Ever since he had successfully extracted chakra and unraveled the mystery of the Senju, and made plans for himself and his clan, Nawaki had devoted himself entirely to training.
It had been less than ten years since the First Shinobi World War ended. After the war, the Kage of every major hidden village except the Kazekage had been killed, so tensions remained high across the nations, and clashes often broke out along the borders. Within Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō had spent years vying for the Hokage Position. In the end, Sarutobi had won and become the Third Hokage, while Danzō, leader of the Hawkish Faction, had lost the contest and taken his followers underground to form the Root organization.
Only a few years had passed since the Third Hokage took office. Although the Hokage Faction held the advantage in Konoha, the First Shinobi World War had claimed many old-generation ninja, Danzō had taken some people with him, and the new generation had yet to fully mature. As a result, the village lacked experienced ninja, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had few forces he could call upon. Tsunade and her two teammates were his students, but even as jōnin, they had to take on some B-rank missions, keeping them extremely busy. After celebrating Nawaki's birthday, the three-person team had resumed its mission career.
Mito was also busy. As Konoha's jinchūriki and the leader of the Barrier Team, she had to manage the Senju Clan for Nawaki's sake. Nawaki didn't want to burden his grandmother, who looked young on the surface but was actually old and frail. After all, she was consuming the last of her life force.
So he asked Mito for the key to the Senju Clan's secret chamber, where its ninjutsu scrolls were kept, and studied the techniques on his own. Mito trusted her precocious, gifted grandson. The Senju Clan was in the heart of Konoha, and the clan grounds were guarded by many Senju, so there was no danger. She let him study alone and taught him Sealing Jutsu during her free time each evening. Mito wasn't skilled in ninjutsu herself, so she had little to teach Nawaki. But judging by his progress with Sealing Jutsu, she believed that his talent and intelligence would let him master ninjutsu on his own.
The Senju Clan's collection of ninjutsu came as a huge surprise to Nawaki. There were scrolls of techniques of every rank from all five chakra natures, available for him to study at will. Even the Scroll of Sealing, which recorded the First Hokage's Wood Release and the forbidden techniques created by the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, was among them! The Second Hokage Tobirama Senju had painstakingly laid an elaborate plan for the Senju Clan. How could he have failed to leave his and the First Hokage's techniques to the clan? The Second Hokage had died unexpectedly after being ambushed, while Sarutobi had merely been appointed in an emergency. There was no way the Second Hokage could have given him the Scroll of Sealing in advance. In the original story, the Third Hokage had probably obtained it after the Second Shinobi World War, because after Nawaki's death, the Senju Clan had been wiped out. Heartbroken, Tsunade had then handed the Scroll of Sealing over to the Third Hokage.
The Scroll of Sealing was still in Mito's custody on behalf of the Senju Clan, and as the clan's young heir, Nawaki was naturally free to look through it. The first time he entered the chamber, he used the system to scan and record every ninjutsu and forbidden technique. After that, he never went back. In truth, he had wanted to destroy the Scroll of Sealing and keep all its forbidden techniques for himself, but he knew the consequences would be serious, so in the end he gave up.
During this time, unable to suppress his curiosity, Nawaki went to the Memorial Stone of Hashirama Senju under the pretext of paying his respects.
From his earlier genetic analysis, Nawaki had learned that Orochimaru had already altered his own body and carried snake genes. So Nawaki was certain that Orochimaru had embarked on the path to immortality.
In the original story, Orochimaru had stolen Hashirama's body during the Third Shinobi World War and removed all his internal organs, preserving them in containers.
The First Hokage's cells were so full of vitality that his body had not decayed, even after many years. In the battle at the Valley of the End, he had exhausted his spirit and life force and suffered serious injuries. He had used a secret technique to delay his death, returned to Konoha, and died not long afterward.
Nawaki wasn't sure when Orochimaru had stolen the body. Since Wood Release was at stake, he had to go and check for himself.
When he arrived, he scanned the area with the Wish Power System and found that the First Hokage's body was still in its coffin. He finally breathed a sigh of relief. But he still didn't dare act rashly and steal the body first, since he had already drawn the Third Hokage's attention. He didn't know whether the man was watching him in secret.
"System, can you use Wish Power to move the First Hokage's body into the space from a distance?" Standing before Hashirama's Memorial Stone with grief on his face, Nawaki silently asked the question in his mind.
"Since the target is a soulless corpse, it meets the requirements. You can spend 1,000 points of Wish Power to move it into the Tree Seed Space."
Hearing the system's confirmation, Nawaki's heart raced. "Will it cause any disturbance? Could someone discover it?"
"Spending 1,000 points of Wish Power to distort the cause and effect of reality will cause no fluctuations. No life-form below the immortal level will detect it."
After receiving the system's clear assurance once more, Nawaki knew he had nothing to worry about. Even Kaguya Otsutsuki and the Sage of Six Paths hadn't reached the level of manipulating cause and effect. "Spend 1,000 points of Wish Power and move the body into the space."
"Understood! The body has been successfully collected!"
After receiving the system's notification, Nawaki put away his grief and said to the Memorial Stone with an "excited" expression, "Grandpa, don't worry. Nawaki will protect the village for you! I'm going to train now. I'll come visit you again next time!"
Nawaki's performance hadn't been in vain. Before long, he received a system notification that it had acquired Wish Power. Hiruzen Sarutobi really was watching him.
"Grandpa Hashirama, you'll forgive me, right? It's better in my hands than being cut apart by Orochimaru." As Nawaki turned to leave, he thought to himself.
If he hadn't been short on Wish Power, he would have liked to make a fake body and put it back in the coffin. He wanted to know what expression Orochimaru would wear after opening the coffin and finding that the First Hokage's body had rotted away. But his expression would probably be quite something when he discovered the coffin was empty, too.
After returning to his room, Nawaki eagerly asked the system in his mind, "System, have you analyzed the Wood Release bloodline template? How much Wish Power would I need to exchange for it?"
"Reporting to the host: directly exchanging for the Wood Release bloodline through the system will cost 1 million points of Wish Power."
"What? Why does it cost so much? Haven't I already obtained the Asura Bloodline? Shouldn't exchanging for the Wood Release bloodline be cheap?"
"Wood Release is a chakra fusion bloodline. It requires changing your genetic cells so your body can fully adapt to Wood Release chakra and avoid being transformed into wood. It is a high-level bloodline, completely different from the Asura Bloodline. Only when combined with the Asura Bloodline can its power be used to perfection. Exchanging for Hashirama Senju's pure bloodline would cost 101 million points of Wish Power. Since you possess the Asura Bloodline, you need only spend 1 million points to obtain the perfected bloodline."
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