"Wood Release?"
Shukaku was a bit dumbfounded.
It instantly recalled that man.
Senju Hashirama.
Although Shukaku didn't participate in the Valley of the End battle like Kurama did, when Hashirama gathered the nine Tailed Beasts to distribute them among the Five Great Villages, Shukaku had the "privilege" of experiencing Wood Release firsthand.
It instinctively tried to flee, but more and more trees wrapped around it.
"Damn brat!"
Shukaku suddenly opened its mouth wide and used its trump card.
Tailed Beast Bomb.
Vast chakra gathered at breakneck speed.
Natsume clapped his hands together.
Sage Art: Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!
A seed sprouted in an instant, turning into a wooden dragon that bound Shukaku tightly.
The Tailed Beast Bomb in its mouth abruptly dissipated.
"Aaah!"
Shukaku screamed.
The wood dragon's bindings grew tighter and tighter.
In the end, it couldn't endure and shrank back into Gaara's belly.
Natsume snapped his fingers immediately.
The trees carried Gaara to him.
After losing its target, the wood dragon didn't disappear. Instead, it swiveled around.
Magnet Release: Sand Cushion!
Rasa's face changed drastically. He hastily used magnetism to draw gold dust in front of them, condensing it into a flying golden cloud.
"Danzō, aren't you going to make a move?"
As the words fell, another wood dragon soared into the sky and tangled with the incoming wood dragon.
Taking the chance, Rasa and the others jumped onto the sand cushion and moved away from the battlefield.
Natsume raised an eyebrow.
Shimura Danzō was brimming with massive chakra and natural energy.
"Not bad at all."
Natsume smiled and said, "Danzō, your sealing arts weren't learned in vain."
He had already sensed where that extra surge of power came from.
The Dragon Vein.
Combined with sealing arts, it produced an effect similar to a jinchūriki's.
"Natsume!"
Shimura Danzō said arrogantly, "Today is the day you die!"
He believed that with equal access to Wood Release, he would surely come out on top with his wealth of experience.
Natsume tugged at the corner of his mouth.
In fact, he had a very simple method right now.
He could just activate his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and directly control Shimura Danzō.
But those words made Natsume change his mind.
He loved nothing more than helping people fulfill their wishes.
Shimura Danzō had gained a huge amount of chakra, and for a short time, it did increase the power of his Wood Release.
But he was only using a segment of the Dragon Vein, not the complete thing.
And that fragment wasn't even on par with Shukaku.
"Where does your confidence come from?"
Natsume clapped his hands.
Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!
Behind him, an enormous Thousand-Armed Kannon manifested in the world.
An overwhelming tide of chakra spread across the entire desert.
Rasa and the others, floating in the air, wore dumbfounded expressions, doubting their own eyes.
Before the Thousand-Armed Kannon, they were as insignificant as specks of dust.
But none were more shaken than Hiashi Hyūga and the others.
It was as if a bolt of lightning struck them, making their scalps tingle.
For the first time, they truly grasped Natsume's power.
The feeling was just too unreal.
Having grown up on the legends of Senju Hashirama's Wood Release, they were seeing legend become reality for the first time.
After the shock came an inevitable reverence.
"What… is this?"
Shimura Danzō's smile froze.
Without Sage Mode, he was destined to be unable to perform it.
"Impossible!"
Shimura Danzō snapped out of it and finally remembered what ninjutsu this was.
Senju Hashirama's strongest Wood Release.
He had only heard of the legend and had never seen it.
He hadn't expected to witness it today.
But he would rather he hadn't.
Especially because it was Natsume who had unleashed this technique.
It meant that a teenager already had the potential to stand shoulder to shoulder with the God of Shinobi.
"This isn't real! It's fake! It has to be fake!"
Shimura Danzō trembled with rage, disbelief written all over his face.
The corners of Natsume's mouth curled slightly.
The performance had reached its final act.
Hiashi and the others had already witnessed his power with their own eyes.
Soon, all in Konoha would submit.
Wood Release held a special place in their hearts.
Now, once more, it overlapped with the title of Hokage.
Natsume would become the Hokage with unparalleled prestige, second only to Senju Hashirama.
With that thought, he stopped wasting time.
The Thousand-Armed Kannon moved in response.
Countless sonic booms pierced the clouds.
A thousand giant hands clenched into fists and all came crashing down.
Turning Buddha into a Fist!
Under the fist, all beings are equal.
Even though Rasa summoned vast amounts of gold dust at extreme speed to shield everyone, they still couldn't escape.
Maki, Kankurō, and Temari could only watch as the near-invincible Magnet Release in their hearts turned into "porcelain release," shattering on contact.
In the end, as the fists fell, they coughed blood and slipped into unconsciousness.
However, Natsume did not go for the kill.
Keep them as leeks to harvest, to continuously contribute Fate Points.
Under his control, trees swiftly bound the unconscious Sunagakure shinobi.
"Huh, so it was a shadow clone?"
Natsume was a bit surprised.
Shimura Danzō wasn't the real body.
Gotta admit, the "Pot Kage" has some real tricks.
His sensory perception expanded.
