Perfect Sage Mode, the Senju Bloodline

A stooped, silver-haired old woman came over, leaning on a cane and coughing incessantly. "Good child, you must be starving. Come eat! Cough, cough..."

"Kurenai made all of this herself. It's all your favorite food, cough, cough..."

"Cough, cough, that poor girl. She has a mission to go on, and she still came all this way to look after an old woman like me! Cough, cough, cough..."

"Grandma, slow down..."

Chiya Rikuto stepped forward to support her and asked with a smile, "Has Kurenai left the village?"

After spending several years together day and night, even he, who had lived another life with his memories of the past,

had long since come to regard this grandmother, who doted on him so much, as his own beloved family from the bottom of his heart.

His grandmother was named Chiya Nao, and her cough was the lingering result of an illness from her youth.

She had reportedly been a chunin, but lost a leg during a classified mission, forcing her to give up being a ninja and get a prosthetic.

Her lungs had also been severely poisoned during a battle with the enemy.

Although she had been treated after the war by the famed medical master, Konoha's Princess Tsunade,

she had missed the best window for treatment, and a small amount of poison had still seeped into her internal organs, leaving her with a lingering illness.

One could say it was already a miracle that she had lived this long.

Much of that was thanks to her late son, Chiya Rikuto's father, Chiya Kawasuke, a jonin of the medical corps with exceptional medical skills, who had persisted in treating her and tending to her health.

After Chiya Kawasuke passed away,

and as Chiya Nao grew older, her health gradually deteriorated, and her cough grew worse and worse.

By the time Chiya Rikuto gradually began to follow in his father's footsteps and master those medical ninjutsu, it was already too late. The old woman's condition had deteriorated beyond cure.

His medical skills were not enough to cure her illness effectively. All he could do was give her simple treatments each day, alleviating her suffering as much as possible and extending her life a little.

Over the past three years, whenever he examined and treated his grandmother,

he had continually infused her body with his own Chakra, which carried powerful life force after he gained the Woods-Woods Fruit's abilities.

But even that had barely kept her alive, allowing her to just about manage without being bedridden.

Otherwise, she would probably have passed away long ago.

"Cough, cough, here's a note she left for you..."

Chiya Nao sat down.

Smiling, she pointed to the note stuck to the table.

Chiya Rikuto picked up the note from the table. Written on it in neat, delicate handwriting were the words, "I have a mission and will probably be away from the village for three days. Take good care of yourself and Grandma... and remember to water the flowers on the balcony for me when you have time!"

He could not help feeling warmth in his heart.

Kurenai Yuhi truly treated him like her own little brother.

The simple note was full of warmth.

One look at the lavish meal on the table was enough to tell that Kurenai Yuhi had made it herself.

Soon-

Grandmother and grandson finished their hearty lunch and sat talking in the living room.

Only when the old woman began to look tired

did Chiya Rikuto help his ailing grandmother to rest.

Once again, he took the opportunity to examine Chiya Nao and infuse her body with Chakra rich in life force, nourishing her withered body.

After the old woman fell asleep peacefully,

he returned to his room.

"It's about time to start!" Chiya Rikuto's expression grew serious.

He formed a hand seal with one hand.

A section of tree covered in green leaves and flowers, brimming with life, grew directly from his body at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Immediately afterward, the section of tree transformed into a human shape and detached itself from him, forming a clone identical to him.

This was an actual physical clone technique he had developed through repeated attempts.

After fully mastering and thoroughly understanding the Shadow Clone Technique, he had spent a considerable amount of time studying it in depth and dissecting its principles, then drawing on the Woods-Woods Fruit's abilities to improve it.

Unlike a Shadow Clone, it did not require him to divide his Chakra evenly. Instead, he, as the user, could freely control the proportion distributed.

Much like the Wood Clone created by the First Hokage, his Wood Clone, an improvement on the Shadow Clone using his Kekkei Genkai, was far more powerful than an ordinary Shadow Clone and could use the main body's various ninjutsu and even his own Kekkei Genkai.

Even if it sustained considerable damage, his Wood Clone would not disappear easily unless the damage was fatal or its Chakra was exhausted.

Like a Shadow Clone,

once his Wood Clone was dispelled,

it would return all its memories and experiences to the main body along with its Chakra.

