"I came up with this on my own. Just combine Earth and Water chakra, then toss in some Yang Release energy. And boom—you've got yourself a Wood Release technique!"
Why was Hashirama Senju's Wood Release so terrifying? First off, his chakra reserves were absolutely massive. During the Fourth Great Ninja War, when he saw Naruto, he even remarked that Naruto's chakra amount was on par with his own.
But back then, Naruto himself was from the Uzumaki Clan, already known for having huge chakra reserves, not to mention half of the Nine-Tails sealed inside him. Yet according to Hashirama, Naruto's total available chakra still only matched his. From this alone, you could say Hashirama's chakra might as well have been renamed "Chakraton."
Beyond his monstrous chakra reserves, Hashirama's Wood Release also connected deeply with Yang Release power. Yin Release creates physical form, while Yang Release gives it life. Being the embodiment of life force itself, the Yang Release inherited from Asura's chakra, combined with the enhanced Yang energy after mastering Sage Mode, made Hashirama's Wood Release techniques behave like living creatures.
Yamato, who received Hashirama's cells, could use Wood Release too, but his chakra supply wasn't enough. Worse, lacking substantial Yang Release energy, his Wood Release felt more like dead wood. At best, when briefly possessed by White Zetsu (who looked similar to Haku), he mimicked the external appearance of [Thousand Hands Manipulation Force: Thrust]. However, that move was actually still the [Wooden Giant] jutsu, just altered slightly in form.
Sakura naturally had a strong connection to Yang Release. By refining and channeling that Yang energy into her Wood Release, she could naturally produce the same effects as Hashirama.
"Yang Release?" The Third narrowed his brows. In the shinobi world, most ninja trained mainly in standard chakra natures—Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth. While many knew about Yang Release, few understood how to cultivate its power effectively.
"In short, the key behind Wood Release is Yang Release energy. Right now, I don't have much Yang chakra to work with, so those big techniques are simply out of reach."
Sakura wasn't lying to The Third. She really couldn't pull off those advanced jutsu. Inside her Inner Space, which she fully controlled, any required energy could manifest instantly with just a thought. But in the real world, her physical body couldn't easily generate large amounts of Yang Release chakra to infuse into Wood Release attacks. In actual combat, the strongest she could manage was a weakened version of [Forest Reformation]. Without Yang Release enhancement, higher-tier techniques like [Wooden Dragon] or [Wooden Giant] lacked real effectiveness.
Chapter 123: Undermining The Third's Intelligence [Part 1]
After hearing Sakura's explanation, The Third felt completely defeated. He didn't suspect Sakura was deceiving him. Konoha had long coveted Hashirama Senju's powers. Though The Third himself had never been directly involved, he remembered reviewing the data collected from Orochimaru's lab after his defection. The research clearly documented experimental results mentioning an extremely aggressive force contained within Hashirama's cells. Back then, The Third hadn't grasped its significance. Now though, he realized it must have been the power of Yang Release.
"Ah..." The Third sighed, feeling somewhat disappointed. Yet at the same time, he felt a flicker of excitement. Although *Wood Release* was a power only Sakura could wield, she belonged to Konoha. As long as she remained there, sooner or later, Konoha would regain its former glory from the days of the First Hokage.
As soon as he thought of that, new ideas began forming in The Third's mind.
"Umm, Lord Third, if there's nothing else, we'll take our leave now!"
Seeing the eerie shift in The Third's expression—from gloom to lecherous grins—Sakura couldn't help but shudder. "Is this old guy seriously mentally unstable? He's so old, yet he's always getting worked up over those R-rated videos. Who knows which nerve might've snapped in his brain?"
"Hmm, you can start by taking on some D-rank missions to gain experience. All of you will participate in this year's Chunin Exams. Show your best performance out there!" The Third suddenly said meaningfully.
"We understand!" Though puzzled by his words, everyone nodded in agreement anyway.
So what exactly were these D-rank missions? Weeding gardens, babysitting, carrying water, picking up trash—in short, tasks similar to household chores. They weren't dangerous or difficult; the only downside was that the payment was too low.
But for someone like Sakura and her group, how much they got paid was hardly an issue. Leaving aside wealthy clan heirs like Sasuke and Hinata, even just considering the immense profits accumulated from the Celestial Society over recent years that were credited to their names, splitting it twelve ways still amounted to a fortune. Even Lee, who had once been an orphan, had already become quite rich. They didn't care about mission rewards at all—their main reason for doing these missions was simply to gain experience and prepare for promotion to Chunin or Jonin ranks.
Whether aiming to be promoted to a Chunin or a Jonin, one needed mission experience. In fact, mission experience played a major role when determining whether someone could advance.
Other than small tasks like weeding and carrying water every day, the rest of their time was almost entirely spent training. Their daily lives became routine—this was fine at first, but after a while, Naruto—who never sat still—could no longer endure it.
"Naruto, I'll teach you a trick," Kushina Uzumaki mischievously encouraged Naruto. "Go pull Old Man Third's beard, and I guarantee he'll give you a higher-level mission!"
"But Mom, are you sure Grandpa Third will give me a higher mission?" Naruto grew slightly tempted. Truthfully, he really didn't want to keep doing these trivial little chores anymore. In his mind, ninjas were supposed to do epic stuff—how could they waste their time on boring chores like this all day?
"If he dares not give you one, then once I'm back from the dead, I'll smash his precious crystal orb!" Kushina laughed wickedly. Having dealt with Jiraiya for years, she naturally knew exactly what kind of guy The Third was—and fully understood how much he valued that crystal ball.
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