"You brat! How dare you call me that?!"
Facing the mysterious figure's piercing strike, Tsunade didn't retreat. Instead, she stepped forward, spreading her arms wide as if to embrace him.
"Seduction? An old hag like you? Not my type!"
"You bastard... just die already!" Tsunade's eyes burned with fury. Seeing the mysterious man before her, she decided to hold nothing back—this man would meet his end here.
"Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique"
The mysterious man tried to retreat, but Tsunade's arms had already transformed into twisting branches, coiling around him like serpents.
When he looked at the wound on Tsunade's abdomen, he realized with horror that green sap, not blood, was oozing out. Even more terrifying—Tsunade's body had turned into wood.
"This... is Wood Release?"
Before he could process the thought, countless sharp thorns stabbed into his body.
*Crack! Crack! Crack!*
"Is this all you've got?" The mysterious man glanced at his skin and burst into maniacal laughter.
"I possess an indestructible body! Mere Wood Release can't harm me!"
"BREAK!"
With a violent motion, he tore the wooden figure apart, shredding his own clothes in the process—revealing his true identity.
Standing a short distance away, Tsunade watched him calmly.
"So... it was you."
"...Asuma."
Caught off guard, the man instinctively raised a hand to cover his face—but then stopped. At this point, he no longer cared about hiding.
"Long time no see, Tsunade!" Asuma grinned, his expression so casual that one would never guess he had just ambushed a fellow shinobi.
"Yes... it's been a while."
Tsunade's tone was heavy with meaning.
Looking at Asuma's now grotesquely muscular body, she knew he was no longer the elite jōnin he once was.
"Who would've thought you could use Wood Release? But... what a shame. In your hands, it doesn't seem much stronger than Yamato's."
Having experienced the Smothering Binding Technique firsthand, Asuma dismissed Wood Release as nothing special.
Tsunade wasn't angered. Instead, she looked at him like he was a fool.
The First Raikage's body had been just as tough as Asuma's—yet her grandfather, Senju Hashirama, had crushed him effortlessly. The true power of Wood Release couldn't be judged by a single technique.
"If that's what you think... then allow me to show you real Wood Release. And while I'm at it, I'll send you off properly."
"Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
In Asuma's eyes, the earth itself seemed to come alive. Towering trees erupted from the ground like serpents, twisting and coiling toward him.
"Get away from me!"
Asuma swung his arm, smashing through one of the trees with sheer brute force. But before he could celebrate, more branches lashed out, wrapping around him.
"You think you can trap me? Not a chance!"
"Indestructible Body!"
His pale skin turned a gleaming gold, as if forged from solid metal—unyielding and impervious.
*Boom!*
A single punch severed an attacking tree.
A single kick shattered the branches binding him.
In this state, Asuma relied purely on raw physical power—yet his strikes carried monstrous force. Even when the trees ensnared him, suspending him midair with limbs stretched taut, he remained unfazed. With a mighty pull, he tore his arms free, then ripped apart the branches restraining his legs.
"Tsunade... if this is how it's going to be, don't blame me for going all out!"
He knew his limits. This enhanced state couldn't last forever. Once it faded, Tsunade's Wood Release would crush him without mercy.
To avoid that fate, Asuma chose to strike first.
"Then I won't hold back either!"
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
The writhing branches morphed into colossal wooden dragons, their maws gaping wide as they lunged for Asuma's limbs.
The dragon heads clamped down—and Asuma's confidence wavered.
They were draining his chakra.
His Indestructible Body relied on chakra to maintain its form. Without it, he'd revert to a body only slightly stronger than an ordinary man's.
And then... could he still withstand Tsunade?
The answer was obvious.
"Indestructible Body—CHARGE!"
With a desperate burst of chakra, Asuma severed two dragons and charged forward.
But Wood Release's greatest strength was its relentlessness. For every dragon he destroyed, two more took its place, coiling around his limbs, sapping his energy.
"How does it feel?"
"Having your chakra devoured... not pleasant, is it?"
Wood Release's true terror lay in its ability to absorb an opponent's chakra, growing stronger as they weakened. Even the Nine-Tails—the mightiest of the Tailed Beasts—had been subdued by Hashirama's Wood Release like a mere pet.
Tsunade's Wood Release wasn't on Hashirama's level... but Asuma was no Nine-Tails either.
The gap between them only widened. Once ensnared, Asuma had no hope of survival.
Unless he had some hidden power—but he wasn't the protagonist. No cheat codes for him.
"Any last words?"
Seeing Asuma drained dry by the Wood Dragons, Tsunade lost interest in questioning him. The moment his identity was revealed, she'd already deduced who was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
This was merely... granting him a shred of dignity in death.
But then—
Under Tsunade's stunned gaze, Asuma's body began to change. Thick, coarse fur sprouted across his skin, denser and wilder than before.
Realization dawned in Asuma's eyes.
"Tsunade... please... kill me now!"
*POOF!*
With a reverse-summoning sound, Asuma vanished.
"What... just happened?"
Tsunade stood amidst the corpses, bewildered.
"If only that idiot Hikari were here..."
Sighing, she unsealed a scroll and began sealing the bodies away.
---
Monkey King Mountain, Asuma's Cave.
Asuma materialized in the cavern. He glanced around, then stumbled outside.
The mountains were still blanketed in peach blossoms, as vibrant as ever.
But now... he saw them differently.
Once, these flowers had symbolized beauty and life. Now, they felt like an elaborate cage—a prison crafted from petals.
"So... this place was a prison?"
A bitter smile twisted his lips as he gazed at the endless sea of pink. He remembered the look in the previous Monkey Sage's eyes before death.
That sage must have endured this place for untold years, growing so weary of it that death became his only escape.
He hadn't lied.
Asuma had been the one blinded by power.
And now... it was too late.
He was the Monkey Sage now—a bound summon, trapped in this gilded cage.
How laughable.
-----
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