Chakra Mode

The next day, Genma and Kakashi skipped class right on schedule.

Kakashi delved into Lightning Release, while Genma slipped into a lush, grassy forest, plopping down on the ground to attempt a new Chakra Refinement Technique.

Spreading his senses, Genma lowered his gaze to perceive carefully.

A moment later, he sensed the energy hidden within the plant cells of the weeds covering the ground.

He grabbed hold and refined it!

But he failed!

The energy contained within the cells of a single blade of grass was simply too meager.

Genma opened his eyes, pondered for a moment, then rose and leaped onto the branch of a large tree.

Pressing his right palm against the trunk, he spread his senses once more.

Compared to those weeds, the energy stored within the cells of these towering trees was incredibly abundant, especially now in spring, when all things were growing.

Refine chakra!

This time, it was an undoubted success.

The refined chakra flowed from the tree, through Genma's palm, and into his body.

He was very careful, not draining all the cellular energy of the entire tree at once, but refining only 50 percent of it.

Genma roughly estimated that the chakra refined from this 50 percent amounted to only 10 percent of his own total chakra.

It wasn't much, but it wasn't a small amount either.

In Konoha and the Land of Fire, how many such trees were there?

In other words, in areas with lush vegetation, Genma could rapidly replenish his chakra.

However, that wasn't what he was most concerned about right now.

The inherent property of chakra is that, aside from sealing techniques, it cannot be stored for long; if it is refined but not used, it will decompose back into physical and mental energy.

At this moment, Genma actively allowed the "plant chakra" within his body to decompose.

Genma sensed carefully; his mental energy returned, but the other part—the cellular power of the tree—did not dissipate outside his body, but instead merged into his flesh.

Genma felt his physical stamina recovering.

It worked!

This was exactly what he wanted.

But, was it merely recovering stamina, or could it promote physical growth?

Or rather, was it just recovering chakra, or could it increase his chakra ceiling?

Genma leaped to another tree and created a Shadow Clone, then had the Shadow Clone perform the plant chakra refinement, followed by decomposition, to continue recovering stamina.

He repeated this process over and over.

Soon, the Shadow Clone became "overstuffed," exceeding a certain critical point, and under Genma's gaze, its body actually began to turn into wood, bit by bit.

Genma's pupils constricted: As expected, this situation would occur!

Poof!

Genma struck and dispelled the Shadow Clone; the residual power returned, but his main body did not turn into wood from the plant cell power.

Because, as seen from the Shadow Clone's situation just now, the power of plant cells would only cause woodification if it exceeded the Shadow Clone's own power.

Furthermore, this didn't prove that the power of plant cells couldn't promote his physical growth; it would require longer observation.

He switched to another tree.

This time, Genma attempted something else.

He refined chakra using a 1:1:1 ratio of mental energy, physical energy, and plant cell power.

Yes, imitating Sage Mode!

For the sake of safety, Genma still created a Shadow Clone first and had the Shadow Clone perform the attempt.

A moment later, Genma saw green eyeshadow appear on the Shadow Clone's face.

"It really works!"

Genma was secretly delighted.

After the Shadow Clone stopped, he immediately said, "Test if this kind of chakra has any special effects on plants."

Nodding, the Shadow Clone leaped down from the tree, landed, and under Genma's gaze, pressed its palms together.

The next moment, a small sapling less than a meter tall nearby suddenly grew rapidly, its branches dancing like pythons as they coiled toward Genma.

With a hum, Genma raised his hand, covering his palm with chakra to form a Chakra Scalpel, and with a swing, the branches were immediately severed and scattered.

The Shadow Clone quickly ceased its attack: "It seems it is as you wished."

Genma was all smiles: "There is a pattern to follow, just as I expected."

"Let's call this mode... Wood Release Chakra Mode!"

The Shadow Clone suggested, "There should still be room to explore this Wood Release chakra. What I just did was merely stimulating and controlling existing saplings, which is vastly different from the First Hokage directly manifesting trees."

Genma also understood this and nodded, "I understand."

After dispelling the Shadow Clone, Genma selected another large tree.

This time, he personally refined his Wood Release chakra, entered the Wood Release chakra mode, and carefully sensed the Wood Release chakra within his body.

Just as the Shadow Clone had said, this unique chakra was worth exploring.

Perhaps he could develop Wood Release from this.

After all, chakra possessed very special properties; it carried the genetic information of the human body and could store mental consciousness and memories.

Therefore, whether it was plant chakra or the subsequent Wood Release chakra, it naturally carried plant genetic information.

In that case, theoretically, it was entirely feasible to achieve the same result as the First Hokage's Wood Release—directly creating wood and trees from chakra.

As the days passed, the emergence of the Wood Release chakra mode caused Genma to pour twelve times the passion and energy into its development, to the point where his training in genjutsu and medical ninjutsu stagnated.

In a flash, summer vacation arrived.

After leaving Kakashi's house, Genma bought an iced watermelon and headed over to Tsunade's place.

The chirping of insects outside did not disturb Tsunade's nap.

On the other side, Shizune, who was sitting behind a desk, immediately revealed a joyful smile upon seeing Genma, but she covered her mouth just as she was about to speak, glancing cautiously at Tsunade, who was still sleeping.

Genma smiled without saying a word, gestured with his hands, and went to the kitchen to get a knife to slice the watermelon and plate it.

By the time he brought the watermelon back, he saw Tsunade yawning and stretching.

Seeing the watermelon, Tsunade's eyes immediately lit up, and she was quite blunt, "Bring it over quickly."

"You are Lady Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin; shouldn't you maintain your dignity?"

Genma couldn't help but retort, placing one plate of watermelon by Tsunade before taking the other to Shizune.

Tsunade took a piece and ate it without ceremony, while Shizune was much more polite, smiling and thanking him.

With the cold watermelon in her stomach, Tsunade felt instantly refreshed and wiped her mouth, "Kid, you're too rigid."

Rolling his eyes, Genma sat down opposite Tsunade, and Shizune followed, bringing her plate of watermelon to sit nearby, handing him a slice as she did so.

"Lady Tsunade, has there been any new progress with the Yang Release nature transformation?"

Genma asked after accepting the watermelon and thanking her.

Tsunade replied vaguely while eating, "None."

Shizune helped explain in a low voice, "Lady Tsunade has been researching a new technique recently."

A new technique?

Yin Seal?

Or is she developing the Strength of a Hundred Technique or the Creation Rebirth?

Genma asked curiously, "What technique?"

Tsunade tossed aside the watermelon rind and let out a satisfied breath, "An S-rank medical ninjutsu. If mastered, taking the next step in Yang Release nature transformation will be much simpler."

As she spoke, Tsunade glanced at Genma, "How is your training going?"

Genma said, "Much like yours, Lady Tsunade, I've reached my limit."

Shizune exclaimed, "Amazing!"

Tsunade was also somewhat surprised, "Your talent is indeed not bad."

"However, it will require immense physical stamina to support it in the future, so you need to be mentally prepared."

She understood Genma well enough by now; in terms of chakra volume, this little guy's talent could only be described as average.

Genma nodded, "I understand, which is why medical ninjutsu is not my primary focus."

"However, I have figured out a method to train chakra control that should be suitable for Shizune, and Lady Tsunade might want to try it as well."