In the wasteland outside Amegakure, Diarmuid stood amidst the vast, muddy desolation.
"This spot will do. It's quite suitable," Diarmuid observed, nodding with satisfaction as he spoke to himself.
With that, he raised his hands and rapidly wove a string of hand signs.
Snake, Rat, Dragon, Dog, Tiger, Dragon, Snake.
The speed wasn't blistering; in fact, it was almost slow. But as the final Snake sign clicked into place, Diarmuid slammed his palms together.
"Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!" Diarmuid growled.
The Chakra within his body surged, aligning with the jutsu's flow and rapidly converting into potent life force. Then...
The earth and stone in the vast wasteland before him shattered. Branches and vines erupted with incredible speed, growing so fast it was supernatural. In a mere instant, the barren land was transformed into a sea of timber, a vast forest.
"Is this the power of Wood Release?" Diarmuid murmured, a smile touching his eyes as he looked upon the massive woods he had created with his own hands.
He reached down and unfastened a scroll hanging from his waist. After scanning it, he sighed with a hint of regret. "True Several Thousand Hands isn't in here, nor is the advanced Top Transformed Buddha. They didn't even include Advent of a World of Flowering Trees."
Black Zetsu had delivered this scroll to him over half a month ago. It contained several Wood Release ninjutsu replicated from Uchiha Madara.
However, it was clear that Black Zetsu had not handed over every Wood Release technique Madara possessed. At the very least, Diarmuid remembered that Madara knew the advanced version of the forest-creation technique: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees. This scroll, however, was silent on the matter.
"Nevertheless..." Diarmuid whispered. "Based on my current mastery and understanding, Wood Release as a Kekkei Genkai isn't something confined to a set list of jutsus. It is an incredibly extensible and creative ability. The key lies in having a massive reserve of Chakra and creativity... Hand signs aren't even that important; they're just an aid."
When Hashirama used Nativity of a World of Trees, he only needed a single Snake sign, clapping his hands together and shouting, to get the job done.
Currently, Diarmuid still required the full sequence of signs to manifest the jutsu. But he had already grasped the essence: the Snake sign was the most vital for Wood Release. During the process, it acted as a catalyst to convert internal Chakra into overwhelming life force and release it smoothly.
In Diarmuid's view, nearly all Wood Release was the act of creating life force, releasing it, and then manipulating that life force. Consequently, if one could perfectly control that energy, even the most complex hand signs could eventually be simplified into a single clap.
"Life force shaping... is it?" Diarmuid muttered with his eyes closed. A surge of Chakra rippled through him, and he instantly entered Sage Mode.
Without a doubt, using Wood Release under Sage Mode drastically increased both efficiency and power. It wasn't just the standard upgrade of Ninjutsu into Senjutsu; Diarmuid felt that Natural Energy provided a specific, innate boost to the elemental nature of Wood Style itself.
Under Sage Mode, Diarmuid could now also initiate Nativity of a World of Trees with a single clap.
However, he didn't intend to use that technique right now.
Still using the Snake sign, Diarmuid brought his palms together in front of his chest. In the next second, a colossal amount of Chakra erupted. The ground beneath his feet and the surrounding earth shattered under the pressure of Chakra so dense it felt physical, creating a web of fine cracks.
Orochimaru had once remarked that Diarmuid's immeasurable Chakra, vastly superior to even the Tailed Beasts, was so immense that against ordinary ninja, he wouldn't even need to use a jutsu. Simply releasing his Chakra would generate enough pressure to crush small fry.
Vast waves of Chakra were visible to the naked eye, radiating from Diarmuid and seemingly condensing the very air around him. Meanwhile, the Senjutsu Chakra within him was constantly churning and transforming.
"Sage Art: Immovable Wisdom King!" Diarmuid roared.
There are many "Wisdom Kings" (Myōō). Kaido, for instance, had been titled the "Wisdom King" of Wano, and judging by his techniques, he was clearly developing toward the archetype of Trailokyavijaya (The Conqueror of the Three Worlds). Diarmuid, however, favored the path of Acalanatha, The Immovable Wisdom King.
"Immovable" did not mean standing still; it meant being unshakeable. The intent behind this jutsu was to create an unshakeable avatar of the Wisdom King.
As Diarmuid's voice fell, the ground beneath him completely disintegrated. A titanic wooden figure burst from the earth, lifting Diarmuid high into the air as it grew.
The speed was terrifying. Within three to five breaths, Diarmuid was standing in the high heavens, looking down upon the world.
Beneath his feet was a colossal statue of the Wisdom King. The avatar had four faces and eight arms, with a Dharma wheel behind its head that shone like a blazing sun.
