Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence

"Shinki... why don't you show me?"

Yamato said after swallowing.

Some things had to be seen to be believed!

What if the kid really was making things up for fun?

Shinki looked at his teacher, who was acting a little strange today, and didn't understand why he was making that face.

Could it be that he thought Shinki had figured out too few?

Yes! That was possible!

A mere hundred or so Wood Release techniques wouldn't be enough to adapt to changing circumstances in a real battle. He should have more!

Yes! That had to be it...

Having figured it out, Shinki agreed to show Yamato the Release technique he had figured out last night.

"Okay."

"But it's a little cramped here."

Yamato took a bring-it-on stance. "It's fine. Just show me the strongest Wood Release you can use. With me here, I'll keep things under control for you!"

With his teacher there to handle the aftermath, Shinki felt much more at ease.

"Then I'm starting."

"Go on. Let me see just how talented you really are with Wood Release."

Yamato narrowed his eyes beneath his mask and watched Shinki's hands and eyes.

He was trying to find a flaw in Shinki's lie.

But whether it was the look in the boy's eyes or his movements, everything about him was so clear and casual.

Shinki's hands shifted through a complicated sequence of seals.

Watching from the side, Yamato grew more alarmed with every passing moment.

He was the second person in Konoha after the First Hokage to use Wood Release, and he was fairly familiar with most Wood Release techniques.

And judging by the way Shinki had started his hand seals...

Could it be... the legendary Deep Forest Emergence used by the First Hokage himself?!!!

Sure enough.

The next moment, Shinki completed his hand seals and shouted.

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!!!"

The evening breeze stirred the ends of Yamato's hair, soothing his uneasy heart.

He looked around.

Silence...

After Shinki shouted "Deep Forest Emergence"...

Nothing happened around them.

Yamato breathed a sigh of relief, but he was also a little annoyed.

Shinki, you've got thick eyebrows, big eyes, and such a handsome face. Why would you lie?!

Even if you hadn't said you'd figured out Wood Release techniques, I, Yamato, would still have treated you like a genius.

Look what happened. Your lie's been exposed.

Now things are a little awkward for both of us...

"Shinki..."

Yamato opened his mouth, intending to give Shinki a scolding.

After all, he was Shinki's teacher now.

As his teacher, he had to do more than teach him Ninjutsu. He had to teach Shinki how to conduct himself!

But before he could get the words out, an earthquake struck!

"Rumble, rumble—"

Yamato could clearly feel the shaking beneath his feet!

The tremors were strong. It seemed to be a major earthquake!

"It's an earthquake! Shinki, I'll deal with you later. Hurry and tell everyone in the village to take shelter!"

Yamato shouted urgently and was about to sound the alarm in Konoha.

But after just two steps, he noticed a tiny sapling growing from the soil beneath his feet...

Then.

"Whoosh!!"

The sapling rapidly expanded, growing into a towering tree fifty or sixty meters tall!

And the same thing was happening in every other shaking part of Konoha!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Countless towering trees shot up from the ground!

Once all the trees had grown, the earthquake stopped.

Clearly, these giant trees bursting out of the ground were the source of the earthquake!

Sensing trouble, Yamato climbed to the top of a giant tree and gazed into the distance, bewildered.

Only then did he realize.

All of Konoha had become a sea of trees!

Shinki followed Yamato up the tree and looked around.

Quite a few of the trees had people still asleep on top of their crowns...

"What's going on? I was sleeping just fine. How did a tree end up lifting me into the air?"

"That's nothing. I got up to use the bathroom, and the tree lifted me up before I could even pull my pants up! =_="

"What's going on in Konoha? Have ninja from another village invaded?"

"No, wait. Isn't this Wood Release?!"

"Doesn't this sea of trees that suddenly appeared look familiar to you?"

A worldly old ninja said.

"To create a sea of trees on this scale, could it be that the First Hokage has come back to life?"

Hearing everyone talk, Yamato finally realized what had happened.

Could this entire sea of trees be the Deep Forest Emergence Shinki had unleashed?!

Yamato turned his head and looked at Shinki beneath him.

Shinki kept his head down, not daring to meet Yamato's eyes.

His instincts told him he seemed to have caused trouble!

And this time, it was no small mess!

But Teacher Yamato had clearly said he would handle the aftermath...

Seeing Shinki's expression, Yamato knew his guess was almost certainly right!

Furious waves surged in his heart!

Was this the kind of Wood Release a kid should be able to unleash?!

When Yamato had offered to handle the aftermath, he had thought Shinki could produce a few thin little pieces of wood at most.

After all, it had only been a single day since the little guy first encountered Wood Release!

But who could have imagined he would unleash a sea of trees?!

A sea of trees to rival the First Hokage's!!

(;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

Yamato wanted to cry, but no tears came!

Half of it was because he had led Shinki into causing a major disaster.

The other half was because Shinki had utterly crushed his confidence!

Konoha had produced only three Wood Release users so far: the First Hokage, himself, and Shinki.

Yamato sadly realized that two of them were ridiculously powerful. Compared to theirs, his Wood Release was only good for building houses and planting greenery...

"Shinki, come with me to see the Third immediately."

Yamato said, fighting the urge to cry.

"Okay."

Knowing he had caused a major disaster, Shinki nodded obediently.

The two had just finished speaking and were about to leave.

They looked up, only to find the Third already standing on a branch of a tree not far away.

The Third's face was as black as coal!

After spotting Shinki and Yamato, he used the Body Flicker Technique a few times and appeared in front of them.

The Third's presence was especially oppressive today!

Guilty as he felt, Shinki didn't even dare open his eyes!

I'm done for!

∑(✘Д✘๑)

One Deep Forest Emergence, and I destroyed all of Konoha!

I'll probably spend the rest of my life in Konoha's prison!

The Third's voice was hoarse, brimming with unparalleled fury.

"Yamato, you'd better give me a reasonable explanation."

As far as the Third knew, Shinki was a genius, but there was no way he could have been the one who cast the technique this time.

After all, he wasn't even twelve years old yet!

So.

The first culprit the Third identified was Yamato.

After all, the young man had been practicing Wood Release for a decade or two. Though he had never done anything remarkable, he had at least trained for a long time...

Yamato dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Lord Hokage! It's all my fault! I was the one who told Shinki to use the technique at full power. It's my fault for not being capable enough to handle the aftermath for him! (༎ຶ-༎ຶ)"

"Do you think I'm so old and blind that you can fool me so easily?"

The Third glared, his beard bristling with anger!

At Yamato's behavior, the Third's first reaction was disappointment!

Yamato, you've been in the Anbu for so many years, yet you have no sense of responsibility at all!

You did something wrong, and the first thing you did was pin it on a child!

And your attempt to frame him was so clumsy!