"We just went to handle something. We only managed to get here now. Lord Orochimaru has been waiting for you for a long time. Let's go."
"Heh. I hope so."
After saying something cryptic, Sasuke ignored them. If they wanted to change the subject, what could he do? Better to just leave quickly and be out of sight, out of mind.
Taking one last look at Konoha's night scenery, Sasuke felt no trace of reluctance in his heart.
He then entered the special container carried by the Sound Four to rest, and they carried him away from the place where he had lived for more than ten years.
...
The next morning, to avoid getting dragged into the mission to retrieve Sasuke, Furina applied to Tsunade to leave the village under the pretext of going out to train in Sage Mode before news of Sasuke's departure had spread.
Although the main reason was to avoid being conscripted, training Sage Mode wasn't just a random excuse. She really intended to train it, so it wasn't exactly lying to her master.
[Constitution: Jonin (3905/50000) → Jonin (50000/50000)]
[Constitution: Elite Jonin (0/100000)]
[Constitution: Elite Jonin (0/100000) → Elite Jonin (100000/100000)]
[Constitution: Kage (0/500000)]
[Affection Value: 24332]
Before training in Sage Mode, Furina first raised her constitution to the same level as her chakra. The prerequisite for practicing Sage Mode was possessing a large amount of chakra otherwise, one would be eroded by natural energy.
And chakra refinement was inseparable from constitution. After her chakra reached Kage-level, Furina had already felt that her Jonin-level constitution was somewhat insufficient.
It was fine in normal times, but in a real big battle where consumption was too high, she'd be finished. Recovering chakra after the fight would take forever.
She hadn't felt constitution was that important before, but ever since her last fight with Orochimaru, she had behaved herself. Better to add points evenly and avoid specializing too much.
It had to be said that last night's genuine emotional moment hadn't been in vain. Otherwise, with her original Affection Value, she really wouldn't have had enough to directly pull her constitution up to match her chakra level.
After resolving her concerns about chakra, Furina sat cross-legged on the spot with her eyes closed and began sensing natural energy according to the method recorded in the scroll.
Not long after closing her eyes, Furina suddenly felt that natural energy from one direction seemed particularly friendly toward her. She then continued sensing with her eyes closed while slowly walking toward that direction.
After some time, she felt she had reached the most suitable place. In her perception, the surrounding natural energy was extremely gentle.
She could control them as easily as moving her own limbs. As long as she was careful, achieving balance between them, her mental energy, and her physical energy was no problem at all.
There was no worry about having slightly too much or too little. It could be said to be even easier than what Hashirama recorded in the scroll nothing like how difficult Tsunade had described.
"As expected."
Opening her eyes, what greeted her was clear seawater. Looking around, she realized she was now standing right in the middle of a river.
Furina wasn't surprised to find herself here. After all, whether it was her talent for Water Style or the appearance of her three little ones, it all proved she hadn't simply become the character Furina.
As the God of Water, wasn't it perfectly reasonable for the natural energy contained in water to be especially close to her? o(￣︶￣)o
After a moment of self-admiration, she sat cross-legged on the water surface again. Although the natural energy in the water was very friendly to her, wanting to fuse it into senjutsu chakra in one go was still unrealistic.
She had to try bit by bit and find the right proportion. It would take some time, but compared to others who also risked petrification, this was already much better.
Of course, the premise of not being able to do it in one step was without using the system to add points. If she added points, she could complete the training in one go. But first, she didn't have enough Affection Value for that.
Second, the cost-effectiveness wasn't great. Her own training speed here wasn't slow anyway so why use the system? Better to save the Affection Value for attribute points. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
"It's been a while since I let you guys out to play. This time, I'll have to trouble you to protect me~"
Before starting her training, three vortexes suddenly appeared around Furina out of thin air. In the next moment, a water-blue creature emerged from each vortex looking like a seahorse, an octopus, and a crab.
After appearing, the three began circling the meditating Furina. Then the crab even pounced into her arms, rubbing against her nonstop as if expressing something.
"Okay, okay, okay. I won't call you Mr. Krabs anymore from now on. I'm sorry, alright? But I can't help it when the name just pops into my head subconsciously. I'll work hard to change."
Although the other didn't speak, Furina could sense the meaning being conveyed and quickly explained.
But she couldn't be blamed who made characters like Mr. Krabs and Squidward so deeply ingrained? It was understandable that the name came to mind automatically.
After enjoying Furina's petting for a while, the now-soothed Mademoiselle Crabaletta finally left her arms, dove underwater, and began her work.
"Uh... you two too. I won't call you weird nicknames anymore. Don't be mad at me anymore, okay? ꒰ঌ( ⌯' '⌯)໒꒱"
After a wave of cuteness attack, the effect was outstanding. Surintendante Chevalmarin and Gentilhomme Usher had no way to resist her either. After circling her two more times, they too dove underwater to guard against any potential dangers.
"Sigh."
After the three little ones had successively submerged, Furina poured all her focus into training. Though they sometimes got into little moods, at times like this she was completely at ease with the three of them.
Time passed quickly it was already the next morning in the blink of an eye. During this period, aside from eating a little, Furina had been diligently training the whole time.
Honestly, it felt pretty good. Ever since her system activated, it had been a long time since she'd trained seriously for such an extended period. Practicing Sage Mode now actually gave her a feeling of returning to how things used to be.
And the results were quite good too. Although she hadn't mastered it directly yet, she had already gotten a feel for it. It wouldn't be long before Sage Mode became another one of her trump cards.
"You three can come back now. I'm heading back."
After recalling the three little ones and returning to Konoha, Furina also heard from Kakashi about Sasuke's defection. She immediately put on a very surprised expression, as if she knew nothing about it at all.
"Naruto went after Sasuke this time and got injured by him too. He's still lying in the hospital. Want me to take you to see him?"