Well, my headcanon post about chakra natures got a great reception, so I thought I’d share another headcanon, this time about sage mode.
We get to see the basics of training to be a Toad Sage in canon, and a little bit about becoming a Snake Sage, and absolutely nothing about a Slug Sage, which is a travesty.
So Naruto sits in lotus posture to meditate to collect nature energy… well actually it’s the asana known as easy or pleasant pose but he SHOULD be in lotus position dammit. (Feet should be on top of the thighs, not simply cross-legged.)
We get a brief one panel look in the manga at Kabuto visiting the White Snake Sage, but that’s not enough to know what the traditional snake method of acquiring sage energy is, other than that there is a trial by being bitten and injected with natural energy. And, again, no slug sage, although Hashirama is a ???? sage which he learned by ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
Yeah, Kishimoto is not a worldbuilder…
Anyway. So when I wanted to make Sakura a Slug Sage, I thought it would be only natural that the Slug method would involve a different pose than the Toad method. Slug-Toad-Snake reminds me a lot of the Hindu Trimurti dynamic, creation – preservation – destruction. So I opted for a different asana for Slug Sage Mode energy gathering, the so-called child’s pose:
(image by Iveto, CC-BY-SA)
And while I don’t know if it’ll come up in the story, for Snake Sage Mode the traditional pose would be corpse pose:
(image by Joseph Renger, CC-BY-SA)
As with all my headcanons, feel free to use them, no need to credit 😀
All I can say in response is: do you think Sakura ever accidentally headbutted the ground in her enthusiasm to train? Follow up question, did she crack the ground open or just rebound and shiftily look around to check if anyone saw her do that?
#lol @ sausage just flopping on the ground#is he napping?#no he’s totally working on sage mode#for defs#XD
Real talk though! I don’t believe Shippuden!Sasuke would have been capable of achieving Sage Mode, at least not as I headcanon it being obtained. In my mind, sage mode energy acquisition always requires a certain level of openness to sustained vulnerability that I don’t think Sasuke would have been willing, or even able, to do.
It’s not even just about trust; I don’t think Sasuke could have let his mind relax to that point. With Snakebert it was different because Sasuke knew going into it that it was going to mean never relaxing any second, every moment warring between learning all he could learn from him and watching for signs that Snakebert might try to take his body too early (ie before Itachi’s death). That was straight up Sasuke’s alley.
Kabuto on the other hand, always lacked a sense of self and purpose. Abandoning himself to the energy of nature would have been even easier than it was for Naruto, imo.
Cheloneuniverse 