Chapter 33: Chapter:33
After thoroughly checking his physical condition and confirming that his body showed no signs of the usual rejection caused by Hashirama's cells, Uchiha Fugaku breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he had speculated, White Zetsu, who had perfectly fused with Hashirama's cells, had an ideal tolerance for them. By utilizing White Zetsu's body, Fugaku's own system had integrated the Hashirama cells smoothly, without any adverse effects.
"Now that I've absorbed White Zetsu's body, can I finally use Wood Release ninjutsu?" Fugaku wondered.
He approached the bookshelf on his left and retrieved a green scroll marked with the character for "Wood" (木). This scroll contained techniques for Wood Release, the legendary power of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, known as the God of Shinobi.
Due to the longstanding rivalry between the Uchiha and Senju clans, the Uchiha had collected knowledge of Wood Release techniques over the years. The scroll in Fugaku's hands held several of these jutsu.
"Release," Fugaku muttered, using a specific hand sign to unseal the scroll.
The first technique described on the scroll was the "Wood Release: Cutting Technique." This jutsu allowed the user to grow a sharp branch from their hand, which could pierce an enemy. Once inside the enemy's body, the branch would continue to grow, forming more deadly spikes.
While not a particularly high-level technique, it was extremely practical in combat. Fugaku recalled that Uchiha Obito had once used this very jutsu to eliminate a large number of Mist ninja.
Continuing to read, the next technique he encountered was the "Wood Clone Technique," which created lifelike wooden clones that were much harder to distinguish than regular shadow clones.
The scroll contained several other techniques, including:
- "Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees"
- "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence"
- "Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique"
Some of the techniques listed were incredibly powerful, strong enough to be considered Super S-rank. However, despite these impressive abilities, Fugaku remained calm. He knew that the true power of Wood Release didn't solely lie in the techniques, but in the ability to use them.
Although many scrolls detailing Wood Release jutsu existed, very few shinobi had ever managed to use them after Hashirama's death. The only other shinobi known to wield Wood Release with significant power was Uchiha Madara, and that was after his own experiments with Hashirama's cells.
"I've merged with White Zetsu, but can I actually use these techniques?" Fugaku questioned internally.
He turned back to the "Cutting Technique" section and carefully studied the hand seals and chakra manipulation necessary to perform the jutsu. After a few moments, once he had memorized the steps, he decided to try it out.
"Wood Release: Cutting Technique!"
A small branch began to grow from the palm of his hand but quickly withered and shattered into pieces.
"Failed!" Fugaku frowned.
It wasn't his lack of proficiency in ninjutsu, as even though he was not on the level of his son, Uchiha Itachi, he was still talented enough to perform such a basic jutsu. Something else had gone wrong.
"Sharingan!"
Activating his three-tomoe Sharingan, Fugaku observed the flow of his chakra as he tried the jutsu again. A small branch extended from his hand but, as before, it withered and crumbled almost immediately.
"I see... I don't have enough wood-nature chakra."
Through the Sharingan, Fugaku could see that while his body could now produce both earth-nature and water-nature chakra—the two necessary components for Wood Release—he wasn't producing enough of them to create a significant amount of wood-nature chakra.
"The issue lies with my bloodline concentration."
As an Uchiha, Fugaku's primary chakra nature was fire, but after absorbing White Zetsu's cells, his body had acquired earth and water natures. However, the amount of wood-nature chakra he could synthesize was minuscule, insufficient even for low-level jutsu like the "Cutting Technique."
"It's just like how not every Uchiha can awaken the Sharingan," Fugaku reasoned. "The ability to perform certain techniques, or even awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, depends heavily on the concentration of one's bloodline."
The same principle applied to Wood Release. The concentration of Hashirama's cells in his body was too low to generate enough wood-nature chakra for the jutsu to work effectively. This explained why Obito, who had a higher concentration of Hashirama cells, could perform the Wood Release much more successfully.
"What if I were to absorb more of White Zetsu's bodies? Could I increase the concentration of Hashirama's cells and, by extension, my ability to use Wood Release?"
A plan began to form in Fugaku's mind. If he could find and absorb more of White Zetsu's bodies, he could potentially increase the concentration of Hashirama's cells in his body. With enough, he might even reach a level comparable to that of Hashirama himself.
"If I can achieve that, I could master the same techniques that Hashirama Senju once used. And if I could obtain the Sage Body... I could even unlock Sage Mode, just like him."
His heart raced with excitement. If successful, he wouldn't need assistance from the toads or any other external forces to master Sage Mode. He could achieve the perfect Sage Mode, one that could be activated instantly and last indefinitely.
(End of Chapter).
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