Flower Tree Fruit

Ninja tree climbing involved gathering chakra in the least sensitive part of the body—the feet—and then adhering to an object.

There was nothing special about that. Both girls had already mastered it, but Shimura Kentei was different now. He was still wearing that armor, and even without the boots, it weighed nearly a ton.

Being able to climb a tree while carrying nearly a ton was truly astonishing chakra control.

"First, complete the second stage of tree-climbing training. Once you can climb trees while carrying a hundred kilograms, I'll teach you the second stage of water-walking training."

Shimura Kentei flipped down to the ground as he spoke, then put on the boots he had removed earlier.

His chakra control was still lacking. With the interference of the Sealing Crystal, he could only condense chakra into threads and extend them outward. He could not yet simply disperse chakra, which was why he had needed to remove his boots.

"Second stage? Does that mean there's a third stage of training?"

Uchiha Mikoto's beautiful eyes widened again. She caught the implication behind his words.

Hyuga Suzune, standing beside her, also opened her eyes wide. This still was not the ultimate tree-climbing training?

"I told you, chakra control training has no limit. Practice slowly and don't exhaust yourselves. This isn't your clan grounds. Don't let me come back and find that some wild beast has made a meal out of you."

After fastening the shield, bow, arrows, and Great Sword onto the armor's special clasps, Shimura Kentei gave them a reminder and headed toward the central region of the Death Forest.

Their chosen camp was five hundred meters away from the area shrouded in poisonous gas, so he would arrive soon enough.

Today, he intended to scout out the central region and see whether that flower tree was truly the Man-eating Tree Tsunade had mentioned, as well as what condition it was in.

Should I have the original body train too?

Hidden in the shadows, Tsunade watched Shimura Kentei enter the central region and pondered inwardly.

That second stage of tree-climbing training was indeed interesting. Even with her current chakra control, it would be difficult for her to achieve what Shimura Kentei had done. She would need specialized training.

It was not that she could not do it. She had simply never had such a concept before.

After all, no one in reality would be foolish enough to climb trees while carrying a ton of weight!

"Aren't you going in to take a look?"

Tsunade turned to the masked Shimura Clan ninja beside her and asked.

She had long noticed his presence. He was probably sent to protect that little pervert. It seemed Shimura Danzō truly cared about that son of his. After all, he was his only child. That was understandable.

"That tree won't last more than a few years!"

The Shimura ninja's cold voice rang out. He knew the flower tree in the Death Forest's central region very well. The poisonous pollen gas had been weakening over the years. At this rate, it would completely lose its effect in ten years at most.

"It really won't last much longer. If you want it, you can have it."

Tsunade replied casually. She did not care much about that flower tree. Although it was her granduncle's Wood Release creation, the Senju Clan had plenty of Wood Release creations. More than half their houses had been built with Wood Release, and the secret pavilion even preserved her granduncle's Wood Release Chakra.

Her grandmother often lived in the secret pavilion, using the Wood Release Chakra there to better suppress the power of the Nine-Tails.

As wealthy as they were, they naturally would not care about a single flower tree. Besides, that flower tree was nearly finished. In a few years, it would become an ordinary tree.

Most importantly, the Wood Release Chakra within it had long been exhausted. Even if the Shimura Clan obtained it, there was no need to fear that they would research the power of Wood Release from it.

After receiving Tsunade's response, the Shimura ninja said no more and leaped after Shimura Kentei.

He had been sent to protect the young master in the first place. After learning that the young master was interested in that flower tree, he had the clan procure a special set of equipment capable of reducing the toxicity of the pollen.

Meanwhile, Shimura Kentei wielded the Great Sword and hacked his way through thorns and brambles, quickly reaching the edge of the central region.

He stopped and tossed in a venomous snake he had casually caught along the way. After landing, the snake instinctively tried to slither away, but its movements grew slower and slower until it finally went limp on the ground and stopped moving.

"Looks like this place is a forbidden zone for animals!"

Shimura Kentei withdrew his gaze and continued forward, entering the pollen-covered area.

Earlier experiments had shown that this pollen was extremely unfriendly to animals. Even that venomous snake could not endure for more than a few seconds. There were probably no other animals inside, which meant less trouble for him.

However, he did not lower his guard. As he walked, he spread out Chakra Threads to probe the surrounding trees and avoid encountering anything with Wood Release traits.

"Tsk, tsk... what a miserable way to go!"

Shimura Kentei stopped before a skeleton tightly entangled by the roots of a large tree. His heart tightened, and he gained a deeper understanding of the danger here.

The forehead protector on the skeleton's head was still there, but it was not a Konoha forehead protector. It belonged to Iwagakure. Anyone capable of reaching this place could not have been weak, at least a special jōnin.

Yet even so, that person had still been buried here. The terror of Wood Release was clear to see.

"This Death Forest was said to have been created by the First Hokage to hold off Uchiha Madara. This sort of weakling could never have interfered in that battle, so he must have come to investigate after the battle at the Valley of the End.

"After all this time, the trees here can still kill enemies on their own. As expected of a cheat-powered monster!"

After sighing in admiration, Shimura Kentei continued onward. Soon, the view opened up before him, revealing the edge of a clearing with a gigantic tree standing at its center.

The trees in the Death Forest's central region were much taller than those on the outskirts, generally over a hundred meters high. Yet the giant tree in the clearing was at least one hundred and fifty meters tall, with a red flower at its crown that continuously released waves of pollen.

