The First Hokage didn't wait for Ino to answer; he just formed a hand seal, and she found herself losing control of Hashirama's body. Her Mind Body Switch Technique was forcibly dispelled by him.
Following the connection created by the Secret Technique, she returned to her own body.
"Wah! Cough cough cough cough—!"
As soon as she returned to her body, she felt seriously injured. Orochimaru's flying sword attack earlier had damaged her more severely than expected.
Her neck had a bloody gash, and now it was difficult to even speak. Blood entered her windpipe, and every cough made her neck spray blood.
Her neck, shoulders, and right leg—she had many injuries all over her body. Seven or eight Slugs had been continuously treating her with Sage Art Chakra. From a distance, it looked like a green glow of Chakra.
"Oh? Xiao Jing, why has your recovery ability suddenly increased?" Katsuyu asked gently.
Has it? Recovery ability couldn't be directly seen on her status panel, but she still took a look.
Her "Wisdom" stat in the Ninja Eight Stats had increased slightly, from 7 to 8. This was mostly due to Tsunade's teachings over the past month, and the Second Hokage's guidance just now also played a big part. This meant her horizons were broader and her knowledge reserves richer.
In terms of skills, Yang Release had improved significantly, jumping directly from Lv1 to Lv3.
"It should be Shodai(1st)-sama," she said, both answering Katsuyu's question and speaking to herself.
In the final moments of dispelling the Mind Body Switch Technique, she seemed to hear the First Hokage laughing. This God of Ninja believed Ino had too little Chakra, so he separated a portion of Chakra from his own soul and gave it to her.
The First Hokage probably didn't think much of this separation himself. He simply thought this portion of Chakra was harmless to Ino, had no personal imprint, and Ino could absorb it on her own; it was a gift from an elder to a junior. In reality, he had no idea that what Ino could smoothly absorb was precisely Asura Chakra! It was the foundation of the Sage Body!
Compared to a genuine Ashura reincarnation, this amount of Chakra was still very small. However, unlike a "delivery" type of mission, this portion of Chakra already completely belonged to Ino and was integrated with her body. In terms of quality, it was far superior to the Asura Chakra that Yamato and Danzo extracted from Hashirama cells.
Danzo didn't know about Ashura; he simply believed that Hashirama cells were the key to Wood Release and powerful recovery.
The Ashura reincarnation took away ninety-nine percent of the Chakra. After the First Hokage's death, his soul took away another ninety-nine percent of the remaining Asura Chakra. The fact that Danzo and his group could scrounge for that tiny bit of Sage-like quality in Hashirama cells, experiment wildly, and eventually produce a Yamato, was truly an ancestor's blessing, because the Asura Chakra content in Hashirama cells was simply too low.
Their version couldn't be considered a Sage Body at all, whereas Ino, having received the First Hokage's gift, was now roughly equivalent to 1% of a Sage Body.
There was also another gain this time: the Wood Release area, which originally required Nin 10, Stamina 10, Earth, Water, and Yang Release all at Lv5, now had all its restrictions removed. As long as she invested one skill point, she could unlock Wood Release.
Feeling that things weren't that simple, Ino focused her mind on her status panel and studied it carefully, discovering that the area between Earth and Water wasn't the character for "Wood," but vaguely resembled the character for "Flower."
What the heck is Flower Release?
She looked closer.
She found that this Flower Release was more like a fork in the road with the same destination but different starting points. She could only unlock two levels on this path, reaching Lv2, after which it would return to the old path. She would have to meet the conditions of Nin 10, Stamina 10, etc., to continue leveling up. The destination, as expected, should still be Wood Release.
Ino didn't have any skill points on hand right now, and she was eager to see the Third Hokage's Dead Demon Consuming Seal, so she didn't have time to study it in detail.
Coughing occasionally, she now realized that the pollen from Flower World Advent had covered most of the Village. Shikamaru and Sakura were also coughing.
Shikamaru complained, "Cough cough, this pollen is so strange, cough cough. I wonder who made it."
Sakura, being physically weaker, had flushed skin and was coughing so much she couldn't speak.
Ino quickly winked at Katsuyu, but the Slug didn't understand her meaning. She could only use her Lv3 Yang Release to perform Medical Ninjutsu while also mobilizing her body's recovery power to fully treat the wound on her neck.
As soon as she regained the ability to speak, she started to shift blame: "I recognize this Ninjutsu. This is the First Hokage's Flower Tree... no, there are no trees here. This is the First Hokage's Wood Release: Flower World Advent!"
She explained to them in a 'I'm more knowledgeable' tone: "The First Hokage's ultimate techniques are Wood Release: Descent of the Tree World and Wood Release: Flower Tree World Advent. This current Ninjutsu is derived from those two ultimate techniques. Descent of the Tree World, Flower Tree World Advent, Flower World Advent—you can see the connection between these Ninjutsu!"
Choji had a thicker neck and extremely strong digestive ability, a true glutton. A little pollen meant nothing to him. He asked curiously, "So, all this pollen in front of us was created by the First Hokage?"
Ino directly slapped a "Five Elements Seal" on her conscience, then vividly explained: "Didn't I use the Mind Body Switch Technique earlier? I saw it very clearly, this is the First Hokage's Ninjutsu. Only he could use Wood Release Ninjutsu of this caliber. Tsk tsk, truly amazing..."
After shifting the blame, she saw the energy in the black pot begin to surge upwards.
Ino instructed them to wear masks, keep the room ventilated, and wash their hands frequently. Inhaling too much of this pollen could be quite deadly.
As the pollen in the air increased, she quickly took out several masks from the flower shop and handed them to her companions, then prepared a solvent to temporarily stabilize Sakura's symptoms.
As for the villagers, she would let them figure it out themselves; she simply couldn't attend to them.
She gazed into the distance.
The Third Hokage had made up his mind this time to deal with the trouble of Orochimaru. He had to; if Orochimaru kept summoning the First Hokage, Second Hokage, and Fourth Kazekage every now and then, Konoha Village would be completely ruined.
Someone had to sacrifice today, and that would be him, the Hokage.
His gaze was sharp as a blade, fixed on Orochimaru. He quickly formed hand seals. The Second Hokage, who was lying on the ground waiting for his body to repair, was sealed first. Now he was sealing the First Hokage.
Ino used her sensing ability, but even with her 1% Sage Body, she couldn't see any trace of the Shinigami.
Could one only see him after signing a contract with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal?
The Shinigami seemed to have been scared off by Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. The old guy had actually hidden to this extent; it was so hard to even make friends with him.
Ino thought for a moment, then decided to activate her backup plan.
Now was the time to rely on her clan.
She used her sensing ability to find Inoichi, transmitted her thoughts through sensing, and whispered a few words.
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