Training(1)

Zeus spend the rest of the day lazing around and munching on Fukasaku's wife's food, which was a pleasant surprise to his sensory system. He had grown up eating snakes and bugs, so it was quite nostalgic. Fukasaku provided Zeus with a room, where he found a mattress placed on the ground.

After wishing him good night, Zeus fell asleep almost momentarily, enjoying the comfort of this mundane mattress. It felt really good knowing that he will wake up tomorrow, and not on some accidental occasion where Orochimaru had miscalculated Zeus's drug dosage.

Still, Zeus put up some traps throughout the room in the form of lightning threads, simply for the sake of being cautious. He was no longer a God, Gamamaru's words were true. Arrogance and absolute belief in his thick skin would bring him nothing but trouble, at the very least until he becomes much stronger.

The next day, Zeus woke up and was immediately forced out of the hut by Fukasaku. After traveling a few minutes south, they stopped in the middle of numerous stone frogs. Each of them towered over Zeus, making him feel insignificant like a bug. The desire to destroy all of these frogs clouded his mind, but he stayed put.

"This is the place where I have taught both Jirayah senjutsu, due to the abundance and flow of the natural energy around here." Fukasaku started talking more formally, befitting of a teacher. "Before we begin, I must warn you once again that learning senjutsu is both extremely difficult and dangerous, and your safety is not guaranteed."

"Let's just start already, I have heard enough warnings." Zeus yawned, actually feeling quite impatient after hearing so many rumors about this senjutsu. Fukasaku seemingly didn't need any more words, thus he walked up to the huge stone frog.

Leaning back against it, Fukasaku lifted his hand. "Every ninja in this world has chakra, which is a combination of a completely leveled amount of spiritual and physical energy. You know this much, right?"

Zeus nodded unhesitantly, having read all of that from his stolen scrolls.

"Well, by learning senjutsu, you enable your body to accept a third branch to your chakra; the natural energy. It strengthens both your physical attacks and jutsus. Even genjutsu gets much more realistic." Fukasaku finished his brief explanation, then turned around, facing the huge stone frog. "Just enchanting strength may seem a bit underwhelming, so I will demonstrate to you a bit of what senjutsu is capable of."

Fukasaku latched his hands onto the stone frog, causing veins to paint both of his hands. He furrowed his brows and slightly closed his eyes, but Zeus was surprised to see that the stone frog was actually getting lifted into the air. Eventually, Fukasaku dropped it, causing a tremor to shake the entire place.

Crossing his forehead with his hands, Fukasaku turned towards Zeus, a strange smile on his head. "How was that? Impressive, right? Now, try to do that yourself."

'Was that impressive?' Zeus thought to himself. Perhaps that such a little frog managed to lift this thing was quite a feat, but it didn't strike Zeus as anything extremely otherworldly. From the moment he was born in this world, the seed of divinity was strengthening both his chakra pool and body, for each divinity worked like that.

Thus, Zeus was in a different realm of sheer strength, especially after a growth spurt in Orochimaru's laboratory. Still, Zeus was quite excited. If Fukasaku managed to lift this with senjutsu, then what kind of feats would he be able to do?

Zeus passed Fukasaku, earning a smirk from the frog, and then grabbed the stone statue from below. The grip was not that great, but Zeus cared little about that. Chakra traveled through his system, half of it going straight toward his legs. A minor part of the chakra rested against his back, while the rest moved near his hands.

Fully equipped, Zeus started pushing everything that he had in order to move the frog even a bit. However, it was still not budging, even in the slightest.

Insulted, Zeus mumbled. "Overlock, 40%." Instantly, lightning gathered all around his body, swirling and moving like strings. He felt his heart pumping and blood flowing faster. Most importantly, his chakra flow got much more drastic and fierce. With bloodshot eyes, Zeus continued pushing, eventually managing to lift the stone statue, rising it high into the air.

However, a second later, Zeus's hand stopped working and he had to put it back down. Then, Zeus fell onto his back, breathing deeply, seeing stars in the shining sky. Feeling that the silence was somewhat unnatural, Zeus glanced back, where he saw Fukasaku standing with his jaw on the floor.

"You...how the hell did you lift that with your skinny body?" Fukasaku mumbled, barely loud enough for Zeus to hear. Sweat started dripping from Fukasaku's forehead, as he took one step back. What kind of monster did Gamamaru throw at him?

'I already knew that his chakra reserves were quite big from that jutsu earlier...but to think that he could lift this huge statue. Even I struggled with senjutsu...' Fukasaku felt like the ground beneath him wasn't that stable anymore, but he tried to calm down the pumping heart inside of him. 'Should I even teach Zeus how to use senjutsu? What kind of monster will he become if he understands how to use natural energy?'

"Hey, Fukasaku, you good?" Zeus asked, still lying on the ground, but looking at Fukasaku with one eye.

"Yeah," Fukasaku answered, coughing up a few times and straightening his back. "You have quite an enormous chakra reserve, but that is aside from the point. Learning senjutsu and lifting this frog are completely different matters."

Zeus sighed, deciding to not pry the matter further, even though he had clearly imprinted a horrifying memory into this toad's mind. Standing back up, Zeus saw Fukasaku shrug a few times before opening his mouth again. "The most complicated part about learning senjutsu is being able to sense it. You might probably think why such a powerful art hasn't been spread throughout the continent, but it is simply because most people aren't able to feel it at all, even after years of practice. Even Jiraiya had difficulties sensing it."

Fukasaku walked near a pond with strange oily water, which Zeus thought produced quite a strange sensation. "To feel natural energy, a person has to stay completely still and merge with the surroundings. Even a simple shrug or unnatural breath will cause a failure in the process of gathering natural energy. The first time is especially difficult, that's why I have prepared this oil for you that will help you feel the natural energy faster."

"So, I just need to feel the natural energy in the air first?" Zeus asked, glancing at the pond with a frown. Seeing Fukasaku nod, Zeus sat on the ground in a lotus position, completely ignoring Fukasaku and his oily hand.

"What are you doing? It's impossible to feel the natural energy without this oil for a human. It's like searching for something that you have never seen before." Fukasaku sighed, thinking that Zeus might be acting too arrogant. Seeing that Zeus didn't move even after his words, Fukasaku put the oil back into the fountain. "Whatever, Jiraiya was like that as well."

***

Gif: Nature

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