Unlike every other sage I knew of I understood that sage mode didn’t give you power but merely improved what you had and ONLY that. Sure it allowed you to use powerful techniques but the fact was that you had to have at least a slight foundation for whatever those techniques were before you could use them. Want to use a fire style sage jutsu? You need to know how to use a normal one first. You want to punch harder? You needed strong muscles first. Sage mode was purely amplification for everyone who wasn’t me.-
Like always I was the exception rather than the rule, the anomaly. Unlike everyone else sage mode IS my foundation. It came before all else and was what I built my entire power set around. While sage mode was still purely an amplification for me it was amplifying every facet of my growth on a constant basis rather than merely when it was actively used like in most other sages. Everything that a growing child would experience of benefit was amplified and this meant that with training and opportunities on top I became what I am today.-
This wasn’t purely positive however as I had to constantly battle with my pride to keep me from looking at everyone else as an inferior creature. If I was not a reincarnated soul from Earth but truly a child of this world I shuddered to think of how I’d have turned out assuming I hadn’t been killed by this point. Seeing the world through the worlds perception was both a grand and chilling thing as only thanks to this I understood how insignificant the world considered anyone that wasn’t me. As Katsuyu had said I was the worlds darling child, it’s favorite and that meant it considered me important but that was as far as it cared about humanity.-
As far as the world was concerned people were merely just another species on it’s surface and no more important than any other and if anything even slightly disliked due to how humanity unbalanced the ecosystems it found itself in. Thanks to being able to see the world as the world itself does I had to fight against the arrogant disdain that came from this perception. It was this that I meditated on and forced to bend to my will rather than the other way around.-
(General POV)
While Kenzo meditated on the world and his understanding of it others were having a harder time of things. In the village hidden in the sound that had been founded by Orochimaru to collect unique bloodlines and talented orphans Kabuto was having a very bad time.
‘Where did you go Lord Orochimaru?’ he thought as he read through yet another set of scouting reports from the shinobi sent to check each of the hidden bases for the missing snake sannin.
Ever since he heard about the failed attack on Kenzo Mizuyama that his master had orchestrated and the explosion of the hidden base in the land of fire Kabuto had a growing sense that his master was no longer amongst the living. Unfortunately he couldn’t use [impure world reincarnation] or [Edo tensei] as it’s truly named to verify this fact due to the unique immortality jutsu his master uses as well as the curse seals he left behind that contained a fragment of his soul. This corrupted fractured soul meant that he wouldn’t go to the pure lands upon death which was where [Edo tensei] drew the souls from to bring the dead back to life.-
This left Kabuto in the awkward position of not being able to confirm Orochimaru’s life or death and thus being stuck suddenly with the duties of leading the operations of the hidden sound village and research. Not that it really caused him any real problems since he had already been doing this as his lord spent the vast majority of his time dedicated to his research anyways and stuck him with the managerial duties. Still the absence of his lord was sorely felt with each day that passed as things grew more and more tense.-
Sasuke for example had started to grow impatient as the lord had been failing to provide the training promised to grant the foolish child the power he desired. Clearly the Uchiha hadn’t realized that he was being groomed to serve as a vessel for the lord or if he had realized this arrogantly thought he could resist the process. For now the boy was content to merely train his power to one day exact vengeance on his brother Itachi. Meanwhile far off in the land of rice Naruto and Jiraiya wandered the land training in a migratory fashion but rendering aid where they could for a price.-
Back in Konoha Kakashi approached Kurenai about getting her aid in training his genjutsu without using his sharingan.
“I’m surprised that you’d seek out an alternate method of casting genjutsu given the advantage that eye gives you.” the woman said curiously.
“It was made clear to me that this eye has hobbled me more than I originally thought so I’m looking to shore up these shortcomings.” Kakashi said calmly.
“I suppose that makes sense, know that even if we are friends I won’t be going easy on you.” the woman said seriously and Kakashi nodded.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” he said determined.
So it was that Kakashi spent six hours everyday for the next seven days training his yin release without the use of his sharingan. At the end of it he had to admit that it made a massive amount of difference. Even just this short span of a week was enough to see his usage of genjutsu reach a whole new level as his understanding of it took a leap forward. He had also noticed the phenomenon Kenzo had described with the sudden perception of colors surrounding him that he hadn’t noticed till now.-
(Normal POV)
“So you can “see” the colors now? Maybe theres hope for this to be quick yet.” I said after hearing Kakashi report back to me.
“Do you mean quick relative to the normal amount of time it would take or in general?” he asked confused.
“Yes.” was the only answer I chose to to give him.