"So that monster was using remnants of Hashirama's cells to stay alive?"
Kai's eyes narrowed slightly.
"No wonder it could spray corpse fluid everywhere the moment it came out and still keep living."
He looked down at the shattered base beneath the tank.
"So it wasn't the monster itself… it was the Wood Release cells underneath supplying vitality."
With that realization, Kai quietly activated the Nine-Tails' power.
Behind him, two crimson chakra tails formed out of thin air.
BOOM!
Rip—!
Rip—!
Like yanking scallions from wet soil, the tails snapped around the nearby cultivation tanks and ripped them straight out.
CRASH—!
Green nutrient fluid poured across the floor in sheets.
And beneath the bases—there it was.
Tiny, sparse… but unmistakable.
Emerald-green residue.
"Found it."
Kai immediately moved to collect everything he could.
But before he could finish—
A violent disturbance erupted behind him.
"RAAAAH—!!!"
A shriek twisted beyond human limits tore through the lab, shredding the air like a blade.
The stitched abomination's body exploded with chaotic chakra—an unstable storm.
Its bloated frame began to swell like it was being inflated.
Under the skin, mismatched muscle chunks and fat writhed madly.
Snap—!
Black sutures popped one after another.
Snap-snap-snap!
Then the pressure hit critical—
BOOOOM—!!!
A brutal shockwave detonated outward.
Glass fragments, metal debris, rancid fluid—everything became shrapnel, blasting in all directions like cannon fire.
The entire underground chamber trembled.
Rumble…
Above, the stalactites groaned and began to fall.
ZZZZT—!
The storm slammed into Kai's Three Feet Ahead domain.
The pale-silver barrier trembled violently, ripples spreading like waves on a lake—
Even showing signs of being torn by the destructive force.
"It can self-destruct too?" Kai frowned.
That monster's chakra was already a corrupted mess—when it went unstable, the blast was almost on the level of a forbidden technique.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Behind him—
Sai's face turned paper-white.
"It's… it's going to collapse!"
He clutched his sketchbook and shrank into a corner, eyes full of despair.
Beside him, Shin—just barely awake—stared blankly as the shaking finally carved fear into his hollow eyes.
CRACK—!
A massive fissure split across the ceiling like a black serpent, crawling over the dome and walls.
Chunks of stone began raining down like a storm.
"Annoying."
Kai flicked a glance at the lab—already halfway destroyed—and moved.
SHHK—!
In an instant, more than ten Kai silhouettes burst outward at once, each darting toward a different tank base.
Phantom Body Flicker.
Pure speed and rapid switching inside a cramped space.
These cells—
He had to get them.
Buzz—!
The moment his hand touched the emerald residue—
The liquid seemed to move, like it had life.
It slid across his palm.
And then—
A terrifying surge of vitality poured into him.
A pressure so dense it made his heart tighten.
At the same time, the system's cold prompt detonated in his mind.
[Ding! Contact with high-purity Wood Release cells confirmed.]
[Analysis completion: 30%]
[Note: At 100% analysis, a High-Purity Wood Release trait can be unlocked.]
"Only thirty percent…"
Kai's brow tightened.
"So the remaining seventy percent… I'll have to get from Orochimaru."
His intent sharpened into something absolute.
High-purity Wood Release cells—Hashirama's—were no longer "nice to have."
They were a must.
And he was about to hit that critical growth period.
Back in his old world, parents at least forced kids to drink milk and chew bones.
How could he fall behind now?
If he ended up like one of those short island-country averages—
That would be a disaster.
But the moment he made up his mind—
A warm current appeared inside his body.
Then, without warning—
It exploded.
Gentle turned into magma.
Hot, savage, searing.
A wild flood of life force stormed through his veins, violently forcing itself into every part of him.
Kai felt his cells being crushed—ripped—swallowed—rebuilt.
Pain.
Blinding pain.
It was like every inch of flesh was being dismantled and reassembled by force.
"—Hng!"
Kai let out a muffled grunt.
A thin line of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
A ten-year-old body—no matter how many physical traits he'd stacked—
Was still nowhere near enough to bear the "God of Shinobi," even if it was only a tiny fragment.
And yet—
He could feel it.
His body was becoming stronger.
The imbalance between mind and flesh that had always threatened him…
Was being pressed down.
Stabilized.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
At the same time—
The lab ceiling finally gave out completely.
A boulder the size of a millstone, carrying terrifying weight, slammed down from above—
And directly beneath it—
Were the two brothers.
"Ah! Onii-san!"
Sai screamed, voice cracking.
"Don't be scared—don't be scared!"
Shin finally forced his shaking body forward and wrapped Sai in his arms, dragging him into the tightest corner.
But when he looked up at that descending mass of stone—
Despair still welled up.
They were kids.
They'd seen bodies.
They'd seen death.
But they'd never seen the world itself collapsing like the end of everything.
"N-no… we're… we're done…"
Shin trembled violently, pressing Sai beneath him as he bowed his head.
The threat of death made his scalp go numb.
But then—
He felt warmth on his shoulder.
And the world spun.
A dizzy lurch, like space itself flipped.
It came fast.
It ended fast.
Shin blinked—instinctively opening his eyes—
And froze.
"This… this is…!"
His entire body began trembling again, visible to the naked eye.
Because the light in front of him—
Was cool… and warm at the same time.
It washed over his skin like something holy.
"A-ah… are we okay, oni—ah?"
Sai also realized something was wrong and cautiously poked his head out.
One look—
And his mouth wouldn't close.
"Th-this… this is sunlight?"
"This is… outside?"
"We… we got out?!"
His tiny voice went from trembling, to hoarse, to suddenly shouting.
The excitement hit so hard he started coughing violently.
They hadn't seen the outside in so long.
Too long.
Outside the canyon fissure—
The sun rose.
Golden light split the morning fog and poured down, completely covering the brothers clinging to each other.
Kai watched them, shaking his head slightly.
Simple to the point of absurdity.
In the shinobi world, brothers often loved each other deeply.
And just as often…
They killed each other.
One dies so the other can live.
Kai didn't like that script.
"So why do brothers have to slaughter each other?"
He tossed the sketchbook he'd grabbed on the way out.
It landed near them with a dull thud.
Then Kai turned and walked away.
Root's "root" was severed.
Next—
He'd gather up what remained of Root inside the village.
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