"Here?"
Naoki Senju looked around the shrine. The arrangements around him had such a sense of history that he felt somewhat reluctant to destroy them.
Although they could not see the Katsuyu Sage's expression, Tsunade and Naoki could clearly sense her irritation.
I asked you to use Wood Release, and you want to tear the place down? The Senju Clan really are all cast from the same mold, every bit as troublesome.
"Outside, of course," the Katsuyu Sage said irritably. "And open the box in your hands. You'll have a use for what's inside."
Naoki Senju shifted his gaze to the box in his hands. It was only an arm's length long, but it gave off a reassuringly familiar pulse.
The lid opened gently, revealing a branch radiating a rich aura of life. No matter how many years had passed, its green leaves remained lush, as though it had only just been broken off a tree.
"This is?"
"Ah..." The Katsuyu Sage sighed wistfully before explaining, "Little Hashirama left this for the next person to possess Wood Release. It can help someone who has awakened Wood Release master the power of senjutsu. I just never expected little Naoki to be able to perceive natural energy already. That makes it far less useful."
"This is the Wood Release Grandpa left behind..." Tsunade took the wooden box with slightly trembling hands. Suddenly remembering something, she hurriedly removed a necklace from her fair neck. The emerald-green necklace contained chakra with the same fluctuations as the branch.
The instant the two streams of chakra touched, the "branch" and the "gem" could no longer maintain their forms, both transforming into pure, astonishing chakra.
Having anticipated this, the Katsuyu Sage willed the chakra radiating astonishing vitality to flow slowly into Naoki Senju's body.
The amount of chakra was immense, and because it shared the same nature and origin as his own, Naoki Senju's body did not reject it in the slightest. Although most of this chakra would eventually dissipate, Naoki Senju felt that his chakra at this moment was certainly no less than a tailed beast's.
"Do you know Deep Forest Emergence?"
The Katsuyu Sage knows an extraordinary amount about Wood Release... Naoki Senju thought to himself, giving a slight nod.
"Good. Let's head outside."
The Katsuyu Sage crawled forward, moving anything but slowly. The slugs waiting at the shrine entrance could barely even catch sight of her.
Naoki Senju and Tsunade followed closely behind. Once some distance had opened up between them and the sage, Naoki Senju quietly asked the question he had been wanting to ask but had felt uncomfortable raising in front of her:
"Sister Tsunade, didn't you say before that all the slugs come from the Katsuyu Sage? Then why is her true body so small?"
Tsunade gave Naoki Senju a look as though he were an idiot, then asked in return:
"Who told you this was the Katsuyu Sage's true body?"
"Isn't it?"
"Of course not. This is another of her clones. It's just that its consciousness comes entirely from her true body, so it only counts as one of the vessels for her true body."
"Then where is her true body?" Naoki Senju pressed, itching to know.
The original work had said little about Shikkotsu Forest. It was even more mysterious than Ryūchi Cave, and everything could only be pieced together from scattered remarks. This was also the answer Naoki Senju wanted most.
"You've already seen it," Tsunade said mysteriously.
When she had learned the answer from her grandfather back then, the terrifying answer had given her quite a fright. Naoki absolutely had to experience something so precious for himself.
Tsunade roared with laughter inwardly.
"I've already... seen it?"
Naoki Senju tried hard to recall every slug he had seen since entering Shikkotsu Forest, but ultimately came up empty. The Katsuyu Sage's true body had to be enormous. If he had seen it just now, how could he possibly have forgotten?
Wait. I've already seen it, and her true body is enormous...
Realization abruptly struck Naoki Senju. He looked at Tsunade in utter shock, only to receive her confirmation.
"You guessed right. This entire Shikkotsu Forest is the Katsuyu Sage's true body!"
The Katsuyu Sage heard the two discussing her behind her, but she did not mind in the slightest. Some secrets did not need to be hidden, and it did not matter if people learned them. If anything, she looked forward to their reactions.
Naoki Senju had undoubtedly recovered the fastest, and his response pleased her the most. After a brief moment of shock, his expression and emotions returned to normal. Someone back then had actually fainted from fright...
Tsunade, however, was not very satisfied with this outcome. Couldn't he give a more normal reaction to such shocking news?
Something like freezing on the spot or hiding everywhere in fear. It would be even better if he cried from fright... Then she would have something to hold over the little pervert next time, and she would see whether he still dared to push his luck.
Unfortunately, such an ingenious plan had fallen through. Tsunade could not help sighing in regret.
Naoki Senju pondered the matter very seriously. Saying that Shikkotsu Forest was the Katsuyu Sage certainly could not be entirely accurate, because the soil and swamps beneath his feet could not be fake. But her true body had to be hidden beneath the ground of Shikkotsu Forest, occupying a considerable amount of space.
Just one-tenth of her body could heal the eighty thousand members of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Although at most half of them-forty thousand shinobi-were still alive by the final battle, that number was still quite astonishing.
But that raised another question. Mount Myōboku's history predated the history of shinobi, and Gamamaru was older than the Sage of Six Paths. Yet by now, he had become decrepit and seemingly had little time left. So was the current Katsuyu Sage still the original Katsuyu Sage?
If so, Shikkotsu Forest might well be the strongest and oldest of the Three Great Sage Lands...
"Let's do it here."
The Katsuyu Sage's voice interrupted Naoki Senju's wandering thoughts. Only after Tsunade gave him a gentle push did he come back to his senses.
The location the Katsuyu Sage had chosen was a large clearing. Only a few young saplings grew here, and there were no slugs in sight.
Taking a deep breath, Naoki Senju began controlling the immense chakra within his body. His chakra reserves had already been enormous and were still growing, making Orochimaru, whose reserves were not particularly large, extremely envious.
As a member of the Senju Clan, Tsunade had considerable chakra reserves despite not having awakened Wood Release. With her Yin Seal as well, she could hardly be called envious.
As for Guren, Shizune, Kabuto Yakushi, and the others, they were already beyond even having the grounds to envy him...
Naoki Senju lavishly mobilized a vast amount of chakra. At this moment, he could already appreciate some of the First Hokage's joy. It felt so damn good not to have to care about chakra consumption at all!
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
As he completed the final Snake hand seal, vast amounts of Wood Release chakra surged underground, absorbed by seeds and roots. The young saplings seemed to fast-forward thousands of times over, instantly growing into thousand-year-old trees so thick that it would take ten people joining arms to encircle them. And they had yet to stop growing.
Because he paid no heed to chakra consumption, Deep Forest Emergence covered a much greater area as well. Viewed from above, its reach would already have exceeded ten soccer fields, and it was still expanding. Perhaps wiping out a village in a single move was not impossible.