Photosynthesis Activated, Is This an Infinite Mana Glitch?

The orphanage front yard was overgrown with weeds early in the morning.

The air was still thick with the damp, earthy scent left over from the night before.

Sen walked straight to the very center of the yard.

It was the only open space in the entire yard that wasn't shaded by trees, where the sun beat down the most fiercely.

He stood still, slowly spread his arms, and tilted his head back.

"That little brat has lost his mind! Get over here and sweep the yard, now!"

Aunt Li's rough, grating voice exploded from the hallway, shaking the plaster right off the walls.

Ishikawa leaned against the doorframe, pacing back and forth like an ant on a hot pan, anxious and frantic.

"Sen! Come back! Aunt Li is going to get the feather duster!"

Sen turned a deaf ear to the commotion behind him.

He squinted his eyes comfortably, letting the golden morning light wash over his entire body.

Deep in his heart, he silently uttered four words.

"Photosynthesis, activate."

The moment the system prompt faded, a miraculous change occurred.

The sunlight hitting his body, which had previously felt like nothing more than a faint warmth, suddenly transformed into a tangible flow of heat. It surged through his hundred and eight thousand pores, drilling frantically into his skin.

This warm current rampaged through his meridians, rapidly converting into the purest form of chakra.

The pitifully small mana pool in Sen's six-year-old body was filled to the brim in the blink of an eye.

It was even beginning to overflow.

His meridians felt slightly swollen, a sensation like being so full he was about to burst.

"This... this is just ridiculous."

Sen swallowed hard, feeling the surging power within him that seemed truly inexhaustible.

He had to test whether this was just his imagination.

What consumed the most mana in Naruto?

Naturally, high-intensity exercise and casting ninjutsu.

He didn't know any ninjutsu yet, so he would have to rely on running to burn off the energy.

He acted immediately.

Sen snapped his eyes open and crouched low.

With a powerful push from his toes against the uneven, muddy ground, he shot forward like a cannonball, vanishing with a "whoosh."

There were a few other orphans in the yard pulling weeds.

They only felt a gust of wind whip past them, and Sen had already circled half the yard.

"Did that kid take the wrong medicine?"

An older orphan rubbed his eyes, looking as if he had seen a ghost.

Ishikawa's jaw nearly hit the ground, and he stuttered while pointing at the blurred figure.

"He—he usually gets winded just walking a few steps, how is he running as fast as a rabbit today!"

Just then, Aunt Li charged out, brandishing a half-meter-long feather duster.

"Sen Senju! You stop right there! See if I don't break your legs today!"

Aunt Li's fat trembled with rage as she moved her thick, short legs to give chase.

Sen sprinted while looking back to make a face.

"Aunt Li, if your weight can actually catch me, I'll wash your dishes for a whole month starting tomorrow!"

"You little bastard, don't let me get my hands on you!"

The old woman and the young boy staged a farcical game of cat and mouse in the dilapidated orphanage yard.

Five laps.

Ten laps.

Twenty laps.

Ten minutes passed.

Aunt Li could no longer run.

Her knees gave out, and she collapsed onto the stone slabs with a thud, gasping for air.

Beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down her forehead, splashing into the dirt.

"Oh... my aching back... where does this damn brat get so much energy..."

It wasn't just Aunt Li; even the orphans watching the spectacle were exhausted.

They dropped their weeding trowels one after another and sat down on the steps.

"Is he ever going to stop? How many laps is that now?"

"I think he's never run in his life and wants to make up for it all at once."

Ishikawa swallowed hard, staring fixedly at the still-sprinting Sen, his eyes full of worry.

Meanwhile, Sen was completely overwhelmed by ecstasy.

His current speed was definitely not something a malnourished six-year-old should possess.

Under this high-intensity sprint, his stamina should have been draining rapidly.

But!

For every bit of stamina he consumed, the sun overhead immediately replenished two!

The same went for his chakra; there was no sign of depletion, and it only grew more abundant the more he used it.

His breathing was terrifyingly steady, and he hadn't even broken a sweat.

Facing the wind, Sen couldn't help but grin broadly.

"It really is a perpetual motion machine! As long as there's light in the sky, I'll never run out of mana!"

