Chapter 297: [Wood Release Chakra Production Method]!
For the following period, Nara Keisuke dedicated most of his research efforts to Senjutsu and Wood Release.
He had mastered many Kekkei Genkai, even including a Kekkei Tōta like Dust Release.
But a Kekkei Genkai like Wood Release, which could react to both natural energy and Sage Chakra, was one of a kind!
Even Nara Keisuke's self-created Aegis Release, Blaze Release, and others did not possess this special property.
But considering the source of all chakra in the shinobi world came from a single Divine Tree... it wasn't so hard to understand and accept that Wood Release would have a strange reaction with natural energy and Sage Chakra.
However, after Keisuke's dedicated tests, he found that Wood Release formed solely from the fusion of Water and Earth Release did not have any special reaction with natural energy.
The truly special part was the White Zetsu cells.
To be precise, the White Zetsu cells formed from the fusion of Hashirama's cells and the Divine Tree!
Nara Keisuke took a certain amount of cellular tissue from White Zetsu's body and began a White Zetsu cell cultivation project.
He also added the continued fusion of Wood Release and Yang Release to his research plan.
The fusion experiment of three different nature transformations—Water, Earth, and Yang—was not as difficult as he had imagined.
With the research experience of the Second Tsuchikage, Mū, on Dust Release as a reference, the research progress on the Kekkei Tōta version of Wood Release was advancing at an acceptable pace.
The underground research institute in Kikyo Castle continuously pushed forward Nara Keisuke's various research projects.
Meanwhile, the Konoha camp in the Land of Hot Water was also experiencing one peaceful day after another.
With the Third Great Shinobi War not yet officially over, a small country like the Land of Hot Water, sandwiched between Konoha and Kumogakure, had entered a strangely peaceful period.
There was no movement from Kumogakure.
Jiraiya, who had shamelessly lingered in the Land of Hot Water camp for days, finally ran out of excuses to delay.
Urgent orders were issued one after another from Konoha. Jiraiya could only regretfully bid farewell to Nara Keisuke and the Camouflage Hiding Technique he was determined to get. He took a small ninja unit, left the Land of Hot Water, and returned to the Land of Fire.
In this ninja unit, the new Three-Tails Jinchuriki, Hatake Kakashi-kun, and his teammate Nohara Rin, were present.
That's right.
Jiraiya had stayed in the Land of Hot Water camp for so long, not just because of his fanatical pursuit of the Camouflage Hiding Technique, but for another important reason: Konoha needed him to secretly observe the personal condition of the new Three-Tails Jinchuriki, Hatake Kakashi-kun.
After several days of secret observation, the "old white-hair" (Jiraiya) discovered that the "young white-hair" (Kakashi) was getting along relatively harmoniously with the Three-Tails, Isobu.
Even with only the Four Symbols Seal, the Three-Tails, Isobu, showed no signs of losing control or rampaging.
Compared to Konoha's other Jinchuriki—Kushina Uzumaki—the state of the Three-Tails in Kakashi-kun's body was unbelievably docile.
Keep in mind, Kushina Uzumaki had lost control several times even under the constraints of the Tailed Beast Sealing Technique.
But Kakashi-kun's performance was rock-solid. His stable performance naturally earned the recognition of the village's upper echelons.
And then…
This new Three-Tails Jinchuriki was dispatched to the Kirigakure battlefield to fight against their shinobi.
The intensity of the Kirigakure battlefield was not high. From the High Council's perspective, sending Kakashi-kun there was a good way to train and hone his strength.
Time passed bit by bit.
This day, in the Kikyo Castle underground lab, Nara Keisuke had three wooden masks on his desk.
With White Zetsu's active cooperation, his Wood Release research was progressing smoothly. It was time for the final step of the synthesis experiment: the mask test!
The chakra from the [Water Style Mask] and [Earth Style Mask] were gathered into the final [Blank Mask]. Under Nara Keisuke's control, the two chakras were precisely proportioned, forming a brand-new nature.
