Chapter 336: Obtaining Wood Release
Amamiya Kenichi was just about to say something when a strange new stream of memories suddenly blended into his mind.
They were memories related to Wood Release.
Kenichi instantly understood what had happened. He had mastered Wood Release.
"Wood Release, huh?" Kenichi scratched his head.
Wood Release was an extremely powerful ninjutsu, and once combined with Sage Arts, it became even more terrifying. The First Hokage had relied on this very power to leave Uchiha Madara with memories he would never forget.
Still, although Kenichi now understood the basic principles behind Wood Release and had grasped many of its applications, there was still a clear gap between his current level and the flawless mastery Hashirama had once displayed.
But becoming stronger was not the main reason he had researched Wood Release in the first place.
If raw power had been his goal, there were plenty of other things he could have spent his time studying.
"If it's Wood Release, then in theory it should be able to speed up the growth cycle of crops." Kenichi lifted his teacup and took a sip of hot tea. Warmth spread through his body from the inside out, easing the chill considerably.
He had long been troubled by the issue of food.
The Ninja World certainly grew plenty of crops, but agricultural development here was still pitifully primitive. At best, people understood fertilizing. Beyond that, there was almost nothing.
Kenichi had even seen simple villagers become overjoyed when their fruit trees produced a heavy harvest, never realizing that those fruits themselves tasted painfully average. Still, given the overall living standards of the Ninja World, that was not especially surprising.
This world poured nearly all of its resources into war. That led to high status and treatment for ninja, while ordinary people were considered fortunate if they could simply survive.
Only in times of peace did nonmilitary technology truly flourish.
Previously, in order to cultivate better grain varieties, Kenichi had dug through agricultural books from Orochimaru's collection. But after reading them, he had discovered an annoying truth.
Whether those methods actually increased yield was largely a matter of luck.
That would not do.
His cheat did not increase his luck, so Kenichi had been forced onto the path of researching crop improvement himself. There had already been some progress. At the very least, the Land of Rain had begun planting many new grain varieties. The newest ones, however, were still in his own hands, and he had already sent those to Koyuki Kazahana, telling her to begin planting them in suitable regions of the Land of Snow.
But the Land of Snow had its own problems.
It was remote and ideal for quietly building up power, but the climate was harsh. Kenichi had already realized that even if he planted all of his improved crops there, the environment would still make it very difficult to greatly increase total yield.
Cold resistant crops would have to be developed as well.
Only then could food reserves truly rise.
And once there was enough land and enough food, the population could explode. A larger population meant a larger reserve of ninja.
And if, from that population, another genius on the level of Orochimaru or Jiraiya emerged, that would naturally be even better.
"Or maybe once I've converted enough ninja, I should target the Hidden Mist Village first. With the Land of Water's territory, supporting a larger ninja force should be much easier." Kenichi narrowed his eyes and unconsciously rubbed the surface of his teacup.
But all of that had one small problem.
The cultivation cycle had to be accelerated.
Otherwise, with harvest cycles measured in years, it would take far too long to see any real results. And that was precisely why Kenichi had researched Wood Release in the first place.
"Kenichi, the mission is done. Do we need to bring anything back as proof?" Sasori walked over, holding a cup of tea in his hand. He had not taken a single sip. In the desert night, the tea had already gone cold.
But the cold tea did nothing to calm the turbulence in his heart.
"No need. Besides the people of the Hidden Sand Village themselves, there are definitely spies from other villages inside the village. They'll spread the news for us," Kenichi said, shaking his head. He was not worried about that issue in the slightest.
Besides, Iwagakure would not dare default on payment unless they wanted to experience his retaliation firsthand. Onoki, that old man, was crafty. Out of all the great villages, Iwagakure was usually the quickest when it came to paying.
At that moment, a sudden explosion echoed in the distance.
Kenichi rose to his feet at once, narrowing his eyes as he looked toward the source. The blast had come from far off, but what caught his attention was something else.
They had left no obvious traces along the way, so how had anyone ended up fighting here?
"Pursuers?" Sasori also stood, excitement flashing briefly in his eyes. If they really were pursuers...
"Doesn't look like it." Kenichi shook his head.
From time to time, flashes of fire lit up the darkness in the distance. It looked more like a fight between ninja than a chase.
And in the Ninja World, that was nothing unusual.
Some towns with even a bit of wealth would hire ninja specifically to avoid being dragged into conflicts like this. When ninja fought, collateral damage was practically guaranteed.
Just look at Orochimaru and Jiraiya. Even when Jiraiya had tried to avoid civilian casualties, half a town had still ended up destroyed.
And it wasn't just protection from large scale battles. Some ninja with no money at all would turn to outright robbery. Even if a village later sent shinobi to suppress them, the stolen valuables usually were not coming back.
So for many towns, it was better to pay for protection in advance than to have none at all.
As for poor villages with no strength or money, they could only pray for good luck, or try to organize local resistance. But against a real shinobi, even a mere Genin could wage a one sided massacre against ordinary people.