This wasn't just photosynthesis.

This was a human-shaped power bank, combined with an infinite mana cheat code that made him impossible to kill!

Others had to calculate their remaining chakra during a fight.

In the future, all he would have to consider was whether the sun was bright enough.

Fueled by this excitement, he sprinted another three laps around the yard.

He only stopped when he felt his meridians were about to burst from the constant influx of natural energy, leaving a small crater where he planted his feet.

"Whew—that feels good!"

Sen stood in a sheltered corner of the yard and let out a long, heavy breath.

The sun remained scorching.

He felt light as a feather, filled with enough strength to kill an ox with a single punch.

However, because the power was so immense, he, as a beginner, couldn't control even a fraction of it.

Coupled with his over-excitement, his heart was beating a little too fast.

He just raised his hand, intending to pick his nose.

Suddenly, his fingertip grew hot.

A wisp of extremely pure, visible green chakra leaked uncontrollably from the tip of his index finger.

"Oh crap, I'm leaking!"

Sen was startled and hurriedly tried to focus his mind to hold the chakra back.

But this wisp of green energy was like a little snake with a mind of its own; it dripped onto a piece of dead wood in the corner.

It was a broken tree branch that had been lying there for who knows how many years, completely dead and covered in gray-white mold.

The miracle happened right before Sen's eyes.

The moment the green light touched the dead wood, it was absorbed instantly, like a drop of water falling into a parched sponge.

Immediately following, a series of faint "crack, crack, crack" sounds echoed.

A small opening split open on the surface of the dead, silent wood.

A delicate, vibrant green sprout trembled as it pushed its way out of the crack!

Under the sunlight, the sprout unfurled its tender form, radiating immense vitality.

It was as if it were announcing its rebirth to the world.

Sen gasped.

He froze in place, his scalp tingling as if he had been electrocuted.

Dead wood coming back to life!

This was genuine Wood Release!

Not only could he create trees out of thin air, but he could also bestow life upon dead objects!

Compared to this, the thrill of his earlier running and jumping was simply not worth mentioning.

This was the capital Hashirama Senju had used to pacify the chaotic world back in the day.

If someone in the know saw this, like the old man Third Hokage or that bandage-wrapped schemer underground, he would be hog-tied and strapped to an operating table by tomorrow to have every drop of his blood drained.

"Sen! What are you doing over in that corner?"

Not far away, Ishikawa shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Aunt Li is about to get up, you'd better hurry over and apologize!"

Accompanied by the sound of footsteps, Ishikawa was running toward him with his short little legs.

Sen's heart skipped a beat, and alarm bells rang in his head.

The first rule of survival: never reveal your trump card while you are still weak!

With quick eyes and nimble hands, he raised his right foot and stepped directly onto the withered branch that had just sprouted.

He ground his toe down with force.

He crushed that eye-catching sliver of green, along with the entire piece of dead wood, deep into the soft soil.

He even kicked some hay over the spot for good measure, covering the traces on the ground completely.

Ishikawa ran up to him, panting, and looked down at his feet with suspicion.

"What are you sneaking around and stomping on over here?"

Ishikawa sniffed, his chubby face scrunching up.

Sen put on an indifferent expression, shoving his hands into the pockets of his patched trousers.

He whistled and shrugged.

"Nothing, I was running too fast and couldn't stop, so I stepped in the excrement of some unknown creature."

Ishikawa covered his nose in disgust and took two large steps back as if avoiding a plague.

"Ugh! That's disgusting! Can't you be a bit more hygienic!"

Ishikawa looked Sen up and down, his eyes full of scrutiny.

"But what was up with you just now? How did you suddenly run so fast without even catching your breath?"

Sen turned his head to look at the Hokage Rock, which towered into the clouds outside the courtyard wall of Konoha Village.

He had a foxtail grass he'd plucked from nearby dangling from his mouth.

A smile that was impossible to read tugged at the corner of his lips.

"I already told you, Ishikawa."

Sen reached out, patted Ishikawa's chubby shoulder, and lowered his voice.

"I'm in a good mood today, and I feel like... I'm about to sprout leaves."