“Kamiki…
why don’t you demonstrate it for me?” Yamato said, swallowing hard.
Some things had to be seen to be believed.
What if the kid was just making up wild stories for fun?
Kamiki looked at his instructor, who was acting a little strange today.
He couldn’t quite understand why Yamato was wearing that expression.
Could it be that he thinks a hundred jutsu is too few?
Right!
That’s definitely it!
A mere hundred-plus Wood Release jutsu isn’t enough to adapt to real combat situations.
I should have come up with more!
Yes!
That makes sense…
Having figured it out, Kamiki agreed to demonstrate the techniques he had grasped the previous night.
“All right.” “It’s just that the space here is a bit small.” Yamato struck a confident pose, gesturing for him to bring it on.
“No problem at all!
Just show me the strongest Wood Release you can muster.
As long as I’m here, I’ll keep everything under control!” With his teacher promising to back him up, Kamiki felt much more at ease.
“Then I’m starting.” “Come on.
Let me see what kind of talent you really have for Wood Release.” Behind his mask, Yamato narrowed his eyes, tracking Kamiki’s hands and gaze closely.
He was trying to catch any flaw that would prove the boy was lying.
Yet Kamiki’s eyes and posture were entirely natural and relaxed.
Kamiki’s fingers blurred, weaving through an intricate set of hand seals.
Standing beside him, Yamato’s heart skipped a beat.
He was the only person in the Hidden Leaf besides the First Hokage who could use Wood Release, and he knew most of its hand seals well.
Watching Kamiki’s opening sequence…
Could this be…
the legendary Deep Forest Emergence used by the First Lord?!
Sure enough, a moment later, Kamiki snapped the final seal into place and yelled at the top of his lungs: “Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!!!” The evening breeze ruffled Yamato’s hair, soothing his racing pulse.
He glanced left and right.
Silence…
After Kamiki shouted the technique’s name, nothing moved.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Yamato felt a twinge of irritation.
Kamiki looked like such a bright, good-looking kid—why had he resorted to lying?
Even if he hadn’t developed any new techniques, Yamato would have still treated him like a genius.
Now his bluff had been called, leaving them both standing here awkwardly…
“Kamiki…” Yamato opened his mouth, ready to lecture the boy.
He was his teacher now, which meant he had to teach him proper character, not just ninjutsu!
Before the reprimand could leave his throat, the ground shook violently.
Rumble, rumble, rumble— Yamato felt the tremors surging beneath his boots.
The vibrations were intense; this was no mild tremor!
“An earthquake!
Kamiki, I’ll deal with you later—we need to alert the village to evacuate immediately!” Yamato shouted in panic and sprinted forward to sound the village alarms.
He had only taken two steps when he noticed a tiny sapling sprouting from the soil right under his feet…
And then— CRACK!
The sapling expanded at a terrifying speed, swelling into a colossal, fifty-meter-tall ancient tree!
Across the rest of the trembling Hidden Leaf, the exact same scene played out everywhere!
Rumble, crack, creak— Countless towering trees tore through the earth, surging into the sky!
Once the forest finished rising, the tremors abruptly stopped.
It was clear that these massive trees bursting through the ground had been the true source of the earthquake!
Sensing that something was terribly wrong, Yamato scrambled to the crown of one of the massive trees and peered into the distance, completely dazed.
That was when he realized.
The entire Hidden Leaf Village had been submerged into a sea of trees!
Kamiki scrambled up right behind him and looked around.
Perched high in the canopies of several trees, half-asleep villagers were clinging onto branches…
“What the hell?
I was sleeping fine in bed!
How did I get launched onto a treetop?!” “That’s nothing!
I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and a tree shot me into the air before I could even pull my pants up!” “What’s going on with the village?
Did enemy shinobi invade?” “Wait, isn’t this Wood Release?!” “Doesn’t this sudden sea of trees look familiar to you guys?” an older, experienced ninja called out.
“A forest on this scale…
could Lord First Hokage have been brought back to life?!” Listening to the chatter all around, the reality finally crashed down on Yamato.
This endless sea of trees…
was it really the Deep Forest Emergence Kamiki had just unleashed?!
Yamato tilted his head to look down at Kamiki.
Kamiki kept his head lowered, not daring to meet Yamato’s eyes.
His gut told him he had caused a massive disaster!
He had stirred up a huge hornet’s nest this time!
Still…
Yamato-sensei did say he would keep everything under control…
Seeing Kamiki’s guilty expression, Yamato knew his guess was dead-on.
A violent tempest raged in his chest!
Is this the kind of Wood Release a twelve-year-old child should be throwing around?!
When Yamato said he would back him up, he assumed the kid would produce a few thin wooden sticks at most.
After all, it had only been a single day since Kamiki first touched Wood Release!
Who could have guessed he would summon an entire ocean of trees?!
A forest that rivaled the First Lord’s own!!
Yamato felt like sobbing, but no tears would come.
Half of it came from the sheer dread of helping Kamiki trigger a village-wide catastrophe.
The other half came from having his own self-esteem shattered into dust.
Up until now, the Leaf had only ever seen three Wood Release users: the First Lord, himself, and Kamiki.
Yamato realized with deep sorrow that two of them were absurdly overpowered, while his own Wood Release was only fit for carpentry and municipal gardening…
“Kamiki, come with me to see Lord Third right now,” Yamato said, fighting back the urge to weep.
“Okay,” Kamiki nodded meekly, well aware of the mess he had made.
Just as the two prepared to move, they looked up and spotted the Third Hokage’s silhouette already standing on a branch nearby.
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s face was as black as charcoal!
Catching sight of Kamiki and Yamato, he flickered across the branches and landed directly before them.
The pressure rolling off the Third Hokage tonight was suffocating.
Guilty to his core, Kamiki didn’t even dare to keep his eyes open!
It’s over!
A single Deep Forest Emergence, and I wrecked the entire village!
I’m going to spend the rest of my life rotting in the Leaf’s prison!
Hiruzen’s voice came out raspy, dripping with pure fury.
“Yamato, you had better give me a very good explanation.” In the Third’s mind, talented as Kamiki was, he could never be the one who cast this technique.
The boy was barely twelve years old!
Naturally, the prime suspect was Yamato.
After all, Yamato had practiced Wood Release for nearly twenty years.
Even without flashy breakthroughs, decades of practice had to count for something…
With a loud thud, Yamato dropped to his knees.
“Lord Hokage!
It’s all my fault!
I told Kamiki to use his full power—it’s my fault for lacking the ability to keep things under control!” “Do you really take me for a senile old fool who’s easy to deceive?!” Hiruzen’s eyes flashed with rage, his beard bristling with fury!
Faced with Yamato’s words, the Third’s first reaction was sheer disappointment.
Yamato had served in the Anbu for so many years, yet possessed zero accountability!
The second he messed up, his first instinct was to pin the blame on an innocent child!
And with such a clumsy, ridiculous excuse!