"Test successful!"
Nara Keisuke smiled, setting aside the two broken masks and picking up the new one.
A notification immediately popped up on the panel.
[B-Rank Ninja Tool: Wood Release Mask]
"I've successfully researched Wood Release. Now I don't have to bother White Zetsu, that 'middleman,' and can synthesize Wood Release chakra myself!"
Nara Keisuke gripped the [Wood Release Mask], reviewing the many Wood Release jutsu he had.
"Those Wood Release techniques that only 'Big Pillar' (Hashirama) could use are basically unlocked. The only work left is…"
Nara Keisuke took out three more masks from a sealing scroll—still the familiar Water, Earth, and Blank ratio.
"How could I not check what the reverse Kekkei Genkai of Wood Release is? I wonder if it's what I speculated..."
Nara Keisuke expertly manipulated the Water and Earth chakras, but this time, he didn't use the previous ratio. Instead, he reversed the proportions and fused the new chakra into the [Blank Mask].
A moment later, another new mask was born in Nara Keisuke's hand. He touched its surface.
[Detected B-Rank Ninja Tool: Mud Release Mask]!
[B-Rank Ninja Tool: Mud Release Mask]
"Tsk! What can I say? The fusion of Water and Earth... really is just mud!"
Nara Keisuke read the tool's effect information and tsked again.
"Those Earth Style jutsu that create 'soft mud,' like [Swamp of the Underworld] and [Earth Flow River]... they weren't just researched for nothing, it seems."
Arriving at a dedicated testing room, Nara Keisuke walked to a patch of bare earth, channeled the [Mud Release Mask]'s chakra, and poured it into the soil.
Every elemental Kekkei Genkai generally had its own unique effect.
Scorch Release had evaporation, Explosion Release had... well, explosions, Lava Release had magma, and so on.
A Kekkei Genkai formed by reversing the proportions would be vastly different from the original.
Mud Release was the new elemental Kekkei Genkai reversed from Wood Release. Even Nara Keisuke, its creator, couldn't conclude its effects and had to test it.
After the Mud Release chakra was injected into the soil, the solid earth immediately softened, forming a tiny black mud pit.
While maintaining the chakra output, Nara Keisuke stuck his hand into the black pit. A soft, slick sensation was transmitted to him.
"What the hell? It's just... mud. Doesn't seem to have any potential at all..."
Nara Keisuke pulled his hand out, flinging mud droplets everywhere.
"My initial feeling is that it's like Lava Release—high plasticity, but... no bright future."
Of course, Mud Release wasn't as useless as Nara Keisuke said. Like most Kekkei Genkai, Mud Release was the "brute force" type. As long as you had enough chakra, even mud could unleash formidable power.
But in terms of "base ability," Mud Release was indeed far inferior to most Kekkei Genkai.
This wasn't to say it couldn't be improved.
Even with conventional Earth Style, Iwagakure shinobi developed absurd gravity-flow jutsu like [Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique] and [Ultra-Heavy-Weight Rock Technique]. Water Style also had insane jutsu like [Water Mirror Technique] and [Hydrification Technique].
These were all in the realm of "nature transformation."
As for Mud Release "nature transformations," Nara Keisuke wasn't without ideas. "Soft mud," "hard mud," "non-Newtonian fluid mud," "slimes," and the like.
Setting that aside, Mud Release was actually a decent Kekkei Genkai, much better than Storm Release, which Nara Keisuke couldn't use at all right now.
And... Mud Release wasn't entirely useless.
"First, Mud Release can be fused with jutsu like [Swamp of the Underworld] to develop [Mud Release: Swamp of the Underworld]. The effect should be stronger than the conventional [Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld]."
"Second, Mud Release can probably be used as a research template for a new round of Kekkei Tōta... maybe?"
Besides Senjutsu and Wood Release, Nara Keisuke had many other complex research projects.
