158. Size is Beauty! Kisame's Sentiments

Thousands of years ago, the Otsutsuki clan descended upon the Shinobi World and planted the God Tree on Earth.

In the time that followed, as the God Tree continuously grew to condense the Chakra Fruit, it nearly drained all the life energy on Earth, turning the vast majority of the planet into barren wasteland.

Fortunately, in the distant edges or hidden corners of the world, a few places escaped the encroachment of the God Tree, retaining massive amounts of natural energy to this day.

These were the so-called Three Great Sage Regions.

According to the information Kisame had gathered and his own deductions:

Among the Three Great Sage Regions, Mount Myoboku was located in the far west, taking a month to reach from the Leaf Village, and consisted of a sprawling mountain range.

Shikkotsu Forest was likely hidden deep within some underground cave in the Land of Rice Fields, near a village where the Jugo clan lived.

In the original timeline, Jugo was affected by the natural energy leaking from Shikkotsu Forest, which drove him into a violent frenzy. Later discovered by Orochimaru, his physique became the basis for developing the Cursed Seals.

As for the final destination, Shikkotsu Forest, Kisame was seeing it now: it lay deep within the vast ocean of the far east.

Furthermore, the forms in which natural energy manifested across the Three Great Sage Regions were completely different.

The natural energy of Mount Myoboku permeated the air between the mountains; the natural energy of Shikkotsu Forest was hidden deep beneath the thick earth; while the natural energy of Shikkotsu Forest was contained within the flowing seawater.

Sure enough, Katsuyu’s subsequent words further confirmed Kisame’s speculation.

"My two esteemed guests, to practice Senjutsu, you must first understand what natural energy is.

The so-called natural energy is the energy that exists widely in the air, earth, and water, aside from living beings themselves. It is everywhere, merely thinner in some places and more concentrated in others.

The Three Great Sage Regions—Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest—are the places with the highest concentration of natural energy in the Shinobi World. Within Shikkotsu Forest, the place where natural energy is most concentrated is right here in this hot spring."

Katsuyu explained patiently, detailing the principles of Senjutsu to the two of them.

As it turned out.

The essence of Senjutsu was the extraction and utilization of natural energy.

As everyone knew, the substance known as chakra was an energy extracted from human physical cells and spiritual energy through cultivation, which was then fused together.

Senjutsu built upon chakra by further fusing natural energy, combining the physical, spiritual, and natural energies into an even more powerful Senjutsu chakra.

However, though it sounded simple and easy, actual cultivation of Senjutsu was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

First, during the practice, the practitioner had to cast aside the restless nature of living creatures and achieve a state of "absolute stillness."

Simply put, it meant remaining completely motionless.

"Lord Senju Hashirama once described that state. He said he seemed to forget the existence of his own body and consciousness, becoming a part of nature, just like a tree, a flower, or a stone by the roadside. Only in this way could a person merge with nature, thereby perceiving the presence of natural energy and absorbing it."

Katsuyu shared Hashirama’s experiences in practicing Senjutsu with Kisame and Tsunade.

The second step, which was even more difficult and crucial, was called "balance."

An ordinary person, even if they successfully perceived and absorbed natural energy, would still fail to condense Senjutsu chakra because their internal chakra reserves were too small to balance the massive influx of natural energy from the outside.

As for the consequence of failure, it was being instantly devoured by the natural energy and losing one's life.

Therefore, practicing Senjutsu had extremely high requirements for one's chakra volume.

Both Kisame and Tsunade happened to meet this condition.

Needless to say, Kisame was no longer just a tailless tailed beast; even compared to the nine tailed beasts, perhaps only the Nine-Tails possessed a greater volume of chakra than him.

As for Tsunade, after transplanting Hashirama's cells, her internal chakra volume had skyrocketed as the Senju bloodline was further purified, approaching the level of a tailed beast.

Upon understanding their situation, Katsuyu grew quite optimistic about their training.

As the three chatted away, they suddenly noticed that the sun had set at some point, and night had quietly fallen.

"Oh my, it is getting a bit late today. Perhaps the two of you should rest for the night, and we can continue tomorrow."

With these words, Katsuyu spat out two scrolls from her mouth and handed them to the two. "Inside these are the experiences of Senjutsu cultivation summarized by Lord Hashirama during his lifetime. They will surely be of help to you."

Hearing this, Tsunade eagerly unrolled the scroll and said happily, "I'll finish reading this tonight."

"Sage Katsuyu, you are truly so considerate. You've thought of everything for us."

A look of joy also appeared on Kisame's face.

However, instead of staring at the contents of the scroll like Tsunade, his gaze lingered intentionally or unintentionally on Katsuyu, focusing most of his attention on her.

