Ignoring the Senju brothers, who were stunned speechless-and nearly scared out of their wits-by the fact that the person who had awakened Wood Release bore the Uchiha name, an agonized Madara Uchiha had eyes only for the blood-soaked Shingetsu. He gathered the little girl tightly into his arms and immediately checked her injuries.
Despite her horrifying appearance, with blood covering her face and body, Shingetsu's wounds had actually healed already. At first glance, her body appeared completely unharmed. Only her torn clothes and the thick layers of blood revealed what injuries she had suffered.
The God Tree's essence had awakened more than just Wood Release chakra. The Senju Clan's Sage Body, famed for its immense chakra reserves and extraordinary regenerative abilities, had also awakened within her. But that certainly did not mean Shingetsu was out of danger.
Within Shingetsu's sea of consciousness, the God Tree, withered and decaying after expending most of its essence, was frantically draining her chakra. To survive, it was willing to bleed her dry.
With both her cellular energy and mental energy being drained in enormous quantities, Shingetsu had once again fallen unconscious. This time, her chakra was nearly exhausted. Even the vast reserves she had gained after awakening her Sage Body, far greater than before, could not satisfy the God Tree's demands.
Once a shinobi's chakra was completely exhausted, death would follow.
Shingetsu's face was deathly pale, her breathing slow, and her temperature frighteningly low. She seemed almost dead, showing no response to Madara Uchiha's repeated calls.
"Shingetsu!"
Looking at the disciple in his arms, who seemed liable to die at any moment, Madara's gaze turned savage and frantic. Reckless of the consequences, he poured all his chakra into her.
At first, the infusion did make Shingetsu's breathing a little steadier and restore some color to her face. But she never woke, and her temperature fell rather than rose. Her tightly knitted brows and trembling body seemed to suggest that she was sinking into an endless nightmare.
Utterly distraught, Madara Uchiha held the ice-cold Shingetsu tightly. He keenly sensed that rather than his own cold-natured chakra, she needed some other, warmer power. Like someone about to freeze to death, she needed hot water and sunlight, not a block of ice even colder than herself.
"Hashirama, save her!"
Once he realized this, Madara Uchiha hurriedly turned toward Hashirama Senju, who stood frozen nearby. Still reeling from this bombshell and unable to collect himself, Hashirama was startled nearly out of his skin by his dear friend's sudden cry.
But when he saw the pleading and despair in Madara Uchiha's eyes, it struck Hashirama like lightning. His usual goofy, cheerful expression vanished, replaced by solemn composure.
He had never seen that look in Madara's eyes before.
Madara Uchiha was proud beyond measure. Even when Izuna had just died, during the harshest days when nearly everyone had abandoned him, Hashirama had never seen Madara look pleading or defeated.
But now, profound pain and despair filled Madara's eyes. That pain was clearly tearing him apart from within, and Hashirama felt himself hurting along with him.
In that moment, Hashirama finally understood just how important Shingetsu was to Madara.
He could not let Madara lose another person dear to him. Hashirama made up his mind: no matter what, he had to save Shingetsu's life!
"Madara, what exactly should I do?"
"Transfer your chakra to her. Hurry!"
Hashirama Senju took the girl's cold body from Madara's arms. Holding Shingetsu's hand, he sent an unending stream of his chakra into her.
The Wood Release chakra, carrying latent yang power, gradually restored life to the withered God Tree. Although it could not fully replenish the essence it had lost, it stirred the tree's indomitable will to survive. The tree seized Hashirama's power desperately, trying to grow fresh branches and green leaves faster.
As Hashirama's chakra poured in, the newly awakened Senju bloodline and Wood Release chakra within Shingetsu resonated once again under the guidance of this intimately familiar chakra, as though calling out to blood kin.
This time, a Wood Release resonance that everyone could perceive descended like a miracle.
Beside Shingetsu and Hashirama, plants swayed and the forest sang. Blades of grass trembled in the wind, vines broke through the earth, and even fruit rapidly formed on the branches in response to that resonance.
This vibrant power drew even the wariest birds and beasts closer. Everything seemed so peaceful and harmonious.
As he stared at the miraculous scene before him, Tobirama Senju's face slowly twisted.
Wood Release-the power that drove the entire Senju Clan into a feverish frenzy.
The power that had fascinated him since his youth, and that he had continued researching to this day.
It was also the only powerful bloodline limit universally recognized in the shinobi world as a match for the Mangekyō Sharingan.
And now, right before his eyes, it had awakened in an Uchiha brat who had always been at odds with him.
What wonderful, delightful news-enough to make his lungs explode with rage!
Not just his lungs; Tobirama Senju's skull was about to burst with anger too. His eyes nearly turned bloodshot as he stared obsessively at Shingetsu's unconscious face, trying to discover who had contributed her Senju genes.
Those Sharingan could not possibly be fake, but this newly awakened Wood Release was equally genuine. The truth was obvious: Uchiha Shingetsu had to be of mixed Senju and Uchiha blood!
Who would have thought? Despite all his careful calculations, Tobirama Senju had failed to account for a traitor within his own ranks. Who could have imagined that someone would secretly consort with the rival clan right under his nose?
Remarkable. Truly remarkable. Faced with this clansperson who had kept their secret so thoroughly hidden, Tobirama Senju had to admit defeat.
...Who the hell was it?!
Seeing Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha doing everything they could to save Uchiha Shingetsu, Tobirama Senju knew he could not lose his temper at such a critical moment. Suppressing his anger, he used his exceptional sensory abilities to dig out the children and the director buried amid the rubble and forest, along with the three dead enemies and the matron's body.
