Hokage: I Confronted the Five Kage Before the System Arrived

Chapter 151: Completion of Sage Mode

In the early spring month of March, nature flourished with vibrant growth and chirping birds.

Outside the Lockfront Village, in a desolate canyon devoid of visitors.

The serene and picturesque landscape, brimming with vitality, was now shrouded in an aura of deathly chill.

"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"

With a voice devoid of emotion, massive trees burst forth from the ground, their branches and vines thrashing towards the man at the center, who wore simple white robes and bore a blue-purple crescent moon mark on his forehead.

Hagoromo Gengetsu glanced at the incoming trees with calm indifference. He closed his eyes, allowing the invisible natural energy around him to flow into his body.

Just as the vines and branches were about to ensnare him, Hagoromo Gengetsu opened his eyes.

"Sage Art!"

In an instant, blue markings appeared around his eyes.

Before the vines could touch him, the overwhelming sage chakra within him erupted, disintegrating the incoming vines.

Under the tangible pressure emanating from Hagoromo Gengetsu, not a single vine could penetrate the ten-meter radius around him.

Hagoromo Gengetsu shifted his gaze to the wielder of the Wood Style jutsu and took a step forward.

Whoosh!

He closed the hundred-meter distance in an instant.

With a single punch, he sent the reanimated Senju Hashirama flying, shattering half of his body into pieces.

However, soon after, Hashirama's body reformed amidst a flurry of paper fragments.

Hashirama clapped his hands together.

"Sage Art!"

The same sage markings appeared on his face.

Unlike Hagoromo Gengetsu, whose sage mode only altered his eye area, Hashirama's sage markings were more intricate, and his eye color changed slightly.

Additionally, while Hagoromo Gengetsu's sage eye markings were blue, Hashirama's were deep red.

The difference in their appearances was not due to the quality of their sage arts.

Hashirama had mastered the Shikkotsu Forest's sage mode, influenced by the Slug Sage, while Gengetsu's sage mode was newly developed and specifically tailored for humans.

Now, with both in sage mode and their chakra transformed into sage chakra, Hagoromo Gengetsu and Senju Hashirama clashed again, their battle more intense than before.

A few minutes later, the once scenic canyon looked as if it had been struck by a violent earthquake, with devastation all around.

Seeing that further fighting would cause the canyon to collapse completely, Hashirama suddenly paused, his body emitting a white glow.

Hagoromo Gengetsu also stopped, watching as paper fragments fluttered from Hashirama's reanimated body.

Moments later.

The paper fragments fell away, leaving behind the corpse of an unfamiliar shinobi wearing an Iwagakure headband and a jonin vest.

"So, this is the limit?"

Hagoromo Gengetsu sighed slightly, feeling unsatisfied with the results.

The Reanimation he had acquired was not Orochimaru's complete version and had many flaws.

Even after over a year of further research, his main focus had been on training with seven nature chakra types and developing sage mode, leading to limited improvements in the technique.

Currently, Hagoromo Gengetsu's Reanimation could not restore the summoned person's consciousness and had various unexplained issues, such as the sudden disappearance of Hashirama just now.

However, there had been some progress.

For example, with a high-quality sacrifice, the reanimated individual could exhibit a significant portion of their original power.

The sacrifice used for reanimating Hashirama had been an Iwagakure jonin recently active in the area.

After injecting Hashirama cells into the body and performing Reanimation in the next instant, the reanimated Hashirama displayed considerable power, even able to use sage mode, far surpassing his state during the Chunin Exams.

Unfortunately, the technique lacked durability.

Thankfully, the Hashirama cells collected from the Root organization could be used to generate tissue in a cultivation tank, allowing Hagoromo Gengetsu to continue summoning Hashirama for training.

The main consideration was the availability of suitable sacrifices.

White Zetsu would be ideal, but Hagoromo Gengetsu had too few of them to waste on Reanimation.

Finding sacrifices like the Iwagakure jonin would also be rare.

If not for recent Iwagakure activities hinting at their suspicion of this location, leading them to send scouts who ended up delivering themselves as sacrifices, Hagoromo Gengetsu would have had to travel far to find such candidates.

"Speaking of which, it's time for the villagers of Lockfront Village to relocate."

Due to the attention drawn by his and Sasuke's trip to the Land of Fire, the village had ample time to prepare an exit strategy.

The capabilities of the Joint Investigation Department formed after the second Five Kage Summit were commendable.

Delaying for over a year was already impressive.

Recalling the intelligence recently sent by Samui, a member of the Joint Investigation Department, Hagoromo Gengetsu made his decision.

But before that, sensing the end of his sage mode, Hagoromo Gengetsu moved his gaze and attempted to store the sage chakra in his Yin Seal.

Barely any chakra had been stored before the Yin Seal trembled violently.

Hagoromo Gengetsu quickly ceased the attempt.

"It's still not enough."

From his encounter with the Fury of Heaven forbidden technique at Mount Katsuragi, Hagoromo Gengetsu had gained significant insights, making considerable progress in developing sage mode.

Recently, he had accomplished a feat unmatched in the shinobi world: creating a sage art suitable for humans.

This explained why his sage mode displayed traditional blue chakra eye markings without any animal-like features.

However, because the technique was newly developed, its duration was limited.

Hoping for a long-lasting sage mode, Hagoromo Gengetsu tried storing the sage chakra in his Yin Seal for convenient use.

This wasn't a whimsical idea.

Inspired by the black orb storing the Fury of Heaven forbidden technique's energy, Hagoromo Gengetsu had modified the structure of his Yin Seal.

Despite this, it seemed more work was needed.

After all, the black orb could only store energy briefly.

To develop the Yin Seal into a Sage Seal and enhance his power further, Hagoromo Gengetsu had much work ahead.

Nonetheless.

Completing the development of sage mode marked another advancement in Hagoromo Gengetsu's strength.

With his current power, he surpassed Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan Madara.

As for battling Perfect Sage Hashirama or Rinnegan Madara, only a fight would tell.