Silent Forest

After settling matters with the Kusanagi Clan, Yayoi and Kicho did not immediately return to Nightview City. Instead, they parted ways with Kakuzu and Aburame Yuto and headed north through the Land of Night.

While traveling, Yayoi also began exploring the abilities of the Kusanagi Sword he had just acquired.

"Besides absorbing chakra, this Kusanagi Sword should have other abilities. For example, it can transfer absorbed chakra into its wielder's body. It can also release absorbed chakra as shockwaves... Looking at it this way, it was fortunate that I killed the Kusanagi Clan head directly. Otherwise, things would have become far more troublesome."

It did not take Yayoi long to grasp the Kusanagi Sword's capabilities.

Overall, it had two functions: absorption and release.

As for absorption, it could not only absorb chakra, but also ninjutsu, storing the chakra within the blade.

However, this required direct contact with the Kusanagi Sword. Otherwise, its absorption ability could not be used.

Release, meanwhile, compressed and discharged the chakra stored within the Kusanagi Sword in the form of shockwaves, causing widespread destruction.

The ability was simple and brutal, but extremely effective against ninjas.

Yayoi now understood why the border forces had been utterly crushed without any ability to resist, even with two Jonin among them.

The Kusanagi Clan head had only possessed standard Jonin-level strength, but once he wielded the Kusanagi Sword, his power had doubled outright. He had not been an opponent two ordinary Jonin could contend with.

The ability to absorb chakra and ninjutsu, even though it required direct contact, was enough to give most ninjas a headache and prevent them from displaying even half their strength.

"Then let's test its 'release' ability."

Arriving at an uninhabited rocky plain, Yayoi gripped the Kusanagi Sword's slender hilt with one hand, pointed its tip forward, and took a deep breath.

He sensed an extremely substantial amount of chakra within the Kusanagi Sword. Though it was nowhere near the level of the Tailed Beasts, it was not something an ordinary ninja could possess.

Then, he controlled the chakra within the Kusanagi Sword, releasing it and gathering it along the blade.

The Kusanagi Sword was instantly covered in dense purple arcs of lightning, which crackled with a teeth-grating hiss.

As though it were charging before an eruption, the purple lightning grew so bright that it made their eyes sting, leaving them unable to keep them open—

Boom!

A dazzling streak of purple lightning shot straight ahead.

In the blink of an eye, a bombardment trail dozens of meters long appeared before them. Every rock blocking its path was shattered, sending great clouds of dust into the air.

At last, the lightning struck an enormous boulder with an ear-splitting explosion.

The main body of the boulder was blasted away, while the rest broke into countless small fragments that scattered in all directions. A massive crater more than ten meters across remained where it had stood.

"That's incredible. The attack range is so long, yet it can still maintain such destructive power."

Kicho stared at the scene in amazement.

Even a Jonin like her could only avoid such power. She could not confront it head-on.

"Yes, and that isn't all. If it absorbs more chakra, its destructive power can be raised even further. However, that also requires the wielder to possess powerful chakra and chakra control. In other words, the stronger the wielder, the more powerful this Kusanagi Sword becomes."

"And judging from the nature of that lightning strike, this Kusanagi Sword should have a lightning attribute. That is not an attribute I am particularly skilled in. In the hands of a Lightning Release ninja, it would likely display its true power."

Even a divine weapon could not display its own power without a suitable wielder.

Thus, it was a divine weapon that complemented and elevated its wielder.

Yayoi understood this deeply. No matter how good a weapon was, its wielder needed sufficient strength to match it.

An ordinary Jonin like Kusanagi Seiryu simply could not bring out the Kusanagi Sword's true power. It had been nothing but a waste.

"Doesn't my husband know Lightning Release?"

Kicho had seen Yayoi's ninja registration document. If she remembered correctly, it listed him as possessing every chakra nature: fire, wind, lightning, earth, water, yin, and yang.

"As for release techniques, I can use Earth Release, Water Release, Fire Release, and Lightning Release, but I have not studied any of them deeply. I only know the basics. What I am best at is medical ninjutsu, taijutsu, and puppet ninjutsu—the control and creation of puppets."

Those three fields alone had consumed a vast amount of Yayoi's time and energy.

It was fine to merely dabble in techniques like Fire Release and Lightning Release, but serious cultivation demanded a tremendous amount of time.

