"I hope so." Jiraiya had no intention of standing up for this ally who was too cunning.

"So, where is your Sage Mode now?"

Shui Mu smiled awkwardly and said, "It's embarrassing to say that I'm stuck at the first step and can't make any progress."

"The first step? Natural energy perception?" Jiraiya asked puzzledly, "Then how do you achieve your Sage Mode?"

"How should I put it? It can be said that it is the process of playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses to the extreme." Then, Mizuki told Jiraiya how to use Shukaku's chakra, and then use the super chakra control ability to achieve balance in the body, and finally activate the Sage Mode.

"Is this possible?" Jiraiya asked in astonishment after hearing Mizuki's statement, "With the addition of the tailed beast's chakra as a troublemaker in your body, can you still maintain the balance of chakra and natural energy in your body and complete the Sage Mode?"

"This is the best thing I can do."

Only Shuimu himself knows how much effort he has put in to achieve this. He basically uses all his free time to practice this.

"Since you can do this, then what other problems will there be in sensing natural energy? They should all be solved easily, right?"

"On the contrary, I now have an almost unsolvable problem." Shuimu said seriously: "I am quite good at sensing and controlling natural energy, but without the chakra of the tailed beasts, I can't feel the natural energy at all."

"Then you just haven't practiced enough..." Jiraiya smiled at first, then suddenly realized the essence of Mizuki's problem, his face changed, "You mean, without the tailed beast chakra, you can't feel it at all, and you can't get rid of the dependence on the tailed beast chakra at all?"

Mizuki nodded, confirming Jiraiya's guess: "Even if it's just a tiny bit, as long as it's gone, Sage Mode won't work."

"How could this happen?" Jiraiya asked in disbelief.

Generally speaking, it is quite difficult for humans to perceive natural energy, but the difficulty lies in the amount of chakra and perception. After so much time of practice, these two points should not be a problem for Mizuki. In the Sage Mode, even the tailed beasts can be suppressed, which shows that Mizuki's level should not be a beginner. It is not the case that he cannot use the Sage Mode without a perception medium.

Jiraiya himself had never encountered this kind of problem. Although he was unable to move without the toad oil, he had the help of the two toad sages and had never noticed this problem.

Jiraiya frowned in thought, and unconsciously stretched out his hands and stroked the pattern on the teacup.

"Sui Mu, your condition is definitely not a common phenomenon." Jiraiya said in a deep voice; "I can confirm that it is possible to sense natural energy without a sensing medium. Your problem lies with you."

"On myself?"

Shuimu couldn't help but smile bitterly. The opportunistic approach is most likely to overlook some seemingly trivial but actually quite important links.

"Well, Master Jiraiya, can you please describe to me in detail some of the details of how Master Jiraiya learned Sage Mode? Especially some of the words of Fukasaku the Sage who taught Master Jiraiya? The more detailed the better?"

Over the following period of time, Jiraiya and Mizuki had some in-depth discussions on some topics regarding the perception of Sage Mode, mainly with Jiraiya describing the process of learning Sage Mode.

"Wait, Master Jiraiya..." Mizuki seemed to have some clues gradually. "You mentioned more than once that we should integrate into nature, keep our bodies still, and sense the energy of nature?"

"What's wrong? Is there a problem? This is the first step of Sage Mode, right?"

"Blend into nature and keep your body still?" Shuimu seemed to remember something and murmured.

Shuimu couldn't help but smile bitterly, as if he had realized something: "Maybe, I really made a mistake."

"What's wrong?"

Shuimu stroked his forehead and replied: "I have always thought that I could sense the energy of nature by staying still, but this is actually not the point. The key is to integrate into nature."

Things like toad oil and non-moving exercises are all aimed at sensing natural energy, but what actually works is the integration into nature.

When Mizuki used the tailed beast chakra as a medium to sense natural energy, although it increased the difficulty of control, the tailed beast chakra, which was much more active than the toad oil, actually greatly reduced the difficulty of sensing natural energy. As for the key point of integrating into nature, Mizuki made little progress, and because of the many precautions against natural energy, Mizuki was physically and mentally repelled from "integrating into nature". Without the tailed beast chakra, it would be strange if he could sense natural energy.

"It seems that you understand. It would be great if I could help."

"Thank you, Master Jiraiya, for this time." Working in isolation will always lead to some misunderstandings of habitual thinking. It was just some minor problems, and Mizuki couldn't find the problem after thinking hard for a long time. Talking with Jiraiya and confirming each other's opinions was much more efficient than thinking hard on his own.

Why does Shuimu suffer from a lack of manpower? Not to mention like-minded people, sometimes it is difficult to find someone who can understand what you say when you have some more troublesome problems.

Jiraiya felt quite satisfied to be able to give some guidance to the talented juniors.

"Shuimu, let's stop chatting now. I have some questions and I want to hear your opinions."

Then, Jiraiya asked seriously, "What do you think Sage Mode is for humans?"

Shuimu was well prepared for such a straightforward question. He thought for a moment and then answered, "Drinking poison to quench thirst."

Jiraiya nodded in satisfaction: "It seems that you are not the unlucky guy who gets blinded by power. It took me many years to realize this."

"Master Jiraiya also feels deeply..."

"Of course. Think about it. My life was arranged decades ago. How can I accept this feeling? Destiny? Humph..."

If at the beginning, Jiraiya could feel comforted as the guide of the child of destiny, as time went by and his abilities and status improved, he gradually felt very uncomfortable. How could a person of extraordinary talent tolerate his life, aging, illness and death being decided by someone else, even if it was the so-called "fate" that decided everything.

Having said this, Mizuki suddenly remembered that Scorpion of the Red Sand had said something similar when he persuaded him to cooperate with him.

"Destiny?" Shuimu whispered to himself.