"Nativity of a World of Trees!"
Aoi slammed his palm against the ground. The tiny sapling within his dantian rustled its branches and leaves, as a surge of thriving life force burst forth, mixed with chakra.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Enormous roots coiled and surged like dragons, tearing the entire land apart. Moments later, a massive tree dozens of meters tall shot straight up from the earth.
And then...
The little sapling simply stopped. It gave no more power, made no demands, and returned to its original form—though it did seem to have grown just a tiny bit taller.
"Nativity of a World of Trees, and I only get one tree? What kind of joke is this?" Aoi frowned in dissatisfaction.
"With my chakra now at Jōnin level, using this technique shouldn't be too much to ask, right?"
But no matter how much he complained, the small tree in his dantian remained still, completely ignoring him.
It was almost as if it were saying: You fed me this little energy, so this is all I can do. You want the horse to run fast, but you won't feed it enough hay? Where in the world do you find such a good deal?
Aoi could do nothing about it. He couldn't exactly get angry at his own body.
Well, at least it's better than before, when I couldn't even grow a single sprout, he thought.
Just like the Yin-Yang Release within him, he believed—once enough power had accumulated, a qualitative change was bound to happen.
For now... just keep nurturing it.
After parting ways with Orochimaru, Aoi traveled back the way he came, returning to the forests on the islands near the Land of Water.
This was where the Three-Tails, Isobu, lived, deep within one of the lakes.
"Where has the story progressed while I was away?" Aoi shifted into his Sage Mode, soaring high into the sky.
Before long, he spotted Yakushi Kabuto and his group, trying to take control of the Three-Tails.
On a small wooden boat sat Kabuto, Yukimaru, Gozu, and Rin. Kabuto had placed a strange, antenna-like helmet device on Rin's head...
"Still dragging this out, huh?" Aoi remembered clearly: this attempt to capture the Three-Tails would end in failure, and Guren stood no chance against the beast.
Next would come more back-and-forth between Konoha's forces and Guren's group...
Rather than get involved now, it was far better to spend this time developing new techniques.
"Electromagnetic Ninjutsu."
Soon, terrifying roars echoed from the distant lake. Flashes of Crystal Release, and the desperate cries of Naruto, Yukimaru, and the others...
But Aoi remained calm, leaning against a large tree, trying to tame the current flowing in his hands. Step one: make it form a stable, closed ring.
Crackle...
The electricity twisted and jumped, but every time it was about to close into a loop, it fell apart, exploding outward and destroying everything around it.
Before he knew it, the noise from the lake had faded. Time always flew when training. When Aoi finally looked up...
The sky was already bright!
"Ooh? Why is there such a cute little kid here?" A man wearing an orange mask leaped exaggeratedly in front of him.
"Tobi?"
Aoi frowned and turned around. Deidara was walking toward him, looking utterly annoyed, holding his head in frustration.
"Senpai, come look! There's such a strange kid here!" Tobi hopped over to Deidara, still acting silly.
"Maybe he's actually the Three-Tails transformed into a human!"
"Shut up!"
Deidara gritted his teeth. He never imagined he'd reach a point where someone could annoy him this much.
Back when he was partnered with Sasori, he was always the one being the annoying one.
Is this... what it feels like to be the senior?
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