Chapter 126: Shikkotsu Forest (Part 1)
Ryuu teleported to the forest of death with Ichika.
"Sign here with your blood." Ryuu bit his finger and signed the contract.
"Well, take care of her because if you don't, I'll Bury your ribs inside your chest."
Ryuu gulped and nodded.
"I'm sure you know how this goes, so do it."
Ryuu bit his finger and made the hand signs.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Boom!!!
A giant cloud of white smoke blew over the entire forest, and everyone's eyes widened.
"That's the largest I've ever seen her."
Tsunade said as she looked up.
Hundreds of feet above them was a giant slug that spread wide across the forest of death.
"Tsunade-sama, you didn't summon me, did you?" Tsunade slowly shook her head, still amazed by Katsuyu's size.
"Ryuu-sama, you summoned me?"
Ryuu nodded.
"Katsuyu-sama, I would like to travel to shikkotsu forest to learn slug sage mode from you."
Katsuyu made a small clone of herself.
"I was wondering when you would come with me to shikkotsu forest, I'm excited to teach you slug sage mode but I have to ask, is Ichika-sama coming with you?"
Ryuu nodded.
"Ichika is coming with us, but only to learn sage mode with another way, I figured things will be easier once she's in a land where it's filled with natural energy."
"If this is yours and her wish, then I have no problem.
I'll head back to Shikkotsu forest, you can place a seal and, once you're ready, teleport with her to me."
Ryuu placed a seal on her.
*Poof!* Katsuyu disappeared in a giant cloud of smoke.
"Ichika, I know learning senjutsu will not be easy, in fact, you could die there, are you sure you want to try this?"
Ichika nodded.
"We already talked about this, Ryuu, we should go now."
Ichika grabbed Ryuu's hand and walked away.
Sigh.
Tsunade walked back to the hospital.
'Is something up between these two? Did I do this?' Ryuu questioned himself as he looked back.
"Aren't you going to take me to shikkotsu forest?"
"You're right, let's go." Ryuu held onto her shoulder and teleported to shikkotsu forest.
They looked around in awe as they saw massive trees and tall grass and on the ground was a liquid, Ryuu touched the liquid with his Katana and it was sticky.
"Slime."
'The trees were so massive and could easily dwarf even Kurama, and in the center, there it was.'
Ryuu looked up and saw a massive tree that looked endless and had a trail of slime going upwards, he tilted his head to see how far the tree went.
"It goes so high, it's past the clouds and I still don't see an end," Ryuu stated.
"You used your flying Raijin, right?"
Ryuu nodded.
"Then where's Katsuyu-sama?"
Ryuu frowned and looked around and still couldn't find Lady Katsuyu.
"Anyway, it's dark here and I can sense a lot of animals we can hunt here, we should look for them plus my guess is, that tree over there leads to Katsuyu-sama and that's not far, I'm guessing we'll make it in a day."
Ichika nodded.
Ichika followed Ryuu as he looked for an animal to hunt.
"There are so many animals here, I'm guessing most of them are summons.
Maybe we could both find a summoning animal." Ichika nodded.
After a while Ryuu found a wild boar, he unsealed a bow and arrow.
Ryuu shot the arrow perfectly, and the boar fell immediately.
After preparing a camp, Ryuu started roasting the boar on a skewer, he unsealed a bunch of spices and seasonings and marinated the boar.
"Mmm, that smells good, Auntie said you were a wonderful cook, show me."
Ryuu nodded.
"One special boar coming up."
Ichika chuckled.
Ryuu smiled after seeing Ichika happy again.
'She was so tense after leaving Tsunade like that, I'm glad she's happy again.'
Ryuu finished cooking the boar.
"Your dinner is served." Ryuu handed Ichika a plate.
"I hope it tastes as good as it smells."
Ryuu smiled.
"Of course it is, I'm a really excellent cook, you know." Ryuu served himself.
"She was right, you are a wonderful cook."
Ryuu smiled.
"You think so?" Ichika nodded.
"After we go back home, open up a restaurant."
"Well, I've been thinking that maybe when I'm old enough I can open up a restaurant, or maybe reopen my mother's restaurant, I hope it'll work out."
After having dinner, Ryuu and Ichika slept, Ryuu made a small house that had 2 rooms and he had sealed a blanket and pillows.
The next morning…
Ryuu sealed the remaining food and tools, and they began their journey again.