Katsuyu did not notice Kisame's strangeness. After repeatedly reminding the two not to enter the hot spring prematurely, she withdrew so as not to disturb their rest.

At that moment, Tsunade shot Kisame a cold glance before walking off on her own.

With a series of swift hand seals, she slammed her palm against the ground.

Rumble.

With a violent tremor of the ground, a complex wooden dwelling slowly rose from underground.

Wood Release: Four Pillar House Technique.

Seeing this, Kisame followed suit, forming the exact same hand seals as Tsunade, and then pressed his palm against the ground.

Rumble.

Amidst an even more violent tremor of the earth, a much larger wooden dwelling slowly rose from underground.

Wood Release: Super Four Pillar House Technique.

Whether Kisame did it on purpose or not, the wooden cabin he built using Wood Release was at least five times the size of Tsunade's, completely overshadowing her.

"..." Tsunade's face instantly turned dark, so angry she was left speechless.

"Hey, your house is way too small. Next to my cabin, it looks just like a portable outhouse. If it's not fit to live in, you're welcome to stay at my place. My house is very spacious."

With a smile, Kisame proactively extended the invitation to Tsunade.

"Hmph." Tsunade let out a cold snort, slipped into her wooden cabin without a word, and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Kisame shrugged, wiped the smile off his face, and returned to his luxurious mansion to sleep soundly through the night.

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, Tsunade walked out of her room yawning, strolled over to the lakeside, and stretched luxuriously, accentuating her fine bodily curves.

Having burned the midnight oil reading by lamp light the previous night, fighting off heavy eyelids and sheer exhaustion just to finish every word in the scroll, she had managed less than four hours of sleep.

That bastard Hoshigaki Kisame surely lacked such perseverance.

At this thought, Tsunade felt a little smug and glanced toward the neighboring cabin.

To her surprise, Kisame was up even earlier than her. He stood motionlessly, gazing upward at Katsuyu's unimaginably colossal body in the distance, utterly entranced.

This guy was acting deeply abnormal.

Frowning at the sight, Tsunade recalled that she had actually noticed it yesterday: the moment Kisame laid eyes on Katsuyu's true form, he had started acting rather strangely.

"Hey, what are you looking at?"

She walked over to Kisame's side and asked with a puzzled expression.

Without turning his head, Kisame kept his gaze fixed on Katsuyu and replied, "Don't you think Sage Katsuyu is beautiful?"

"What?!"

Hearing this, Tsunade's pupils dilated, her expression filled with shock and incomprehension.

Beautiful?

She found it impossible to understand Kisame's description of Katsuyu.

Anyone else seeing such a colossal entity would instinctively feel terror and fear. While Tsunade was very familiar with Katsuyu, she at most considered Katsuyu rather cute, not beautiful.

Seeming to perceive the confusion in Tsunade's heart, Kisame finally turned to look at her, his eyes burning with intensity as he said:

"Size equals beauty! Look at that—Katsuyu's body is over four hundred meters long, with a width and height of a hundred meters. Isn't a creature of such awe-inspiring greatness enough to be called beautiful? You might find it hard to believe, but when I saw Katsuyu's true form for the first time yesterday, I... well, you know."

At these words, the one-meter-ninety-five-tall, three-hundred-pound muscle-bound warrior Kisame actually blushed, looking like a shy young boy experiencing his first romantic crush.

"You—what on earth are you talking about?"

Tsunade's eyes widened into a ghost-like expression of utter horror, completely spooked by Kisame.

Taking a deep breath, Kisame fell silent for a moment before stepping closer to Tsunade and nervously pouring his heart out to her:

"I lay in bed all night thinking about it, and I finally confirmed my feelings. I... love Sage Katsuyu, and I want to be with her."

"..."

At these words, Tsunade staggered back several steps, her jaw nearly dropping to the floor, unable to utter a single syllable for a long time.

Meanwhile, Kisame continued rambling with fanatical zeal:

"I must learn Senjutsu, absorb natural energy just like Sage Katsuyu, and draw inspiration from the concept of the Eight-Headed Serpent technique to evolve myself into a magnificent being just like her. Only then will I be worthy of pursuing her..."

Slap!

Tsunade delivered a sharp slap across Kisame's face in an attempt to snap him back to his senses.

Hastily glancing back at Katsuyu to confirm she hadn't noticed this side, Tsunade stood on tiptoe, grabbed Kisame by the collar, and hissed in a low voice:
"Hoshigaki Kisame, have you lost your mind? Why would you harbor such... insane thoughts?"

"I'm being serious, Tsunade."

Frowning with absolute solemnity, Kisame wore an expression that made it clear he was by no means joking with Tsunade.

"But you... Katsuyu... the two of you..." Tsunade stammered incoherently, utterly incapable of imagining the scene of Kisame and Katsuyu together.