Natsume instantly locked onto his location.
Right before the Dragon Vein.
At that moment, he was madly absorbing a massive amount of energy.
Natsume's heart skipped a beat—this was bad.
Shimura Danzō intended to increase his strength, but this would undoubtedly trigger the Flying Thunder God kunai left by Namikaze Minato, thus causing time-space travel.
"Uncle Hiashi, suppress them and take them back to Konoha. Leave the specifics to Lady Tsunade."
Natsume appeared before a still-stunned Hiashi and the others, quickly gave instructions, and then used the Flying Thunder God Technique to rush to the Dragon Vein.
Now that the dust had settled, even if he vanished for a while, it wouldn't be a big problem.
With Tsunade's temperament, plus Rasa and the others already captured, there was no reason for Konoha to suffer losses.
Even if they did, once he returned, he'd make them cough it all back up.
"Natsume!"
Right then, Shimura Danzō looked deranged.
Chakra and natural energy poured into his body as if they were free.
This caused the Hashirama cells in his right arm to run amok—they had already started sprouting.
Seeing this, Natsume didn't hesitate to summon the wood dragon again.
The wood dragon could absorb chakra, pulling the chakra that Danzō had absorbed right back out of him.
"I won't allow it!"
Shimura Danzō, of course, knew the wood dragon's effect.
At that moment, a three-tomoe Sharingan appeared.
Then blood sprayed from his entire body.
Reverse: Four Symbols Seal!
Natsume was taken aback.
He hadn't expected Danzō to still have a Sharingan tucked away.
Guy had some stuff.
In an instant, black sealing marks expanded outward from Danzō as the center.
Affected by this, the Dragon Vein erupted completely.
The Flying Thunder God kunai in the underground sealing array lit up at once.
This was getting complicated.
Natsume thought for a moment and said, "Sacred Ring of Fate, recommend me something to save my life."
[Resurrection Plate: Automatically activates just before your death, transporting you back to the Shinobi World and restoring all injuries.]
[Price: 300 Fate Points.]
[Note: If not used, you can refund it anytime.]
Natsume's eyes lit up.
This was good.
Great value.
And refundable.
Three hundred Fate Points for a life? Worth it.
With his current Fate Points, he could buy ten lives—invincible.
Of course, trading for lives was the last resort.
He still preferred exchanging for power-ups.
Like the Rinnegan.
He was still far short, though.
After exchanging for the Resurrection Plate, Natsume used the Flying Thunder God Technique to avoid the Reverse: Four Symbols Seal.
But just then, he felt space around him twist.
His vision blurred, his body weakened, and chakra bled away in torrents.
The Flying Thunder God's cost depends on the object's size and the distance of transport.
Now caught in a time-space turbulence, his Sage Body's vast chakra, plus the Dragon Vein's energy, flung him toward an unknown world.
Only when the immense chakra contained in his Sage Body was nearly exhausted did he crash to the ground with a boom and pass out.
He didn't know how long had passed.
…
[Because of your actions, the fates of Shimura Danzō, Rasa, Gaara, Shukaku, Kankurō, Maki, and Temari have changed. You gained a total of 460 Fate Points.]
Natsume finally regained consciousness.
He felt a peculiar energy repairing his body.
It was a bit like natural energy, yet different.
Natsume slowly opened his eyes and saw a white-haired girl.
She wore a red-and-white Priestess's outfit. With sleeves rolled up, her pale wrist pressed to his chest.
That strange power flowed from her palm.
"You're awake?"
The girl exhaled, withdrew her right hand, wiped her sweat, and asked, "What's your name? Who are you?"
During treatment, she'd realized Natsume might not be human.
Because he possessed an absurd physique and a power different from hers.
Natsume examined her and increasingly felt she resembled Shion, the Priestess of the Land of Demons from the original story.
"Where is this?"
"You should answer my question first."
The girl frowned slightly in displeasure, but still said, "This is the Land of Demons."
"Then you're Shion?"
Natsume thought to himself that he'd actually crossed over to the Land of Demons.
Fortunately, he hadn't gone far.
"No, there's no Priestess named Shion here."
The girl shook her head. "I'm called Kukuri. And you?"
Not Shion?
Natsume was slightly startled.
It seemed he was in the Land of Demons, but the timeline had shifted back quite a bit.
Shion was about the same age as Uzumaki Naruto.
If it were after her time, the Priestess would surely be recorded—there's no reason she wouldn't know the name.
If it's before, it's hard to pin down the exact year.
"Who is Hokage of Konoha now?"
Natsume thought for a moment and asked again.
"Which country is Konoha in? And what is Hokage?"
Kukuri tilted her head, puzzled. "Are you from Konoha?"
Natsume was stunned.
What the hell!
What era did I cross into?
Konoha doesn't even exist?
The chaos of the Warring States?
Forcing himself to calm down, Natsume asked, "Do you know Senju Hashirama?"
Kukuri shook her head.
"???"
Natsume couldn't stay composed.
If it were the Warring States, Hashirama would already be renowned.
Could it be even earlier?
Wouldn't that be the time when Ōtsutsuki Kaguya descended upon the Shinobi World?