Main World.
Konoha Year 30, autumn.
Country of Roran, Resettlement Zone.
Three days had passed since the first round of injections. The medical station's register had been closed for three days, and no new people had been scheduled to enter the next batch's procedures, because the first batch of subjects was still under observation. The findings would determine the next batch's progress, and the current findings were already sufficient to support the subsequent steps.
Toyotomi Dingzhen stood in a clearing on the eastern side of the Resettlement Zone. He was nineteen that year, one of the Toyotomi clan members in the first batch to receive injections. He had no prior record of any Kekkei Genkai, nor had he proven his fighting ability on the battlefield. He was doing one thing now-standing in the clearing before a newly transplanted sapling that did not even reach his knees. It had only a few tender leaves and had not yet fully adapted to the new soil.
He crouched down and pressed his palm to the ground beside the sapling. No hand seals, no gathering strength, no adjustments beforehand. He simply crouched there, as if waiting for something. After roughly a few breaths, the sapling began to move. New branches sprouted along the edges of its stem, paler than the existing parts, as though they had just emerged from beneath the bark, with tiny bud scales still clinging to their tips. The bud scales fell away quickly, and as they fell, the new branches were already beginning to stretch outward.
The people around him made no sound. Dingzhen did not stand up. He, too, saw that his operation was complete, so he took his hand off the ground, moved back half a step, and watched that new branch continue to grow. It was about