Wood Release: Four Pillars House Technique!

Hyuga Village, in the southern Land of Rice Fields.

Hashirama Senju strode into the village.

He wore red armor, his long black hair hanging loose down his back, and a carefree grin on his face.

The Hyuga clansmen working in the clearing stopped what they were doing.

Some set down logs they had lifted halfway.

Others dropped the shovels beside their feet.

The clansmen gradually gathered, standing on either side of the road to look at the tall man.

Shinichi also stopped and looked toward the village entrance.

Hashirama spotted Shinichi at the front of the crowd at once.

He strode over, grinning and laughing aloud.

"Clan Leader Shinichi!"

His voice was as loud as ever, making several nearby clansmen blink.

Hashirama stopped and turned his head to look around.

Beneath his feet was a level dirt road cleared of weeds, and beside it were neatly stacked logs.

"You've really tidied this place up!"

He clapped his hands and turned to Shinichi.

"Tell me, where are you planning to build the village's houses?"

Shinichi stepped forward to meet him.

"Lord Hokage."

He raised his right hand and pointed halfway up the mountain.

The clansmen had spent more than ten days leveling a large, spacious clearing there.

"Right up there."

Hashirama strode up the mountainside.

He stopped in the middle of the spacious clearing.

The clansmen followed and gathered around its edges.

Hashirama looked around the level ground, a smile on his face the whole time.

He raised both hands and slammed his palms together.

"Wood Release: Four Pillars House Technique!"

The moment he finished speaking, the ground shook hard.

Soil churned outward as thick timbers burst from the earth.

The timbers grew rapidly upward, weaving and interlocking.

Thick wooden walls rose one after another.

Beams stretched across them, and a roof closed in along the edges.

Even the wooden doors and windows grew snugly into place.

Barely any time had passed.

A spacious, sturdy wooden house now stood on the level ground.

Hashirama lowered his hands, looking utterly at ease.

The mountainside, which had still been somewhat noisy, suddenly fell completely silent.

The Hyuga clansmen had never seen anyone build a house with Wood Release.

Everyone fell silent.

Every pair of eyes was fixed on the wooden house that had suddenly grown before them.

Hashirama did not stop at all.

The smile never left his face as his hands continued forming hand seals.

The rumbling of the ground never ceased.

A second wooden house emerged from the soil.

Then came a third and a fourth.

Soil kept churning outward, and the sounds of thick timbers interlocking blended together.

House after house sprang up across the leveled clearing.

It took very little time altogether.

An entire row of spacious, sturdy new wooden houses stood neatly on the mountainside.

The clansmen gathered nearby were all dumbstruck.

Even the men who were normally the most efficient workers stood rooted to the spot, motionless.

Scarface swallowed and forced out a remark in his booming voice.

"Good grief, houses can shoot out of the ground on their own like crops?"

Even the usually unflappable eldest uncle was staring straight ahead.

He looked at the row of new houses and only spoke after a long while.

"I've lived more than half my life, and this is the first time I've learned you can build houses with ninjutsu."

Hashirama kept building like this for an entire day.

His chakra seemed inexhaustible.

The houses extended all the way from halfway up the mountain down to its foot.

Then he turned back uphill and covered most of the slope on the other side.

Row after row, more and more new wooden houses appeared.

Several hundred Hyuga clansmen followed behind him in a daze.

Whenever Hashirama finished another row ahead, the clansmen followed to look at it.

When he reached a spacious patch of level ground, Hashirama deliberately changed a few hand seals.

Even thicker logs rose from the ground and locked together.

Before long, several tall, large wooden buildings grew into place.

Hashirama brushed the dirt from his hands and called to Shinichi with a smile.

"These buildings are big. They'll be perfect for your clan to use as storehouses!"

Only when the sun was about to set did Hashirama stop.

Shinichi stood on high ground and looked down.

A vast stretch of brand-new, sturdy wooden houses now spread along the contours of the mountain.

A village large enough to house the roughly three thousand Hyuga had risen just like that.

Though the houses were finished, Hashirama was in no hurry to leave.

He took a leisurely stroll around the entire village.

Finally, Hashirama stopped in the clearing at the village's outermost edge.

Quite a few Hyuga clansmen followed behind to watch.

Facing out of the village, Hashirama slammed his palms together.

"Wood Release!"

The surrounding soil churned.

Logs thicker than a person could encircle with both arms rose from the ground, forming a densely packed row.

The timbers locked tightly together.

In the blink of an eye, a tall, sturdy wooden wall encircled all of Hyuga Village.

Hashirama deliberately left a broad gate at the mountain path to the south.

He brushed the dust from his hands and turned toward Shinichi as he approached.

"When your ninja go out on missions, the elderly and children will be the ones left in the village. With this wall here, everyone can feel more at ease."

Shinichi looked at the thick wooden wall before him and nodded.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage."

Before dark, the Hyuga clansmen began moving into their new houses.

First, they helped the elderly and children inside to sit down.

Then they carried each household's bundles and belongings indoors.

Several children ran joyfully through the new houses.

They touched the smooth, sturdy wooden walls, then dashed out through the doors and tugged at the adults' clothes, shouting.

"Dad, come look! It's so spacious inside!"

Several Hyuga clansmen exchanged looks, then walked over to Hashirama together.

Some bowed respectfully to him.

Others were so excited that they stammered.

"L-Lord Hokage, thank you so very much!"

Hashirama waved a hand, his mouth spreading into a carefree grin.

"Oh, it's nothing. Hardly any trouble at all!"

Darkness fell.

The Hyuga clansmen lit several bonfires in the clearing at the center of the village.

Brown rice porridge simmered in large pots, accompanied by a few plates of pickled vegetables-a very simple meal.

Several clansmen came over holding wooden bowls and somewhat awkwardly invited Hashirama to join them.

Hashirama accepted without the slightest ceremony, reaching out to take a bowl.

He plopped down on the grass, squeezing right in among the clansmen.

"Delicious! This porridge smells wonderful!"

Hashirama noisily gulped down several large mouthfuls, slapping his thigh in praise.

As he ate, he chatted and joked with the clansmen beside him.

He asked whether everyone had grown tired on the journey and inquired about the climate in the Land of Rice Fields.

At first, the clansmen were all very reserved, sitting straight-backed and not daring to say much.

Which of the important people they had met before had not looked down their noses at others?

Yet here was the God of Shinobi, sitting cross-legged on the dirt without putting on any airs at all.

Before long, everyone relaxed and gathered around him, laughing and chatting.

Scarface came over to the eldest uncle with his bowl and muttered quietly.

"Uncle, this Lord Hokage... he really isn't what we imagined."

The eldest uncle looked at Hashirama laughing among the clansmen and replied softly.

"Exactly. He hardly seems like a great figure renowned throughout the Shinobi World."

After dinner.

Hashirama and Shinichi sat at the village entrance.

Behind them stood the sturdy wooden wall that had just grown into place.

Hashirama set his empty bowl beside his feet, then turned his head to stare at Shinichi.

"What exactly is going on with those eyes of yours?"

Shinichi looked into the darkness ahead and answered.

"Just like the Uchiha's Sharingan, the Byakugan can actually evolve too."

"When the Hyuga bloodline becomes concentrated enough, the Byakugan evolves."

Hashirama nodded repeatedly as he listened, his face full of interest.

He looked at the sixteen-year-old Hyuga clan leader, growing more curious the longer he looked.

Hashirama suddenly slapped his thigh and burst into a broad-mouthed laugh.

"One of these days, when we have time, the two of us have to have a proper spar!"