Unfortunately, Haruto knew very well that his current mastery of Wood Release was probably inferior even to Captain Yamato’s.
Most of his Wood Release techniques had been “borrowed” during sparring sessions with Yamato.
As for advanced secret techniques such as Wood Human Technique and Deep Forest Bloom, Yamato himself couldn’t perform them, so naturally Haruto had no way to learn them either.
Although the quality of Haruto’s Wood Release far surpassed Yamato’s artificially-created version thanks to his supreme Yang Release enhancement, his practical application and development of the art was still in its infancy.
He had only two options:
Either painstakingly develop techniques on his own.
Or shamelessly ask the village for the First Hokage’s scrolls.
As for the latter…
Unless he suddenly lost his mind, there was no way he’d willingly walk into that trap.
Staring at the dark ceiling, Haruto sighed helplessly.
“My chakra reserves are still a weakness.”
“Sure, they’re far greater than an ordinary person’s, but they’re nowhere near the absurd level of the First Hokage.”
“Honestly, I can’t even compare to Naruto right now.”
“If that kid starts borrowing the Nine-Tails’ chakra, I won’t even be in the same league.”
Rolling onto his side, he let out another sigh.
“The revolution has yet to succeed. Comrades must continue striving.”
Fortunately, his unique physique was constantly strengthening itself.
The growth rate wasn’t particularly fast, but the important part was that it seemed to have no upper limit.
That limitless growth was his greatest trump card.
At the moment, it didn’t seem particularly impressive.
But given enough time, it would eventually transform him into a terrifying existence capable of rivaling gods through sheer physical power alone.
For now, however…
He still needed to keep a low profile.
Even Yamato, despite possessing top-tier Wood Release techniques like the Wood Human Technique, lacked the chakra reserves necessary to support them.
The gap between Yamato and the First Hokage had never been about Yang Release.
It was simply a matter of fuel tank size.
To put it bluntly, Yamato’s entire chakra pool probably wasn’t even one-tenth of what Hashirama casually poured into a single Wood Clone.
Attempting to use Wood Human Technique would simply drain him into a shriveled corpse.
As for Haruto…
With Wood Release in one hand and the Sharingan in the other, combined with his specially enhanced body, he had more than enough confidence.
He had no interest in chasing after other bloodline limits.
After all, ninjas fought with chakra.
And when it came to chakra compatibility, nothing beat the combination of Sharingan and Wood Release.
That was what you called a perfect match.
The next day, the sun was already high in the sky before Haruto leisurely stepped out of his house.
By the time he wandered to the meeting point, several more minutes had passed before Kakashi’s iconic silver hair finally appeared.
Naruto immediately pointed at Haruto and shouted:
“You bastard, Haruto!”
“That’s way too sneaky!”
“You actually timed your arrival based on exactly how late Kakashi-sensei would be!”
Haruto merely smiled mysteriously and didn’t bother responding.
Scratching the back of his head, Kakashi’s visible eye curved into a crescent.
“Ah, sorry. I got lost on the road of life.”
Before he could finish the excuse, Naruto and Sakura roared in perfect unison:
“LIKE HELL WE BELIEVE THAT!”
Standing beneath a tree with his hands in his pockets, Sasuke frowned deeply.
His irritation was written all over his face.
As someone who valued efficiency, he despised people with no sense of punctuality.
Realizing his excuse wasn’t working, Kakashi simply waved a hand.
“Alright, alright.”
“Today is Team 7’s official debut.”
“Let’s head to the Hokage Tower and pick up our first mission.”
The moment Naruto heard the word mission, his eyes lit up.
In his imagination, he was already charging through an S-rank operation, defeating enemies left and right while everyone cheered his name.
While the other three walked ahead noisily, Haruto deliberately slowed his pace and moved beside Kakashi.
“The old man came to visit last night.”
Kakashi’s footsteps paused briefly.
His lazy gaze instantly sharpened.
“The Third?”
“What did he say?”
What worried him most was the possibility of the Hokage setting his sights on Haruto.
At this stage, attracting too much attention from Hiruzen wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Haruto shrugged.
“What else?”
“He wanted to recruit me.”
“I turned him down immediately.”
“If I’d agreed, there’s a good chance he’d have tossed me into the ANBU.”
“And you know me.”
“I’ve got a cleanliness obsession.”
“I can’t stand the smell of blood.”
Kakashi nodded thoughtfully.
“That’s true.”
“That kind of place would ruin you.”
Rationally speaking, Kakashi knew that someone like Haruto would thrive in the ANBU.
Still, since Haruto didn’t want it, that was the end of the discussion.
