"Hm? His mouth isn't sealed…?"
Yamato narrowed his eyes slightly and began forming hand seals again, preparing to use Wood Release to block Ren's mouth.
Whoosh!
A thick wooden spike suddenly shot upward, extending and thrusting down from above.
Ren: "That's a bit much, Yamato… I mean, Kinoe."
How had he not realized before? The seemingly reliable Captain Yamato was this rough back when he was still in Root.
No wonder Danzo's brainwashing skills were on par with the Third's.
Ren shook his head, casually reaching out and crushing the wooden spike in his hand, snapping it apart.
Crack.
Like tossing aside trash, he flung the broken wood to the side, completely ignoring the sharp contraction of shock and pain on Yamato's face—no, on Kinoe's face.
"W-What? How does this kid know who I am?!"
The future Yamato was completely baffled.
He thought it over carefully. He'd heard of the Uchiha clan's second young master, but only by reputation. He had never met him and certainly didn't recognize him personally.
So how had the boy identified him the moment they met?
Before he could sort out his confusion, an even more shocking scene unfolded.
The boy in front of him—no more than ten years old—had just torn apart his Wood Release with his bare hands.
Bare hands.
That sight nearly made Yamato's eyes pop out of their sockets.
Since the day he'd been cultivated, he had never seen anyone tear Wood Release apart by hand.
Dodging it? Normal.
Evading it? Normal.
Burning it with fire? Also normal.
But ripping it apart with raw strength?
That was insane.
Wood Release wasn't paper.
Without hesitation, he spread his hands and began forming seals again.
But halfway through—
He froze.
A sharp glint of cold steel rested against his throat.
Drip.
A thin line of blood slowly seeped out.
Gulp.
When… when did he get behind me?!
Space-time ninjutsu?
No—impossible!
His pupils shrank as a deep, instinctive fear surged through him.
The silent boy behind him, not even ten years old, radiated a terrifying pressure.
The next second, the cold edge withdrew.
Uchiha Ren waved his hand casually.
"Let's go. Outside the village."
After all, this was still inside Konoha. Any serious fight would cause a lot of noise—especially property damage—and that would mean hefty compensation afterward.
The outskirts were much more convenient.
As for whether letting Yamato go would cause trouble?
Ren didn't really care.
In the early shinobi era, the world still followed relatively coherent logic: intelligence mattered more than raw power. With enough information, even genin could kill jōnin.
Shikamaru killing Hidan.
Jiraiya dying to Pain, yet Kakashi managing to take down one of the Paths.
All of those emphasized the importance of information.
As for the later era?
Susanoo everywhere. Sage techniques flying around.
Pure power creep chaos.
"…Still."
Ren lowered his gaze slightly. Now that he already had offense, defense, and mobility, he himself was also edging closer to that same power-creep territory.
Once he solved the life-drain from Wood Release and the bodily toll from the Sharingan, he would truly stand at the peak of Konoha.
The Uchiha massacre a year from now?
Ren almost felt like it could happen today if he wanted it to.
Behind him, the future Yamato didn't hesitate and followed at once.
As Root's final mission, he had to complete it.
Soon enough, they reached the outskirts of the village.
Along the banks of the Naka River.
Yamato looked at the boy standing opposite him and murmured a quiet apology in his heart.
The next second, he launched forward again.
"Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!"
Rustle—!
With a sweep of his right hand, countless vine-like tendrils as thick as thighs surged forward, grabbing toward Ren.
Far stronger and tougher than before.
"Hey, hey, don't rush, uncle. Let's talk first!"
Ren dodged to the side while calling out.
Fighting wasn't the goal. Wood Release was.
"Words are pointless. Fight me, boy!"
Ren: "…"
That line was way too chūnibyō. Captain Yamato's character image was collapsing fast.
Still, for the sake of the ten-minute conversation requirement, Ren kept dodging calmly.
Gotta copy Wood Release. No rush.
"Fast, but—can you really escape?!"
"Come back with me obediently!"
Wood Release, powerful and unique, gave Yamato renewed confidence.
He assumed that earlier, when Ren tore it apart barehanded, he simply hadn't used his full strength.
Now he unleashed everything.
"Wood Release: Four-Pillar Prison!"
Boom!
Boom boom boom!
One wooden pillar after another erupted from the ground, instantly sealing off a radius of more than ten meters around Ren.
The structure began shrinking inward, forming what looked like a massive wooden cage.
Faint, mysterious markings glowed along the surface, making it impossible to enter or escape.
"Hah… you really are a troublesome little Uchiha."
Only after completing this did Yamato wipe the sweat from his brow and let out a breath of relief.
His strength wasn't weak. Thanks to Wood Release, he could easily restrain ordinary jōnin.
Catching a small Uchiha brat should've been effortless.
But before his breath fully settled, a voice suddenly came from inside the wooden cage.
"Uncle, can we chat now?"
"Huh? You…" Yamato twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Your mental resilience is way too strong, you know that?"
A kid who hadn't even graduated the Academy, not even a genin yet—and he wasn't scared at all?
Something was very wrong.
Unconsciously, Yamato recalled the scene of Ren tearing apart Wood Release with his bare hands.
A phrase surfaced in his mind:
Confident because he has something to rely on.
To be safe, Yamato formed seals again.
"Wood Release: Silent Binding Technique!"
"Wood Release: Four-Pillar House!"
"Wood Release: Multi-Pillar House!"
One Wood Release technique after another erupted in succession.
Inside the cage, layers of trees coiled and intertwined.
Outside, a complex wooden structure rose from the ground, suppressing the chakra within the cage.
Then more wooden houses emerged around it, forming a small cluster of buildings that sealed the central prison completely.
"Phew—like this, even Kakashi-senpai wouldn't be able to escape, right?"
Only now did Yamato truly relax, leaning back against a wooden sofa and breathing heavily.
Just as he sat down, he heard the boy inside speak loudly with exaggerated admiration:
"Uncle, it'd be a waste if you didn't go into real estate…"
"With just this Wood Release construction alone, how many people would envy you?!"
Honestly, he wasn't wrong.
Setting aside the Uchiha clan, Konoha had many war orphans due to years of conflict.
Even with subsidies, many children lived in poor conditions.
Take Naruto, for example.
Even as the Fourth Hokage's orphan, he only lived in a small two-story wooden apartment.
Not exactly spacious.
But if Yamato went all out and turned surrounding trees into housing—
Housing shortages would simply stop being a problem.
After chatting for a while, a familiar notification finally appeared before Ren's eyes.
[Conversation target: Root · Kinoe.]
[Analyzing copyable traits…]
[Available traits: Wood Release Kekkei Genkai · Replica (Purple), First Hokage Cells · Fragment (Purple), Water Release Mastery (Blue), Construction Bro (Black)…]
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