"Hold on." Ryuu signaled for Ichika to stop.
"What is it?" She asked.
Ryuu activated his Sharingan.
"Look out!" He quickly withdrew his sword and slashed it towards the head of a giant snake, but was beaten to it by Ichika, who used a Sai to cut its head off.
Ryuu's eyes widened.
"Impressive."
Ichika blushed.
"It's a new sai I got after the mission in Kumo."
"I see…" Ryuu stated, looking at the sai.
"We're getting closer, maybe that's the reason there are multiple hostile animals nearby," Ichika stated.
Ryuu gathered his thoughts together and nodded.
Ryuu placed his hand on the ground.
"You're right, be on your guard."
Ichika nodded.
"Don't slack off, or else I'll ruin your rep as Konoha's young war hero by saving your life a lot."
Ichika sped up.
Ryuu smiled and ran after her.
Ichika led the way, with Ryuu right behind her.
After a few hours, they reached the giant tree.
"Finally, I hate walking on all that slime."
Ryuu nodded in agreement.
"Hello, Ryuu-sama and Ichika-sama, it's nice to see you here, I knew you would make it here on time." Ryuu smiled as he recognized that voice.
He turned and looked at the giant slug, Katsuyu wasn't at her largest size but was still large.
"Katsuyu-sama, it's good seeing you again." Katsuyu nodded.
"Likewise," Katsuyu replied.
"I'm a day late, but welcome to shikkotsu forest." Ryuu and Ichika nodded.
"Katsuyu-sama, where am I going to learn sage mode?" Ichika asked.
"Ryuu-sama explained that you want to learn a different sage mode, the one like your great grandfather."
Ichika nodded.
"Ichika-sama, the location you'll be training at is nearby, just under the tree is where you'll be training, there's an underground shrine right below."
"Shrine?" Ryuu asked.
"That's right, few know this except for the ones who saw it happen but, Lord first was a very religious man, ever since he was a kid he would always find a shrine and pray there for hours, whenever he got the chance.
He used to meditate a lot, and that partnered with nature being drawn into him helped him create his own sage mode.
If you can use wood style, nature is also naturally drawn to you."
Ryuu's eyes widened.
'I see, it all makes sense now, that's why most of his wood-style jutsu was named after Buddhism deities.' Ryuu said to himself.
"Katsuyu-sama, do you think I could learn this too?" Ryuu curiously asked.
Katsuyu nodded.
"From what Gammamaru-sama said, you should be able to learn all kinds of sage mode." Ryuu nodded.
"That's right, speaking of sage mode, how am I supposed to learn slug senjutsu?"
"I heard you talking about the slime on your way here, is that right?"
Ryuu nodded.
"Well, slug senjutsu is as safe as it is dangerous.
Do you see that trail of slime on that tree?"
Ryuu nodded.
"You must climb that tree." Ryuu's jaw dropped.
"Katsuyu-sama, you must be kidding! I can't even see the top of the tree! And not to mention it's covered in slime!"
Ryuu's head dropped depressingly.
"I can't do it." He whimpered to himself.
"Just get up, you didn't come all the way here just to give up, did you?" Ichika asked, as she forcefully picked him up.
"But Ichika, can't you see how easily this could go wrong?
From down here, I can tell that the tree is at least 1000 feet or more." Ichika nodded.
"Well, I can't give you proper advice, but all I'm saying is the tree isn't getting shorter if you keep being depressed."
Sigh.
Ryuu took multiple Kunai's and kept them in his hands and began preparing to climb the tree.
"Ryuu-sama, this news gets worse because you have to do this with your hands." Ryuu dropped from the tree and lay on the ground.
"Wood clone jutsu!" Ryuu made three clones.
"You two do this training and I'll do Hashirama's sage mode training."
"Are you kidding me?! We aren't your lackeys, where's the damn respect?!" Ryuu got into an argument with his clones.
"You're both making me look like a fool in front of Ichika!"
"Oh boo hoo, it's always about you, isn't it?!"
They all grabbed each other's shirts and tried to fight each other.
Katsuyu and Ichika exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"Boys!"
They immediately stopped and looked at Ichika, who was shaking her head, seeing three versions of Ryuu holding each other by the neck.
"Ichika-chan, we're sorry." They bowed their heads and apologized.
"Hmph, this is going to be a long trip."
Ichika said.
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