Sage's Blade

"This looks like the place Jūgo mentioned!"

Dōmeki appeared alone in an unfamiliar forest. After telling Kimimaro and the other two to return to Otogakure first on their own, Dōmeki had once again left the group to act on his own.

"I suppose Orochimaru must be used to me taking the opportunity to slack off by now!"

Dōmeki muttered to himself, feeling no shame whatsoever about wandering around after completing his mission.

But the boy had not come here just to wander aimlessly. Ever since sensing certain similarities between Jūgo and the First Hokage that were too coincidental, Dōmeki had asked Jūgo where the village he was born in was located.

"Similar chakra attributes, similar constitutions, and an affinity for Natural Energy..."

The more Dōmeki thought about it, the more puzzled he became, and in the end, he had made this trip.

The village where Jūgo was born, however, was just an ordinary mountain village in the Land of Fire. The only unusual thing was probably the vast forest not far away, stretching out like a sea among the mountains. Some of its trees were dozens of meters tall and had clearly existed for many years.

Dōmeki had wandered through the sea of trees for days, using the concentration of Natural Energy he sensed to guide his route.

Even so, Dōmeki felt as if he had gotten lost in it, but then...

Dōmeki looked in one direction. "Such dense Natural Energy and Yang Release!"

Dōmeki looked up at the densely packed giant trees around him. He truly could not see the sun wherever he looked, yet there was none of the gloom or dampness found in dense forests. Instead, the place was full of the vitality and warmth one could feel only in vibrant sunlight.

"That's huge!"

Floating in midair, Dōmeki used his excellent eyesight to spot a towering tree in the very center of the giant forest from far away. It stood out from all the rest.

The giant tree was almost as thick as a house and stood on the earth in the distance.

Near its lush branches and leaves, Dōmeki noticed brilliant sunlight being drawn in, nearly forming a dazzling cluster of light.

The giant tree continuously absorbed sunlight and the Natural Energy floating in the air, in a manner resembling photosynthesis. Its trunk gave off a vast, powerful Yang Release energy, drawing Dōmeki's attention and making him click his tongue in wonder.

Dōmeki circled the giant tree and felt its Yang Release energy being drawn into his body of its own accord, without causing him the slightest discomfort. Instead, his entire body was enveloped in a warm sensation.

"Wait, that's..."

Dōmeki stared at a raised section of the trunk. Curved, branchlike shapes sat at either end of a horizontal line, and the design was surrounded by spiraling lines that formed the outline of a circular door.

"The emblems of the Uzumaki and the Senju Clan!"

Dōmeki was somewhat dazed. Unable to help himself, he pressed his hand against the design and felt that the Yang Release there was even denser. He also had a faint sense that it was calling to him.

"Senju and Uzumaki!"

Dōmeki murmured. Suddenly, he cut his palm and pressed his bloodstained right hand, filled with Yang Release Chakra, against the center of the design.

"Huh? It didn't work?"

Dōmeki muttered about recognizing a master through blood and being a child of destiny.

But at that moment, the giant tree shook, and even its luxuriant branches and leaves swayed without stopping.

The design beneath the boy's hand gradually began to emit a dazzling light that almost swallowed up everything around it.

By the time the light faded, the red-haired boy had vanished.

Dōmeki opened his blurry eyes and gradually realized he was in a room that resembled a shrine.

In the center of the room stood a translucent offering table that looked like glass. It seemed to be made from a single piece of green crystal, with lines carved into the front that formed the image of an ancient, weathered tree.

The God Tree? the boy wondered.

Dōmeki could sense a surging yet harmonious Natural Energy within it. The tranquility and harmony of that union between heaven and man made the boy close his eyes, as if he had gained some insight.

In the profound darkness, a patch of light suddenly illuminated the world.

A towering tree floated above the earth, its branches and leaves, impossibly vast, covering the entire sky.

Beneath the trunk, countless thick roots reached deep into the mountains, rivers, and seas.

Dōmeki felt his body rise abruptly, gradually floating away from Earth.

As he floated in the dark, empty cosmos, he suddenly saw a giant tree the size of a planet, its roots wrapped around the entire Earth.

A moment later, however, Dōmeki opened his eyes, somewhat baffled.

"Huh? What does that mean?"

His only impression was that the tree was fucking huge!

Joking aside, Dōmeki knew, of course, that the God Tree was plundering the energy and nutrients of the entire planet, ultimately producing the origin of all chakra—the Chakra Fruit.

So was this crystal something like a fragment of the God Tree?

Dōmeki felt the vast Yang Release energy within the crystal. Perhaps prolonged contact with it could awaken an ability like Wood Release.

Unfortunately, he did not have the Water Release chakra attribute, and it was not the path he had chosen.

Dōmeki turned his gaze to the offering table, where an ancient and mysterious black sword lay quietly on a stand.

"I feel like I've seen this sword somewhere!"

Dōmeki pondered, but his right hand reached out of its own accord. When he took hold of it, it was not cold as he had imagined. Instead, it felt warm.

"Hey!"

The red-haired boy pulled hard, but the sword did not budge.

Dōmeki was immensely confident in his stamina and strength, but this sword...

Dōmeki stood solemnly and concentrated all the strength in his body into his right hand. Gradually, the sword rose from the stand, bit by bit.

But the sword's almost infinite weight made the boy's right hand tremble uncontrollably.

Dōmeki staggered two steps and only managed to steady himself with difficulty. The bulging veins and pale face, with sweat dripping constantly from it, showed how much the boy was struggling.

That alone would have been enough, but Dōmeki suddenly felt wave after wave of immense chakra pouring from the sword, filling the meridians and chakra points throughout his body in mere moments.

"I refuse to believe it! Super Electromagnetic Release Mode One: Spiral Power!"

Countless violent bolts of lightning erupted from the boy, but moments later they were tamed, circling endlessly around his body.

The boy's robes and hair began to billow as though stirred by a wind. Holding the sword, he rose slightly into the air.

With Spiral Power, Dōmeki strengthened his own biological field using the magnetic field produced by rotating lightning, allowing his body to remain in a state of magnetic levitation at all times and even fly.

But the sword's weight and chakra also increased several times over.

"Young man, that's not how you use the Sage's Blade!"

For a moment, Dōmeki seemed to hear a voice speaking beside his ear.