Although there were shortcuts like the Shadow Clone Technique that could accelerate training, the problem was... in this era, the Shadow Clone Technique had not become widespread. Tobirama Senju was still keeping it to himself.

"Then it seems the Kusanagi Sword cannot be put to much use for now. It is clearly such a powerful weapon, yet that feels a little regrettable."

Kicho sighed regretfully.

As the general's wife of the Land of Night, she could obtain detailed records on every ninja and samurai in the Land of Night. Naturally, she knew each of their abilities inside and out.

The Land of Night did not lack Lightning Release ninjas, but none of them could be considered proficient.

It was unlike the Kumokiri in her possession, which had no attribute requirements. Anyone with a little swordsmanship could use it immediately. Its ability to suppress negative chakra could likewise be used flexibly by anyone.

However, Kicho had little need for Kumokiri most of the time. When fighting enemies, she still mainly relied on the Gentle Fist.

Compared to a weapon, Kumokiri was more like an ornament she carried on her person.

Yayoi put away the Kusanagi Sword, stopped testing its abilities, and continued traveling with Kicho.

After resting for the night in a nearby town, they set off again early the next morning. At around nine o'clock, they officially arrived at a primeval forest in the northern part of the Land of Night.

Compared to the Black Steel Forest, this primeval forest was slightly smaller, but the forest's dominant color was just as peculiar.

Like the Black Steel Forest, it was also rarely visited by people and was a paradise for venomous insects and wild beasts.

Upon entering the forest, Kicho used her Byakugan to see faint green gas rising from the heart of the forest more than ten kilometers away, like a drizzle of pale green light.

"That is... chakra?"

Though its color was faint, Kicho could still determine that the pale green vapor rising into the air was a gaseous manifestation of chakra.

"Could this forest be..."

Kicho thought of something.

"Yes. This forest is called the Silent Forest. The trees at its core possess the trait of growing by absorbing chakra... Many ninjutsu scrolls, Explosive Tags, chakra nature testing paper, and similar tools are made from these Chakra Trees. These trees are found in many countries and are extremely important strategic resources."

Yayoi gave a brief explanation.

Kicho nodded slightly. That made sense.

The tools used by ninjas were all made from Chakra Trees and Chakra Metal.

Although this was her first time seeing a Chakra Tree, she had read many books on the subject and knew of their existence.

Yayoi seemed very familiar with the environment here. From then on, he no longer needed Kicho's Byakugan to find the correct route through the forest.

The deeper they went, the denser the ownerless chakra drifting through the air became in Kicho's Byakugan.

It was as if they had entered a paradise of chakra.

However...

"The chakra drifting here feels a little strange. It gives off an extremely violent feeling, as though it could explode at any moment."

Kicho frowned. Even brushing against the chakra here slightly with her body made her feel faint discomfort.

Her instincts urged her to leave this place quickly. If she stayed too long, the violent chakra here might affect her mind entirely.

"It should be related to the unusual terrain here. I only discovered this place by chance in the past. The Chakra Trees growing here are generally of better quality than those outside."

Yayoi turned his head and explained.

"It seems this place is hiding some sort of secret."

Kicho fell into thought.

"Perhaps. But I once searched this forest for ten days and ten nights without discovering any other abnormalities. Also, I named it the Silent Forest. This forest does not appear on any map of the Land of Night."

Yayoi narrowed his eyes. As a ninja who had emerged from the Warring States Era, he naturally knew this forest concealed secrets he did not understand.

Yet no matter how he searched, all he could find were countless Chakra Trees. Beyond that, there had been no other discoveries.

Over time, he had suppressed his curiosity and simply used this forest as a resource supply point.

"Be careful. Further ahead, the chakra concentration is so high that it has begun merging with some of the strange plants around it, forming natural genjutsu. If you are not careful, your mind will scatter, and you will exhaust yourself to death in this forest."

After Yayoi's warning, Kicho raised her vigilance to the utmost and kept her Byakugan activated at all times.

She did not know how long they walked. Within this deathly silent forest, there was no sound beyond their footsteps.

Not only had the breathing of wild beasts vanished, even the sound of the wind had disappeared from their ears.

It was as though they had entered a completely silent world of nothingness.

"We're here."

Yayoi's voice suddenly rang out from the depths of the forest.