As far as Kakashi could tell, the Third was probably only testing the waters.
He likely hadn’t discovered anything deeper yet.
The next month and a half was so boring that birds wouldn’t even bother singing about it.
Team 7 spent their days doing D-rank missions.
Finding missing cats.
Cleaning rivers.
Pulling weeds.
Helping old ladies carry groceries.
Haruto took laziness to a whole new level.
For every mission, he’d send a Shadow Clone to handle the work while his real body trained relentlessly in the forests behind Konoha.
Strangely enough, during that month, the Third Hokage seemed to have an abundance of free time.
Without fail, he visited Haruto in the mountains every day to play shogi.
Haruto couldn’t figure out what the old fox was planning.
But since the opportunity presented itself, he happily accepted.
The two would spend hours battling across the board while chatting about all sorts of topics.
As for Haruto using Shadow Clones to complete missions?
The Third turned a blind eye to it.
Completely.
One day, while immersed in training, a familiar chakra signature suddenly entered his sensory range.
Yugao Uzuki.
But her condition was terrible.
Dust stained her normally beautiful purple hair.
Haruto’s brows instantly furrowed.
He hurried over.
“Yugao-sis, what happened?”
“Who did this to you?”
“What kind of monster could push you this far?”
Yugao was only a Special Jonin, but her swordsmanship ranked among Konoha’s best.
Aside from that one incident years ago, Haruto couldn’t imagine anyone inflicting such severe injuries on her.
Her chest.
Her abdomen.
Everywhere was covered in horrifying wounds.
With trembling fingers, Yugao removed her ANBU mask.
Her face was deathly pale.
Not a trace of blood remained.
Seeing her like this made Haruto’s expression darken further.
“Stop forcing yourself.”
“Lie down.”
“Let me take a look.”
Yugao pressed her lips together and nodded obediently.
In front of Haruto, she had long since lowered all her defenses.
She knew that this young man cared about her sincerely.
Without ulterior motives.
As she lay down on the grass, Haruto carefully removed the blood-soaked bandages.
The already-clotted wounds resembled grotesque centipedes crawling across her skin.
“Tsk.”
“They really didn’t hold back.”
“Good thing I know the Mystical Palm Technique.”
“Otherwise these scars would be a nightmare.”
“Bear with it for a moment.”
His time spent in the hospital had not been wasted.
His medical ninjutsu was already exceptional.
Among Konoha’s doctors, only three people could properly use the Mystical Palm Technique.
Haruto had mastered it years ago.
The elderly doctor who taught him had practically lost faith in life after witnessing his talent.
Thus, Yugao trusted those healing hands completely.
Soft green chakra flowed from Haruto’s palms.
Under its soothing light, her horrific wounds began visibly healing.
As he worked, he asked casually:
“Mind telling me what happened?”
“I know there are confidentiality rules.”
After all, Yugao was an ANBU squad leader.
Some missions couldn’t be discussed openly.
After a long silence, she finally spoke.
“It happened in a town near the border of the Land of Grass.”
“A group of madmen appeared.”
“They feed on human blood.”
Her voice was hoarse.
“Their methods are unbelievably cruel.”
“And they’re ridiculously strong.”
“The entire town became their hunting ground.”
“After consuming enough blood, three of them evolved into jonin-level monsters.”
“Another five reached chunin level.”
“The Grass Village couldn’t handle them at all.”
“They requested assistance from Konoha.”
“The Hokage sent me with a squad.”
Her voice cracked.
“My three teammates…”
“They all died.”
“They stayed behind to cover my escape.”
“They’re all dead.”
Tears finally spilled down her cheeks.
Those comrades had willingly sacrificed themselves so she could return with the information.
The pain was suffocating.
After receiving emergency treatment at the hospital, she’d instinctively come looking for Haruto.
Over the years, whenever life became unbearable, she always found herself seeking him out.
Without stopping his healing, Haruto comforted her softly.
“Don’t worry.”
“The village will settle that debt.”
“I was wondering why your blood contained traces of strange chakra.”
“So that’s what it was.”
“Corpse chakra.”
“It feels like something straight out of hell.”
In the ninja world, everyone possessed chakra.
But ordinary civilians had such tiny amounts that they couldn’t utilize it.
These lunatics, however, had developed a forbidden technique capable of extracting even that minuscule chakra from blood.
The chakra they stole was impure.
Yet after refinement, it could be used almost like naturally cultivated chakra.
It was horribly inefficient.
No sane person would bother.
Not to mention that once exposed, such practices would invite the wrath of the entire shinobi world.
