention to the yin-yang symbol formed with his hands. She became mesmerized by it, as if it was whispering to her. Natsume appeared in her mental space and discovered a flame dancing on its own.

The flame encountered a stone, and together they fused, the flame representing yang, and the stone representing yin. They became one, and a ball of lava remained. After the ball burned for a period of time, the flame extinguished, and a ball of ash was left behind. Natsume reached forward to touch the ball of ash when Enma suddenly appeared in her vision and grabbed her wrist.

The mental space collapsed, and she returned to reality. She was inches away from touching the statue of Son Goku when Enma grabbed her hand. "I apologize, I was not…" Natsume couldn't comprehend what she just experienced but Enma didn't seem any more upset than usual.

"Do not touch the great sage." Natsume nodded in understanding. He looked at her for a moment before going back to his training. Worried she would be charmed again; she turned her attention to the wall behind the statue. There were countless markings along the wall which seemed to stretch for a hundred feet. Fist imprints, palm imprints, kicks, staff strikes, calligraphy, drawings, and even recipes.

With her Sharingan, she was able to quickly memorize everything on the wall. However, just memorizing it did not seem to hold the same essence. Therefore, she focused on things that were relevant to her. Eventually, she found a short poem that seemed to be related to what she experienced a little bit ago.

'Fire brings yang, Earth contains yin, Yang is released, Only yin remains.' Although it seemed like nonsensical scrawlings of a monkey, it was no ordinary monkey but a sage. Natsume sat down and pondered over the words. The literal meaning was easy to understand. When a campfire burns the wood completely, the yang is released as smoke and yin is left behind as ash. With that simple thought, Natsume suddenly thought about the volcano.

White ash was pouring out and covering the land. The ash was a very dangerous substance, it even caused Natsume to almost get captured just by inhaling some of it by accident. The times she used her lava jutsu came to the front of Natsume's mind and she remembered that everything turned to ash under the intense heat. The scene in the Land of Rice Paddies played through her mind again, after fire, there is ash.

Natsume flickered to an open area on the peak without any important structures nearby and moulded her chakra. She activated her Sharingan and poured Yin chakra into her jutsu. Early on when she was discovering her Kekkei genkai, her Yin chakra transformed the lava into a white ball which exploded when she lost control. After developing her napalm jutsu, something always felt uncomfortable. As an Uchiha, she was naturally more inclined toward Yin.

"Lava Style: Ash Release!" The name popped into her head, and she spat out a mouthful of white ash. Afterwards, she willed it to transform into a flock of birds and fly around. Some would collide with each other creating explosions in the air. There was an intense heat trapped within the ash and when it was released, it would explode.