In Tsunade's tent inside the Leaf camp.
Taiichi stared at Tsunade sitting on the edge of the bed and couldn't reconcile this version of her with the one from ten minutes ago.
Women really did look like completely different people before and after they got ready. Lucky for him, Tsunade only took ten minutes to clean herself up.
Sensing that Taiichi was spacing out and hadn't answered her question, Tsunade raised an eyebrow and said in a strange tone, "Kid, are you thinking something inappropriate right now?"
"Huh?" Taiichi snapped out of it and quickly shook his head. "No, no way. Sensei, why would you think that about me?"
The words were barely out of his mouth before he realized something was off. He had been the one interrogating her earlier—how had the situation flipped on him?
Sigh. Women really couldn't be reasoned with, even when that woman was a top-tier shinobi.
Seeing Taiichi's expression, Tsunade knew to drop it and got straight to business.
"Alright, enough. Tell me why you came looking for me."
Taiichi immediately straightened up.
"Sensei, do you know anything about Sage Mode?"
Tsunade's smile disappeared. Her expression turned serious. Sage Mode wasn't exactly a safe path to walk.
Throughout history, far too many prodigies had died while trying to master it.
"Where did you hear about Sage Mode? Did Katsuyu tell you?"
"I came across it once in an old book. Recently during training I had some insights and started sensing a kind of energy in the air I'd never felt before. Once I compared it to what I already knew, I realized it had to be natural energy."
"What?!"
Tsunade's eyes flew wide. She shot to her feet and looked Taiichi up and down like she expected him to grow extra limbs. How the hell had this kid reached this point with zero help?
"No. You're not telling me everything. Out with it! How far have you actually gotten?!"
Tsunade grabbed him by the collar like a female bandit and yanked him right up to her face. If he weren't already tall, she probably would've lifted him clean off the ground.
Taiichi gave an awkward smile and patted at her hand.
"Sensei, calm down. Let's talk about this properly."
Tsunade realized she'd gotten a little carried away. She let go of his collar and even smoothed the wrinkles in his clothes.
"You brat. You don't even fix your clothes before going out. If people see you like this, it'll make me look bad!"
Taiichi rolled his eyes. This shameless woman was definitely the same one who used the Transformation Technique to turn into a little girl and scam her creditors.
"Alright, talk. And it better be the truth, or Sensei might get angry."
Tsunade patted his shoulder, her tone gentle—but to Taiichi it sounded like a final warning.
"Ah~ haha. I was hoping to keep a few secrets, but you saw right through me, Sensei."
Taiichi scratched the back of his head, putting on an embarrassed expression.
"I've tried entering Sage Mode before, but I'm still not very good at it. It takes some time to prepare in advance."
Tsunade was genuinely shocked this time. She had only been bluffing earlier because Taiichi always liked to hold back. She hadn't expected to actually hit on such a massive secret.
Sensing natural energy was already difficult enough, but there were shortcuts—like the toad oil from Mount Myoboku, the life spring from Shikkotsu Forest, or even Ryuchi Cave where the snakes just injected it directly. Those were easy paths.
But actually mastering Sage Mode wasn't something shortcuts could achieve. It required real ability. One mistake and you were dead.
"You little brat."
"You little brat—"
"You little brat!"
Three variations of "you little brat," each with a different tone, still couldn't fully capture how Tsunade felt.
"Let's go!"
She grabbed Taiichi's arm without another word and dragged him toward the exit.
"Sensei, slow down! Where are we going?!"
Taiichi had to quicken his steps to keep up while asking.
"Slow down my ass. Get moving and show me your Sage Mode. We can talk about everything else later!"
The two of them rushed out, drawing plenty of stares from the shinobi they passed.
What the hell were these two up to now? They'd been going in and out of the tent earlier, and now they looked like they were in a huge hurry.
Tsunade noticed the looks and, after walking for a bit, started to calm down.
She smacked her forehead, looking annoyed, and said to Taiichi, "Use Flying Thunder God. Find somewhere quiet."
Then she turned to the nearest shinobi and ordered, "Tell Nara to let everyone know Tsunade and Taiichi are stepping out for a bit. We'll be back soon."
Taiichi understood immediately. He grabbed Tsunade's arm with his right hand, and the two of them vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving behind a bunch of confused shinobi staring at the empty space.
