The Old Man Comes Knocking—Would You Believe Me If I Said I Love Planting Trees?

At the edge of the training ground, in that orchard that should not have existed.

The atmosphere froze the moment that Root ANBU appeared.

Sen still had half an apple clenched between his teeth, juice trickling down from the corner of his mouth.

He slowly swallowed the apple, not a trace of panic visible in his eyes. He still looked as lazy and unhurried as ever.

"Root?"

Sen tilted his head, as though inspecting a fly that had landed on his food.

"That old dog Danzo sure has a sharp nose. He caught the scent and came running so quickly."

The Root ANBU hanging upside down from the tree clearly had not expected this six-year-old brat to be unafraid, much less dare to call Lord Danzo by name.

A cold killing intent flashed through the eyes behind his mask.

"It seems I'll have to teach you a lesson before you learn to behave."

The ANBU ninja released the branch with both hands, his body drifting silently toward the ground like a weightless fallen leaf.

Just as his toes were about to touch the grass—

Bang!

The thick branch he had been standing on exploded without warning.

Countless sharp wooden spikes shot at the ANBU in midair from all directions like a torrential barrage of needles.

They were so fast that there was no time to react!

"What?!"

The ANBU ninja's face changed drastically.

He never could have imagined that every tree in this orchard was alive!

He forcibly twisted his body in midair, drew the short blade from his back, and created a wall of impenetrable blade-light in an attempt to block them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A rapid series of metallic clashes rang out.

Although the ANBU ninja blocked most of the wooden spikes, more than a dozen thin bloody cuts still appeared across his body.

He landed on the ground in a miserable state, but before he could steady himself—

The grass beneath his feet suddenly writhed. Two tough vines coiled around his ankles like venomous snakes.

"Damn it!"

The ANBU ninja was just about to slash through the vines with his blade.

When Sen's leisurely voice sounded beside his ear.

"Don't move. These vines have been coated in poison."

Sen crossed his arms and watched him calmly.

"A plant-based neurotoxin I just developed. It makes your whole body itch so badly you'll want to claw your skin to shreds."

"If you don't want to perform a striptease in front of Lord Hokage later, you'd better stand still."

The ANBU ninja's body instantly stiffened.

He did not know whether Sen was telling the truth, but he did not dare gamble on it.

Just then, several sharp whistles cut through the air.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two figures appeared at the edge of the orchard almost simultaneously.

One was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, rushing over so frantically that even his hat was crooked.

The other two were ANBU directly under the Hokage, wearing fox and tanuki masks.

"Stop!"

The moment the old Third landed, he saw the Root ninja bound by vines and Sen Senju standing in the center of the orchard with an innocent expression.

The heart hanging in his throat finally settled halfway.

"Greetings, Lord Hokage!"

The two Hokage ANBU instantly appeared behind Sen, "protecting" him from either side.

In reality, they were preventing him from escaping.

"Lord Hokage wishes to see you."

The fox-masked ANBU's voice was as cold as ice.

Sen curled his lips.

Well, the old man had come to investigate in person.

With a thought, the vines binding the Root ninja silently retreated underground.

The Root ninja gave Sen a wary look, then glanced at the Third. In the end, he turned into a puff of smoke and vanished from the spot.

"Let's go, Grandpa Hokage."

Sen raised both hands in surrender and gave the Third an innocent, harmless smile.

"I'm getting tired of these apples anyway. I was just thinking of stopping by your office for a cup of tea."

Inside the Hokage's office.

The atmosphere was stifling.

The Third Hokage sat behind his desk without saying a word.

His sharp, expectant gaze scraped over Sen again and again like a pair of scalpels.

Sen's skin crawled under that stare, so he could only continue playing the part of a restless six-year-old child.

His toes kept drawing circles on the floor.

Finally, the old Third slowly raised his hand and pointed at the crystal ball on the desk, which was still glowing faintly.

Within the crystal ball, the orchard that had risen from the ground was clearly reflected.

"Sen, can you explain to Grandpa what this is?"

The old Third's voice was soft, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.

Sen's heart skipped a beat.

Here it comes. The soul-searching interrogation.

He quickly switched into the "Oscar-winning actor" mode he had prepared long ago.

He blinked his watery eyes, tilted his head, and stared blankly at the crystal ball.

"An orchard? Grandpa Hokage, aren't those just a few apple trees I planted earlier?"

"Planted?"

The corner of the old Third's eye twitched.

"In a matter of seconds, they grew from seeds into twenty-meter-tall trees, then flowered and bore fruit instantly."

"And you call that planting?"

"Yeah!"

Sen nodded with complete confidence. He even pulled out the half-eaten apple from his ninja tool pouch and handed it over.

"Look, Grandpa Hokage. The fruit is huge and sweet. I've always really loved planting trees."

"When I saw that empty patch of land earlier, I casually buried the leftover apple seeds."

