Research into Wood Release

"Tsukuyomi..."

In Konoha's Research Department, Uchiha Kazuto held a jar and gazed at the eye inside, his face full of admiration.

This was why he had kept Uchiha Itachi alive all this time. It was all for this eye, for the Dojutsu within it—Tsukuyomi!

He hadn't arrived in the Warring States period. He had come at a point very close to the start of the story, so he didn't have much time to develop. After all, he had no system, no special training methods, and no outrageous abilities. The only thing he had was a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan that he didn't even know how he'd awakened.

His two Dojutsu required a large number of talented people and powerful subordinates to reach their full potential. That was where Tsukuyomi came in handy. He could use it to draw other people's consciousness into a special environment, adjust the flow of time, educate these talents, and fill their minds with all kinds of knowledge.

With Tsukuyomi, he could cultivate all kinds of talent on a large scale in an extremely short time. And with the help of his Dojutsu, he was confident he could rapidly build up his own power.

"Lord Hokage!"

Just then, Hiruko, the head of research at Konoha's Research Department, walked over and respectfully bowed to Uchiha Kazuto.

"Mm. Here, Hiruko. I have high hopes for you. Uncover the secrets of Tsukuyomi as soon as possible. I need a simplified version—a special Tsukuyomi that anyone can use..."

Uchiha Kazuto nodded at Hiruko and handed him the jar.

"Yes, Lord Hokage. I'll get it done!"

Hiruko respectfully accepted the eye.

Afterward, Uchiha Kazuto strolled around the Research Department.

Before long, he reached an experimental area where research into Wood Release was underway.

Wood Release was an incredibly mysterious and wondrous Kekkei Genkai. To shinobi, it was simply a powerful Kekkei Genkai used for combat. But to a civilization, a nation, or a people who relied on plants for food, it was a priceless asset—a Kekkei Genkai of immense value.

If they could master this Kekkei Genkai, they would never have to worry about food shortages again. That was crucial for any civilization. If its people couldn't even get enough to eat, how could it hope to develop?

In fact, forget Wood Release—even a supernatural ability that could rapidly ripen just one type of crop would be enormously important to a civilization.

Unfortunately, the shinobi of the Ninja World hadn't realized how important Wood Release could be for production. But that was only natural. These shinobi didn't need to farm or concern themselves with politics. All they had to do was complete missions and kill people. You couldn't expect a group that had spent their whole lives killing to develop much awareness of such things.

Wood Release was an extremely important part of Uchiha Kazuto's plans.

The Ninja World had the technological foundations for creating a utopia. In theory, any civilization with supernatural powers had the technological foundations to create a perfect utopia. But no one had the idea—or the ability to put it into practice.

Perhaps, years from now, a genius would emerge in the Ninja World, gather up all the technologies of the past, and devise theories suited to the Ninja World. They might establish a great, complete utopian civilization—a world where everyone was truly happy. But perhaps, years from now, the Ninja World would no longer exist. That was possible too.

Who could say?

"Unfortunately, I'm just an ordinary person. And even in my own world, the technology for converting carbon dioxide into starch hasn't reached a very mature stage..."

Uchiha Kazuto shook his head. He was ultimately just an ordinary person, and the technology in his own world wasn't very advanced either. Otherwise, he could have simply brought out matter-conversion technology and solved the Ninja World's food crisis by expending a tiny amount of energy.

Besides Wood Release, the Research Department had projects studying other Ninjutsu as well as various technologies.

The Ninja World had plenty of modern technology—televisions, radar, refrigerators, and so on. Uchiha Kazuto had these people working to refine the technology and establish a set of standards, so they could eventually mass-produce it on assembly lines.

The Ninja World, and the Land of Fire in particular, was still far too rural.

"How's the progress?"

Uchiha Kazuto returned to the Wood Release research area and asked one of the researchers.

"Lord Hokage, progress is moving forward steadily. We've already made some headway!"

The researcher stopped and reported to Uchiha Kazuto.

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Uchiha Kazuto was a little surprised. Wait, they're this good? No wonder those were such impressive traits. He'd spent so much of his Dojutsu's power activating the genius traits, and it had clearly been worth it. Shimura Danzō and Orochimaru had studied Wood Release for so many years and only managed to achieve so little. And now?

So little time had passed, yet they'd already made progress—and they hadn't even begun human experiments using human subjects!

"Lord Hokage, our research has shown that Wood Release cells possess terrifying vitality and the ability to divide. Given sufficient resources, they can even form neural tissue and special limbs. We tried stimulating and controlling that neural tissue, and found that it let us make those limbs react..."

"Get to the point!"

Uchiha Kazuto shook his head.

"Yes, Lord Hokage. Put simply, we might be able to create a special Artificial Brain to control the bodies generated when Wood Release cells differentiate, allowing them to perform Wood Release Ninjutsu!"

Uchiha Kazuto's original goal had never been to let people master Wood Release. He only wanted to use it to perform Wood Release Ninjutsu and speed up plant growth. That was all.

"Excellent. I approve this project. Go ahead and do whatever it takes."

Uchiha Kazuto nodded, patted the researcher on the shoulder, and praised him with a look of admiration.

Uchiha Kazuto saw no problem with this project. He thought it was perfectly fine. Flesh-and-blood technology was still technology; as long as it worked, who cared about anything else? As long as it achieved the goal, there was no problem.

The project was essentially about using Wood Release cells to grow a life-form from scratch, custom-made to serve as a tool.

Something like this...