In the laboratory, Orochimaru and Sōkyū Hatake were watching Yamato.
At that moment, streams of chakra appeared in Yamato's hands and began gathering, soon reaching a certain quantity.
"Fire it over there." Orochimaru pointed toward a relatively spacious area.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru." Yamato's gaze sharpened, and he fired the chakra in his hands straight toward it.
Crack, crack.
As the ninjutsu formed from Yamato's chakra shot over, cracks soon appeared across the floor there. Then a sapling began growing, quickly reaching the height of a person and roughly the width of a fist.
"It really is Wood Release!" Looking at the sapling Yamato had produced, Orochimaru took two steps forward and began examining it with interest.
"Wood Release... I actually mastered Wood Release?" Yamato stared at his hands in disbelief. Orochimaru had told him about this before the experiment began.
But what Yamato had never expected was that he would actually master Wood Release.
After all, wasn't this a ninjutsu that only Hashirama Senju, known as the God of the Shinobi World, could master?
He actually... possessed a kekkei genkai of this caliber too?
"What you've mastered now is only basic Wood Release. If you want to make rapid progress with this, you'll have to work hard on the rest yourself. I've given you the seed; from here on, you'll have to put in the effort yourself."
Orochimaru suddenly reached out and patted Yamato on the shoulder as he spoke.
"I'll definitely work hard, Lord Orochimaru!" Yamato said outright, unable to hide the eagerness on his face.
"Mm, go get some rest first. That room will be yours from now on." Orochimaru waved both hands, and a doorway suddenly appeared in the wall, with bedding and such arranged inside.
"Yes, thank you, Lord Orochimaru." Yamato bowed respectfully, then returned to