That was why every sort of dirty trick imaginable appeared in the Ninja World.
Kenichi still remembered Orochimaru warning him not to casually drink alcohol when he was outside, and to keep a close eye on what he ate. Some shinobi had died in ridiculous ways, poisoned by food handed to them by ordinary civilians.
They had become cautionary tales for an entire generation of younger ninja.
Seeing that it was just some distant conflict, Kenichi lost interest. Whoever was fighting to the death over there had nothing to do with him. If he involved himself every time he saw something like this, he would never get anything done.
"They're heading this way," Hikari suddenly said, standing on her toes and peering into the distance.
Kenichi looked again.
She was right.
The firelight was getting closer, and he could now vaguely make out human figures.
His mouth twitched.
He had deliberately come all the way out here to avoid trouble, and yet trouble had still found him. He genuinely had no idea whether that made him lucky or unlucky.
"Amamiya senpai! Should I get the big guy ready?" Deidara asked excitedly, already pulling out a sealing scroll. He had only managed to explode a few things in the previous battle before Rasa and the others started chasing him, leaving him with almost no real combat time at all.
"Forget it. As long as they don't notice us, there's no need," Kenichi said after glancing at the approaching figures.
It was far too late to take off in the airship now. Ninja moved too fast, and the airship was parked elsewhere, not here. He would have to summon it first.
And then there was that old saying.
Murphy's Law.
Still, Kenichi felt it was often misunderstood.
Murphy's Law did not really mean, "The thing you least want to happen will definitely happen."
A more accurate version was, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."
In other words, if there was a possibility something could fail, then the chance of failure was alarmingly real. Not absolute, but real enough to matter.
That was why researchers so often mentioned Murphy's Law during experiments. It existed to remind people to remain cautious.
"Yeah. They really are coming straight at us." Kenichi sighed.
Had the person running in front not looked like a young boy, and had he and Sasori not sensed anything abnormal beforehand, he might have suspected the Hidden Sand Village had somehow traced their location and was coming after them.
"Ah, they're almost here," Hikari said.
"Then let's go, Sasori." Kenichi pulled on his mask, then leapt onto a tall stone pillar and stood there in silence.
As the group drew closer, the figures of Kenichi and Sasori were revealed under the moonlight.
The boy being pursued looked up.
Two figures, one taller and one shorter, stood atop the pillar, looking down at him.
They were dressed in strange robes with red cloud patterns.
What organization was this?
"...Are those Akatsuki robes? It's Heavenly Demon!" one of the leading Hidden Sand jonin exclaimed.
He had recognized them immediately.
At once, he clenched his fists so tightly they trembled. His wife had died in Heavenly Demon's attack earlier that very day.
Reason screamed at him to retreat. The enemy was powerful, and the Kazekage had already instructed them to act with extreme caution if they encountered Heavenly Demon.
But the memory of his wife's eyes, once bright and full of life, now forever closed, ignited pure fury in his chest.
"Heavenly Demon!" the jonin roared, instantly unleashing Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves at Kenichi.
Some of the shinobi behind him hesitated.
Most did not.
They followed their captain and attacked as well.
"You want to handle this?" Kenichi asked, glancing at Sasori.
Sasori gave a short nod.
In the next instant, a giant puppet rose up once more in the desert.
Kenichi looked at the enormous machine and could not help wondering, not for the first time, why something that heavy didn't sink into the sand. Was it because the contact area was large enough that the pressure remained manageable?
Still, this was hardly the time to ponder such things.
Ignoring Sasori, who was clearly using the fight both to vent his emotions and test the giant puppet's performance, Kenichi jumped down and landed directly in front of the fleeing "spy."
The closer he got, the more familiar the boy seemed.
Especially those glasses.
The resemblance immediately made Kenichi think of someone.
"Yakushi Kabuto?" Kenichi narrowed his eyes and asked.
The boy looked up in confusion, the lenses of his glasses flashing. His expression seemed to ask who that was supposed to be.
"Is Nono Yakushi doing well?" Kenichi asked with a faint smile.
At that, the facade cracked.
Kabuto could have continued pretending if it had only been his own name.
But the fact that the other man also knew Nono's name meant this could not be mere guesswork.
"Who are you?" Kabuto asked sharply.
Kenichi smiled.
As expected, it really was Kabuto.
The future Orochimaru imitator. Master of Edo Tensei. The unlucky man who would get crushed by Itachi's nonsense over and over again. A major schemer of the Ninja World. Somehow whitewashed in the end despite everything.
Even though Kenichi had already suspected it from the start, now that it was confirmed, he could not help feeling a bit excited.
After all, this was Kabuto, a genuinely talented ninja, regardless of what his future held.
Then again, even Obito had ended up being whitewashed in the end, so perhaps Kabuto's fate was not that surprising either.
"Nono is still alive, isn't she?" Kenichi asked with a smile instead of answering directly.
.....
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