Each of the eight arms held a weapon: a sword, a staff, an axe, a pillar, a chain, a halberd, a shield, and a trident.
The figure appeared solemn yet its face was fierce, an aura of majesty and wrath. It was massive and looked incredibly powerful, with intricate wood grain detailing its muscles with perfection. It was a true image of a demon-subduer.
On the surface, at least, there seemed to be no obvious gap between this and Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands.
But appearances were deceptive.
Diarmuid stood atop the Wisdom King's head, his hands still locked in the Snake sign. His Senjutsu Chakra surged continuously. The statue beneath him trembled occasionally, as if trying to move.
Yet, it couldn't move. Under the forced catalysis of Diarmuid's powerful Senjutsu Chakra, one of the avatar's arms lunged forward. Immediately, a loud crack echoed, like the sound of giant timber snapping.
The arm holding the great sword snapped at the elbow and fell from the sky, slamming into the ground with a thunderous boom, leaving a massive crater.
Then, perhaps because Diarmuid's control was too crude, cracks began to spiderweb across the surface of the Wisdom King statue. In moments, it looked decrepit, as if it would crumble into pieces at the slightest touch.
"Damn it..." Diarmuid cursed under his breath. He suppressed the surging Senjutsu Chakra, looking at the mangled mess he had made of the statue with frustration.
Creating such a massive Wood Release form was easy for him. The current size of this Wisdom King was no smaller than the True Several Thousand Hands. Since it only required a mindless release of vast Chakra, Diarmuid had no shortage of fuel; in terms of raw reserves, he could even challenge Hashirama.
The struggle lay in how to make this Wisdom King "alive." Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands was vivid and fluid, as if a thousand-armed Bodhisattva had truly descended. It could even execute the absurdly powerful Top Transformed Buddha.
But his Wisdom King couldn't even manage a simple movement. It was "Immovable" to a ridiculous degree. Forcing it had only resulted in the avatar breaking its own arm.
If it was just big but couldn't move... it was pointless. It was only good for scaring people.
"I thought the driving force would be similar to how Nativity of a World of Trees controls growth, or like the Wood Golem Jutsu. I didn't expect them to be entirely different. How do I actually operate this thing?" Diarmuid pondered.
"Is it because I made it too big?" Diarmuid muttered to himself again.
"Maybe. But if I make it smaller, it just overlaps with the Wood Golem Jutsu. I'm literally using the Wood Golem's control method to pilot this statue. Why can the Golem move, and the forest move, but the Wisdom King stays frozen?"
He was deeply confused.
After a moment of thought, Diarmuid jumped from the head of the towering statue. He plummeted like a cannonball, his speed increasing. When he was only dozens of meters from the ground, his hands snapped back into the Snake sign.
"Sage Art: Immovable Wisdom King!"
The ground shattered again, and a Wisdom King statue erupted. This time, it wasn't exaggerated in size, it only reached a height of about twenty meters.
The statue's head caught the falling Diarmuid perfectly. He landed steadily and surged his Chakra again to control it.
This time, the movement was perfectly smooth. The statue was no different from the Wood Golem Jutsu, it was lifelike and could move however he wished.
Experimenting a few more times only increased Diarmuid's confusion.
What the hell? The Mini-Wisdom King works, but the Grand-Wisdom King doesn't?
"There's no doubt about it. A Wood Release form of that massive scale, like the True Several Thousand Hands, requires a unique set of control techniques, techniques I haven't mastered yet..." Diarmuid stroked his chin, lost in thought.
After a long while, he shook his head helplessly. "I thought since I didn't get the scroll for the True Several Thousand Hands, I could just create a similar one myself. It seems I was being a bit too naive."
It made sense. He hadn't mastered Wood Release for very long. If he could create a secret technique on par with Hashirama's ultimate Wood Release out of thin air, he'd be showing zero respect to the First Hokage. Hashirama had spent years developing Wood Release of that caliber.
Diarmuid didn't stay stuck on the issue. After reflecting for a moment, he decided to move on. He had to start his next phase of training.
Looking at him, one might think he had nothing to do, but in reality, he was quite busy. Busy with training.
Diarmuid sat cross-legged on the head of the Wisdom King statue, his hands forming a circle at his lower abdomen. Natural Energy and Senjutsu Chakra began to circulate with his breathing.
However, while it appeared he was practicing Senjutsu, it was actually just instinctive circulation. His focus and concentration were entirely on the mental and spiritual level.
Indeed, Diarmuid was currently practicing the Spirit Transformation Jutsu. The results were promising; just as he had suspected, his training speed for this technique was incredibly fast.
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