Life Drain's First Kill! Origin Upgrade Feels Incredible!

"W-what... was that sound just now? An earthquake?"

Ishikawa's voice trembled beyond recognition. He pointed at the floor full of holes behind Sen, his teeth chattering.

Sen's heart tightened.

Damn it, the commotion had still gotten too big. It had actually woken this fat guy up.

He quickly turned around, his face instantly shifting back into that harmless, lazy expression.

"An earthquake? No."

Sen scratched his head and pointed out the window with an innocent look.

"Sounded like a few stray cats fighting on the roof. They made a bit too much noise and shook this lousy floor apart."

"Go back to sleep. You have to get up early tomorrow."

As he spoke, he slowly walked over and casually pulled the blanket over Ishikawa's head.

Ishikawa wanted to ask more, but an overwhelmingly strong wave of drowsiness suddenly struck him.

He did not even let out a groan before his head lolled to one side and he fell back into a deep sleep.

When Sen had patted the blanket earlier, he had secretly released a tiny amount of hypnotic pollen with Wood Release chakra.

"Phew—"

Watching Ishikawa start snoring again, Sen let out a long breath.

Luckily, he had fooled another one.

He had no time to explain anything to this fat guy right now.

Because a string of pleasant system notifications was frantically flooding his mind.

[Ding! Successfully drained Chunin-level life origin. Experience +800!]

[Ding! Successfully drained Chunin-level life origin. Experience +950!]

[Ding! Successfully drained quasi-Jonin-level life origin. Experience +1500!]

[Ding! Experience full. Divine Tree Origin is beginning to upgrade...]

In an instant.

Sen felt as though he had been tossed into a high-speed spinning washing machine.

The three enormous, pure streams of life origin forcefully extracted by Life Drain rampaged through his body like three violent dragons.

The sensation was indescribably intense.

It was like someone was hammering every bone and every inch of muscle in his body.

"Urgh..."

Sen grunted and dropped to one knee, fine cold sweat beading across his forehead.

The backlash from this upgrade was far greater than he had imagined.

But he could clearly feel it.

After every burst of agonizing pain, his body underwent a complete transformation.

His formerly somewhat lean muscles visibly tightened, becoming filled with explosive power.

The density of his bones was frantically increasing, making them harder than steel.

His chakra pathways were forcibly widened several times over by that violent energy, becoming like broad canals.

And his already vast chakra pool surged and doubled once more, like floodwaters released from a dam!

[Ding! Upgrade successful! Divine Tree Origin level increased!]

[Current Level: Lv3!]

[Ding! Level breakthrough. Additional upgrade awarded!]

[Current Level: Lv4!]

He had risen two levels in a row!

Sen suddenly opened his eyes, and a brilliant green gleam flashed through the depths of his pupils.

He slowly rose to his feet, his bones crackling loudly.

An unprecedented sensation of immense power flooded every limb and bone in his body.

"This feeling... is incredible!"

Sen clenched his fist, sensing the terrifying power dormant within him like a volcano, ready to erupt at any moment.

He even had an illusion.

Even without using Wood Release.

He could punch through the wall of this orphanage with nothing but raw physical strength!

And that was not all he had gained.

[Ding! Congratulations, host. Origin level has reached Lv4, successfully unlocking an intermediate offensive Wood Release Ninjutsu.]

[Wood Release: Thorn Killing Technique!]

A huge stream of information about this new ninjutsu poured into his mind in an instant, like divine enlightenment.

Thorn Killing Technique.

It could instantly transform chakra into countless extremely hard thorn vines covered in poisonous barbs.

Not only could it pierce and strangle targets across a wide area.

The barbs on the vines could also inject plant neurotoxin the instant they struck an enemy, paralyzing and rotting them!

This was practically a terrifying weapon tailor-made for assassination and group battles!

Its killing power was on an entirely different level from those roots that could only bind people.

"Offense, control, poison..."

Sen licked his somewhat dry lips, and his gaze became exceedingly dangerous.

"Isn't this basically a miniature Deep Forest Emergence?"

He slowly walked to the devastated floor he had ruined and crouched down.

His fingers lightly brushed over the broken gaps in the wood.

"So killing enemies to level up feels this good."

He muttered softly, as if speaking to himself.

Originally, he had still had some psychological reservations about killing.

After all, in his previous life, he had merely been a law-abiding young man.

But when those three Root ANBU had stabbed their blades toward his "body" without hesitation.

The tiny bit of softheartedness he had left had been completely crushed.

In this world where human lives were worth less than grass.

Mercy toward enemies was cruelty toward oneself.

What was more, killing these damned bastards could make him stronger.

This was simply a deal with nothing but profit!

"Danzo, you old dog..."

Sen slowly stood up, his gaze seeming to pierce through the battered walls and see that gloomy face deep underground.

A cruel sneer curled across his lips.

"I hope you have more fearless 'couriers' like these under your command."

He turned around, glanced at the still-deep night outside the window, and stretched lazily.

"Tonight's late-night snack was really filling."

Sen jumped back onto his little wooden bed and pulled the blanket over his head.

As if that bloody slaughter just now had been nothing more than an insignificant dream.

But only he knew.

From this night onward, the heart of that couch potato who had only wanted to quietly survive had been completely opened by a door called "power."

Root's underground base.

Inside the secret chamber.

Danzo stood silently in place, leaning on his cane.

The ghostly flames on the walls stretched his shadow long and thin, making it resemble a twisted evil spirit.

It was already past midnight.

More than an hour had passed since the elite squad he sent out had begun their mission.

Yet no news had returned.

There was no signal of success, nor even a distress signal indicating failure.

Those three men had vanished like stones sinking into the sea.

A sense of foreboding slowly rose in his heart.

"Someone!"

Danzo barked.

A masked ANBU silently appeared behind him.

"Go investigate."

Danzo's voice was hoarse and cold.

"I want to see them alive if they are alive, and their bodies if they are dead."

"Yes!"

The ANBU accepted the order and disappeared into the darkness again.

Danzo slowly turned and walked to the wall.

A massive map of Konoha hung there.

He extended his bandage-wrapped hand and gently stroked the location marked "Orphanage" on the map.

Suspicion and madness flickered in his one remaining eye.

"That Senju brat..."

He muttered to himself.

"Just how many secrets are you still hiding?"

"Could it be..."

A thought that even made him shudder surfaced in his mind.

"That old man Hiruzen has actually been deceiving me all along?"

"That brat's Wood Release was never some uncontrollable bloodline awakening?"

In the darkness, Danzo's breathing grew heavier and heavier.

"Yamanaka Fū, are you still there?"

He suddenly called out toward an empty corner.

"Lord Danzo, I am here."

Another masked figure emerged from the shadows by the wall.

"Go there yourself."

Danzo's tone became more solemn than ever.

"Do not alert anyone. I need to know exactly how those three useless fools disappeared."

"And..."

Danzo paused, a vicious glint flashing in his lone eye.

"If there really is something wrong with that brat..."

"Then prepare Plan B."