Sage Mode is an empowered state that can be entered by blending natural energy with one's chakra, creating senjutsu chakra. Sage Mode allows users to tap into the natural force of the world, opening up new techniques to them and allowing them to power up existing ones with the new senjutsu chakra.
Sage Mode is known to be taught in a couple places. Users of Sage Mode must possess "extreme chakra levels" to invoke senjutsu. It is also important that their bodies be strong enough to support the increased power. Orochimaru, who discovered the Ryūchi Cave and gained the ability to mold Senjutsu chakra, was not able to use Sage Transformation to enter Sage Mode for this reason.
In order to enter Sage Mode, the gatherer must remain absolutely still in order to be one with nature and balance the natural energy with their own physical and spiritual energies. If the user puts too little natural energy into using senjutsu, the technique will not work. Conversely, if too much natural energy is taken in, their body will turn to stone forever; humans will also be transformed into whichever animal's school the senjutsu was learned from.
The toads of Mount Myōboku have devised several tools to make learning Sage Mode easier. By applying a special oil, the applicant's body will start passively taking in natural energy. This oil will evaporate if taken outside Mount Myōboku, thus rendering it useful only for learning purposes. The toads also have a special staff that, when struck with, knocks all the natural energy out of the gatherer, thus reversing any transformations before they can become permanent and the user turns to stone.
At Ryūchi Cave, one must be bitten by the White Snake Sage, who injects them with natural energy. According to legend, if one's body is strong enough to withstand this snake transformation, it will accept the power without reservation, thus granting the person Sage Mode. If not, the snake will devour the person whole.
Advantages
Sage Mode is known to be taught in a couple places. Users of Sage Mode must possess "extreme chakra levels" to invoke senjutsu. It is also important that their bodies be strong enough to support the increased power. Orochimaru, who discovered the Ryūchi Cave and gained the ability to mold Senjutsu chakra, was not able to use Sage Transformation to enter Sage Mode for this reason.
In order to enter Sage Mode, the gatherer must remain absolutely still in order to be one with nature and balance the natural energy with their own physical and spiritual energies. If the user puts too little natural energy into using senjutsu, the technique will not work. Conversely, if too much natural energy is taken in, their body will turn to stone forever; humans will also be transformed into whichever animal's school the senjutsu was learned from.
The toads of Mount Myōboku have devised several tools to make learning Sage Mode easier. By applying a special oil, the applicant's body will start passively taking in natural energy. This oil will evaporate if taken outside Mount Myōboku, thus rendering it useful only for learning purposes. The toads also have a special staff that, when struck with, knocks all the natural energy out of the gatherer, thus reversing any transformations before they can become permanent and the user turns to stone.
At Ryūchi Cave, one must be bitten by the White Snake Sage, who injects them with natural energy. According to legend, if one's body is strong enough to withstand this snake transformation, it will accept the power without reservation, thus granting the person Sage Mode. If not, the snake will devour the person whole.
Advantages
- The user's physical strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, perception, and durability are enhanced.
- The user's ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu become more powerful.
- The user can manipulate natural energy.
- Those who have mastered the Sage Techniques of Mount Myoboku have shown the ability to turn the natural energy around them into an extension of their body to increase the reach of their attacks.
- Those who have mastered the Sage Techniques of the Ryūchi Cave have shown the ability to use natural energy to breathe life into inorganic substances and control them.
- The user can sense chakra around them and can sense attacks without the need to see them.
- When facing an opponent that can drain chakra, this can prove to be fatal to the opponent if they absorbed too much chakra and will be turned to stone if they haven't had training with Sage Mode in the past. Furthermore, the user of Sage Mode can hold still to absorb more natural energy for the opponent to absorb and turn their own chakra absorption against them.
- In order to gather enough natural energy to initiate the transformation into Sage Mode, the user must remain perfectly still, leaving them vulnerable. Users have at times been shown entering Sage Mode without this preparation.
- Because the user needs to move during combat, the senjutsu chakra cannot be replenished, which means the user can't stay within this state for extended periods of time. Naruto states it is possible to lengthen the time limit.
- The Sage Art: Amphibian Technique, where one or more toad fuses with the user's shoulders and gathers natural energy for them to use.
- Another option is to employ shadow clones. The clones can gather natural energy elsewhere and are dispelled when the energy is needed, thus transferring the gathered energy to the original. This limits the number of shadow clones that the user can have active at a time to five, for as long as the clones are gathering natural energy, as any more than that would disrupt the clones' focus.
- Kabuto Yakushi assimilated the DNA of Jūgo to replicate his clan's ability to passively absorb natural energy, thus allowing him to continuously collect the energy even while moving, bypassing these particular weaknesses.
- If the user continually practices the use of their Sage Mode then the time needed to recharge their sage chakra can be drastically shortened.
- If the user is also a jinchūriki that has achieved harmony with their tailed beast, they can drastically speed up their ability to gather natural energy in tailed beast mode to the point of only needing a few seconds to fully charge or recharge their sage chakra.