Night had fallen. When Higashino Jirō and his wife returned home and saw that there was an extra person in the house, both of them found it rather unbelievable.
After all, because Makoto had been overly mature since childhood, aside from studying and training he rarely went out to play with children his age—let alone bring friends home.
The close contact with Yūgao and Hayate had only happened because of the relationship between the three families; the couple had taken him to meet them. Since then, only those two little companions had often come over to his house.
Aside from them, Shisui would occasionally come by as well.
So what was going on today? Not only had he made a new friend his own age, he had even brought him straight home?
Makoto briefly introduced Kinoe's background to his parents without concealing anything, then said, "Well, in short, that's how things are. Kinoe will be living in our house from now on."
Men and women tended to focus on different things.
Jirō was astonished that Wood Release had reappeared. "That's a ninjutsu used by the First Hokage. I didn't expect that Konohagakure could reproduce it again through this method."
Megumi said, "So that means our family has a new member joining us?"
A few years ago she had once considered having another child with her husband, but after the war that thought disappeared. Now things were different—there was no need to go through pregnancy and childbirth; it was a direct, ready-made addition.
Makoto said, "Yes, Mom. But Kinoe's origins involve some of Konohagakure's highest secrets, so please don't talk about it outside."
Jirō said, "Son, are you underestimating your mother and me? We're ninjas too. Of course we understand the principle of confidentiality."
"Don't worry, Makoto." Megumi's attention was now entirely on the new member of the family. "By the way, which of you two is older? Kinoe, right? How old are you? And when is your birthday?"
Kinoe looked extremely restrained, clearly unaccustomed to this kind of family atmosphere, yet he did not dislike it either. He said timidly, "I… I'm probably about ten years old. As for my birthday, I don't know."
He truly did not know his birthday. If he wanted to find out, he would have to go to Root and look through Orochimaru's experimental records—if such information even existed there.
But even if it were found, it might not be accurate. Who knew where they had obtained Kinoe as an experimental subject?
In any case, it was unlikely he had been a child from Konohagakure. At that time, Orochimaru had not yet begun experimenting on the village's ninjas or infants.
Konohagakure was a formal military institution. If someone disappeared for no reason—even a civilian—it would not be a trivial matter. The Anbu would definitely investigate it thoroughly.
Megumi waved her hand. "Today is October 17. For you, it's the day of your new life, so we'll treat it as your birthday. Is that okay?"
"That should… be okay." Kinoe had been trained in Root to obey orders unconditionally and was not yet used to making decisions for himself.
"Very good, then it's decided—it'll be today. Also, Kinoe is just a codename, so he still needs a proper name. Do you have any good ideas?"
Kinoe's eyes were full of confusion. A name—what was that? Could he have one too?
When Makoto looked at that face, the names that popped into his mind were nothing but Tenzō and Yamato. He truly was not used to giving him some unfamiliar name.
So he said directly, "How about Yamato?"
"Yamato? That sounds pretty good." Kinoe rarely showed even a trace of a smile. Starting today, he had a name too.
It was just that he still did not really know how to smile, so the smile carried something of an uncanny valley effect.
Megumi's enthusiasm continued. "Yamato is fine. Then next comes the family name. Jirō, can Yamato inherit the Higashino family name as well?"
In the shinobi world, matters involving a family surname still required the head of the household to agree. Even though they were only a small family and could not really be considered a clan, Jirō was still, at least outwardly, the head of the household.
On matters like this, Megumi would not make the decision on her own.
Naturally, Jirō had no objection, but Makoto interrupted them. "All right, you two, could you stop treating Yamato like some ignorant little child?"
"He's not that young anymore, and he's also a ninja. He should have the right to make his own choices. The birthday and name we're discussing today are only temporary—whether he wants them or not should be decided by him."
Yamato did not know this was only normal family conversation. He thought this family had started arguing over his affairs instead. Feeling that what he had just obtained might be at risk of being lost, he immediately said, "I've decided. My name will be Yamato, and my birthday is today."
"What a pitiful child." Megumi was delicate by nature and sensed Yamato's panic. She comforted him, "Don't worry. What Makoto means is that what we've said is only for reference. Everything should be decided according to your own heart. So there's no need to rush—give yourself some time, all right?"
"I… I understand."
"It's good that you understand. But today still calls for a celebration. To welcome the new member of the family, Jirō, hurry and go buy groceries. I'm going to make a whole table of dishes. And remember to buy a cake too."
"No problem, I'll go right away."
Quite a while later, as he looked at the table full of food and the cake with candles lit on it, everything felt unfamiliar to Yamato.
The changes in his life had come too quickly—so quickly that it felt as though he had fallen under a genjutsu.
That morning, he had still been trying to assassinate the Hokage, yet by evening he was inexplicably sitting before a cake with lit candles, celebrating a birthday he had never experienced before.
Was this the life of an ordinary ninja? It was completely different from the machine-like life in Root.
Although he felt very sorry toward Danzō-sama, even though this had only just begun, he already liked this kind of life. He… wanted to become part of this family.
It made people feel warm. There was something here that he had never understood before, yet had always longed to obtain.
After the meal, under Megumi's guidance, Yamato closed his eyes and began to make a wish.
