The following afternoon.
"Tsunade-sensei."
Natsuki stood at the entrance of her tent.
"Come in."
He ducked through the flap and found Tsunade sprawled across the carpet in a posture that could only be described as aggressively lazy. Her top had shifted with her movements, the fabric stretched taut and slipping sideways in ways that looked structurally precarious.
She was the Deputy Commander. In practice, she had almost nothing to do. Beyond treating casualties each day, she spent her time horizontal. It suited her perfectly — she'd come to watch over Nawaki, not to lead charges. She knew when to hover and when to let go. When Nawaki deployed on missions, she stayed behind. Being the rear-echelon medical ninja was ideal for someone whose primary motivation was concern and whose secondary motivation was laziness.
"What do you want?" Eyes still closed.
"Nawaki mentioned wanting to launch a surprise attack on the Stone." Natsuki sat down in front of her. "I've found a target."
He produced a map and held it out.
Tsunade opened her eyes and sat up.
Her top dropped with the motion, the neckline gaping to reveal a generous sweep of pale skin. The fabric's structural integrity was, as suspected, entirely theoretical.
Natsuki's eyelid twitched.
Tsunade caught the look.
She opened the map without comment.
A red dot marked the left side.
"This is a Stone stronghold. Approximately five hundred shinobi." Natsuki kept his voice professional. "It functions as a secondary base camp."
Both sides operated the same way — no village concentrated all four thousand combatants in a single location. One Tailed Beast Ball or a sufficiently powerful technique could wipe the entire force. The bulk of every army was distributed across forward positions and secondary camps.
"Why this stronghold specifically?"
"There's a forest adjacent to it."
"A forest? What does that have to do with — wait." Realization hit. "You want to use Wood Release."
"The three of us. Together."
Tsunade went still.
She understood immediately. This wasn't just a tactical operation. Natsuki was building a stage — one designed to announce Wood Release's return to the shinobi world.
Something warm moved through her chest.
She had to admit: Natsuki treated her and Nawaki extraordinarily well.
Then she remembered his wandering gaze from a moment ago, and the warmth shifted into something less simple. Ripples, spreading outward.
She crushed the thought before it could take shape.
She didn't know when it had started — this sense that something between them, or perhaps within herself, had changed. The shift was subtle enough that she couldn't pin it to a specific moment. In truth, the Love-Love Fruit's influence required pre-existing feelings to amplify. The Fruit didn't create what wasn't there.
"We can try." Tsunade's voice was steady. "But we need a clean extraction plan. If the three of us get pinned down, the entire front is compromised."
"I've already scouted the location personally." Natsuki smiled. "We teleport in via Air Door, cause maximum destruction, and teleport out. No exposure window."
"I keep forgetting about your space-time techniques." Relief crossed her face. "Then there's nothing to worry about."
"Tonight?"
"Tonight." She nodded. "I'll brief Nawaki when he returns."
"Midnight. I'll come for you."
He stood — and his line of sight dropped involuntarily.
Tsunade was still seated. The angle, combined with her sleeveless top and its catastrophically low neckline, left very little to the imagination.
"Are you still looking?"
She glared.
He withdrew his gaze and retreated at speed.
Tsunade shook her head.
The man was already tangled up with Nonou and Kushina, and he still had the nerve to stare?
But a beat later, she felt something suspiciously close to satisfaction. Her appeal, at least, remained undeniable.
Night fell.
Natsuki arrived at Tsunade's tent precisely at midnight.
She'd changed into a combat-ready jōnin flak jacket — a harder, more militant look than her daytime sprawl. It suited her.
He opened an Air Door.
Nawaki burst through from the other side, face alight with barely contained excitement.
"Can you at least pretend to take this seriously?" Tsunade's displeasure was immediate.
"Nawaki's enthusiasm is part of who he is." Natsuki smiled. "Change that, and he wouldn't be Nawaki."
"He's never outgrown it because you keep enabling him."
"Tsunade-sensei, that's unfair—"
She snorted and walked through the Air Door. Natsuki followed.
The three emerged in a forest. Through the trees, the Stone's stronghold was visible in the darkness — a cluster of fortified positions and tents, silent and unsuspecting.
"How are we doing this?" Tsunade asked.
"You and I cast Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence from the midpoint — that connects this existing forest to the stronghold. Nawaki stays here and controls the tree line."
Deep Forest Emergence was Senju Hashirama's signature technique — an instant forest, conjured from nothing. The drawback was the enormous chakra cost.
Nawaki's Wood Release was roughly on par with Yamato's in the original timeline — slightly stronger, but not by a wide margin. Natsuki and Tsunade operated a full tier above him, thanks to their respective chakra reserves: the Yin Seal for Tsunade, the Black Grail for Natsuki.
"Nawaki, hold this position." Tsunade's command was crisp. "Natsuki and I will advance to the midpoint."
"Be careful," Nawaki said — his tone, for once, genuinely serious.
Natsuki and Tsunade moved quickly through the trees, reaching the gap between the forest's edge and the stronghold.
They exchanged a glance. Began weaving seals simultaneously.
The earth cracked.
