Heaven-Defying Rewards for Stealing Mikoto, Sage Body Completion, and a New Trump Card

The first ray of morning sunlight pierced through the paper-paneled shoji door, casting dappled shadows across the tatami.

In the corner of the courtyard, the shishi-odoshi filled with spring water. The bamboo tube tipped over, its crisp knocking echoing through the empty Senju Clan Grounds.

Sosuke sat cross-legged on the bedding. In an instant, his black pupils were completely overtaken by a brilliant emerald green. Deep within his mind, the cold, mechanical notification he had waited for all night finally thundered like a bolt from the heavens.

"Ding! Detected that the host has successfully intercepted the A+-rank heroine of destiny, Uchiha Mikoto, and completed the first union of yin and yang!"

"Interception progress assessed: 100%!"

"Congratulations, host, on obtaining the ultimate stage reward: [Sage Body Completion]!"

"Congratulations, host, on obtaining a ninjutsu trump card: [Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence]!"

The instant the notification ended, an oceanic torrent of energy appeared out of nowhere within every limb and bone of Sosuke's body. This power was overwhelmingly tyrannical, allowing him no time to prepare as it surged directly into his meridians.

Sosuke let out a muffled groan and clenched his teeth.

A rapid series of crackles burst from his bones like popping beans. The lingering hidden injuries caused by the backlash from his beginner Sage Body and Wood Release were swept away by the immense vitality as though they were rotten wood. His muscle fibers tore apart, then reformed in the blink of an eye, becoming tougher and more explosive.

What thrilled him most was that the "divine erosion" hanging over his head, capable of assimilating him into a tree at any moment, had finally been completely suppressed by Mikoto's pure Uchiha yin release and the powerful suppression of his completed Sage Body.

The strange bark-like patterns covering his left arm and chest visibly receded, transforming back into pale, firm skin.

His chakra reserves were skyrocketing!

Peak Chunin... Jonin... Elite Jonin...

Until they crashed through that invisible barrier and firmly entered the realm of Kage level!

Sosuke slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. It condensed into visible white mist that lingered in the air for a long time. He loosely curled his fingers, feeling the terrifying power within him that could effortlessly tear apart the earth with a single thought. An exceptionally cold curve rose at the corner of his lips.

From this moment on, he was no longer that sickly young master who needed to keep up appearances at every turn and could die suddenly from using Wood Release.

With Sage Body Completion and Deep Forest Emergence, he finally possessed the confidence to overturn the table in this perilous Hidden Leaf Village. Danzo's Root? The Third Hokage's ANBU? Before absolute overwhelming violence, they were nothing more than insects he could crush at will.

A faint rustling came from the bedding beside him.

Mikoto slowly woke up, her waterfall-like hair spilling over her smooth shoulders. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and instinctively snuggled closer into Sosuke's embrace.

But in the next second, her movements abruptly froze. She raised her head and stared at the man before her in astonishment.

It was clearly still that gentle, handsome face, yet his aura had undergone an earth-shaking change. If yesterday's Sosuke had been a slightly sickly sharp blade hidden inside a wooden sheath, then the current him was a bottomless abyss.

Simply sitting there, the utterly pure vitality radiating from him made the Uchiha bloodline within Mikoto feel an instinctive urge to submit.

"Darling... you..." Mikoto opened her mouth, her voice soft and sweet, carrying the languidness of someone freshly awake along with shock.

Sosuke concealed the sharpness in his eyes, and his emerald pupils returned to deep black. He reached out and gently tucked the loose strands of hair from Mikoto's cheek behind her ear, his fingertips brushing over her delicate, warm face.

"What? You don't recognize me?" Sosuke chuckled, his voice low.

"No..." Two blushes bloomed across Mikoto's cheeks. She could clearly feel the changes in her body. After last night's almost frenzied taking, she did not feel the slightest fatigue. Instead, she felt refreshed and invigorated. The cold aura that had accumulated in her body over the years from activating the Sharingan had been completely dissolved by a warm current of yang release chakra.

Her constitution had undergone a qualitative transformation under Sosuke's nourishment.

"What Fugaku can't give you, I can. And I'll give you even more." Sosuke wrapped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her into his embrace. His tone was calm, but it carried unquestionable dominance. "The shackles of the Uchiha clan have already shattered. From today onward, you only need to consider one thing—bearing the finest descendants for the Senju Clan."

