Uchiha Akaishi Tour

Chapter 308 Wood Release?

Upon hearing Orochimaru's words, Tsunade was momentarily confused. Because she knew nothing of Ryuchi Cave, she assumed Orochimaru was deliberately sulking with the old man, and so—

"No! I don't agree!" Tsunade blurted out.

"Tsk, Jiraiya will be sad if you do this—and I'm really not interested in you." Orochimaru said with a lame joke.

Upon hearing this, Tsunade's forehead contorted with a "well" shape: "If you can't speak properly, we can communicate in another way."

"Sister Tsunade, Captain Orochimaru is only doing this for the child's good—" Akaishi chimed in from the side.

Tsunade immediately glared at her and asked sharply, "Akaishi, was this your doing?"

"Sister Tsunade is joking—I don't have that ability," Akaishi said with a forced smile.

Seeing his reaction, Tsunade became even more suspicious, but before she could say anything more, Orochimaru interrupted her, saying, "However, this also depends on the Uchiha clan head's opinion."

"That's what makes it suspicious—" Tsunade stared at the two people in front of her, feeling that they were hiding something from her.

If Orochimaru truly fell in love at first sight as he claimed, not to mention that the person is dead, there's no question of marriage. Even if Orochimaru insisted on marriage, there would be no need for him to marry into the family, let alone for Uchiha Kensuke to agree!

Seeing that Orochimaru had made up his mind, Tsunade rubbed her throbbing temples and said, "Then you'd better prepare for the old man's wrath! And—don't you dare say you met him here!"

Tsunade just wants to get as far away as possible right now.

"Speaking of which—are the people of Sunagakure really this weak in their counterattacks now? There are even ninja squads launching sneak attacks here."

"Akaishi got down to business."

Hearing this, Tsunade's brows finally relaxed a bit. Compared to Orochimaru's sudden desire to marry into the Uchiha clan, Tsunade felt that the Sand Village's counterattack was a trivial matter!

"It's true that the counterattack was powerful, but—that's because they couldn't hold out on the front lines anymore, so they had to send people in small groups to cause trouble in the rear." Tsunade understood this best—because her feelings came directly from the distribution of the wounded.

"It seems this battle is over." Akashi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

The current actions of Sunagakure may seem to cause some trouble for Konoha, but in reality, they are only making Sunagakure's own casualties rise even more severely!

Like the previous ambush on the wounded team —

Even if they succeed, those Sand Ninja will have a hard time escaping!

The way Sunagakure is fighting is essentially a battle of attrition—on one hand, they previously "exploded" a large number of Chunin, and now they're using them to wear them down; on the other hand, Sunagakure knows they can't win, and they want to inflict damage on Konoha.

In this way, Sunagakure will have more leverage during peace negotiations.

Although it has only been a year and a half, Akaishi, who grew up in peacetime, is indeed somewhat exhausted from experiencing such a "protracted" war for the first time.

"The premise is that Iwagakure can really endure the loneliness," Orochimaru said in a hoarse voice with a mocking tone.

"Orochimaru." Tsunade looked at Orochimaru helplessly—this reminder was correct, but couldn't he have just said it properly?

The level of vigilance against Iwagakure has always been one of the focal points of the conflict between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage.

When Orochimaru was in command, the Hokage's faction always had reservations about his conservative approach. However, the reason Orochimaru's advance was slow was because he remained wary of Iwagakure and even intentionally restrained himself, concentrating the main fighting area in the southwest.

In this way, even if Iwagakure becomes an ally, Konoha can simply take a step back and rebuild the battle line to block the two great hidden villages, thus avoiding being attacked from both sides.

This is a typical "preparing for the worst-case scenario" approach.

Of course, the Hokage also had his own considerations—the Third Hokage and his assistants were concerned that such a difficult battle would diminish their prestige, so they were eager for a "quick victory".

After all, before this, the first and second generation leaders were so powerful that no one dared to fight them, and so skillful that they avoided all wars.

Even the second generation, before being wiped out by Kinkaku and Ginkaku in one fell swoop, never suffered a loss!

This makes Konoha's current Hokage Tower seem very weak.

However, Orochimaru, as the Third Hokage's student and the (former) Commander-in-Chief strongly recommended by Sarutobi, showed absolutely no consideration for his teacher!

Orochimaru shared the "marriage" with Tsunade, and after discussing the battle situation, Orochimaru and Akaishi left the medical headquarters and rushed back to the supply unit headquarters.

Jiraiya was already waiting outside the camp—

"Orochimaru, what's going on?" Jiraiya immediately came to greet Orochimaru upon seeing him.

Orochimaru shook his head and said, "The Sand Village's counterattack was too severe; in the end, we were still a step too late—"

"I mean, why are you suddenly getting married? Tsunade—" Jiraiya had clearly received Tsunade's "secret report," the information traveling faster than the two of them could travel.

If Tsunade hadn't been so serious, Jiraiya would have thought she was joking.

