When Simu opened his eyes, he felt a throbbing headache.
"Hiss… that was careless."
He rubbed his temples vigorously, taking a while to recover.
"Katsuyu, is everything alright?" Simu asked while looking at the steam rising from his body.
Katsuyu carefully inspected him and replied, "You're fine. You just absorbed too much natural energy at once, causing your body's chakra flow to become unstable. Just rest for a few days and use your chakra to balance it out."
Simu let out a sigh of relief.
"I didn't expect to absorb that much natural energy uncontrollably… Looks like I won't be able to continue training in Sage Mode until my chakra levels increase."
Since his fighting style never relied on ninjutsu, he hadn't put much effort into developing his chakra reserves. Right now, his chakra level was only on par with an average Jōnin, which was far from enough to handle Sage Mode properly.
While resting, Simu suddenly thought of something.
"Katsuyu, can you leave a few clones with me?"
Katsuyu tilted its head. "Clones?"
"Yes, the kind that usually stays dormant but can wake up instantly to contact you in case of an emergency."
"That's no problem."
Without hesitation, Katsuyu agreed.
Its massive body squirmed slightly before splitting into four small clones, each about the size of half a palm. The tiny Katsuyus slowly crawled onto Simu's body.
"These clones will remain in sleep mode unless you inject chakra into them," Katsuyu explained. "You can use them to contact me anytime."
Simu's eyes lit up.
"Then… can these clones communicate with each other?"
"Of course."
All the clones were part of Katsuyu's main body, so communicating through them was as natural as talking to itself.
"That's perfect."
Simu had an idea.
He picked up a discarded shell from the forest and placed one of the Katsuyu clones inside. Now, it looked just like a snail.
Holding it up like a telephone, he spoke into it.
"Moshi moshi, can you hear me?"
A notification suddenly rang in his mind.
"Imitation value increased: 45%"
Good. Creating a makeshift Den Den Mushi actually increased his imitation value by 5%.
That was a huge gain.
Katsuyu chuckled. "Mr. Kizaru, you really are an interesting person."
Simu gathered the remaining clones and asked, "Can I give these to my friends? That way, they can reach me if anything happens."
Due to the butterfly effect caused by his presence, he couldn't guarantee that the plot would unfold the same way as in the original story.
Take the recent incident, for example—Kushina was nearly kidnapped by the Cloud Shinobi.
To prevent similar events from happening again, Simu wanted to make "Den Den Mushi" for his friends. But first, he needed Katsuyu's approval.
"Of course, as long as they're important friends of yours."
"Haha, of course."
That evening, the last rays of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon, and the world was enveloped in darkness.
Inside her room, Kushina lay on her bed, punching her pillow in frustration.
"Damn Simu! He's too busy to even come back!"
She angrily threw the pillow aside and glanced at the book on her bedside table.
"Icha Icha Paradise (Manuscript)"
Her throat moved.
Unable to resist temptation, she opened the book and started reading.
"…What the hell is this?!"
Her face instantly turned bright red, but despite her embarrassment, she couldn't help but turn the pages.
"Just one more page… one page should be fine…"
Before she knew it, she was already halfway through the book.
Her face was so hot that it felt like it could boil water.
Children in this world matured faster than those in other places.
So naturally, after reading Icha Icha Paradise, certain fantasies began forming in her mind…
For example—
"Kushina, are you home?"
Simu's voice suddenly echoed from outside.
Startled, Kushina hurriedly shoved the book under her blanket and jumped to her feet.
"I-I'm home!"
She quickly hid the evidence and rushed to open the door.
The moment she saw Simu, she froze.
"Why is your face so red?" Simu asked in confusion.
Kushina panicked. "That's none of your business!"
She crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks, trying to regain her usual fiery attitude.
"You're one to talk! Your face is red too!"
Simu looked a little out of it, his body still affected by the lingering natural energy.
"I'm just feeling a little uncomfortable," he admitted, rubbing his forehead. Then, he took out a small shell with a Katsuyu clone inside.
"Here, this is a Den Den Mushi. Just inject some chakra, and you'll be able to contact me anytime."
"If anything happens—"
Before he could finish, Kushina suddenly placed her palm on his forehead.
"You're burning up! And you still say you're fine?!"
Seeing her worried expression, Simu waved his hand dismissively.
"It's just from training. I already told Tsunade. She said I just need to rest."
Hearing that Tsunade had checked on him, Kushina finally relaxed.
"Hmph! Weren't you supposed to be the laziest guy around? What's with all this hard work all of a sudden?"
She recalled the events from earlier and couldn't help but complain.
Simu smirked. "I'm just afraid that if you get kidnapped again, I won't be strong enough to protect you."
"Y-You…"
Kushina's face turned even redder.
She looked down at the Den Den Mushi in her hands.
So this was why he had disappeared all afternoon?
He had trained so hard—pushing himself to exhaustion—all for her?
In that moment, her previous anger and frustration melted away.
All that remained was an overwhelming warmth in her heart.
Simu was about to say something when Kushina suddenly leaned in and pressed her lips against his.
"Thank you, Simu."
Then, without another word, she turned around and shut the door behind her.
Leaning against the door, she clutched her chest, feeling her heart pounding wildly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can visit my Patreon page:
Patreon.com/PhoeniXcel
I upload 2 chapters daily on Patreon!
There are 60+ advanced chapters available for you to read.
Your support would be greatly appreciated.
Check out my new Naruto fanfic!
[One piece: Starting as a Mythical Beast]