Although his movements were stiff and unfamiliar, his expression was extremely serious, as if he were performing some religious ritual of great significance.
Megumi told him that a wish could not be told to others if it was to have a chance of coming true.
So he hid the wish deep in his heart and told no one.
If anyone asked, he would only say that the cake was very sweet—the kind of sweetness he had never tasted before.
...
Night. Inside Makoto's room, there was an additional new occupant.
The Higashino house was not small. Aside from the study and the master bedroom, there were also two secondary bedrooms. Back then, the couple had not planned to have only one child, but the war had put an end to their plans.
Fortunately, it could now be put to use. Makoto had already cleaned it up after returning.
However, Megumi felt that a new member should use new living items—that would be more appropriate—so she decided that tomorrow she would personally go out to buy them.
As for tonight, Makoto and Yamato would temporarily have to share the same bedroom.
Makoto was a good person. He gave the bed to Yamato and laid out bedding for himself on the floor.
Lying on the unfamiliar bed, Yamato felt both curious and afraid.
The curiosity came from the experience brought by a normal ninja family environment. The fear, naturally, came from Makoto himself, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
He knew Makoto, even though before today they had never met.
But Root had files on him.
In the files, Danzō-sama's evaluation described him as having a mature mind, superb combat ability, outstanding ninja talent, and unparalleled ability in developing ninjutsu.
He belonged to the kind of person who, despite not being very old, had already reached the pinnacle of the ninja profession.
Yamato knew that Makoto was strong, but before today he had not imagined that he could be strong to this extent. By himself, he had crushed so many elite Root ninjas. The battle had ended so quickly that before he could even react, all of his teammates had already become prisoners.
And now that person was sitting beside his bed, holding a piece of wood created by his Wood Release and studying it.
Yamato felt an immense amount of pressure.
Makoto felt neither pressure nor discomfort. In his previous life, when he was young he had slept with his older brother; in high school and university he had lived in dormitories with classmates. Having someone nearby while sleeping did not trouble him.
Right now he only felt confusion—confusion about Wood Release, this rare Kekkei Genkai.
Even when he sent his chakra deep into the Wood Release creation, the feeling he obtained was simply this: it was just a piece of wood, no different from the large trees in the forest outside.
Was this thing really a Kekkei Genkai?
Even if Yang Release were added and it were counted as a Kekkei Tōta, it still would not make sense.
Ice Release used the flow of Wind Release to alter the phase state of Water Release, simulating the natural phenomenon of freezing. That was easy to understand.
Scorch Release was roughly the same. Wind Release mixed with the extreme heat of Fire Release produced a superheated air mass far hotter than flames. It did not need to burn like fire; it could turn an opponent into a dried corpse in an instant.
Lava Release also had several forms. Rōshi spat magma, Kurotsuchi was basically a construction worker who played with lime, and Kumogakure's Dodai was like a rubbery slime creature. No matter which version it was, they were all chakra manifestations produced by burning Earth with Fire.
As for the remaining ones—Magnet Release, Storm Release, Mud Release, Boil Release, and so on—the principles were basically the same.
Only Wood Release was special.
Earth was the bed where plants grew, and water was the fluid of plants. In nature, all life depended on water and earth. That part was correct.
But how could Water and Earth chakra merge to become Wood Release?
Even farming required seeds to be sown first. You could not expect that watering the soil would cause rice or wheat to grow on its own. At most, it would only cause the grass seeds already in the soil to sprout and grow into weeds.
So what was the seed that generated Wood Release?
In any case, it would not be Yin–Yang Release.
At its extreme, Yin Release created form from nothing, while extreme Yang Release endowed form with life. In theory, if Yin–Yang Release were developed to the highest level, one could use chakra to create all things out of nothing.
But Wood Release clearly did not reach that level.
Earth chakra and Water chakra combined, transforming chakra into the source of life to rapidly form a forest?
In other words, a ninja's chakra merely served as the nourishment for Wood Release to expand. The larger the scale of the ninjutsu, the more chakra had to be invested. Chakra was fertilizer—but not the seed.
Moreover, if chakra were transformed into the source of life, why would the result specifically be forest trees? Why not grasslands? Why not cabbages? Why not mushrooms?
After thinking about it for a long time, Makoto ultimately concluded that this seed must be inseparable from the God Tree.
The God Tree of the Ōtsutsuki clan transformed extremely inert natural energy into chakra that could be easily used. After a thousand years of exposure to chakra, the physiology of humans in the shinobi world had already changed.
If ordinary people and ninjas possessed certain plant-like characteristics, then Senju Hashirama was practically a half-plant person. If a human hung on the God Tree long enough, they would eventually become a complete plant-like being like the White Zetsu.
Therefore, the seed of Wood Release was hidden within every person's body. It was just that aside from Hashirama, this mutant individual, no one else could catalyze it.
If Makoto wanted to fuse Earth and Water chakra to develop the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, he would have to find that seed.
The simplest method would be to have that snake uncle give him an injection of Hashirama's cells. With his current physique, the chances of success would be very high.
But he would never do that even if it killed him.
He had finally managed to expel the foreign will from the chakra within his body, and now he was supposed to put it back again? That would simply be asking for trouble.
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