"Oh, I've made up my mind. Although Tsunade objects, I'm really not interested in her, so I can only entrust her to you." Orochimaru said with a smirk.

Jiraiya: ————

"This isn't Tsunade's fault, is it? You—Akaishi! Is this your doing?" Jiraiya immediately looked at Akaishi.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I'm innocent! How could I possibly control Captain Orochimaru's marriage? If I were that powerful, I would have already arranged for Tsunade to marry you!" Akaishi said righteously.

"I—you two, don't give me that crap. I'm telling you—this has nothing to do with me—" Jiraiya was even more flustered than Tsunade. After all, Orochimaru was reporting to the supply unit, and Jiraiya was now afraid that the old man would misunderstand and think that the matter was related to him.

"Jiraiya, you're too hesitant when it comes to matters of the heart," Orochimaru said, shaking his head as if in disappointment.

Jiraiya: ————

"Wait, Jiraiya-sensei never confessed his feelings?" Akaishi looked at Orochimaru in confusion.

"If saying something in a joking tone that leaves room for retreat can be considered a confession, then it counts as a confession," Orochimaru said mercilessly.

"? That's just like being a ninja academy student—"

Seeing Akaishi's sudden realization, Jiraiya immediately interrupted, "Alright, alright—you two can leave now."

After the topic was changed, Jiraiya couldn't stand it anymore.

After leaving Jiraiya, Orochimaru called him back before Akaishi could rest.

"Akaishi-kun, you haven't made a choice between the best, middle, and worst options," Orochimaru reminded him.

Upon hearing this, Akaishi's face stiffened, and he said, "This—the best strategy is too hasty, and the worst strategy is too slow—I want to choose the middle strategy. In addition—I would like to make some slight modifications."

Orochimaru: ————

Orochimaru looked at him with disgust—why is there so much trouble?

"Awakening Wood Release by relying on someone else's cells is ultimately unreliable—Captain Orochimaru, why don't you explain the principles of Wood Release to me more? Maybe I'll awaken it myself someday?" Akaishi said matter-of-factly.

Orochimaru: ————

You need to ask me to teach you this? What makes you think you can awaken?

Why wasn't it me who awakened?

Orochimaru wanted to vomit a lot of complaints, but after taking a deep breath, he swallowed them back. He then...

First, Akaishi took him to Ryuchi Cave; second, Akaishi had inexplicably awakened "Void Release" before, and Orochimaru didn't want to be embarrassed again!

"Akaishi-kun, what do you think Wood Release is?" Orochimaru asked after taking a deep breath.

"It should be Earth Release chakra plus Water Release chakra—and we should pay attention to the life force aspect of the chakra transformation?" Akaishi said matter-of-factly.

The "Zhilu" in Earth Release chakra transformation corresponds to the "vitality" aspect, and the corresponding emotion is "joy". Therefore, Akashi's improvement in this aspect is close to 30%!

In Akaishi's view, this is the one most closely related to Wood Release.

If I were to get an initial item in Tower of Sacred that could combine two card decks, I would definitely choose Earth Release + Water Release. However, I have no idea how to choose from the six card types. I only know that I must choose "Zi Lu"!

Orochimaru sighed, shook his head, and said, "Too shallow."

It's not that it's wrong, it's that the understanding is too superficial—it matches Orochimaru's assessment of Akaishi!

Akaishi adopted a "I'd like to hear more details" expression.

Our Uchiha clan treats its "sons-in-law" too well—you really should know how other "sons-in-law" are treated!

"As I said before, the nature of Wood Release is the closest to Sage Mode among bloodline limits," because it inherently represents the absorption of natural energy.

"Vitality" is just one manifestation; the most important core of Wood Release is plunder!

"It plunders the nutrients from the earth and air internally, and steals the energy from the sun externally. This special property makes it similar to Sage Mode," Orochimaru said confidently.

"Plunder?" Akashi was taken aback upon hearing this; he hadn't really considered this angle before.

"At least—that's how the First Hokage's Wood Release was," Orochimaru added.

Akaishi:————

So you're not going to act anymore?

"Captain Orochimaru—is that cell of yours—legal?" Akaishi asked in a low voice.

"It was a gift from a friend," Orochimaru replied calmly.

I don't care if it's legal or not. The gifting process was legal anyway!

Akaishi:————

Orochimaru wasn't lying—Danzo gave it to him shortly before he left Konoha, and—Hiruzen Sarutobi also knew about it.

Including Orochimaru in the experiment was not only a gesture of goodwill from Danzo, but also because the Third Hokage wanted to produce results as soon as possible!

Clearly, Akaishi's previous intelligence had given Hiruzen Sarutobi a great sense of urgency.

Seeing that the Third Hokage and his student Orochimaru were still sulking, Danzo seized the opportunity to hint to the Third Hokage that he could give the First Hokage's cells to Orochimaru, since Orochimaru's research capabilities were arguably second to none in Konoha.

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