Wood Release Kekkei Genkai

After carefully checking his physical condition and confirming that his body showed none of the corrosive effects usually caused by transplanting Hashirama Cells, Uchiha Fugaku finally relaxed.

Just as he had guessed, White Zetsu was an individual perfectly fused with Hashirama Cells and possessed perfect compatibility with them.

The Hashirama Cells—or rather, the characteristics of Hashirama Cells—obtained through Corpse Melting White Zetsu's body could perfectly integrate into his own body without causing any erosion.

"Having melted White Zetsu's body, I wonder whether I can use Wood Release ninjutsu now?"

He walked to the bookshelf on the left and took out an azure scroll. Written prominently on it was a single character: "Wood."

This was a Wood Style Ninjutsu Scroll.

Hashirama Senju was revered as the God of Shinobi, and the Wood Release ninjutsu he possessed had been spoken of in almost mythical terms.

As the Uchiha Clan had regarded the Senju Clan as rivals for a long time, they naturally yearned for Wood Release ninjutsu and had collected some.

This scroll recorded the Wood Release ninjutsu collected by the Uchiha Clan.

"Release!"

Using a specific hand sign to undo the seal, he opened the scroll.

"Wood Style: Cutting Sprig!"

This was the first Wood Release ninjutsu to catch his eye.

This jutsu could grow a sharp branch from the palm, one capable of piercing through a human body.

After stabbing it into an enemy's body, the user could continue forming hand signs to make it branch and grow, piercing through the enemy from within. The quantity depended on the user's chakra.

In terms of rank, this jutsu was not particularly high, but it was quite practical.

He remembered that Uchiha Obito had once fought with this jutsu and killed quite a few Hidden Mist ninja.

He continued unrolling the scroll, and the second Wood Release ninjutsu came into view.

"Wood Clone Jutsu!"

This was a Clone Technique that used wood as its material.

Wood clones created with this jutsu were exceptionally lifelike and even harder to distinguish than Shadow Clones.

"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence."

"Wood Style: Flowering Tree Kinship."

"Wood Style: Wood Golem Jutsu."

As he continued reading the scroll, he found all the Wood Release ninjutsu he had heard of within it.

Some of the more powerful Wood Release ninjutsu possessed might that could reach the Super Kage-level.

However, seeing these jutsu did not stir much emotion in him.

What mattered was not Wood Release ninjutsu, but the person capable of using it.

There were not many clans and forces that possessed Wood Release ninjutsu scrolls, but neither were there particularly few.

Yet in all the years since Hashirama Senju, only a handful of people had been capable of using Wood Release ninjutsu.

Only one person, Uchiha Madara, had gained Super Kage-level combat power through it.

Although he had melted White Zetsu's body, he was not certain whether he could use Wood Release.

He turned back to the section containing "Wood Style: Cutting Sprig," carefully studied it, and memorized the hand signs and chakra circulation method.

A short while later, once he was sure he had memorized it, he attempted to practice the jutsu.

"Wood Style: Cutting Sprig."

Whoosh—

As he practiced the jutsu, a trace of green extended from his palm and formed into a branch.

Before he could rejoice, however, the branch instantly withered and shattered.

"It failed!"

His first attempt at using Wood Style: Cutting Sprig ended in failure.

"Was I not proficient enough? No, that probably wasn't the reason!"

Uchiha Fugaku shook his head.

In terms of talent for ninjutsu, he was likely inferior to Uchiha Itachi. He could not achieve Uchiha Itachi's level of mastery upon first learning a technique.

But even if his talent for ninjutsu was inferior to Uchiha Itachi's, he should not have failed on his first attempt. After all, this was a relatively low-level Wood Release ninjutsu.

Under normal circumstances, even if its power was weak, he should have been able to cast it successfully.

There had to be another reason for the failure.

"Sharingan!"

He activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, used it to observe the changes in his chakra, and began casting Wood Style: Cutting Sprig again.

A green branch extended from his palm once more.

But soon, just as before, it withered and shattered.

"My body cannot produce enough wood-nature chakra!"

Having observed the entire process with his Sharingan, he found the cause.

Wood Release ninjutsu was a Kekkei Genkai. To use Wood Release ninjutsu, one needed to combine earth-nature chakra and water-nature chakra into wood-nature chakra.

As a member of the Uchiha Clan, he possessed the Uchiha Clan's signature fire nature and did not possess earth or water nature.

However, after melting White Zetsu's body, his body had begun producing earth-nature chakra and water-nature chakra, and he could combine the two into wood-nature chakra.

But the amount of wood-nature chakra he could create was extremely small, far from enough to use Wood Release ninjutsu—not even Wood Style: Cutting Sprig, a Wood Release ninjutsu that required relatively little wood-nature chakra.

"It is caused by bloodline concentration!"

Drawing on the Uchiha Clan's situation, he came to a conclusion.

Though all were members of the Uchiha Clan, some could not even awaken a One-Tomoe Sharingan, while others could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Their vastly different experiences after birth played a role, but the greater reason was bloodline concentration.

If one's bloodline concentration was insufficient, then no matter how intense the stimulation, it would be difficult to awaken the Sharingan, let alone the Mangekyō Sharingan.

The same principle applied to the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.

If he had fused with too few Hashirama Cells, it was equivalent to having an excessively low concentration of the Wood Release bloodline. That was why he could not properly use Wood Release ninjutsu.

As for why Uchiha Obito could use Wood Style: Cutting Sprig?

The reason was likely that the Hashirama Cells Uchiha Obito had fused with were high-concentration Hashirama Cells, denser than those within White Zetsu.

"If I melt a few more White Zetsu bodies, could I increase the bloodline concentration of the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai?"

His heart stirred.

Since the bloodline concentration of the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai obtained from melting one White Zetsu body was insufficient, would melting several more White Zetsu bodies raise that concentration?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

"As long as I have enough White Zetsu bodies, perhaps I can raise the bloodline concentration to rival Hashirama Senju's. I might even obtain the Sage Body that Hashirama Senju was rumored to possess!"

Anticipation rose within him.

If he could truly raise his bloodline concentration to rival Hashirama Senju's, then after a period of development and improvement, he should also be able to use those powerful Wood Release ninjutsu Hashirama Senju had once used.

And if he could obtain a Sage Body, he could cultivate a perfect Sage Mode through it.

Not the kind of Sage Mode used by Jiraiya, one of the Three Ninja, which required the assistance of toads.

But a perfect Sage Mode that could be activated instantly and maintained for an extremely long time.