Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 273 The Origin of Wood Release

Fugaku asked curiously, "Sealed? Is there something that needs to be sealed?"

Aokiji crouched down and touched the ground: "There's actually a lot of chakra buried underneath this."

Fugaku looked surprised, having never heard of chakra being hidden beneath the Forest of Death.

"Haven't you ever wondered why the plants and animals in the Death Forest are so much larger than those outside?" Aokiji chuckled. "You don't actually think the creatures here are naturally this big, do you?"

Hearing this, Fugaku thought about it and realized it was true; he hadn't paid much attention to it before: "So, these creatures are influenced by the chakra underground?"

Aokiji nodded silently, which was his response to the previous answer.

This place has always been claimed to be the Forest of Death created by the First Hokage using Wood Release, but in reality, this is only one layer; the true situation is a combination of both.

Fugaku asked, "Is it alright for you to just break the seal like this?"

Aokiji shook his head: "It's alright. The chakra below has already merged with the Forest of Death. Even if I push it away, it will only leak out a little bit of residue. It won't have a big impact."

Fugaku: ...

Aokiji laughed and said, "How was it? This training was pretty good, wasn't it?"

Fugaku thought to himself, "I think you're just lazy," though he wouldn't say it out loud. Instead, he asked, "How do you know about this?"

"Of course I asked someone else..."

"Who?"

"Grandma Mito..."

Aokiji once asked Mito out of curiosity.

According to Mito, there used to be a tree growing in the Forest of Death, and Hashirama climbed up it and ate its fruit when he was very young.

It's unclear whether it was because the fruit was picked, but the tree slowly withered away. The Red Plain was the very place where this great tree originally grew.

At that time, Hashirama had not yet developed Wood Release.

Aokiji speculated that it was possible that Wood Release might be inextricably linked to this fruit, but unfortunately the tree had long since withered and turned into fertilizer for the earth.

Based on the information available, Aokiji has a bold guess.

Wood Release might be similar to Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan in the later stages of his life, requiring some kind of stimulus to activate.

For example, in the original comic, there is a set of pictures showing Asura and Indra facing off, ready to clash at any moment.

It's important to know that Ashura in the scene is using the Nine-Tails Mode, and in the form of a perfect Jinchuriki, just like the one used by Prince Naruto. It's not some kind of Wood Release.

If Ashura had Wood Release at this moment, Indra would have been no match for him.

Based on the above information, Aokiji has reason to believe that Ashura doesn't know Wood Release at all.

So here's the question: even Ashura, the ancestor of all, didn't know Wood Release, so how did Hashirama manage to develop it?

I don't mean to look down on Hashirama here, but in fact, even his own flesh and blood, the Sage of Six Paths, can't do it. There is no reason for Hashirama, who is a generation apart, to know how to escape.

Even Madara Uchiha, who possessed the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and the Nine-Tails, could use Wood Release to tyrannize others.

Even if it's a case of atavism, at most it's only at the level of Ashura. Developing a Wood Release is a joke. Using earth and water to create a bloodline limit similar to "Mud" Release is the normal thing to do.

So, Hashirama was probably able to develop Wood Release with the help of external forces.

And that external force is very likely the fruit that once grew on the Red Plains.

As for how the fruit came to be, Aokiji wasn't just making wild guesses; he had some basis for his reasoning.

As we all know, Kaguya and Otsutsuki came to this planet to plant sacred trees together. Everyone knows what happened next. Kaguya was unwilling to be a living sacrifice and chose to sneak attack on her old comrades. This led to the following series of events. matter.

Originally, with Kaguya being sealed away, the Divine Tree should have been completely gone. However, in "Unbreakable Transformation", the Divine Tree reappeared.

Based on this situation, Aokiji has reason to guess that when Kaguya and Isshiki came to Earth, they may have brought more than just a sapling with them. Otherwise, how would you explain the Divine Tree that Isshiki later had?

Presumably because the probability of successfully planting a sacred tree is very low, there will naturally be successful individuals and unsuccessful individuals during the planting process.

Kaguya's was clearly a successful individual, while the failed individuals were probably scattered in some unknown corner.

The fruit that Hashirama ate was probably produced by a failed individual.

After he ate the fruit, it stimulated the latent genes in his body.

Because it was a failed experiment, Hashirama did not immediately develop Wood Release. Instead, he slowly created the extremely special bloodline limit of "Wood Release" through the combination of chakra attributes.