"Let me ask you, how is Katsuyu's strength?" Kisame abruptly turned the question back to Tsunade.

"Well... it's tremendous, of course. Even a tailed beast would appear insignificant before Katsuyu's true body. In Shikkotsu Forest, Katsuyu is invincible."

Startled, Tsunade answered nonetheless.

As the ninja contracted to Katsuyu, even with all her might, she could only ever summon a tiny fraction of Katsuyu's true body—less than a tenth.

Had Tsunade been capable of summoning the complete Katsuyu, she would have swept across the Shinobi World and unified the Five Great Nations long ago.

"Then let me ask you another thing, what is Katsuyu's personality like?" Kisame pressed on.

"Wise and gentle."

After a moment of thought, Tsunade used two words to describe Katsuyu's temperament.

Indeed, Sage Katsuyu possessed a famously stellar disposition; she was not only gentle in nature but also exceptionally kind to people. This was evident just from the fact that she addressed Tsunade and Kisame as "Lords/Adults."

One had to bear in mind that Sage Katsuyu was not only vastly superior in status to both of them, but her age also exceeded theirs by untold generations.

Among beings of similar station, Mount Myoboku's Gamamaru looked down upon all living things with aloof detachment, while Ryuchi Cave's White Snake Sage was unimaginably cruel and fond of devouring humans.

Only Katsuyu was willing to lower her status to interact with human ninja, acting as gentle as an angel.

"So, is there any need to ask why?"

Gazing intently at Tsunade, Kisame earnestly compared her to Katsuyu: "Tsunade, haven't you noticed? Compared to you, Sage Katsuyu is ten times stronger and ten times kinder in personality. You can't deny that, right? If a woman like you can have so many men pursuing and adoring her, why shouldn't Katsuyu have admirers?"

In Kisame's eyes, Katsuyu was undoubtedly the most powerful being in the Shinobi World, possessed of a traditional, motherly disposition and a soft, pleasing voice—she was quite literally his one-of-a-kind ideal girlfriend.

At the very least, she completely blew a woman like Tsunade out of the water.

"B-But Katsuyu isn't human..."

Stunned into a daze by Kisame's logic, Tsunade instinctively retorted.

"Your perspective is too narrow."

Shaking his head in disappointment at Tsunade's ideological limits, Kisame countered directly: "What does it matter whether Katsuyu is human or not? Could it be that true love cannot exist across species? Besides, it is precisely because Katsuyu is not human that I love her all the more. She is a higher, immortal, and beautiful biological entity superior to humans—the very image of what I, Hoshigaki Kisame, dream of becoming."

These words were the heartfelt sentiments welling up from the depths of Kisame's soul.

He already had a woman in the Shinobi World: the Snow Woman. Yet in that relationship, Kisame mostly received love and reliance, mixed with a few physical needs and impulses.

Prior to this, he had never subjectively fallen deeply in love with any woman, not even the universally adored beauty Princess Tsunade, who had never truly moved his heart.

Kisame had once assumed that as he walked further and further down the path of the "non-human," he would gradually shed human emotions and desires, ultimately losing the capacity for romantic love.

He had believed that his destined path was one of lonely evolution.

That was until Kisame laid eyes on Katsuyu's true form, beheld her unimaginably colossal body, and witnessed the immense power and vitality contained within that physique.

At that instant, his heart leaped violently, deeply captivated by the unique aesthetic beauty she exuded, and he fell completely.

This was love at first sight.

From that moment on, Kisame knew without a doubt that Katsuyu would be his dream companion—the perfect "woman" he had to win over by any means necessary.

With that thought, he whispered quietly to the shell-shocked Tsunade:

"Please keep these thoughts of mine a secret from Sage Katsuyu for now, so as not to cause her unnecessary distress. I am not yet strong enough, and for now, I only wish to watch over her silently from the shadows until the day I too become a magnificent being like her. That will be the moment I fully reveal my feelings."

Recovering her wits, Tsunade stared at Kisame in stony silence for a long time.

At last, with a severe and warning tone, she replied:

"Don't worry, I won't say a word. And from now on, I'm going to keep my eyes glued to you to make sure you don't pull any perverted stunts on Katsuyu."

From her perspective, although Katsuyu was ancient, she had spent millennia confined within Shikkotsu Forest, rarely venturing out into the wider world, making her exceptionally naive in temperament.

Though Tsunade couldn't fathom what Kisame called "cross-species love," it would be disastrous if he pulled some bizarre stunt and gave Katsuyu psychological trauma.

"Lord Tsunade, Lord Kisame, both of you are up quite early."

At that moment, a three-meter-tall Katsuyu clone wiggled her antennae as she crawled over from nearby.