Kicho shook her head, trying to remain as clear-headed as possible, before a chill ran down her spine.

This natural genjutsu had actually drained a great deal of mental energy from a Jonin like her without her noticing.

Had Yayoi not led her here, if she had entered alone, she would most likely have exhausted her mind, become a puppet incapable of thought, then wandered aimlessly until she unknowingly collapsed from exhaustion and died.

At a glance, Kicho saw a lush grove filled entirely with Chakra Trees.

Upon closer inspection, most of the Chakra Trees growing here were no different from ordinary trees. In fact, they were even slimmer and shorter than common trees. Their only differences were their richer, more vivid green color, the dense chakra they contained, and their vigorous life force.

Some of the Chakra Trees had clearly been cut down, leaving behind only neatly severed stumps.

However, compared to the total number of Chakra Trees in this area, the ones that had been felled were truly negligible.

Yayoi walked among the Chakra Trees and stopped before the thickest one.

Unlike ordinary Chakra Trees, this one was tall and massive. It would take at least twenty people linking arms in a circle to barely encircle its trunk.

The outer layer of its bark also shone with a peculiar blue luster.

More astonishingly, the tree had only branches and no leaves. It looked bare and ugly, as though it had withered and died, yet it gave off a vigorous feeling of unceasing life force bursting forth.

"What a massive tree. It must be several hundred years old, right?"

Kicho tilted her head back to examine the Chakra Tree that towered over all the others.

She did not understand the growth characteristics of Chakra Trees very well, and could only roughly estimate its age based on ordinary trees.

"I remember it being here."

Yayoi stroked the Chakra Tree and quickly found what he was looking for. He took out a kunai and slashed hard.

The blue bark split open in a long, narrow cut, and blue sap flowed from the wound, containing dense chakra.

Yayoi reached his hand into the cut. Inside was a man-made hollow, extremely narrow and only large enough to fit a human arm.

Before long, Yayoi pulled a fist-sized transparent blue crystal from the hollow within the tree.

The crystal was a perfect sphere, and within it was a mass of chakra compressed to the extreme.

Kicho's expression turned strange.

Through her Byakugan, the chakra within the blue core looked less like energy and more like the embryonic form of some living creature.

She could even sense that the chakra inside the core was breathing rhythmically like an infant.

This was not the first time Kicho had felt this sensation. She had seen something similar when she used her Byakugan to observe Irori's body in the past.

"My husband, could this be what you use to create Puppet Lifeforms..."

Kicho guessed instinctively, though she had already confirmed the answer in her heart.

Yayoi nodded slightly.

"This is a Chakra Crystal I placed here two years ago. It contains the embryo of a Puppet Lifeform. But compared to the chakra, what I truly need is this Chakra Tree's incomparably powerful life force. At last, I can try making a second Automated Puppet."

The Kusanagi Clan and the Kusanagi Sword had merely been matters dealt with along the way. The life embryo placed here to create an Automated Puppet was Yayoi's most important purpose for leaving on this journey.

As soon as Yayoi finished speaking, the thick Chakra Tree, already bare of leaves, began to tremble violently.

Under Kicho's shocked gaze, cracks appeared across the surface of the Chakra Tree that required more than twenty people to encircle. The fissures grew wider and wider, and its surface seemed to be wrapped in blue flames. In the end, it turned into fragments of blue fire and dissolved into the air.

"It collapsed."

Kicho murmured to herself. The sight of the Chakra Tree burning itself away and reaching its end left her deeply astonished.

"Because its life force was drained dry. Once this Chakra Crystal left, the Chakra Tree's life also came to an end. That is why every leaf on it had withered."

Yayoi crouched down. In the place where the Chakra Tree had turned to ashes lay a black seed no larger than a fingertip.

"Even when life reaches its end, it will still do everything it can to leave behind proof of its existence. Whether animals or plants, life will always find a new path forward."

Yayoi picked up the seed, walked to a nearby clearing, found a patch of fertile soil, and buried it.

One day, this seed would take root again, sprout, and grow strong.

"Thank you, my good friend. I will not come trouble you again."

Yayoi smiled and gently patted the soil where he had buried the seed, as though comforting its wounded heart.

Afterward, Yayoi and Kicho turned and departed. The forest once more returned to its former silence.