"Quit talking nonsense. Digging up corpses is Orochimaru's job."
"Not my thing. Too dirty, too unlucky."
Sen patted the hem of his clothes, flicking off a speck of mud.
"If you're not digging up corpses, where are you getting a few thousand people?"
Kakashi drove a kunai through a monster's face.
"Exactly! Sen, quit keeping us in suspense!"
Sweat poured down Naruto's face as he shouted impatiently.
"All right, then. Time to broaden your horizons."
Sen clapped his hands together with an especially crisp smack.
"Watch closely. This is what a Divine Tree Army looks like."
Green chakra streamed down his trouser legs and into the ground.
Huge bubbles began gurgling up through the muddy water.
"Is it coming? Another giant tree like before?"
Kakashi backed up beside Sen, keeping his guard up.
"Even I'm sick of looking at giant trees every day."
Sen grinned, showing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth.
The mud bubbles burst across the ground like firecrackers.
"Something seriously freaky is pushing its way out of the ground!"
The ninja at the front scrambled backward in terror.
"Don't retreat. Just hold off your own monsters."
As Sen spoke, rows of tender shoots broke through the soil.
They shot upward in the wind, reaching human height in the blink of an eye.
Instead of branching out, they molded themselves into shapes like clay figures.
Their rough skin bore wood grain, with neither eyes nor noses.
"Is... is this the Wood Clone Technique?"
Kakashi's hand trembled involuntarily.
"My clones aren't quite that lightweight."
Sen tipped his chin toward the monster horde.
"Isn't this number a little ridiculous?"
Shikamaru wiped the filthy mud from his face.
The first batch alone numbered over a hundred.
A second batch followed, pouring out without end.
At a glance, there were at least