Chương 181: You Still Need to Enter Sage Mode?

Dongye Zhen halted the flow of chakra, and the Rasengan in his hand dispersed into the wind.

"Minato-senpai, shall we continue?" Minato sighed helplessly.

"Nah, let's stop here. Fighting you feels strangely similar to battling my own shadow clone. Now I truly understand how troublesome it is to face a shinobi who can use Flying Thunder God."

"Of course it's troublesome," Dongye Zhen replied matter-of-factly.

"Anyone weaker than you can't escape. Anyone stronger than you can't keep you pinned down. Either way, they lose. That's why the unwritten rule appeared—encounter the Yellow Flash, abandon the mission, and nobody gets punished."

"Hahaha, that was years ago." Minato laughed brightly before letting out a soft sigh.

"Still… your growth really has exceeded everyone's expectations. To think you mastered applying Flying Thunder God in actual combat this quickly. In terms of strength, you've already surpassed us old-timers. It's honestly a little emotional to witness." Dongye Zhen agreed with that assessment himself.

If Kage-level strength were divided into categories the way people from his previous world liked to rank them—ordinary Kage, elite Kage, transcendent Kage—then he had already surpassed the elite tier and was steadily advancing toward the realm occupied by Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. Against someone like Minato, whose reflexes bordered on supernatural and who wielded bug-level space-time ninjutsu, there was actually a very simple countermeasure: Never allow him even an instant to activate his techniques.

Smother him with relentless offense. Stick to him until he collapsed from exhaustion. After all, what ordinary human could possibly outlast his permanent Sage Mode in a battle of attrition? Sorry. Having absurd chakra reserves really did let you do whatever you wanted. Still, while Dongye Zhen wasn't exactly a saint, he understood gratitude. Toward seniors who had genuinely guided and taught him, he maintained sincere respect. No point getting cocky. Humility still mattered.

"You flatter me too much, Minato-senpai. Besides, this was only a spar. You still haven't used many of your real techniques."

"Aren't you the same?" At that moment, the spectators finally rushed over after realizing the fight had ended. Genma looked utterly unsatisfied.

"That's it? I feel like I watched everything and understood absolutely nothing."

"Exactly!" Yugao chimed in.

"You two didn't even decide a winner!" Dongye Zhen immediately put on a stern face and lectured his chaos-loving teammate.

"Yugao, sparring should stop at the appropriate point. Internal conflict is bad behavior, understand? Very bad." Minato nodded seriously.

"Zhen's right." The two exchanged knowing smiles. Neither of them had any intention of determining a true victor. That unspoken understanding existed between them. Kushina crossed her arms.

"If you're done fighting, then come home already. The sun's already set." Minato's expression suddenly turned serious.

"Kushina, take everyone back first. There's something I'd like to discuss with Zhen alone."

"Don't talk too long," she warned.

"Come home early for dinner." Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The setting sun struggled beneath the horizon, leaving behind only the last traces of twilight. Everyone had already departed. Even Kakashi's squad, who had been guarding the area in secret, left alongside Kushina. Minato closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surroundings before speaking.

"Zhen, check too." Dongye Zhen expanded his perception and confirmed they were alone.

"Minato-senpai, why so mysterious? Is there some confidential mission you want to entrust to me?"

"Not exactly." Minato hesitated slightly.

"What I'm about to ask may involve personal secrets. This is merely my own curiosity. If you don't want to answer, you can refuse."

"No problem." Dongye Zhen already had a rough guess. And as expected, Minato's question didn't surprise him.

"Zhen… do you know about natural energy?"

"What's natural energy?" Of course Dongye Zhen knew. But at his current age, he shouldn't. Konoha's public records—books, scrolls, even the library—contained no clear mention of such things. Natural energy and Sage Mode were secrets known only to a tiny fraction of Konoha's upper echelon. All related intelligence was classified at the highest level. The leaders of the other four great villages knew bits and pieces too, but only fragments.

After all, all three existing Sage Art inheritances in the ninja world were tied to Konoha. That was what true foundation looked like. Konoha sealed information about natural energy for a simple reason: It was far too dangerous. If ordinary shinobi learned of its existence and tried sensing or cultivating it, failure would actually be the better outcome. Because if they accidentally succeeded? That was practically suicide. Straight to the Pure Land. Minato explained patiently.