Trees erupted from below — not growing but exploding upward, trunks splitting the soil, branches spreading like grasping hands, vines whipping through the air in every direction. An entire forest materialized in seconds, surging toward the stronghold like a wooden tide.
Inside the fortification, sleeping shinobi snapped awake — and died before their eyes could focus. Vines punched through tent walls and bodies alike. Branches impaled shinobi still tangled in their bedrolls. Blood sprayed across bark that hadn't existed ten seconds ago.
Screams erupted.
"ENEMY ATTACK!"
The stronghold's commanding jōnin was Monga — a powerful Earth Release specialist who would later serve as captain of the Allied Sealing Corps in the original timeline's Fourth War.
The instant he saw the vines, he launched skyward.
Earth Release: Earth-Moving Core!
The ground heaved, forming a massive stone pillar that launched him above the treeline.
From altitude, he surveyed the carnage — and his expression froze.
"Wood... Release?"
Senju Hashirama was dead. Had been dead for decades. But no shinobi alive would fail to recognize what Wood Release looked like. Its reputation was burned into the collective memory of every Hidden Village.
The Leaf had Wood Release users again?
If this intelligence reached the wider world, the shockwave would be enormous.
"DEFEND! All units — counterattack NOW!"
Deep Forest Emergence was devastating in its opening seconds, but the technique's spread was wide, not precise. Jōnin-level combatants had the reflexes to dodge the initial surge, and many did.
"Earth Release: Excavating Earth Rising!"
Monga's surviving jōnin ran through seals in coordinated sequence. Miniature volcanoes erupted across the stronghold — their craters vomiting trees and debris skyward, shearing away the encroaching forest with raw geological force.
Within minutes, the immediate crisis was contained.
But the ground between the ruined fortifications was carpeted with corpses.
"Lord Monga! Three unidentified shinobi in the northern forest!"
Monga reacted instantly. Those three were the source.
"Half the remaining jōnin — with me!"
The losses were already catastrophic. Three to four hundred casualties, easily. Letting the attackers escape after this would be an unacceptable humiliation.
Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide!
Monga slammed both palms to the ground. Chakra surged. The earth split open in a clean line, the fissure racing northward, tearing through the newly created trees and carving a direct path toward the forest.
He led his jōnin through the gap at full speed.
"Earth Release is really a problem." Tsunade frowned.
Normally, kekkei genkai outperformed standard nature transformations. But with environmental advantage and sufficient chakra, elemental ninjutsu could match or exceed bloodline techniques. Among the five elements, Earth Release was the easiest to amplify — because earth was everywhere.
If they'd hit a Sand or Cloud stronghold, the counterattack wouldn't have been this fast. Wind and Lightning had far less natural synergy against Wood Release than Earth did.
"Watch this!"
Nawaki brought his hands together.
The forest came alive.
Every tree in the existing tree line responded — branches whipping forward like spear shafts, vines lashing out in dense waves, roots erupting from the ground to entangle anything that moved. The assault hit Monga's pursuing force like a wall of living wood.
The Stone jōnin fought back hard, but the unlucky ones were caught, wrapped, and crushed.
Tsunade and Natsuki joined the assault. The entire forest became a weapon — coordinated, relentless, pressing the Stone from every direction.
"Damn it—"
Monga watched his numbers dwindle. His gaze locked onto Tsunade — the closest, and the one he recognized.
He didn't understand how she'd awakened Wood Release. But her bloodline connection to Hashirama made her the obvious primary threat.
Earth Release: Mountain Earth Jutsu!
Every remaining drop of his chakra poured out in a single technique.
The ground convulsed. On either side of Tsunade, two enormous hemispherical mountains erupted from the earth — each twenty meters high, curving inward, forming the halves of a closing sphere.
They accelerated toward the center.
Toward her.
In the original timeline, Kitsuchi had used this technique to briefly suppress a Tailed Beast. With enough chakra, it could contain even the Gedo Statue.
Moonwalk!
Tsunade kicked off the air — fast, but not fast enough. The mountains were already converging.
An Air Door opened beside her.
Natsuki's hand shot through, caught her wrist, and pulled.
She tumbled through the dimensional gap and crashed into his chest.
She froze.
He froze.
Soft. Warm. Close.
But this was not the moment.
He held her, stepped through the exit, and they emerged beside Nawaki.
BOOM.
Behind them, the twin mountains collided with apocalyptic force. The ground heaved. Dust and rubble erupted skyward in a towering plume.
In Natsuki's arms, Tsunade felt the ripples in her chest expanding — concentric circles spreading outward from a point she couldn't name and didn't want to examine.
She pulled back. Half a step of distance.
"This raid has been a success. We leave now — no reason to push our luck." Her voice was controlled, deliberate.
"She's right!" Nawaki's agreement was instant and fervent. That near-miss had taken years off his life.
In truth, he'd underestimated Tsunade. Even without Natsuki's intervention, the Yin Seal and Hundred Healings would have kept her alive. But the technique's cost was severe — a last resort, not a casual defense.
"One parting gift before we go."
Natsuki raised his hand.
Lightning Giant.
