The waters of the Oil-Gama waterfall fell with a deafening force, but Naruto barely noticed the noise. His mind was focused on an important question: would it be different this time?

He remembered how his body had changed after consuming the orbs of light, but now, with his enhanced skin, Naruto had a new hope. He wondered if this would bring a significant change in his training.

Sitting in a meditation position, Naruto felt the Oil-Gama being poured over him by Fukasaku. He closed his eyes and began to focus his mind on Zen Meditation. When Naruto's skin came into contact with the oil, he felt a strange sensation, and an orange-red pigmentation began to spread around his eyes. He knew this was a sign that his Sage Mode was activated.

Naruto took a deep breath and let his mind merge with the energy of nature around him. His awareness expanded, and he could feel the presence of all living creatures in the forest. The sounds of animals and the smell of vegetation filled his mind as he became one with nature.

Fukasaku was about to strike Naruto with the stick again, but something seemed different. Naruto was resisting longer than the day before, and the chakra of nature was gathering around him more strongly.

Surprised by what he was seeing, Fukasaku widened his eyes, and Gamakichi, who had just arrived, was also astonished. They had witnessed Naruto's progress firsthand, but this was still amazing.

Meanwhile, Naruto was almost smiling, knowing he had made a lot of progress since the day before.

Thanks to the improvement of his body with the red orbs, Naruto realized he could feel the chakra of nature more naturally. It was as if he had only 25% knowledge of the subject before and now had over 50%, which made it easier to understand something that was previously difficult to comprehend.

However, despite his impressive progress, Naruto couldn't maintain his Sage Mode state for long and soon began to swell due to a lack of control over his chakra.

Fukasaku immediately acted and struck Naruto's back with his black stick, dissipating the toad's transformation.

"Hey, Old Man Toad," Naruto said, opening his eyes. "I think I have a better idea for progressing faster."

"And what would that be?" Fukasaku asked.

"Well, I believe if I make shadow clones, I could learn faster," Naruto replied with a smile.

"You have a good intuition," Fukasaku said. "The experience of shadow clones is also transmitted to the original user, but be careful, the same goes for damage, and a clone transformed into a toad can be fatal for the original."

"Of course, I understand," Naruto said.

"Agreed, then," Fukasaku said. "But no more than four clones. If there are more, neither I nor my stick can protect us!"

"Here I go!" shouted Naruto, immediately making hand seals and creating three shadow clones.

As Naruto began his Zen meditation with the shadow clones, Fukasaku mixed some Oil-Gama into them. Slowly, Naruto began to better understand nature's chakra and find harmony.

However, the division of the shadow clones also made the toad transformation faster, and Naruto was soon beaten back to his normal form, having to start the whole process again.

Naruto lost track of time while training but felt he had finally gotten the hang of it!

Although lumps had appeared near his eyes and all over his body, and his pupils had become as small as a bean, Naruto managed to maintain the orange-red pigment around his eyes, partially entering Sage Mode.

"Well done!" exclaimed Fukasaku excitedly. "Now try to lift the stone toad again!"

"Sure thing, dattebayo!" replied Naruto, excitedly.

Heading to the enormous stone statue, Naruto put both hands on it and began to try to lift it.

When he finally managed to lift the entire stone statue, Naruto felt his legs throbbing as he trembled like a bamboo pole. However, he skillfully controlled nature chakra and managed to release the statue upon hearing Fukasaku's voice congratulating him.

'This kid learns faster than Jiraya-chan,' thought Fukasaku with admiration. Naruto wasn't just learning faster, he was elevating his skills to a higher level.

Naruto opened the old book he had received from Grandpa Toad and immersed himself in the story. Although he already knew the plot, it was still an interesting read, full of adventure and twists. But what really made Naruto cling to the book was the fact that it was written by his late sensei, Ero-Sennin.

At night, when he finally decided to sleep, Naruto ended up once again in the hunting dimension. Although he was already experienced in killing rabbits, Naruto knew there were other monsters in that place that were much more dangerous. He roamed the grassy plain until he found a giant rabbit, at least 150 cm tall. Naruto realized that this was an opponent of another level, one that needed to be faced seriously.

Determined to win, Naruto created a shadow clone and began to concentrate his chakra to prepare the Rasengan.

The giant rabbit, imposing with its 1.5m height, seemed to sense Naruto's presence and opened its jaws, displaying a sharp row of white teeth. Jumping towards the ninja, it seemed ready to attack.

Naruto, on the other hand, remained calm and confident. The Rasengan was already in his hands and the shadow clone was ready to advance.

As the rabbit advanced with its sharp claws, the shadow clone became a distraction, allowing Naruto to get close and attack the rabbit on the side, near the neck.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled fervently.

The giant rabbit couldn't dodge and was hit head-on. The impact threw it several meters back, where it writhed in agony.

Naruto approached to examine the prey. When he looked down, the rabbit disintegrated into dust and dropped five weak red orbs and a purple sphere the size of a passion fruit. Although there were only five red orbs present, they were much larger than the previous ones.

"Hahaha, this is amazing, dattebayo!" shouted Naruto in joy, knowing that the purple sphere was of extreme importance.

'With this, maybe I can learn Sage Mode even faster...' Naruto thought with great expectation.

But there was still something he wasn't sure of. Would gathering natural energy in this location lead him to Sage Mode?

Determined to find out the answer, Naruto took the orbs and headed to a more isolated place near a large tree. There, he began his Zen meditation.

"Ahhh!" Suddenly, he screamed in pain as he realized he was gathering natural energy much faster than when he used the Oil-Gama. In a panic, Naruto lost control and ended up transforming into a stone statue.

The weirdest thing was that he didn't die, but was stuck in his statue form, unable to return to normal and unable to return to reality.

With time passing, Naruto began to get desperate, imagining that he could be stuck forever. Even when monsters passed by, they ignored him, after all, a stone statue posed no threat or benefit to them.

And so, minutes turned into hours...

Tears flooded Naruto's eyes as he bitterly regretted trying to enter Sage Mode in that dimension. He felt crushed by the possibility of being trapped as a statue forever. But when he thought he would be condemned to that form forever, darkness swallowed him and when he opened his eyes, he was back in the room he shared with the Grandpa Toad.

Naruto was sweating profusely, feeling a mixture of emotions. He couldn't help but think: 'Phew, thank goodness I'm back, thank goodness, dattebayo!' After all, it would have been terrible to be trapped forever in the form of a statue and still be aware of everything that was happening around him.

But then an idea arose in his mind: 'I didn't feel any pain when I came back...'

Although being transformed into a statue was a terrifying experience, it didn't actually cause him any physical pain. Perhaps, when he fully mastered the Sage Mode, it would be a good idea to transform into a statue when the situation in the hunting dimension became too dangerous. Naruto reflected on this in his heart, while his breathing finally calmed down.

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