Time moved on, as it always did.
The shinobi world had enjoyed several years of peace after the Second Great Ninja War ended. But lately, that peace was showing cracks. Border conflicts were becoming more frequent.
Kenji was twenty years old now, and the past few years had been good to him.
His body had finally finished maturing, which meant his physical capabilities had peaked. More importantly, his spiritual energy had continued growing at an accelerating rate throughout the peace. At this point, his mental power was roughly seven times that of an average Yamanaka clan member. Maybe more, it was hard to measure precisely when you were operating so far outside normal parameters.
His chakra reserves had grown to match. He wasn't at jinchūriki levels. But he'd solidly reached what most people would consider Kage-level capacity. Enough to throw around high-level jutsu without immediately exhausting himself.
The peace, however, had also limited certain aspects of his development.
With no large-scale wars between villages, most jonin-level missions involved intelligence gathering, escort work, or diplomatic security. Combat missions were rare. Which meant he'd had almost no opportunities to collect new bloodline samples for puppet construction. His collection of bloodline limits had stagnated.
His Wood Release puppet project had also hit a wall.
He could use standard Wood Release techniques reliably now. But whenever he tried to push into the high-level stuff, techniques like Wood Human Technique or Nativity of a World of Trees, the chakra would corrode and damage the puppet's internal structure.
He'd tried iterating on the materials, experimenting with different sealing matrices and reinforced construction, but improvements had been marginal at best. He either needed a breakthrough in puppet design, or he needed to accept that some techniques were simply beyond what his current puppets could handle.
Today, though, he wasn't in his workshop tinkering with prototypes.
He was standing in Root headquarters, about to deliver a Wood Release puppet to his "investor."
He had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique to 2 seconds over the past few years. Combined with his strength, he no longer needed to trade puppets with Danzō for resources. He could operate independently now. He'd finished the puppet long ago, but had deliberately held onto it, continuing to milk Danzō's funding while waiting for the right moment to hand it over.
Recently, as tensions in the shinobi world escalated and Konoha's official Wood Release research continued to produce no results, Danzō's patience had finally run out. He'd personally demanded an update on the puppet project.
So here Kenji was.
Root headquarters was as pleasant as ever, which was to say not at all. The underground facility was cold, dimly lit by harsh white lights. Root operatives moved through the corridors in silence. The whole place had the atmosphere of a morgue.
He was escorted through several security checkpoints before reaching Danzō's office, or whatever you wanted to call the room where the man conducted business. It was a large chamber with minimal furnishing. Just a desk, a chair, and some filing cabinets.
Danzō sat in his chair.
"Have you finished it or not?"
No small talk, straight to business. That was Danzō.
"I brought it." Kenji pulled out a storage scroll and held it up where Danzō could see it clearly.
"But there's a question that needs answering first. Who's going to control it?"
Originally, he'd planned to modify the puppet so it could be operated externally via chakra threads, like a standard human puppet. That would've avoided putting any Yamanaka clan members under Danzō's direct command. But when he'd consulted with his clan head about the project, he'd learned something interesting. A young clansman named Fū had already joined Root years ago. Back when Root was first established, each of Konoha's major clans had sent members to show support for the new organization. Fū had been the Yamanaka representative.
Kenji recognized the name from the original timeline. Fū would eventually become one of Danzō's most trusted subordinates, serving as his bodyguard during the Five Kage Summit. Since a clan member was already embedded in Root, he had abandoned the idea of modifying the puppet's control scheme. This way, Fū would effectively gain the power of a half-Wood Release user. That might give him better odds of surviving Danzō's operations.
More importantly, it gave Kenji an opportunity to test something. He wanted to see if the ability to gradually master a bloodline limit through puppet control could be replicated in other Yamanaka members, or if it was unique to him. Fū was the perfect test subject.
"The operator is already here," Danzō said, gesturing toward the Root operatives standing at attention behind him.
One of them stepped forward, a young man with auburn coloured hair and the standard Root uniform. He removed his mask, revealing a face that looked to be in his late teens.
"Danzō-sama," Fū said respectfully, bowing low.
"Fū, from this point forward, follow his instructions," Danzō ordered, pointing at Kenji.
"Yes!" Fū turned to face Kenji. "It's an honor to finally meet you. I've heard your name mentioned in clan gatherings."
Kenji studied him for a moment. In the original story, Fū had been talented enough to become one of Danzō's elite guards. That meant he wasn't just skilled in Yamanaka techniques, his taijutsu and combat instincts were exceptional too. You didn't get that position through mediocrity.
"Let's get started then."
Kenji unrolled the storage scroll in his hands and channeled a small amount of chakra into the sealing matrix.
