Using the chakra clinging to the soles of their feet, Naoki Senju and his Wood Clone leaped down from the towering stone pillar. Though they were unlikely to find any survivors, examining the wounds and damage caused by ninjutsu was also an essential part of developing it.
He had not had the right conditions before and could only substitute livestock. Now he could finally fill in the last piece of the puzzle and complete his development of the Cutting Technique.
After he landed, the thick stench of blood hit him in the face. Even the sand beneath his feet had been soaked through with blood, turning into dark red sludge that was particularly unpleasant.
Frowning, Naoki Senju fought back his nausea and walked up to the corpse of one of the Root ninja.
This Root ninja had been rather unlucky. Three wooden spikes from the Cutting Technique had pierced his body: his left leg, his abdomen, and, most fatally, his lungs. The spikes that grew from the Cutting Technique had also mangled his body beyond recognition.
After examining a few more corpses, Naoki Senju lost interest. Once someone was hit by the Cutting Technique, their chances of surviving were almost zero.
Except for Sasori of the Red Sands' secret Human Puppet technique, Hidan's immortal body, Kakuzu's secret Earth Grudge Fear technique, Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Technique, the forbidden technique Impure World Reincarnation, and the bug-like Izanagi.
Anyone who wanted to survive could only dodge. It was a true instant-death ninjutsu, but the Cutting Technique also had plenty of shortcomings, such as its slow attack speed, small range, and enormous chakra consumption...
Even so, Naoki Senju was very satisfied. His current Cutting Technique was equivalent to a version of Kekkei Mōra: All-Killing Ash Bones that had been nerfed several times over!
Thinking of kekkei mōra reminded Naoki Senju of the Rabbit Goddess, Otsutsuki Kaguya, who was still sealed on the moon, as well as Black Zetsu, who was wholly devoted to saving his mother and could be called a model of filial piety, and the child Madara Uchiha had broken-Obito Uchiha.
It had clearly been a family dispute, yet the Shinobi World had ended up taking the blame. Naoki Senju strongly condemned their vile behavior of dragging innocents into it. It also demonstrated the importance of communication once again. If Princess Kaguya had been even half as eloquent as he was, she would not have ended up sealed away by her two unfilial sons.
After letting his thoughts wander for quite a while, from Uchiha infighting to Ōtsutsuki involution, Naoki Senju finally remembered the matter at hand. He took an orange from inside his clothes that had remained intact despite the fierce battle, peeled it, and finished it in a few bites. Spitting the seeds into his palm, he poured his newly recovered chakra into them, then tossed them onto the ground and rapidly formed hand seals, saying:
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence."
The principle behind Deep Forest Emergence was to stimulate the growth of underground trees and seeds. Its power was astonishing, but its chakra consumption was equally outrageous. Bringing his own seeds was a little troublesome, but it made casting the technique much easier. Otherwise, Naoki Senju would have instantly wiped out Root with a single Deep Forest Emergence earlier.
The orange seeds he had just thrown down quickly sprouted, then grew into fruit trees over ten meters tall as though on fast-forward at a thousand or ten thousand times normal speed. Under Naoki Senju's control, the orange trees' roots seemed to come alive, dragging the corpses beneath their root systems like snakes.
The roots also burrowed into the corpses, using them as nutrients for growth. Naoki Senju did this not to conceal what had happened, but to openly tell Danzo:
Since you want to be Konoha's roots, you'd better be prepared to become fertilizer. Konoha has no need for roots that dream of basking in the sunlight, nor does it need disobedient roots!
Having disposed of the Root ninja's corpses and left Danzo a declaration of war in passing, Naoki Senju estimated the time. Tsunade should have picked up Shizune by now. He lowered his head and straightened his clothes, even making a point of sniffing them. After confirming that none of Tsunade's fragrance remained, he headed back toward the place where he had been practicing ninjutsu, thoroughly pleased with himself.
But before he had gone far, Naoki Senju gradually slowed down, no longer running at full speed. He quietly took a poisoned kunai from his ninja tool pouch and kept a careful watch on his surroundings as he traveled.
With my current chakra, I can use at most one Wood Clone and two B-rank Water Release Ninjutsu. Damn it, is it Root reinforcements, or ninja from another village?
Naoki Senju calmly considered his tactics. Recklessly engaging an unknown enemy was certainly the wrong choice. Both their numbers and combat strength were unknown, and he really did not have much chakra left-not enough to cast powerful ninjutsu capable of deciding the battle.
The best option now was to pretend he had noticed nothing and keep moving as he was, getting as close to Tsunade's location as possible so she could support him.
But Naoki Senju's plan soon failed. Whether the ninja tracking him had seen through his poor acting or not, they gave him no opportunity to stall for time.
"Crystal Release: Crystal Shuriken."
Deep red crystal formed a snowflake-shaped shuriken, which the technique's user hurled at tremendous speed.
Hearing the sharp, piercing whistle of something cutting through the air behind him, Naoki Senju rolled behind a huge stone pillar without a second thought. It was not particularly graceful, but its practicality was beyond question.
Before Naoki Senju could breathe a sigh of relief, the second wave of attacks arrived.
"Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Blade."
Deep red crystals kept growing along the ground. The dazzling crystals reflected brilliant light, looking exceptionally gorgeous, but their power surpassed even their beauty.
The huge stone pillar behind which Naoki Senju had hidden was pierced by the wildly growing crystal pillars in an instant and collapsed. Had he not dodged early, he would already have shared its fate.
But the shock these deep red crystals brought Naoki Senju surpassed even that of their power.
Among the dozens of kekkei genkai in the entire Shinobi World, Wood Release was unquestionably the rarest. In terms of power, if the Sharingan called itself second, no one would dare claim first. But there was only one kekkei genkai that nobody could refuse: Crystal Release.
Even if crystals appearing in large quantities would send their price plummeting, did producing crystals cost a Crystal Release user anything? Absolutely nothing!
Rasa's Magnet Release: Gold Dust still required extracting gold dust from sand and ore, making him a super miner at best. Crystal Release, however, was equivalent to a money printer, and it required no material costs.
Not only was Crystal Release very special, but its user was also very special. Unless there was a second person with the Crystal Release kekkei genkai, his pursuer's identity could already be confirmed.
Orochimaru's subordinate, a member of the Sound Ninja, and the wielder of the Crystal Release kekkei genkai-Guren!
Guren appearing here now meant that Aunt Snake had come here as well. He was about to meet the only materialist in the Naruto world; the thought was a little exciting.
Naoki Senju was just about to greet the money printer... pah, Guren, but to his surprise, Guren had no martial virtue whatsoever and silently completed another set of hand seals.
"Crystal Release: Crystal Falling Dragon Technique."
Naoki Senju: "..."