On the day of Sarutobi Hiruzen's visit, Yagyu was discharged from the hospital.
Sarutobi Hiruzen provided him with a residence, an apartment located in the center of Konoha, just one street away from the Hokage Residence.
Sarutobi Hiruzen deliberately took him to buy furniture, letting Yagyu witness the enthusiasm and simplicity of the villagers, intending to make him fall in love with this kind and peaceful village.
From the moment he saw that Yagyu had inherited the First Hokage's Wood Release, Sarutobi Hiruzen, just as Yagyu expected, intended to cultivate him into a secret weapon to bind the Nine-Tails.
Having lost the Fourth Hokage, Konoha was now in dire need of a Wood Release user.
If he were an ordinary child, he would certainly have fallen for Sarutobi Hiruzen's layers of schemes, successfully having the seed of the Will of Fire planted within him, needing only constant watering to sprout.
However, Yagyu, whose worldview remained that of his previous life, felt absolutely no fluctuation in his heart due to his preconceived notions.
Having lived in that world for so long, and spending these past three years in a sunless laboratory doing nothing but constantly planning for the future, Yagyu currently felt no sense of belonging to Konoha or even this world.
Right now, he felt like he was playing a virtual Naruto game, treating himself as a player.
For the sake of Wood Release ninjutsu and Senjutsu, Yagyu chose the Konoha faction, preparing to slowly develop on this map.
Therefore, Yagyu controlled his facial expressions, allowing a trace of longing to inadvertently show.
Having just left the toddler stage, those eyes, as clear as a child's, allowed Yagyu's acting skills to be perfectly displayed, successfully fooling Sarutobi Hiruzen, making him nod secretly in his heart with a satisfied smile.
A child is like a blank sheet of paper; it is very easy to paint it with the desired colors.
After the observation ended, Sarutobi Hiruzen sent Yagyu home, gave him a scroll, and left.
That scroll was not the Wood Release ninjutsu Yagyu wanted, but the Chakra Extraction Method.
Chakra is the energy source for performing ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu—essentially MP in a game.
This energy originates from the God Tree and is formed by two types of energy within the human body.
One is the physical energy taken from the 130 trillion cells in the body, and the other is the spiritual energy honed through experience and training.
If one cultivates Senjutsu, they can integrate natural energy into the mix, forming Senjutsu Chakra which possesses three types of energy.
Yagyu had Hashirama cells implanted in his body, possessing powerful vitality. After devouring the young soul of the body's original owner, his spiritual power had also greatly increased. These two massive, overflowing energies automatically refined into chakra.
Even without the Chakra Extraction Method, Yagyu did nothing, yet his chakra volume was already an existence that peers could not hope to reach.
Indeed, when he confronted Sarutobi Hiruzen earlier, his chakra fluctuations had practically materialized.
"It's a pity the system didn't digitize the chakra; otherwise, I could see exactly how much chakra I have."
Yagyu held the Chakra Extraction Method scroll, sitting in the living room muttering to himself as he opened it.
The system currently only had partial digitization features, not full-scale digitization. It only displayed Kekkei Genkai, chakra attributes, and ninjutsu.
The Chakra Extraction Method was very simple; it was just a way to mold chakra.
The scroll contained diagrammatic instructions for the extraction method, with a little textual explanation.
People without chakra might find it difficult, but Yagyu, who had already refined chakra, learned it very quickly.
When he started using this method to draw energy from his cells, he was immediately startled.
"Hiss... what is this?"
Yagyu stopped the extraction, opening his eyes to look at his palm. Blue chakra fluctuations seeped out of his body, covering his entire palm.
"Is this the Hashirama cells?" Yagyu muttered with a shocked expression.
Just now, when he was refining, it was as if a faucet switch had been turned on inside his body. Physical energy surged out from his cells, rapidly expanding his chakra capacity.
It was truly surging; that was the only way to describe it.
Hashirama cells were indeed one of the most broken "BUG" items in the entire Naruto series. If not for Yagyu's spiritual energy lagging behind, his chakra would certainly be even more terrifying.
After the shock, Yagyu did not continue refining. Instead, he used his chakra to call upon the ability within his body.
A section of lifeless, withered wood slowly emerged from his palm, forming a tiny, withered tree.
Staring at the small tree in his hand, Yagyu muttered in deep thought, "As long as I constantly use Wood Release, I can increase the levels of the Yang, Water, and Earth attributes. Among them, the Yang attribute gains the least proficiency, but after breaking through a level, my body undergoes a massive change, and the Hashirama cells surge significantly... No, a portion of my own cells become stronger, reaching a level second only to Hashirama cells."
"Then does that mean, as long as I constantly raise the Yang attribute level, I can make my body complete its evolution, turning into a Sage Body? Can I break free from the shackles that limited Yamato to only exerting 20% of Senju Hashirama's power at his peak? Or even... surpass Senju Hashirama?"
The last sentence was Yagyu's guess, but it made his blood boil.
He didn't demand to surpass Senju Hashirama; as long as he could reach that level, he would be invincible in the world.
That God of Shinobi was, in the truest sense, Six Paths level.
Yes, Six Paths level.
Yagyu believed that people underestimated Senju Hashirama, thinking he only had Super Kage level strength.
In reality, Senju Hashirama at full power was absolutely Six Paths level. The reason he couldn't participate in the final battle was that his strength had been severely weakened, missing a trump card even stronger than the Eight Gates Released Formation.
Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands was much stronger than Might Guy's Eight Gates: Night Guy. Possessing both Senjutsu Chakra capable of harming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and immense physical attack power, Yagyu did not believe that Truth-Seeking Balls could withstand a beating from the Top Transformed Buddha.
If Yagyu's Wood Release could truly reach the level of Senju Hashirama, he wouldn't need to engage in those flashy tricks; specializing in Senjutsu and Wood Release would be enough.
Thinking of this, Yagyu hungered for Wood Release ninjutsu even more.