POOF!
White smoke exploded outward, and when it cleared, a puppet stood in the center of the room.
It wore a plain white robe that covered almost everything, and its long black hair fell loosely around its shoulders. Its face was so average it was almost strange, one of those looks you'd forget the moment you turned away. With its eyes closed and body completely still, the puppet just stood there, quietly waiting to be activated.
"The puppet's appearance can be customized if needed," Kenji said, glancing at Danzō. "As long as you provide the materials for modification."
This was an opportunity to charge more for additional services.
"Unnecessary," Danzō replied immediately. "As long as it can use Wood Release, that's sufficient. I don't care what it looks like."
Kenji mentally sighed. He turned his attention to Fū.
"You've reviewed the Wood Release technique scrolls I sent, right?"
"Yes," Fū nodded. "I've memorized the hand seals for the basic techniques and studied the chakra flow patterns."
"Good. The control method is straightforward. Use the Mind Body Switch Technique on it."
He wasn't concerned about revealing his control mechanism. Anyone who knew he was from the Yamanaka clan could easily guess that his puppets operated through clan secret techniques. There was no point trying to hide it.
What he didn't mention was that this particular puppet had a specially modified core. The mental locks that would normally prevent foreign consciousness from entering had been removed, creating an "unlocked" version that any Yamanaka technique could access freely.
His personal puppets all had exclusive mental locks that only responded to his specific spiritual signature. No one else could hijack them even if they tried. But that was information Danzō didn't need to know.
Fū formed the hand seals quickly.
"Mind Body Switch Technique!"
His spiritual energy separated from his physical body in a rush. His real body went limp immediately, muscles losing all tension. Kenji reached out and caught him before he could hit the floor, supporting his weight.
At the same moment, the Wood Release puppet's eyes opened.
The gaze it held was identical to Fū's, alert and curious as it began looking around the room. The puppet's head turned smoothly.
"How does it feel?" Kenji asked. "Any discomfort or resistance?"
"No," Fū's voice came from the puppet's mouth, slightly strange to hear his familiar tone from an artificial body. "It feels similar to using Mind Body Switch on a person. Maybe even easier. There's no mental resistance at all."
"Enough talk," Danzō interjected. "Test the Wood Release."
"Yes, Danzō-sama."
Fū, controlling the puppet's body, brought his hands together and began forming seals. The movements were slower than his normal speed, still adjusting to the puppet's physical capabilities, but they were accurate. Chakra surged through the puppet's systems.
"Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!"
Thick wooden tendrils erupted from the puppet's palms, shooting forward. The training dummy that had been set up across the room didn't stand a chance. The wooden vines wrapped around it, tightened, and tore it apart in seconds. Splinters and sawdust exploded outward as the dummy disintegrated under the assault.
The wooden tendrils retracted back into the puppet's hands and disappeared, leaving no trace except the destroyed target.
Silence filled the room for a moment.
Then something changed in Danzō's expression. The Wood Release power he'd been obsessed with, that he'd poured resources into trying to acquire, was right there in front of him.
"Another one. Use another technique."
Fū formed another series of hand seals through the puppet, drawing on more chakra this time.
"Nativity of a World of Trees!"
The ground trembled.
All around the puppet, small saplings burst through the stone floor. They grew rapidly, thickening and stretching upward. Within seconds, they'd become bushes nearly half a meter tall, their branches spreading outward and intertwining with each other.
But just as the technique was about to reach full power, the chakra flow stuttered. The saplings stopped growing. Smoke began rising from joints in the puppet's body as internal systems overheated from the strain.
Then the puppet simply collapsed, falling to the floor.
At the same moment, Fū snapped back to his real body as the Mind Body Switch terminated abruptly.
"What happened?" Danzō's expression darkened immediately. "Why did it fail?"
"It's normal," Kenji replied calmly, helping Fū steady himself as the young man regained control of his own body. "Wood Release techniques consume enormous amounts of chakra. Deep Forest Emergence especially, it's a battlefield-scale jutsu. Fū's spiritual energy and chakra reserves simply aren't sufficient to sustain the full technique."
As he spoke, he discreetly extended his sensory abilities, examining Fū's body for any traces of Wood Release chakra that might have been absorbed during the puppet control.
Nothing.
That confirmed what he'd suspected. The ability he'd developed, gradually acquiring bloodline limits by repeatedly controlling puppets that used them, wasn't something that could be replicated in other people. It wasn't a universal trait of Yamanaka clan techniques. It stemmed likely from his abnormally powerful and continuously growing spiritual energy.
Neither the memories he'd inherited from the original Kenji nor any of the Yamanaka clan's historical records mentioned anything similar ever happening before.