"You know chakra is formed by combining physical and spiritual energy. But beyond that… there exists another form of energy throughout nature itself. One ordinary shinobi cannot sense or utilize. That is natural energy." Dongye Zhen silently muttered inwardly: Not one kind. Plenty of kinds. All different colors too.

"If it can't be sensed or used," he asked innocently, "then what difference does it make whether it exists or not?"

"No. A tiny number of shinobi can, through special training, fuse natural energy into their chakra and create senjutsu chakra. When that happens, the shinobi enters a state known as Sage Mode."

"Sage Mode… sounds pretty incredible."

"It is. Watch carefully." Minato closed his eyes and entered a state of natural energy perception. Unlike the original timeline, he hadn't died during the Nine-Tails incident. After temporarily stepping away from Hokage duties, aside from caring for his family, he had spent nearly the past year training frequently at Mount Myōboku. Now, he could finally enter Sage Mode successfully. A moment later, Dongye Zhen sensed massive quantities of natural energy flowing into Minato's body and merging with his chakra.

Orange pigmentation appeared around Minato's eyes, identical to Naruto's in the original timeline. But unlike Jiraiya, his facial structure remained perfectly human. He entered Sage Mode faster than a certain someone and didn't turn ugly in the process. The already handsome face, paired with the orange markings, now carried an added layer of mysterious charm. Somewhere, Jiraiya wept bitter tears. During the Fourth Shinobi War in the original timeline, Minato had entered Sage Mode almost instantly.

But back then he'd been an Edo Tensei body with infinite chakra reserves and had spent over a decade wrestling Yin Kurama inside the Shinigami's stomach. His current human body couldn't compare. After entering Sage Mode, Minato opened his eyes. His pupils had transformed into the distinctive horizontal shape of a toad's. It was Dongye Zhen's first time seeing another shinobi enter Sage Mode.

"How incredible," he remarked.

"Even your chakra presence changed. It feels much stronger now. Minato-senpai, this is Sage Mode?"

"Yes." Minato nodded.

"This is the Sage Mode of Mount Myōboku, one of the Three Great Sage Regions of the ninja world. At present, this is my limit. I still need preparation time before entering it, and I can't maintain it for very long in combat."

"One of the Three Great Sage Regions… Mount Myōboku." Dongye Zhen appeared thoughtful.

"You mentioned it before. Later, Lady Tsunade even asked whether I wanted to sign a contract with Shikkotsu Forest. The final Sage Region would be Ryūchi Cave—the one Orochimaru-senpai contracted with, right?"

"Correct." Minato paused, then closed his eyes briefly to sense again before reopening them.

"As I thought. Back when you fought the Fourth Raikage, my intuition wasn't wrong."

"Afterward, I entered Sage Mode several times in the village to verify it." His gaze sharpened.

"Zhen… you can use Sage Mode too, can't you? That chakra feeling can't be mistaken. It's fundamentally different from ordinary shinobi."

"Oh, that?" Dongye Zhen blinked.

"So apparently I can use Sage Mode too?" Minato: "..."

"But I don't have eye shadow."

"Not necessarily eye shadow," Minato corrected.

"It could manifest elsewhere. Don't you have any visible changes at all?"

"Changes?" Dongye Zhen grinned.

"Oh, definitely." Since Minato had already sensed something unusual, there was little point hiding it anymore. More importantly— He was strong enough now. No longer the weak child who needed to conceal everything carefully. Dongye Zhen removed his Konoha forehead protector, revealing the silver star-ring pattern etched onto his forehead. Minato studied the mysterious symbol without surprise.

"So it really is Sage Mode." He paused thoughtfully.

"Zhen, when did you enter it? Before our spar?"

"No entering involved."

"Hm?"

"I'm like this all the time." Young junior… Statements like that make the effort I spent entering Sage Mode look pretty stupid. And here I thought I'd finally surpassed Jiraiya-sensei.

"..." Minato genuinely didn't know how to respond. But he quickly grasped the key issue.

"Wait. Has it always been like this? Because during your battle against the Raikage a year ago, I clearly sensed your chakra fluctuate."

"Oh, back then?" Dongye Zhen recalled casually.

"I couldn't maintain it constantly yet. I had to actively absorb some of the surrounding air that felt really comfortable."

"Yes—that's exactly the process of absorbing natural energy to enter Sage Mode." Minato stared at him intently.

"As for your current state… it's like you've permanently fixed Sage Mode onto yourself. When did that start?"