The pollen around it was so thick that it affected visibility. It was like dense fog, allowing him to see only vaguely.

"Man-eating Tree, let's see if you can still eat people!"

He removed a wild rabbit hanging from his waist and hurled it over.

He had caught this rabbit before entering the central region. Like that unlucky venomous snake, it was meant for testing.

Already paralyzed by the pollen, the rabbit had no strength to resist. Its blood-red eyes glared fixedly at Shimura Kentei, the culprit, as though cursing him to lose a certain something.

As the rabbit fell, a black shadow burst from the earth and wrapped around it before retreating underground.

"Not too fast. It's within the limits of my reaction speed!"

After making his judgment, Shimura Kentei decisively stepped into the clearing and headed toward the flower tree at its center.

As if sensing the intruder's arrival, a tree root burst from the ground and swept toward him like a long snake.

Slish!

A flash of sword light cut through the air, instantly severing the root.

Without Wood Release Chakra reinforcing them, those roots were merely ordinary roots. Their toughness was low, so they naturally could not withstand the Great Sword's sharpness.

That strike seemed to enrage the flower tree. More roots burst from the ground and swept toward him like a tide of snakes, making one's scalp go numb.

Yet Shimura Kentei showed no fear. The Great Sword in his hand danced rapidly, severing every root that came at him.

After cutting off the first root, he had observed it carefully and found that it lacked regenerative ability.

In other words, as long as he severed all the underground roots here, he could approach the flower tree.

Of course, being a lumberjack was not easy work. After holding out for a minute, Shimura Kentei decisively retreated from the clearing.

Although those roots had lost their Wood Release Chakra enhancement, greatly reducing their hardness and stripping them of regenerative ability, they were still not to be underestimated.

Even he could only contend with them by relying on the neural reaction speed enhanced by the Super Speed Technique and the strength enhanced by the Super Strength Technique. Otherwise, he would definitely be dragged underground. That would be disastrous.

He could not hold his breath for very long right now.

"I've got plenty of time to wear you down slowly!"

Shimura Kentei stared at the enormous flower tree, blurred beneath the thick pollen in the clearing, then turned and left. He soon walked out of the pollen-covered central region.

Arriving at the riverbank, he removed and cleaned the two small air filters while recovering the chakra he had expended.

Those two air filters were very small, and they could not last long in that pollen-filled environment. If the pollen on their filter screens was not cleaned off in time, they would clog up and lose their effectiveness.

Fortunately, he also needed a relatively quiet environment to recover his chakra, so he could clean the filters while he rested.

An hour later, after the chakra within him had recovered, Shimura Kentei entered the central region again.

After repeating this for three days and three nights, he finally cut down the many roots and reached the base of the flower tree.

"It's really huge!"

Looking up at the flower tree before him, Shimura Kentei became even more certain that Senju Hashirama's Wood Release had some connection to the Divine Tree.

This was because the flower tree was extremely similar to the Divine Tree's final form. The Divine Tree's final form was a bare trunk with a flower at its top and an enormous Rinne Sharingan in the middle.

This flower tree was exactly the same, except that it lacked the Divine Tree's Rinne Sharingan.

Such near-identical resemblance could not be a coincidence. Senju Hashirama's Wood Release clearly had some kind of connection to the Divine Tree.

Thud, thud!

"Dried out?"

He stepped forward and struck the trunk hard. The echo that came back made him frown.

He had just tested it with Chakra Threads and found that the flower tree had completely lost its Wood Release traits. It could no longer devour external chakra.

He had even dug out the rabbit that had been dragged underground earlier and discovered that the poor creature had merely suffocated to death. The roots had not pierced its body or absorbed its life force.

Clearly, this flower tree had reached the end of its life, which naturally disappointed him greatly.

"I hope you can give me at least a little surprise!"

Shimura Kentei raised his head to look at the enormous flower at the top of the tree. He did not climb up rashly and instead turned to leave the central region.

The chakra in his body was nearly exhausted, and the two filters needed to be cleaned as soon as possible. Climbing up now was not a wise choice.

Moreover, the closer he got to the flower, the denser the pollen would become and the greater the strain on the filters. He had to prepare properly before going up.

An hour later, having recovered, Shimura Kentei returned. He climbed straight up the thick trunk and soon leaped onto the top of the flower.

Though it was a flower, its petals were incredibly hard. They did not even tremble beneath the weight of him in his armor.

"A Divine Tree Fruit?"

Shimura Kentei stared in astonishment at the red fruit in the center of the flower. The first thing that came to mind was the Divine Tree's fruit.

"No, it should just be an ordinary fruit. After all, bearing fruit is a tree's instinct. I'd guess most of this flower tree's remaining life force was gathered into that fruit."

With that thought, Shimura Kentei became even more interested in the Flower Tree Fruit. It was certainly far inferior to the Divine Tree's fruit, but it had to be countless times better than ordinary fruit.

Leaving everything else aside, its size alone was astonishing. It was bigger than he was.

After confirming that there was no danger nearby, Shimura Kentei leaped into the flower and swung his sword at the point where the fruit connected to the flower tree, preparing to take the thing away whole.

But at that moment, it seemed to trigger some kind of mechanism. The petals, which had seemed lifeless, instantly closed, while countless vines wrapped around Shimura Kentei and bound him tightly in an incomparably shameful pose.

"Damn it, could Senju Hashirama have been some old pervert? How can the flower tree he left behind still use turtle-shell bondage rope art?"

That humiliating pose made Shimura Kentei curse furiously. It was far too embarrassing!

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