The next day.
At Training Ground Seven in Konoha, beneath a waterfall, Sousuke sat cross-legged atop the water's surface.
Buzz
An unimaginably vast amount of chakra surged around his body, forming a faint cyan chakra cloak.
While radiating overwhelming pressure an incomparable life force spread from him, making Sousuke himself resemble the very source of life.
Beneath him, within the flowing river fish and shrimp continuously attempted to approach him because of that terrifying vitality.
Yet at the same time they dared not come too close due to the immense aura emanating from his body.
And not only that as if affected by Sousuke's unusual state, the surrounding trees, flowers, and grass all emitted a strange feeling, almost as though they themselves had gained life.
Only after a long while did the abnormalities surrounding Sousuke finally fade away.
Letting out a long breath, Sousuke spoke inwardly,
"System, open my status panel."
[Ding! Host Status Panel]
[Name: Yagyu Sousuke]
[Chakra: 8431]
[Ninjutsu: 1731]
[Taijutsu: 1711]
[Genjutsu: 1703]
[Bloodline Limits: Sage Body (51%), Sharingan (Mangekyo), Byakugan]
[Overall Combat Evaluation: Kage Level]
The overall evaluation still remained at Kage Level.
As for those numerical stats Sousuke no longer cared much about them.
His attention was entirely fixed on one thing.
[Sage Body (51%)]
That was the true reason Sousuke had suddenly requested a month-long break.
The excuse he gave Tsunade earlier was that he had a new ninjutsu nearing completion.
But in truth what Sousuke intended to develop was not a new ninjutsu at all.
It was an entirely new bloodline limit Wood Release.
During a mission two days ago, Sousuke's Sage Body development had suddenly reached fifty percent.
And at that moment he sharply sensed the tremendous power surging from within his body.
That was the terrifying ultimate Yang Release power awakened after surpassing the halfway point in fully developing the complete Sage Body.
And ultimate Yang Release was the true essence behind awakening the Wood Release bloodline limit and dominating the ninja world beyond challenge.
That's right.
What Sousuke planned was to awaken Wood Release within this single month.
Not the shriveled-up real-estate-construction-grade Wood Release of Yamato.
Nor the Wood Release possessed by Uchiha Madara after obtaining Hashirama's power.
But the genuine True Wood Release.
Completely perfected Wood Release a Wood Release that could even surpass Senju Hashirama's level.
One that could reach the level of Asura himself, where there was no need to enter Sage Mode in order to directly unleash the True Several Thousand Hands technique.
What kind of magnificence would that be?
If he truly reached that stage Sousuke had the confidence to face any enemy and say:
"I'll let you use both hands while I don't use mine, and you still wouldn't beat me. Trash."
As he carefully sensed the power flowing within his body a serious expression appeared on Sousuke's face as he spoke solemnly,
"Then… let's begin."
Clap!
He slammed his palms together as massive chakra surged from his body.
Sousuke formed hand seals.
"Wood Release!"
Buzz
The enormous chakra within him instantly transformed into Water Release and Earth Release chakra attributes.
And the moment the two merged Sousuke immediately felt an entirely new kind of power surging before him.
Although it was not particularly strong yet the potential hidden within it was utterly terrifying.
However the fusion process was far from smooth.
After maintaining it for only a few seconds, Sousuke immediately sensed the two chakra attributes beginning to reject one another.
But just as that rejection appeared a vibrant, life-filled special chakra suddenly burst forth from Sousuke's body.
Within a single thought it forcefully completed the fusion between the two energies.
Splash!
Without warning the previously calm water surface before Sousuke suddenly erupted.
A tree shot upward from the river, rapidly sprouting branches and leaves.
However after the small tree finished growing, no matter how much chakra Sousuke continued pouring into it, it refused to grow any further.
It was as though this was its absolute limit.
"No."
Looking at the sapling that would not continue growing, Sousuke shook his head.
"It's not that it can't grow any larger."
"It's because my Sage Body development isn't high enough yet, and my mastery over Wood Release is still insufficient."
"Still…"
"The fact that I succeeded on the first attempt really was beyond my expectations."
Originally, the chakra nature transformations Sousuke had been most proficient with were undoubtedly Fire, Lightning, and Wind.
But now the chakra natures he understood best had already become Water Release and Earth Release.
And before today he had no idea how many times he had already attempted to fuse those two chakra types together.
With all that preparation achieving this level of success was hardly surprising.
"Continue tempering my Wood Release!"
After sighing in admiration, Sousuke immediately began again.
"This is the capital that'll let me dominate all the way to the final battle!"
Sousuke once again immersed himself in mastering the Wood Release bloodline limit he had just awakened.
And just like that time quietly passed by.
A week quickly passed.
At Training Ground Seven Sousuke stared at the thing before him that could barely be considered a large tree.
His face was filled with helplessness and frustration, his expression looking rather unpleasant.
"Too slow!"
"The development speed of Wood Release is even slower than I imagined. After an entire week, I only barely managed to grow a sapling into a proper tree."
"My Wood Release is even more pathetic than Yamato's real-estate-construction version!"
At this rate how long would it take before he possessed the kind of Wood Release that Senju Hashirama had, the kind capable of flattening everything beneath an endless forest?
It was incredibly irritating.
"Looks like trying to reinvent the wheel by myself really isn't feasible after all."
Feeling the pressure of insufficient time, Sousuke muttered:
"I should probably tell Tsunade nee-san about my Wood Release sooner rather than later."
After all even if he wanted to hide the existence of Wood Release in the future, it would eventually become impossible.
So from the very beginning Sousuke never intended to conceal the fact that he possessed the Wood Release bloodline limit.
As long as someone paid attention simply observing the subtle environmental changes around his training ground would be enough to infer what sort of power he had awakened.
After all oOver this past week, a large number of trees had suddenly appeared in the area.
If anyone seriously investigated it, there was no way to hide the truth.
It took ten years to grow a person and a hundred years to grow a tree.
That saying alone proved just how long trees normally took to mature.
Yet now so many vibrant, life-filled trees had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Who would believe there was nothing strange about that?
After making his decision sousuke no longer had any intention of continuing his training for the moment.
"Guess I'll make a trip to the Hokage's office."
Tsunade definitely possessed the Wood Release scrolls left behind by Senju Hashirama.
If he could obtain those he would avoid taking countless unnecessary detours.
Although it somewhat contradicted his earlier ambition of independently developing Wood Release , well that was life.
Who wouldn't want a direct shortcut straight to the finish line?
Of course this wasn't exactly reaching the finish line instantly.
But asking for outside assistance was perfectly acceptable.
And honestly the only reason Sousuke dared reveal the existence of his Wood Release was because Tsunade had become the Fifth Hokage.
If the Third Hokage were still in power he absolutely would not have done this.
There were simply too many uncertainties involved.
Which brought him back once again to the same thought the fall of the Third Hokage truly had been the choice of fate.
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