"Remember this feeling well, don't let your mind wander to weird places."
Makoto reminded Temari.
Although this wasn't a one-time experience, the first time is always the most memorable and usually the most awkward.
If Gaara and Temari wanted to enhance their strength and become viable party members in the raid against the Otsutsuki Clan, they had to master Sage art at one point.
Otherwise, against the Otsutsuki who could easily absorb Chakra and Ninja Techniques, they would just be human power banks.
Temari's ability was pure Wind Release.
If she didn't want her career highlight to be 'that one time she blew Madara away just to force him into Phase 2,' she needed to get serious.
"I wasn't letting my mind wander..."
Temari started to retort stubbornly, but she froze when she realized Makoto's hand—originally resting innocently on her shoulder—had slid down her arm to clasp her hand, her body stiffening instantly at the contact.
"Y-you... what are you doing?!"
"Relax, you can't move right now, I'm helping you open your fan."
Unlike Gaara, whose sand reacted automatically like a moody pet, Temari's Wind Release required the physical medium of her fan, and since she was currently paralyzed by the energy infusion, Makoto had to manually pilot her.
Makoto gripped Temari's hand and swung the fan, unleashing a hurricane that expanded outward with their group safely positioned in the eye of the storm.
Surrounding sand grains were instantly vaporized into dust.
In the Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise arc, there was a filler villain from the Land of Water with a Kekkei Genkai called Typhoon Release.
His greatest feat? At full power, he blocked Sasuke's Susanoo slash for a few seconds.
Quite underwhelming for the name 'Typhoon release'.
When this Typhoon Release guy was young, he was bullied and exiled because his power was seen as a disaster.
Honestly? He was wronged.
In real life, the smallest typhoon releases energy equivalent to thousands of nuclear bombs per hour.
In the anime? It was just "Wind Style: Slightly Windier Wind." It was basically a budget DLC reskin of normal Wind Style.
The only difference was that his Wind Release was obtained through innate bloodline.
Kekkei Genkai aren't necessarily innate, but innate abilities are always Kekkei Genkai.
In any case, if there had to be a 'Typhoon Release', then the Wind Release that Makoto was currently controlling through Temari's hand, with this level of power, could barely be called Typhoon Release.
This was the true power of nature!
....
One minute later.
Makoto's group landed on the bedrock below, untouched by the storm, but the sand beneath their feet had collapsed into the abyss, swept away by the tactical nuke of wind pressure.
Now, only a thin layer of sediment remained.
But everyone's attention was focused on the massive object revealed by the excavation.
A colossal, twisted wooden root lay exposed, pulsating with energy.
At the top of the root was the seal of the Dragon Vein.
"This is a broken root of the God Tree. Now we understand what the Dragon Vein is all about" Makoto said, setting down Temari—whom he had been holding in a princess carry during the fall—and stepping forward to examine the anomaly.
Placing his hand on the wood, he sensed its depth; the root extended deep into the rock layer like a parasite.
"What is this all about?" Gaara inquired seriously.
This concerned the economic and ecological lifeline of the Land of Wind, so he couldn't afford not to care.
A tree root buried deep underground, combined with Makoto's earlier bedtime story about the Sage of Six Paths' mother doing some gardening, gave him a bad premonition.
"It's pretty much as I speculated earlier," Makoto said, turning to face them.
"This God Tree root broke off here and, over thousands of years, continuously absorbed the natural energy of this land, preventing it from self-repairing. That's why the Land of Wind has remained a desert."
"What?! Are you saying that without this thing, the Land of Wind would have long become as fertile as the Land of Fire?" Temari asked, her jaw dropping.
"That's the idea." Makoto nodded.
The Shinobi World's Earth is just that special, it's built different.
A fruit born from the natural energy of just a small area in the Land of Wind was enough to give Kaguya Otsutsuki a qualitative power-up.
If this root hadn't remained here, hindering the Land of Wind's self-recovery, the Shinobi World might have directly turned into a sustainable tree-planting plantation.
Of course, the Otsutsuki Clan wouldn't think that way—they'd only consider how powerful the fruit would be if they drained the Shinobi World's Earth all at once.
"Actually, there's one more point, and it's ironically hilarious," Makoto said, looking up at the seal.
"Huh? What is it?"
"After the sage of six path become a goddess, even if this root had broken off, it should have withered and rotted away once it lost its main power source. But..."
Makoto pointed at the glowing seal.
"I don't know which 'genius' sealed it back then, but they essentially put the root on life support. By sealing it, they trapped the energy inside, preventing it from dissipating."
"So, this root continued to function like a zombie God Tree, absorbing the area's natural energy and converting it into chakra for thousands of years, filling its veins with so much juice that people mistook it for a 'lifeline of the earth', hence the Dragon Vein."
It was a classic case of 'Task Failed Successfully.'
The seal meant to protect the land actually doomed it to eternal dehydration.
"So, what do we do now?" Gaara asked.
"Pull out the root and destroy it," Makoto proposed.
"If we don't deal with it, even if you master Sage Mode to accelerate the land's recovery, it would be like trying to fill a swimming pool while the drain is wide open. But if we remove it, the land will eventually patch itself."
"But the Dragon Vein contains so much Chakra... wouldn't destroying it directly cause a natural disaster?" Gaara frowned deeply.
"Correct. The local legends got that part right—destroying the Dragon Vein would trigger a natural disaster. So before destroying it, we need to drain the chakra."
No sooner had Makoto finished speaking than he saw Uchiha Hikari silently walking toward the tree roots with a determined look on her face.
She was going to use her Eight thousand spear ability to absorb the chakra into herself—a move that would likely overload her small body.
Just as she raised her hand, preparing to press it against the roots, Makoto flickered before her, catching her hand squarely against his chest.
"Great-Grandma Uchiha, you're not alone anymore, so don't always try to play the tragic hero," Makoto said, grabbing the hand pressed against his chest and slowly lowering it.
"Discuss it with the squad first—how do you know we don't have a better plan?"
"You're right, I... Wait."
Hikari, who was initially ready to apologize for her rashness, suddenly froze as her brain processed the nickname.
"What did you just call me?"
"Is there a problem?" Makoto shrugged innocently.
"...No! Problem!"
Uchiha Hikari gritted her teeth, snorted loudly, stamped her foot in frustration, and ran off to the corner to sulk.
She was clearly still a young girl—physically and mentally—yet just because of her seniority on the family tree, she got slapped with the "Great-Grandma" title? how outrageous!
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