Yugao stared at him.
“You actually know what they’re doing?”
She only knew that they became stronger by drinking blood.
Nothing more.
Despite being fellow chunin-level fighters, the enemy’s strength and speed had completely overwhelmed elite ANBU.
Their physical abilities defied common sense.
Haruto casually untied another layer of bandages.
“I came across a reference while studying medical ninjutsu.”
“There’s a forbidden branch that forcibly extracts life force from blood.”
“And there’s a catch.”
“The stronger the target, the greater the chakra boost.”
“But it’s an incredibly vile technique.”
“It was banned long ago.”
He glanced at her.
“After feeding, do they still look normal?”
Yugao shook her head immediately.
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“Their strength.”
“Their endurance.”
“Their reaction speed.”
“They all exceed human limits.”
Haruto chuckled.
“That’s because the foreign chakra is rewriting their cells.”
“Don’t forget.”
“Chakra originates from the body.”
“This kind of enhancement has limits.”
“Your natural foundation determines your ceiling.”
“Most people can only become somewhat stronger than average.”
“The reason these guys are so monstrous…”
“…is because they were probably taijutsu specialists from the beginning.”
Yugao’s eyes widened.
“You’re right!”
“Their taijutsu was insane.”
“Their ninjutsu, on the other hand, was mediocre.”
By now, the wounds on her abdomen had healed completely.
When Haruto began treating the injuries on her chest, her cheeks reddened despite herself.
Even though she’d known him for years.
And even though he was younger.
Haruto, however, remained completely focused on the treatment.
Not a single inappropriate thought crossed his mind.
Noticing her embarrassment, he deliberately changed the subject.
“So what’s the village planning to do?”
“Just abandon the mission?”
That immediately redirected her attention.
“No.”
“The mission was originally A-rank.”
“It’s now been upgraded to S-rank.”
“The higher-ups are discussing a new strike team.”
“That town is practically on our doorstep.”
“We can’t ignore it.”
“The Grass Village doesn’t have enough jonin to handle this kind of disaster.”
“Their daimyo is paying Konoha a fortune to intervene.”
Haruto nodded.
“Not surprising.”
“But these people aren’t easy targets.”
“Those blood-drinking lunatics can fight above their level.”
“A chunin killing a jonin probably isn’t unusual among them.”
“And if I’m not mistaken…”
“They likely possess some kind of berserk technique.”
“Something that burns all their chakra at once in exchange for ten minutes of overwhelming power.”
“In that state, a chunin could reach jonin-level combat ability.”
“And a jonin could briefly touch Kage-level territory.”
“They’re extremely troublesome.”
Yugao blinked.
Realization dawned on her face.
“That explains it.”
“My teammates were all elite chunin.”
“They barely managed to injure one enemy.”
“And then suddenly his strength exploded.”
“We were overwhelmed instantly.”
She touched one of the scars on her body.
“These wounds…”
“That berserked chunin stabbed me with a kunai.”
Haruto withdrew his chakra and smirked.
“Then he’s already dead.”
“A technique that burns chakra like that is really burning life itself.”
“Once the fuel runs out, even Hashirama couldn’t save him.”
The technique consumed a person’s life force.
For those blood-drinkers, whose vitality already exceeded normal humans, the effect was similar to opening the Eighth Gate.
There was no turning back.
Death was inevitable.
In fact, it was even worse than the Gate of Death.
It burned not only the body—
But the soul as well.
Yugao didn’t fully understand the medical explanation.
But she understood one thing.
The man who killed her comrades was already dead.
She lowered her gaze.
“It’s my fault.”
“If I were stronger…”
After finishing the treatment and helping her straighten her clothes, Haruto spoke gently.
“They made the correct decision as shinobi.”
“You were the strongest.”
“You had the highest chance of escaping.”
“The information was more important than any single life.”
He picked up her flak jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
Then crouched down and looked directly into her eyes.
“So don’t blame yourself.”
“This wasn’t your fault.”
Yugao gripped the jacket tightly.
“Then is there really no better way to deal with these monsters?”
Haruto shrugged.
“Of course there is.”
“The simplest method is physical exorcism.”
“Cut off their heads.”
“Pierce their hearts.”
“They’ll die just like anyone else.”
“They’re not actually immortal.”
“No matter how tough a bone is…”
“…an axe can still split it.”
Yugao frowned deeply.
“But based on your analysis…”
“There are three jonin and five chunin.”
“If all eight of them burn their lives at once…”
“Wouldn’t Konoha need an entire squad of elite jonin on Kakashi-sensei’s level just to suppress them?”