The Uses of the Sage Body and Awakening Wood Style

"Really lucky. If I hadn't fused with White Zetsu Cells, activating my own Sage Body would probably have been extremely difficult. Even if I had awakened it, there would have been no way to absorb Hashirama Cells with such a vast disparity."

"Now, not only have I activated my Sage Body, but I've also absorbed Hashirama Cells, allowing my Sage Body to skip the newly awakened stage entirely. With the Mangekyō Sharingan and Sage Body reinforcing each other afterward, my development of the Sage Body should quickly reach the level of the First Hokage."

Cultivating one's nature but not one's life was the foremost flaw in cultivation. Spirit and flesh had always been inseparable. If the spirit was too strong, it would oppress the body. Uchiha Itachi had ruined his body at such a young age because of the burden of the Mangekyō Sharingan. If the body was too strong, it would likewise oppress the spirit, turning one into a slow-witted beast, or even leaving them comatose for long periods.

However, when the gap between spirit and flesh was not too great, they instead complemented each other. When the spirit was stronger than the body, it stimulated the body and continuously strengthened it. Likewise, when the body was stronger than the spirit, it nourished the spirit in return, bringing the two into harmony.

Now, whether it was Minagawa Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan on the spiritual side or his Sage Body on the physical side, both had reached comparable levels of power. As long as he cultivated them in a complementary manner, his growth rate would surely surpass that of Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju in their prime.

As he carefully felt the changes in his body, Minagawa Uchiha also discovered an instinctive power within himself. Unlike spiritual energy and life energy, which could not be freely unleashed, it resembled Chakra and seemed ready to erupt at any time.

"Could it be Wood Style?"

Minagawa Uchiha was briefly puzzled, then formed a guess. He directly extended his palm, preparing to test it firsthand.

He guided that power into his palm and released it outward. A wooden branch slowly grew from his hand, and he sensed the life aura carried by it.

"Ha ha, it really is Wood Style! This feeling of being brimming with life can't be wrong. This is perfect Wood Style, just like Hashirama Senju's!"

"A Sage Body, perfect Wood Style... Once I fully develop these powers, these two alone will make me the next God of the Ninja World. Not to mention that I also have the Sharingan. If I advance to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, I'll be able to perform the Armored Susanoo Great Buddha myself and accomplish the feat of destroying four nations alone."

Having watched all of Naruto, Minagawa Uchiha was deeply pained by Hashirama Senju's actions. He and Uchiha Madara clearly could have joined forces, used the Armored Susanoo Great Buddha, and wiped out four nations between them, completely strangling the Ninja World's conflicts within a small internal scope. Then there would not have been several frequent Shinobi World Wars later on, and neither the affected area nor the number of people involved would have been so vast.

Yet Hashirama Senju naively believed that establishing villages would safeguard peace. Little did he know that this very act elevated the conflicts of the Warring States Period, which had merely been disputes between clans involving at most a few hundred people, into brutal wars between nations that affected tens of thousands.

In contrast, Uchiha Madara had been the clear-headed one at the time. He explicitly wanted to eliminate the other shinobi forces: submit or be destroyed. But in the end, he was stopped by that fool Hashirama Senju. It had to be said that although Hashirama Senju appeared full of great love, he was actually quite selfish.

Before the battle at the Valley of the End, Uchiha Madara had already believed that Hashirama Senju had gone down the wrong path. For the sake of protecting the village, he could even harm the interests of his friends and family. That was completely putting the cart before the horse, and it caused the two to drift further and further apart.

Sure enough, the darkness that later bred within Konoha under the First Hokage's ideals was too numerous to count, and the village grew weaker and weaker. If not for the foundation the Second Hokage had laid for the village, it would have been destroyed long ago. How could it have lasted until the Fourth Great Ninja War, until Naruto and Sasuke grew up?

Now the Senju had vanished, the Uzumaki no longer existed, and they even intended to exterminate the Uchiha Clan, the contributors who had helped establish the village. Minagawa Uchiha simply could not understand what those Hokage were thinking. Their brain-dead stupidity was on par with the Bloody Mist under Sharingan control.

However, Minagawa Uchiha now possessed the strength to break this great tree that had rotted to its roots. For a moment, he felt rather pleased with himself.

"Sure enough, this is a world where cheats rule. No matter how hard you cultivate, at most you'll reach the life-burning level of Might Guy. How could that compare to the sheer satisfaction and directness of cheating?"

"Still, cheating carries no fewer risks than burning one's life away. Fortunately, when I awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, those negative emotions didn't drive me into mental collapse. I also formed my own worldview early on. Otherwise, I might have ended up like Obito Uchiha and Uchiha Itachi, becoming a cold-blooded person ruled by the Mangekyō Sharingan's extreme emotions."

Minagawa Uchiha mocked those two so-called filial sons again, while also taking them as a warning and constantly reminding himself to be cautious and not let extreme emotions affect him. Even someone as powerful as Six Paths Madara had been successfully ambushed by Black Zetsu, a fighter with pitiful Battle Power, when he became carried away with pride. His plans for most of his life had become someone else's wedding dress, let alone Minagawa Uchiha himself.

"The Ninja World isn't as simple as it appears. Nagato is hardly the ceiling. Not to mention Black Zetsu lurking in the shadows, there's the Sage of Six Paths in the Pure Land, Hamura Otsutsuki on the moon who awakened the Tenseigan, and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, who is currently hiding in some unknown corner. Those old monsters have all concealed themselves. Until I have sufficient strength, I absolutely cannot be the one to stand out."

"For a long time to come, I'll probably have to let Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Itachi, these two Tool People, stand at the forefront and draw attention for me. I only need to offer advice at crucial moments and quietly serve as muscle. Once it's done, I can simply brush off my sleeves and leave."

Having prepared himself to remain behind the scenes for the long term, Minagawa Uchiha continued examining the changes in himself.

First, both his Chakra reserves and Chakra recovery speed had improved greatly, allowing him to step into the threshold of Beyond Kage Level. Next, his surging vitality granted him the ability to regenerate without hand seals, just like Hashirama Senju. The recovery speed of his Mangekyō Sharingan's Dojutsu Power had also improved tremendously.

Furthermore, the Spore Technique and Chakra-absorbing ability he had gained by fusing White Zetsu Cells were greatly strengthened by awakening perfect Wood Style. Even without Wood Style secret techniques to fully unleash all his strength, he should now stand at the peak of Kage Level.

With Minagawa Uchiha's current strength, resolving the crisis of the Uchiha Clan's extermination would take little effort. Even if he could not resolve the matter itself, he could still resolve the people creating it.

His gaze turned toward the Hokage Building, anticipation shining in his eyes.

"I hope you can capture the Masked Man as you wish! Let me see what kind of caliber you have as Hokage!"