Earth and Wood Brother...
Jin looked over the nearby wooden cabin with three bedrooms and a living room, then silently nodded.
Most people could refine something in an instant.
Yamato, on the other hand, could build a house in an instant.
And it wasn't half bad, either. Three bedrooms, a living room, and even a private balcony!
Who wouldn't praise him for that?
The most important thing was that it was pure wood, completely natural!
No additives and no formaldehyde!
After looking it over for a while, Jin offered a suggestion:
"Yamato... Kinoe, I think you should build a toilet in the master bedroom, too."
"And that coffee table is way too small. Make a bigger one."
"Put a hammock or a lounge chair on the balcony. You can sunbathe and take a nap there in summer. It'd be so comfortable you'd get tired of it."
As he made his suggestions, a new prompt gradually appeared before his eyes.
[After talking with Kinoe for ten minutes, attempting to copy a trait.]
[Copy failed.]
The success rate wasn't much of a surprise.
A good beating was still more reliable.
Jin shook his head. His incessant chatter came to an abrupt halt.
This, in turn, made Yamato raise an eyebrow and glance at him in confusion. "Why'd you stop talking?"
After listening to Jin ramble on for over ten minutes, he'd almost gotten used to it.
Unfortunately, Jin had lost the mood to talk.
He seemed to have lost all strength and will to fight.
He lay on the ground, eyes vacant.
Across from him, Yamato frowned.
But after sensing that he'd nearly recovered, he stopped hesitating. "Let's go. I'll take you to Lord Danzo."
As he spoke, his arm transformed into a massive wooden beam that wrapped around the cage.
It formed a wooden egg nearly five meters across, sealed tight.
But just as he turned to carry it away, something inside suddenly shifted.
"Hmm? Still resisting?"
Yamato's expression didn't change as he said calmly,
"This is the Kekkei Genkai inherited from the First Hokage!"
"Forget you—even Senior Kakashi would have to wait for help if he got caught in this move—"
Crack!
In an instant, the massive wooden egg in front of him exploded again!
It shattered like a firework.
Wood chips flew everywhere.
They drifted through the air, turning the sky a rusty brown.
Yamato was dumbfounded.
"It, it, it exploded again?"
He couldn't believe his eyes. Twenty years' worth of beliefs and understanding were crumbling.
"This is a secret technique inherited from the First Hokage! It was broken so easily?"
"Could it be... that I've been training wrong?"
An ordinary person would have found it difficult to break free.
But...
Amid the wood chips, Jin glanced down at his palm.
A piece of brown wood protruded from it, wrapped in sinister, crimson Chakra.
He marveled, "The explosive power of the Nine-Tails and Wood Release combined is astonishing."
Then he raised his right hand and swung it toward the stunned Yamato, three meters away.
Whoosh!
A three-meter-wide hand formed from crimson Chakra. Even the surrounding temperature rose several degrees!
The wood chips still flying through the air instantly caught fire.
Fwoosh, fwoosh!
Flames quickly spread!
And—
"What... is this jutsu?"
Seeing the enormous hand before him, Yamato hastily formed hand signs. "Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"
Whoosh!
In an instant, a row of wooden pillars rose from the ground!
They curved and stacked together, forming an arched wall around him.
Now he really was inside an eggshell.
But before he could catch his breath, the giant hand slammed down.
Bang!
The Wood Locking Wall, strong enough to withstand an A-rank jutsu, didn't last a second before it was smashed apart.
Pieces flew in every direction.
Yamato had no choice but to jump away in a panic.
But the giant hand followed him like it was tracking his movements, never letting up.
With no other option, he formed hand signs again.
Wood Release: Forest Wall!
Crack, crack, crack!
In an instant, wooden vines rapidly sprouted from the ground and formed a shield in front of the giant hand.
Crack!
The vines snapped.
Fortunately, the crimson hand also vanished as its energy ran out.
"I-I blocked it."
Yamato wiped the sweat from his forehead, his body taut as a bowstring!
Only then did he realize his back was soaked with cold sweat.
He'd never imagined that a mere young boy from the Uchiha Clan could put him under such pressure!
"This is... much harder than an S-rank mission..."
He forced a crooked smile, rare emotion showing on the face behind his mask.
If the other Root members saw him like this, they'd definitely call him a heretic!
How could Root show emotion?
"No wonder Lord Danzo wanted to take you back for questioning. It wasn't because of your identity..."
"It was because of your strength!"
A boy from the Uchiha Clan who was still attending the Ninja Academy had made a Root operative, one comparable to an Elite Jonin, feel afraid!
Unbelievable!
But this was what a retirement battle was supposed to be!
Yamato took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil and fear in his heart.
His gaze grew resolute. "I'm definitely retiring today!"
Bang!
But the moment the words left his mouth, a tremendous force struck his abdomen and slammed him into the ground.
Rumble!
The impact left a five-meter-wide crater in the ground!
Crack.
Faintly, the sound of ribs breaking could be heard.
At the edge of the crater, Jin lowered his left foot and sighed. "You really are retiring today."
Yamato was one of the few people in the Shinobi World who possessed Wood Release Cells.
Jin couldn't remember when the man had left Root and joined Anbu.
But whether Root or Anbu, both had irreconcilable conflicts with the Uchiha Clan.
He'd been lying low and lazing around for a long time, but that didn't mean he'd let the Konoha F4 target the Uchiha Clan.
So if this guy didn't retire, he'd be getting a tombstone.
[Defeated Root: Kinoe. Attempting to copy a trait.]
[Copy successful. Congratulations, host. You've obtained the excellent trait Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall (Blue): A defensive jutsu that summons a row of wooden pillars from thin air, forming an arched wall on the ground to protect yourself.]
"A defensive jutsu?"
Jin shook his head and said directly,
"Fuse it with the Wood Release Cells · Remnant (Blue) trait."
With the Golden Body of Light, defensive jutsu weren't much use to him.
And as for protecting his companions?
That would only become his weakness.
[Fusing traits.]
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