Sen scratched the back of his head and gave an honest, foolish grin.

"I don't know why either. Maybe... maybe trees and I are just meant for each other."

"I blew a breath at that patch of ground, and they went 'whoosh' and grew this big all by themselves."

"You blew a breath?"

The old Third felt his blood pressure shooting straight up.

This brat was treating him like a three-year-old!

Blew a breath? What, did he think he was some immortal?

"Sen, did you secretly read any strange scrolls at the orphanage?"

The old Third tried a different approach, coaxing him patiently.

"Or did any strange person teach you some strange ninjutsu?"

Sen shook his head like a rattle drum.

"No, no! Absolutely not!"

"I swear, all I do every day is pull weeds and chop firewood. I haven't even learned that many characters yet. How could I understand any scrolls?"

"Grandpa Hokage, if you don't believe me, you can ask Aunt Li at our orphanage. She chases me around and beats me every day."

Seeing Sen's utterly sincere and innocent look, as though he was one step away from swearing to the heavens.

The old Third fell into deep thought.

Could it be that this child truly did not know what was happening to him?

That he had simply mistaken this heaven-defying ability for an innate talent?

Like how birds were born knowing how to fly and fish were born knowing how to swim?

If that was the case, things became complicated.

It meant this Wood Release awakening was completely uncontrollable!

"Ah..."

The old Third let out a long sigh and rubbed his throbbing temples.

He decided not to press further.

After all, the other party was only a six-year-old child. If he pushed too hard and provoked a rebellious streak, the losses would outweigh the gains.

"Alright, child. Come here."

The old Third beckoned to Sen.

"Grandpa won't ask anymore. Hold out your hand and let me examine your chakra."

Sen's heart tightened. He knew the most critical moment had arrived.

He obediently stepped forward and extended his chubby little hand.

Just as the old Third's fingers were about to rest on his wrist.

Sen roared frantically in his heart.

System! System! Hurry up and save me! Hide all my chakra! Don't let even a drop leak out!

[ Ding! Divine Tree Origin's concealment function has been activated at maximum power. ]

The old Third's fingers lightly rested on Sen's pulse.

A gentle stream of chakra entered Sen's body through his meridians.

Sen's entire body tensed.

He could feel the Divine Tree Origin inside him, vast as an ocean, instantly wrapped in an invisible membrane.

Only an exceedingly faint trace of green chakra, carrying a hint of plant-like aura, remained in the corner of his meridians.

The old Third examined him over and over.

His brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

Very strange.

This child's meridians were unbelievably resilient, stronger than those of many adult ninja.

Yet the amount of chakra within them was pitifully small.

There was only that incredibly faint trace carrying the unique life aura of the First Hokage.

"I see..."

The old Third released his hand. The shock and wariness in his eyes gradually gave way to understanding and regret.

He roughly understood now.

This child was not a perfect Wood Release awakener.

It was merely that, through some coincidence, his Senju bloodline had undergone an extremely rare trace of ancestral reversion.

The reason he could stimulate plants to grow was not because he possessed enormous chakra reserves.

It was because of that exceedingly precious, most primitive origin of life within him.

This ability was more like an innate gift than a ninjutsu he could control.

Like Tsunade's monstrous strength—it required no hand seals and was inborn.

But this awakening was incomplete, so he could not control it freely. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it did not.

That also explained why his chakra had gone berserk in class that morning, yet he had been able to instantly grow an entire orchard that afternoon.

Everything made sense now.

"Child, listen carefully."

The old Third looked at Sen, his tone becoming incomparably serious.

"This ability of yours to make trees grow rapidly is a very powerful bloodline limit."

"Before you learn to control it perfectly, you must never use it in front of anyone again. Do you understand?"

Sen nodded vaguely, putting on an expression of someone who did not understand but felt it sounded very impressive.

"Why? Grandpa Hokage, isn't planting trees a good thing?"

The old Third looked into his innocent eyes and sighed inwardly.

"Because there are many bad people in this world who will covet your power."

"They will capture you, lock you in a dark room, and study your body."

"For your safety, from today onward, this will be a secret between just the two of us."

The old Third stood up and gently patted Sen's head.

"You only need to remember that Konoha will protect you."

"You just need to grow up properly like an ordinary child."

Sen looked into the old Third's weathered eyes, but his heart was clear as a mirror.

Protection?

There was probably more surveillance than protection.

He knew that from today onward, this "ticking time bomb" of his had completely caught the attention of Konoha's higher-ups.

Although he had muddled through for now and kept his little life,

it would probably no longer be so easy to lie around comfortably in the sun.

His grand path of lying low had not even begun, yet it was already covered in thorns.

"Grandpa Naruto, th-then can I go back now?" Sen raised his head and asked pitifully. "The orphanage serves dinner in half an hour. If I'm late, Aunt Li will eat all the meat."