Among them, the fusion of Yin Release and Water Release, and the testing of new Kekkei Tōta, were near the top of the list.
The so-called "new Kekkei Tōta" referred to using Yin Release as the core and fusing two or more nature transformations into it.
After his in-depth research on Dust Release, Nara Keisuke discovered that "Kekkei Tōta" wasn't as high-and-mighty as he had imagined.
A Kekkei Genkai is the product of fusing two nature transformations.
A Kekkei Tōta is the product of fusing three.
Having already developed Aegis Release (Yin + Earth) and Blaze Release (Yin + Fire), promoting their further fusion was what Keisuke called a "new Kekkei Tōta." To be precise, a triple fusion of Yin, Earth, and Fire.
He already knew that "Earth and Fire" resulted in Explosion Release, Steel Release, Lava Release, and Crystal Release.
If he could use the Earth/Fire chakra ratios of these four Kekkei Genkai as a reference to fuse Aegis Release and Blaze Release, could he form a new Kekkei Tōta?
The operation sounded complex, but in reality... it wasn't difficult.
It was just a matter of strictly maintaining the Yin/Earth and Yin/Fire ratios while setting the Earth/Fire ratio to match one of the four known Kekkei Genkai.
In other words, take Explosion Release as an example.
The original Explosion Release was a Kekkei Genkai formed from Earth and Fire.
Nara Keisuke was just replacing the base "Earth" and "Fire" with Aegis Release and Blaze Release.
The only difference was that this new Explosion Release would have Yin Release chakra added.
To simplify it further: It was a secondary fusion of Yin Release with other elemental Kekkei Genkai!
The principle was simple, and the process was clear. With a tool as god-tier as the [Nature Mask] for experiments, the operational difficulty was also very low.
Unfortunately, the fusion progress for this new Kekkei Tōta was snail-slow.
After checks by Nara Keisuke (and his clones), there was only one reason for the slow progress: Blaze Release!
Unlike Aegis Release, which Nara Keisuke developed from scratch, Blaze Release was, in fact, a Kekkei Genkai derived from the power of the Two-Tails, Matatabi—[Entangling Flame Cat Fire].
Other villages had learned Kekkei Genkai from Tailed Beasts. Iwagakure's Lava and Boil Release were good examples.
But Blaze Release was different. Although it was a fusion of Yin and Fire, the "Yin" aspect had been transformed into "flame."
Ever since Keisuke first came into contact with his own shadow techniques, he knew Yin Release was an unstable element.
An already unstable Yin Release, transformed into "flame," and then fused with the equally non-physical and unstable Fire Release…
The instability of Blaze Release was imaginable.
Nara Keisuke trying to fuse Blaze Release and Aegis Release was like trying to support solid rock with illusory flames.
The slightest fluctuation in Blaze Release would cause the fusion to fail. This was a lesson Nara Keisuke had learned from many experiments.
Since the Blaze Release and Aegis Release fusion was not working, Nara Keisuke had to settle for the next best thing.
He had mastered Aegis Release, and now Wood Release and Mud Release. Once he successfully researched the fusion of Yin Release and Water Release…
Then he could follow the same example to promote the fusion of Aegis Release with the new Kekkei Genkai.
Trying to support rock with fire was too hard.
But using mud or wood...
That would be simpler!
At the very least, no Kekkei Genkai could be more unstable than Blaze Release…
"The fusion of Yin and Water... With the precedent of Aegis Release, I'm not completely without inspiration."
Nara Keisuke organized his thoughts and left the testing room with the [Mud Release Mask].
"Kirigakure's [Hydrification Technique] is truly a useful secret jutsu!"
Setting aside the Yin-Water fusion plan for now, Nara Keisuke returned to his research desk and began writing furiously.
Now that he had successfully researched Wood Release, it was time to organize a scroll: [Wood Release Chakra Production Method].
And then, it was time to visit the long-unseen Princess Tsunade!
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