Iron sand from beneath the surface and the dust still hanging in the air converged, drawn together by electromagnetic force. The particles fused, shaped, and solidified — and a massive construct of crackling lightning materialized above the battlefield.
It charged toward Monga's position.
Natsuki nodded, satisfied. He'd deliberately held back tonight. The purpose of this raid was to put Wood Release in the spotlight, not himself. Stealing the show would have defeated the point.
"Let's go."
An Air Door opened. The three stepped through and vanished.
In the distance, hidden among the rocks, a White Zetsu watched the Lightning Giant rampage through the Stone's broken formation.
"Wood Release?! Three of them?! Lord Madara is going to have a fit!"
It dove underground and disappeared.
The rumbling continued for several more minutes.
Monga and his surviving jōnin surrounded the Lightning Giant. In the end, a second Mountain Earth Jutsu was the only thing that stopped it.
The battle ended.
The stronghold was unrecognizable. The ground bristled with trees that hadn't existed an hour ago. Blood and bodies lay between the trunks.
"Casualty count." Monga's voice was leaden. "Now."
Konoha main camp.
"Hahaha!" Nawaki was electric. "That was incredible!"
The operation had been textbook — brief, violent, decisive. Especially the minutes he'd spent controlling the forest, directing living wood against the Stone's jōnin in every direction.
"Don't get carried away." Tsunade's warning was reflexive.
She glanced at Natsuki as she said it.
His Wood Release had far exceeded her expectations. She was almost certain he'd been holding back.
"It's late. Save the excitement for tomorrow — you need sleep."
"Then I'm off. See you tomorrow!" Nawaki grinned, turned, and jogged away.
"He's not sleeping tonight," Natsuki said, watching him go.
"He's still a child at heart." Tsunade shook her head, then turned her gaze back to him.
"What is it?"
"Thank you. For earlier."
Her tone was serious. No deflection.
"It was nothing."
He smiled.
Looking at that face, Tsunade felt her heart lurch.
He was — objectively, undeniably — too handsome. It was a problem.
"You worked hard tonight too. Get some rest."
She looked away.
"Good night."
He nodded, turned, and walked out.
Tsunade exhaled. The tension left her shoulders only after she heard his footsteps fade.
She sat down heavily.
The memory of his arms around her — the warmth, the solidity, the involuntary moment of safety — replayed without her permission.
Late night. Moon high.
Hidden Stone Village main camp.
Kitsuchi, roused from sleep for the second time this war, emerged from his tent to find Monga — a man who should have been at his stronghold, thirty kilometers away — standing before him with the posture of a condemned prisoner.
"Why are you here?"
"Lord Kitsuchi." Monga bowed his head. "I've come to accept punishment."
"What happened?"
"Please read this."
Kitsuchi took the scroll. Opened it.
Three Wood Release users in the Leaf.
His breath caught.
Tsunade. Nawaki. Natsuki.
Three shinobi — already among the most dangerous combatants in the war — now wielding the most feared kekkei genkai in shinobi history.
A surprise attack. Three people. Over four hundred casualties.
The scroll nearly slipped from his fingers.
"Lord Kitsuchi. I accept any discipline you see fit."
"My father will determine the consequences." Kitsuchi's exhale was ragged. "The priority is getting this intelligence back to the village immediately."
Wood Release's reappearance was not a tactical development. It was a strategic earthquake.
With their existing strength plus Wood Release, did the Stone even have a path to victory anymore?
The following day, noon.
The news spread across every intelligence network on the continent.
Tsuchikage's office.
"How do three Leaf shinobi suddenly possess Wood Release?"
Ōnoki's face was gray.
No one in the room could answer him.
He rubbed his temples and sank into his chair.
The sole consolation was that the intelligence suggested their Wood Release fell short of Hashirama's original power. Ōnoki had lived through that era — had even fought Uchiha Madara alongside his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage Mū. He understood the scale of what true Hashirama-level Wood Release could do.
This wasn't that. But it was close enough to be devastating.
"Send word to Rōshi. He deploys to support Kitsuchi immediately."
Rōshi — the Four-Tails jinchūriki. His Lava Release was effectively an enhanced Fire Release, and in principle, it countered Wood Release directly.
Underground.
"Wood Release." Uchiha Madara's voice was quiet. Something flickered behind his eyes — memory, ancient and unwelcome.
He hadn't expected the Leaf to produce three more Wood Release users after Hashirama.
The mechanism was obvious: Hashirama cell transplantation. Madara had obtained his own Wood Release the same way. So had White Zetsu.
If that was the method, it wasn't inherently alarming. Transplant-derived Wood Release had clear limitations.
The only truly dangerous one was Natsuki.
After taking that Sword of Promised Victory through his Shadow Clone, Madara knew the boy's chakra reserves were monstrous — approaching Tailed Beast levels. And with reserves like that, Wood Release became exponentially more destructive.
"Truly troublesome."
Natsuki had become the single largest obstacle to his plans. More problematic than Sarutobi Hiruzen. More dangerous than the Third Raikage.
And Madara still couldn't figure out where all that chakra came from.
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