The shinobi Tsunade had ordered looked helpless. He pointed at himself, glancing left and right, unsure what to do.
A kind-hearted jonin stepped forward to help. "Come on, I'll go with you to find Nara. We can vouch for each other."
Ignoring the mess the two had left behind, Taiichi and Tsunade reappeared by the sea—the same spot where Taiichi had tested Sage Mode the day before.
The moment Tsunade appeared, she scanned the area and immediately noticed the heavy traces of ninjutsu left behind.
The glass-like sand, the tall, thick earth walls, and the crisscrossing wind-style cuts on those walls—all of it showed just how powerful the techniques had been.
Tsunade gave Taiichi a meaningful look but didn't call him out on it. Instead, she calmed down and said evenly, "Go on then, Sage Taiichi. Let me see your Sage Mode."
Taiichi didn't feel embarrassed at all. The secret was already out, so a little evidence didn't matter. Hearing her urging, he nodded and walked over to a raised earth platform, sitting down cross-legged.
"Preparation takes a little while. Don't rush me, okay?" He couldn't help adding that.
"Just get on with it already. So much talking."
Taiichi closed his eyes and focused. Natural energy once again appeared in his perception. The more he did this, the more familiar it became. His body had become like a home for it, and it was getting quite comfortable with the natural energy's arrival.
Tsunade watched Taiichi meditating with his eyes closed and guessed he was absorbing natural energy to form Sage Chakra. She didn't dare interrupt.
Since she couldn't sense natural energy herself, the only thing she could do was wait.
She didn't have to wait long. It took less than four minutes this time—much faster than the previous five-plus minutes. Taiichi opened his eyes, jumped down from the platform, and walked over to Tsunade.
He spread his arms wide to show himself off and even turned in a circle so she could see clearly.
"This is your Sage Mode?" Tsunade asked in disbelief. The vein on her forehead was practically forming a mountain. She felt insulted.
Sage Mode?
Where was the change? Nothing on his body. At the very least there should be the sage facial markings. She had seen her grandfather Hashirama's Sage Mode before—there were definitely markings around the eyes.
As if sensing her confusion, Taiichi didn't keep her waiting. He leaned in close, pointed at his own eyes, and showed off proudly. "Look, look at my eyes. My eyes!"
Only then did Tsunade notice that Taiichi's eyes really were different. It looked like golden light was radiating from deep within the pupils, tinting his entire eyes a faint gold.
Tsunade's heart shook. "It really is Sage Mode… but the appearance is way too subtle!"
She jumped back a few steps to create some distance, then extended one hand and beckoned Taiichi with a finger.
"Come on! Attack me. Let me see how strong Sage Mode actually is."
Taiichi was eager to test it too. Since mastering Sage Mode, he hadn't actually fought anyone with it. Testing it on his own felt incomplete. Having a top-tier shinobi like Tsunade here was perfect for a real comparison.
"Then be careful, Sensei. I've tested it—this Sage Mode gives a huge boost."
With that, he vanished in a blur.
"So fast!"
Tsunade didn't even see how Taiichi disappeared. She only felt a gust of wind from her left and quickly raised her arm to block.
Boom
Taiichi's kick was blocked, but Tsunade was sent flying backward more than ten meters.
She managed to stabilize herself mid-air with her powerful taijutsu.
"Good! Again!"
Taiichi shouted excitedly and blurred forward once more, throwing a straight punch straight at Tsunade's left shoulder.
This time, with her full attention, Tsunade barely managed to track his movement.
Facing the direct punch, she felt her own fighting spirit ignite.
Chakra surged. Monster Strength activated.
She met Taiichi's fist with one of her own.
Boom
A spherical shockwave exploded outward from where their fists connected, kicking up sand and rocks all around them.
One punch. Two punches. Three punches.
After just three punches, Tsunade's guard was broken. On the fourth punch she couldn't defend anymore and took a direct hit to her right arm, getting sent flying again.
This time she wasn't as lucky. She was already in too much pain to adjust her posture in the air and ended up tumbling across the ground for over ten rolls before finally stopping.
"Ah—Tsunade-sensei, are you okay?!"
Taiichi stopped chasing and looked at Tsunade struggling to get up in the distance, sounding embarrassed.
"Ptui, ptui."
