White Lotus

"Does this mean I have to face all three of you at once?"

Seeing Tsunade looking so eager, Minato pointed at himself, not entirely sure: "Me?"

"Don't worry, Orochimaru and I won't take the initiative to attack."

Tsunade beckoned with her hand: "Enough talk, hurry up and come at us!"

"Uh, alright then."

Minato drew a kunai, his gaze instantly turning calm: "Then... excuse me!"

As the words fell, his figure suddenly appeared in front of Jiraiya, the kunai stabbing toward Jiraiya's lower abdomen without hesitation.

Jiraiya's expression was much more serious than before; he parried Minato's wrist and kicked straight toward Minato's chest.

Minato was about to dodge to the side, but he saw Jiraiya shift his kick, sweeping him away with a single blow.

"You should have dodged to my outer side. That way, I would have been forced to sweep outward, which is not only harder to exert force from but also makes it easier for you to find an opening," Jiraiya said earnestly.

"I have learned much."

Minato steadied himself and charged at Jiraiya again, his reckless appearance leaving the three of them puzzled.

Just as the three of them couldn't help but wonder what gave this kid the confidence to charge at them head-on, an incredibly dazzling light suddenly erupted from Minato's body!

It was as if a blinding sun had risen within the training ground!

"Gaia—"

Jiraiya felt a flash before his eyes, and tears instantly welled up, forcing him to cover his eyes and shout out loud.

Despicable brat!

The three of them cursed in their hearts simultaneously and retreated using Body Flicker.

While retreating, Jiraiya quickly formed hand seals: "Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

Boom—

A wall of earth several meters high rose, blocking the light source.

The three of them kept their eyes closed, easing the stinging pain while carefully listening to the movements around them.

"He's behind the wall."

Orochimaru chuckled, his tone carrying a hint of thin anger.

"Don't get worked up over a kid..."

Tsunade smiled, though the smile looked somewhat forced; clearly, she was also annoyed by Minato's trick, but as his teacher, she couldn't easily lash out.

"Oh? Then look over there."

Orochimaru pointed, and Tsunade followed his gaze to see Nawaki kneeling under a tree, covering his eyes and weeping bitterly.

Tsunade: "..."

"Why did he stop moving?"

Jiraiya listened to the movements behind the wall; he could catch the sound of Minato's heartbeat and the faint rustling of his soles against the ground.

Just as the three were puzzled, a faint cracking sound suddenly came from the wall.

Tsunade's expression changed abruptly: "Retreat!"

Before she could finish, Jiraiya and Orochimaru had already put distance between themselves and the wall; though they didn't know what that sound meant, caution was never a mistake.

Sure enough, the moment the three retreated, several thick tree trunks burst through the wall, coiling toward their ankles like agile snakes!

"Nani?!"

Jiraiya's eyes widened, and he quickly formed seals to spit out three Flame Bullets, shattering the encroaching trunks before staring at Minato in a daze.

"It's actually... Wood Release?!"

Watching the branches slowly retract into Minato's arm, the complex emotions in Orochimaru's heart quietly dissipated, replaced by an indescribable fanaticism!

He actually possessed two Kekkei Genkai?

Someone could actually possess two Kekkei Genkai at the same time!

What about three?

Or perhaps even more...

For instance, if all the Kekkei Genkai were integrated into a single body, what kind of things would happen?

Thinking of this, a wild ambition quietly sprouted in his heart, and he suddenly turned to look at Tsunade: "As expected, this is the reason you took him as a disciple, right?"

Tsunade nodded. Although she couldn't use Wood Release herself, as the granddaughter of the First Hokage, no one was more qualified to teach Minato than her, not even the Hokage.

Although the Scroll of Seals in Konoha contained records of Wood Release ninjutsu, it was public property, and there was a price to pay to access it.

But if she were the one to teach him, it would be a family inheritance; the nature of the two was different.

Not to mention that even the Scroll of Seals was compiled by her grand-uncle; if one really wanted to be pedantic, even the Scroll of Seals could be considered the private property of their Senju Clan.

"Subarashii—"

Seeing Tsunade nod, Orochimaru licked his lips, his gaze toward Minato growing increasingly fervent.

"Tsunade, how about we discuss something?"

Hearing this, Tsunade looked at Orochimaru with wariness: "You aren't thinking of poaching my student, are you?"

Orochimaru's smile stiffened: "How could you call it poaching? Regardless, we are teammates who have fought side-by-side, and I truly do admire that child."

"No way."

Tsunade gave a soft huff: "Don't even think about it! I welcome you to teach him, but his master can only be me!"

Orochimaru thought it over and realized that wasn't entirely unacceptable, so he nodded: "That works too."

Even without the title of master and disciple, the reality of the relationship would still exist, so surely there would be some leeway there?

With this connection in place, it wouldn't be too much to ask for some help with his little experiments, right?

"I have to say, this is my first time seeing Wood Release. It doesn't seem all that special, does it? I can't quite figure out what the method of attack is."

Jiraiya rubbed his chin, recalling the form of those tree trunks from earlier, and his expression suddenly turned lecherous: "Impact? Entanglement? Hehehe..."

"Wood Release possesses incredible suppression power and can, to a certain extent, absorb the target's chakra. Come to think of it, it's just like those dirty thoughts in your head; once you get tainted by it, you'll be drained into a dried-up corpse."

Tsunade said this calmly, but her words sent a shiver down Jiraiya's spine.

"That is indeed very dangerous..."

"Absorbing the target's chakra..."

Minato was also lost in thought. After a moment of contemplation, he suddenly turned and walked to the edge of the field, reaching out to press his hand against a thick, sturdy tree.

Under the puzzled gazes of Tsunade and the others, the tree, which had been full of green leaves and vibrant life just a moment ago, suddenly saw its leaves wither and turn yellow within seconds.

"Is this what you meant by 'to a certain extent'? It can even drain plants? Doesn't that mean as long as he's in a forest, this kid's chakra is infinite?"

Jiraiya pointed at the withered tree, shouting in alarm.

Tsunade swallowed hard; she had never heard of Wood Release being able to drain the life force of plants.

Minato, however, was not particularly surprised. In fact, he had been very restrained; he felt that if he wanted to, he could drain this tree dry in an instant.

After thinking for a moment, he channeled some chakra back into the tree, and it immediately became lush with foliage again, appearing even thicker and sturdier than before.

It sounded absurd, but in that instant, Minato felt as if he could "hear" the tree before him thanking him.

Could Hashirama also absorb the chakra of trees in the original story?

Or perhaps "life energy" would be a more accurate term...

Madara awakened the Rinnegan after merging with the Power of All Creation, so if it were Hashirama, what kind of power would he awaken?

The image of Naruto and Sasuke during the final battle suddenly flashed through his mind. Minato felt a vague conjecture surface, but he looked at Tsunade and the others with a calm expression and gave an embarrassed smile.

"It really can absorb chakra. It seems I'll have to be cautious when using it in the future."

That smile was as gentle and sunny as ever, like a pure, flawless white lotus...