Unless the main body dispelled the ninjutsu.

"Sit there and start trying to draw in natural energy..."

Chiya Rikuto took a deep breath and said to his Wood Clone, "Combine it with the spiritual and physical energy in your Chakra, so each makes up one-third!"

"Understood..."

The Wood Clone nodded.

He promptly sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes, beginning to sense the energy of nature.

Like the main body, he possessed the abilities of the Woods-Woods Fruit.

He was equivalent to nature itself, and he soon entered a meditative trance.

The omnipresent natural energy floated between heaven and earth, seemingly boundless and inexhaustible...

"Spiritual energy, physical energy, natural energy... one-third of each. If I control them carefully, I should have a chance of producing true Senjutsu Chakra..."

For this day,

Chiya Rikuto had been preparing for a long time.

The Wood Clone relied on the Chakra control inherited from the main body, which had long since been refined to an extraordinarily precise level.

He did not draw in natural energy blindly.

Instead, he drew it in carefully, little by little.

It was worth mentioning that his Wood Clone could not create something from nothing and directly produce Chakra.

Or rather, the same was true of all physical clone techniques, unless the main body had a way to continue supplying Chakra to the clone, or the clone could directly absorb someone else's Chakra.

Otherwise, even if it suffered no damage from outside forces, it would disappear as soon as the Chakra allocated to it was exhausted.

But from the very beginning, the Wood Clone had Chakra in his body that Chiya Rikuto had produced by combining his own spiritual and physical energy, then distributed evenly.

He only needed to adjust the proportions of Chakra and natural energy drawn in.

In theory, that was also equivalent to taking one-third each of spiritual energy, physical energy, and natural energy.

Otherwise, just how had a certain overpowered jinchuriki used his Shadow Clones to produce Senjutsu Chakra?

Chapter 6: Perfect Sage Mode, the Senju Bloodline

Boom-

A moment later,

without any mishap,

a vast surge of energy poured out of the Wood Clone's body.

Its quality was worlds apart from the Chakra he usually produced.

Without a doubt, it was Senjutsu Chakra.

"Rustle, rustle..."

In the less-than-spacious room

that Chiya Rikuto used specifically for training,

green shoots appeared out of nowhere, growing from the floor at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, vines and green trees filled the room, and flowers bloomed among them...

Surprisingly, the Wood Clone's hair began to grow rapidly.

It turned a lustrous, translucent green.

Two streaks of green eyeshadow also appeared around his eyes.

He seemed to have become completely one with nature, radiating an astonishing vitality.

Moreover, the Senjutsu Chakra within him was incredibly stable.

There was none of the expected turbulence.

It was surprisingly docile, as though he had possessed it from birth.

He could control it at will, without the slightest difficulty or resistance.

"I did it..."

Chiya Rikuto smiled.

Sure enough, just as he had initially expected,

as a user of the Logia-type Woods-Woods Fruit, he was different from others.

He did not simply possess the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai. He was the embodiment of the forest itself, or one could say the embodiment of nature, equivalent to the source of life.

How could natural energy possibly reject "itself"?

Soon-

his Wood Clone continued drawing in the natural energy drifting through the air, producing a large amount of Senjutsu Chakra.

He continued until all the modest amount of Chakra in his body had combined with natural energy and been converted into Senjutsu Chakra, leaving him unable to draw in any more.

To be safe, Chiya Rikuto had allocated him only one-tenth of his Chakra.

Finally, the Wood Clone dispelled himself.

Poof... Smoke spread through the room.

In an instant,

a subtle change

came over Chiya Rikuto.

He seemed to become one with nature.

"Whoosh..." His black hair turned a lustrous, translucent green, brimming with life.

It grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, spilling down his back.

It was incredibly smooth, moving without a breeze.

A faint, shimmering light seemed to flow through his eyes.

In the room, which had long since become a field of flowers, blossoms continued to grow and bloom...

It was almost unbelievable.

And at that moment,

the wonder of being able to use heaven, earth, nature, and all things for himself

drew Chiya Rikuto into it.

"So powerful... Is this Sage Mode?" he murmured.

At that moment, he felt like an omnipotent god.

All of Konoha and the lands beyond it could not escape his perception, which had been powerful from birth and had become even more astonishing in Sage Mode.