Tsunade spat out the dirt she'd swallowed and raised her right hand with difficulty, waving at Taiichi to show she was fine.
That speed. That power. She could tell Taiichi hadn't even used Monster Strength just now—only basic chakra enhancement on his fists—and it was still this strong.
"I'm done. I'm done. The gap is too big. I can't even keep up."
Taiichi felt awkward. Had he gotten too excited and gone too hard? She only lasted five punches and now she was quitting. That was disappointing.
"Sensei, how about we try ninjutsu instead?"
Taiichi tried to push for more. There really weren't many people strong enough to train with him like this.
Tsunade's face immediately darkened. Without a word, she rolled up her sleeves, marched right up to Taiichi with an angry expression, and—while he stood there looking confused—slammed a fist down on top of his head.
"You little brat! Are you trying to make fun of me?! 'Try ninjutsu' my ass!"
Only then did Taiichi realize his mistake. Tsunade's taijutsu was top-tier, but her ninjutsu was only barely first-class at best.
Asking her to test ninjutsu with him was basically mocking her indirectly.
Now that he understood, Taiichi was completely speechless. It was his own carelessness. Next time he had to be more careful. You don't poke a tiger's butt, and you don't point out a woman's weaknesses either!
The little scuffle ended. The two of them sat on a raised earth wall facing the sea and finally started talking seriously about Sage Mode.
"Sage Mode, huh… How should I put it? I don't know much about it myself. Most of what I know comes from stories my grandfather told me."
Tsunade gazed out at the sea, her eyes gradually becoming distant as if lost in memories. She began speaking in a soft, reminiscing tone.
Taiichi stayed quiet and simply listened attentively beside her.
"My grandfather's Sage Art originally came from Shikkotsu Forest too, but he quickly realized that the Sage Art from there wasn't very suitable for humans. It also couldn't bring out his full strength.
So he improved upon the Sage Art from Shikkotsu Forest and developed his own personal Sage Mode."
Taiichi's eyebrows rose slightly. So Hashirama had also discovered that the three great summoning realms' Sage Arts weren't ideal for humans. At least he wasn't the only one.
"Actually, I tried learning Sage Mode back then too. There's no way that idiot Jiraiya could learn it while I couldn't.
Tsunade ground her teeth as she said this. Jiraiya had probably mocked her about it plenty of times.
"Unfortunately, out of the three of us, only Jiraiya managed to learn Sage Mode on his own. Orochimaru and I didn't meet the requirements for training in it. Can you believe that?"
When she finished, Tsunade finally came out of her reminiscing. She turned to look at Taiichi, who had been listening quietly, and asked, "What else do you want to know?"
"Does Hashirama-sama's modified training method still exist? Since he improved it, shouldn't it be more suitable for humans to train in?"
Tsunade shook her head. "My grandfather's Sage Mode had too strong of a personal imprint. It was specially modified to work with Wood Release. Plus, the foundation was still the Sage Art from Shikkotsu Forest. It's not suitable for ordinary people to train in."
Taiichi nodded. Now he understood why, besides Jiraiya's lineage, there weren't any other Sage Mode practitioners in Konoha.
It turned out Hashirama's Sage Mode was also tied to one of the three great summoning realms—you had to sign a summoning contract to even qualify for training.
"Then Sensei, do you know if the Sage Arts from the three great summoning realms have any negative effects on the people who train in them?"
Taiichi asked the question he cared about most.
"Negative effects…" Tsunade searched her memory frantically, trying to recall anything on the topic. Unfortunately, since she had never learned Sage Art herself, her knowledge was limited.
In the end, she could only shake her head helplessly. "You should ask Katsuyu about that."
But she could see Taiichi's hesitation, so she added, "Compared to the toads and snakes, the slugs are pretty trustworthy. My grandfather said so himself."
Taiichi felt a bit relieved at that. Hashirama was the God of Shinobi, after all. His endorsement significantly raised Katsuyu's credibility. Plus, from his own long interactions with Katsuyu, Taiichi had to agree.
Taiichi glanced at Tsunade, but quickly backed down under her death glare and muttered, "Fine, I'll do it."
He extended his right hand, bit his thumb, smeared the blood on his palm, and formed the hand seals in one smooth motion.
Summoning Technique.
White smoke billowed up, and a half-meter-long slug appeared on the earth wall.