Casting a disgusted glance at the three enemies' gruesome corpses, Tobirama quickly examined the unconscious Director Yakushi and the children. Only after discovering that they were merely unconscious from poison and in no immediate danger, while the unconscious Chinatsu had not even been poisoned and her wounds had already healed, did he release a long breath of relief.
The Orphanage had no one capable of fighting. Once he realized that Shingetsu had risked her life to kill the three attackers and protect everyone there, Tobirama admitted that his opinion of her had been somewhat biased.
He had to admit that knowing this child also carried the Senju Clan's blood and had awakened Wood Release made her much easier on his eyes. At any rate, starting today, he could permanently drop "evil Uchiha" from his usual label of "evil Uchiha brat."
As for the three enemies who had dared attack the Konoha Orphanage, Tobirama had no intention of letting them off either. Whether ninjutsu that extracted memories and secrets from corpses or ninjutsu for interrogating the dead, he had plenty tucked away in his mind.
Still, the most pressing issue right now was, of course...
When the late-arriving Konoha ninja rushed to the Orphanage, ready to tear the suicidal intruders limb from limb, what greeted them instead was the Konoha Orphanage replaced by a forest, Hashirama Senju transferring chakra to Uchiha Shingetsu, and the utterly unmistakable Wood Release resonance surrounding them both!
"Wood Release?!"
The Senju Clan's shinobi were dumbfounded. Their Lord Hashirama was actually transferring chakra to a child from the rival Uchiha Clan. If that were all, they could have accepted it; everyone knew he liked children. But the devastating part was that the two were clearly producing a resonance between their bloodlines and Wood Release!
The Uchiha Clan's shinobi were dumbfounded too. Not only was their Lady Shingetsu unconscious, she was lying in Hashirama Senju's arms as he lavished chakra on her as though it cost nothing. Stranger still, something green kept surrounding her. Uh, could that be the neighboring Senju Clan's Wood Release?
All of Konoha's shinobi were dumbfounded as well. The new Wood Release wielder the Senju Clan had so desperately awaited actually bore the Uchiha name. Could anything in the world be more absurd?
"The Uchiha must give the Senju Clan an explanation for this!"
A Senju clan elder with snow-white hair and a beard trembled with fury. In that instant, the light in his eyes had not exactly gone out-it had shattered completely.
The thought that the Wood Release their whole clan had awaited for so many years and poured so much effort into had finally awakened in an Uchiha child nearly made him keel over and die on the spot.
Those words immediately set off the Senju Clan's powder keg. A crowd of older Senju men and women who had come over with nothing better to do than watch the commotion led the charge, rushing up to Madara Uchiha and clamoring:
"Madara Uchiha, why did Uchiha Shingetsu awaken Wood Release?"
"She must have Senju blood! Whose child is she?"
"Don't tell me you don't know!"
A group of enraged Senju elders shakily pointed at Madara and Shingetsu, shouting over one another at the pale-faced Madara Uchiha while everyone else watched them with the pity reserved for the doomed.
The moment Tobirama saw those ancient elders, he knew things were going badly. This bunch was going to ruin everything.
But their questions were exactly what he wanted to ask, so he hesitated for a moment. When Madara Uchiha slowly turned his head like a malevolent spirit to stare at those old fools throwing their seniority around, Tobirama knew it was over.
Both the chance to ask about the child's parentage and those old fools' lives were finished.
"Heh. So what?"
A cold sneer curled Madara's lips. As he watched Shingetsu, whose condition had returned to normal, a trace of tenderness surfaced in his eyes, and his lips unconsciously lifted a little. But when he turned to the older Senju men and women, only a vicious gleam remained in his gaze.
"Madara Uchiha!"
The furious Senju elder could not help spitting out the rival clan leader's full name. But in the next instant, Madara Uchiha answered with a cold, merciless stare. That piercing gaze dragged the old man back to the battlefields of the Warring States Period, reminding him of the Asura's fearsome reputation and might.
At the same time, the Uchiha Clan's shinobi moved into action. Led by Hōkaku, the black-clad Uchiha formed a dark human wall, separating the two sides.
Under Madara's murderous gaze and the stares of so many Uchiha shinobi's Sharingan, even this stubborn Senju elder reined in his pride and anger. He only dared murmur:
"Since she's awakened Wood Release, this child should belong to the Senju..."
"I said, so what?"
At those words, the entire Senju Clan erupted. Disregarding Madara Uchiha's intimidating presence, they hurried forward to confront the Uchiha Clan.
Whatever Shingetsu's surname might be, having awakened Wood Release chakra made her a treasure the Senju Clan desperately wanted to get their hands on.
They needed a successor to Wood Release far too badly.
"So the Senju Clan has taken up child-snatching now? Shameless."
"You Uchiha are the shameless ones!"
"You have so many Sharingan users, but there are only one or two with Wood Release! No matter how you look at it, you should give the child back to us!"
"Pah! Come take her if you've got the guts."
The situation was on the verge of exploding. Under the astonished gazes of the onlookers, the Senju and Uchiha clanspeople glared at one another and even traded insults like shrieking shrews. All that stood between them and another fight was someone throwing the first punch.
"...Everyone, stop talking!"
With the tension spiraling out of control, Tōka pushed through the shocked and bewildered Senju and Uchiha to reach Shingetsu, as Tobirama watched in astonishment, Hashirama in understanding, and Hōkaku in worry.
Seeing Shingetsu lying unconscious, she reached out with trembling fingers to wipe the blood from the girl's cheek, gently cleaning the blood from her body. But her own eyes were already wet.
The heartbroken mother could no longer hold back. Great drops of sorrowful tears spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
More than the Wood Release and Sharingan that everyone else cared about, what mattered to her was Shingetsu's safety.
"Shingetsu is my child."
Before you continue