At the word "descendants," Mikoto's ears turned so red they seemed ready to bleed. She did not resist. Instead, she obediently pressed her cheek to Sosuke's broad chest. Listening to his strong, powerful heartbeat, her eyes became incomparably resolute.

"Mikoto understands. This life, this body, both belong to you, darling."

After soothing Mikoto, Sosuke draped a loose white yukata over himself and walked barefoot into the outer courtyard.

The morning breeze swept past, bringing with it the fragrance of earth.

Sosuke stood in the middle of the courtyard, his gaze profound. Having the strength to overturn the table did not mean he needed to go smash the Hokage Building now. The Hidden Leaf higher-ups were merely a few old dogs out in the open. The venomous snakes truly lurking in the shadows of the ninja world had yet to reveal themselves.

Only by maintaining his sickly disguise, making Danzo and the Third Hokage tear at each other in suspicion, and completely intensifying the conflict between the Uchiha clan and the higher-ups could he uproot the entire Hidden Leaf power structure from the shadows at the smallest possible cost.

Let's see just how far Wood Release driven by a completed Sage Body can go.

Sosuke thought silently.

He formed no hand seals and did not even need to bring his palms together. With only a thought, an incomparably dense emerald-green chakra surged from his right palm.

Hiss!

A wooden vine as thick as a baby's arm tore through the skin of his palm without warning and shot out. This vine was completely different from the crude trees he had used against Root before. Its surface gleamed with a dull metallic sheen, while dense, sharp barbs covered the vine.

Like a living venomous snake, it writhed and extended wildly through the air, radiating an aura of destruction that made one's scalp tingle.

Sosuke could clearly sense that if he wished it, this vine could instantly transform into a terrifying forest that swallowed the entire Senju Clan Grounds, grinding every living thing within sight into pulp.

This was [Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence].

The invincible technique the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had used to pacify the warring era and establish the Hidden Leaf!

"Perfect." Sosuke suddenly clenched his fist.

The vine in midair instantly exploded into a shower of wood chips, then transformed into pure life energy and silently dissipated into the morning breeze without leaving a trace.

He tightly sealed the leaking chakra within his body, fully activating All Creation's concealment ability, and once again became the Senju orphan with an unstable aura who needed protection.

However, Sosuke did not notice.

In the brief seconds when he broke through to Sage Body Completion and activated Deep Forest Emergence from his palm.

That supremely pure source aura of yang release, the natural enemy of the Divine Tree, had been under his strict control, yet an exceedingly faint ripple still ignored the barrier surrounding the Senju Clan Grounds and seeped downward along the veins of the earth.

It passed through hard rock layers and rushing underground rivers.

It continued until it reached a dark space deep beneath Hidden Leaf Village, a place beyond the reach of even ANBU and Root.

This was a sunless underground cavern.

Thick tree roots twisted and coiled like dragons, crawling over the stone walls of the cavern.

On a dead root at the deepest part of the cavern clung a mass of pitch-black, formless, strange matter. Like a puddle of mud, it blended perfectly into the darkness, without the slightest breath or chakra fluctuation.

It had been dormant here for a very, very long time.

Suddenly.

The black mass twitched violently.

Then, the center of the black mud slowly split open, revealing a single eye that glowed a dim yellow and was riddled with bloodshot veins.

"Hiss..."

An extremely hoarse sound, like two sheets of sandpaper scraping against each other, suddenly echoed through the dark cavern.

The black shadow squirmed as it slowly rose from the tree root, forming the outline of a half-human body. Its dim yellow eye stared fixedly above the cavern, toward the surface of Hidden Leaf Village.

It greedily sniffed at the trace of aura in the air, already so faint it was almost imperceptible.

It was the pure scent it had searched for over a thousand years, a scent that should have vanished completely with the death of Senju Hashirama.

"Wood Release... and such... pure life force..."

The black shadow muttered to itself. Its tone held disbelief, along with a trace of wariness buried deep within its soul.

"Hashirama is already dead... Asura's chakra is still in its wandering state of reincarnation... How can anyone in Hidden Leaf Village emit yang release source energy of this level?"

The shadow's body twisted, as though contemplating something.

A moment later, an exceedingly venomous chill flashed through its dim yellow eye.

"Whoever you are... any variable that could obstruct Mother's resurrection must be erased."

The black mud slowly flowed down the stone wall, silently merging into the shadows underground as it spread slowly and covertly toward the Senju Clan Grounds on the surface.