This leads people to mistakenly believe that Hashirama Senju was able to unleash Wood Release through the fusion of his bloodline limit.

Little did Hashirama know, perhaps even he himself was unaware that his ability to develop Wood Release was not solely due to his own power, but rather aided by the power generated by that fruit.

Aokiji pondered that if he wanted to upgrade his "quality" in the future, he might inquire about whether there were any special plants in the world. Maybe he would get lucky and find the divine tree that had failed in the past.

If I get my hands on him and have Orochimaru study him, maybe one day I can also have a "super atavism" phenomenon similar to Hashirama Senju?

Fugaku found it incredibly sweet when Aokiji addressed her as "Grandma Mito," and couldn't help but retort, "Aokiji, you're not planning to marry into Tsunade's family, are you?"

Aokiji was speechless.

The Senju clan has disbanded, so even if he wanted to marry into another family, there's nowhere for him to do so.

If people got married in this world, the woman would take the man's surname. So Tsunade would have to take his surname, Uchiha.

When the time comes, deciding whose surname the child will take will definitely be a headache.

Neither the groom's nor the bride's family will back down.

Fortunately, the Senju clan has disbanded, so it's no longer their concern and this problem no longer exists.

Aokiji asked, "Why do you think that?"

Fugaku gave a fair reply: "Based on your usual behavior, I can judge that you are living off a woman."

"You brat, are you looking for trouble? How dare you call me a gigolo? I have my dignity as a man too."

Aokiji's handsome face twitched slightly as he pretended to be angry. Just as he raised his hand to slap him, a message suddenly came from his shadow clone on the other side.

Fugaku was taken aback when he saw that Aokiji had seemed to want to hit him, but was suddenly stopped.

"Consider yourself lucky. Tsunade wants to see me at the Hokage's office. Apparently, the Hokage has some kind of mission for me." Aokiji snorted. "I'll remember this beating for now, and I'll do it again later."

Fugaku: ...

Abandoning Fugaku, Aokiji left the Forest of Death and went straight to the Hokage's office. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw several familiar faces.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's familiar face was naturally present, along with Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya.

These three people wouldn't have gathered here for no reason; they must have come for a reason.

"Oh dear~ Looks like I'm the last one." Aokiji scratched his head and laughed to ease the awkwardness.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya called out his name as a greeting.

Tsunade asked, "Where was your original body before you found yourself?"

When she found Aokiji, she didn't give him many details, only relaying that the Hokage had something to discuss with him.

Aokiji replied dismissively, "I was training with Fugaku at the time. Is something wrong?"

Tsunade shrugged. "Isn't it obvious?"

At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been mostly silent, finally spoke up: "Aokiji, I specifically called you here this time because I have a mission for you."

Aokiji narrowed his eyes, realizing that as a Jinchūriki, he was finally going to be sent to war by the village.

"Is it about the war?"

"Yes."

Aokiji turned his gaze to the three people beside him: "So, does that mean Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade are my teammates for this mission?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and said, "What are your thoughts right now? Feel free to speak them."

Aokiji shook his head: "How could that be? Those three are my teammates. I'm more than happy to have them."

"That's good." Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Orochimaru will mainly be in charge of the next mission, with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and you assisting. Is that alright?"

He said this not only to Aokiji, but also to everyone else present.

Aokiji shrugged: "Orochimaru's talent for command is obvious to all, I'm no problem with that. Rather, being a henchman is perfect for someone like me who doesn't like to use his brain."

After Aokiji expressed his opinion, Tsunade also immediately expressed her support for Aokiji's point of view.

Jiraiya scoffed, agreeing with the viewpoint.

Seeing that none of the three had any objections, Hiruzen Sarutobi then began to formally issue the mission.

The three received their mission and immediately prepared to head to the battlefield.

P.S.: This is a fan-made explanation of how Hashirama acquired Wood Release. It's also a bit of background information.

Combining the jumbled information in the original work, it seems that it can be explained in a barely coherent way.

For example, the tree in Takigakure that can produce Hero's Water, I also consider it a failed product of the Divine Tree.

Ashura's anime-original ability to use Wood Release is an original plot point, right? It's similar to Kaguya's original storyline of marrying a native; actually, in the manga, Kaguya seems to reproduce asexually…

If you don't like it... never mind, it's like saying it will prevent you from criticizing me...

(End of this chapter)