I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 610 For someone with face blindness to remember you, either you are very important, or you look very unique.

"Wood Release: Great Tree Technique!"

Despite being shocked by the scale of Tatsuma's ninjutsu, Yamato's physical instincts allowed him to quickly form hand seals. With a flick of his right hand, it transformed into a thick wooden stick resembling a tree root, which he used to block the enormous wooden hand.

From a visual perspective, it looks like a few bamboo poles trying to stop a collapsing building, but in reality, the effect of Yamato's Wood Release is not much better than that of bamboo poles.

The moment the wooden hand collided with the wooden strip, the strip shattered. A fascinating expression appeared on Yamato's usually expressionless face. He withdrew his hand, intending to form a hand seal to block, but the wooden hand had already landed.

"Bang!"

Yellow sand filled the sky, and Yamato felt his body completely stiffen. Even though the wooden hand hadn't attacked him, and he was standing between its fingers, if Tatsuma had controlled the wooden hand even slightly less, he would have been shoved into the desert.

"untie!"

Tatsuma clapped his hands together, and the giant wooden hand crumbled into small pieces, covered by the rising and settling yellow sand. Looking at the stunned Yamato, Tatsuma said:

"Yamato, it seems your Wood Release techniques are still far from sufficient."

"It's you. Why?"

Yamato nodded subconsciously at first, then looked at Tatsuma in shock, and pointed to himself somewhat helplessly. Yamato wasn't stupid, and his memory wasn't bad either; he hadn't told Tatsuma his name.

"Yamato?"

Kakashi glanced at Yamato with a puzzled look, then looked at Tatsuma and said, "You mean he's that boy with the bubble-eyed fish in the Senju clan's territory?"

"Bubble-eyed boy? What kind of description is that?"

Tatsuma's lips twitched, and Kakashi quickly said, "It was Kai who gave it to him; he can't remember other people's names."

Shift the blame! We must shift the blame!

Thinking of that melon-shaped haircut, Tatsuma nodded. After all, Kai's face blindness was indeed quite severe. Using certain features as memorability points was a method Tatsuma had suggested, but...

"Boy with bubbly eyes" is such a fitting description.

Looking at Yamato's appearance, Tatsuma suppressed a laugh and said, "Yes, if nothing unexpected happens, he is Yamato."

How do you know my name? I've never seen you before.

Although Yamato was shocked, his hostility lessened considerably. Besides the fact that Tatsuma had shown extraordinary strength but easily spared his life, there was another reason: the seemingly arrogant Kakashi-senpai.

Without Tatsuma needing to explain, Kakashi said, "He's the one who gave you the name Yamato. Without him, where would you get this name?"

"No, my name was clearly given to me by Lady Tsunade."

Yamato denied it. Kakashi looked the two of them over and said thoughtfully, "I see. It's probably because Lady Tsunade and he are teacher and student, and they have a tacit understanding."

"Tsunade-sama's student?"

Yamato felt his head was getting more and more confused. Lady Tsunade was the Fifth Hokage, and wasn't her disciple Shizune? How could it be Sakamoto Tatsuma, whom Kakashi-senpai called the Fourth Hokage?

"As I just said, spacetime is disordered, and multiple timelines have overlapped at this point. You may come from the future, but you may not be from my timeline, or the future of spacetime or the world."

As Tatsuma explained, he approached Yamato, extended his hand, and said, "Let me formally introduce myself. I am Sakamoto Tatsuma, a Jonin of Konoha."

Looking at Tatsuma's hand, even if it wasn't that enormous wooden hand, Yamato's heart still trembled. He reached out and grasped Tatsuma's hand, looking at the seemingly younger yet incredibly powerful Tatsuma, and unconsciously softened his tone, saying:

"Sakamoto Tatsuma-senpai, I am Yamato, a Jonin of Konoha."

"I am Kakashi Hatake, a Jonin of Konoha."

Kakashi stepped forward and, upon learning that the man was the boy with the bubbly, fish-like eyes, Kakashi found him much more agreeable. After all, Yamato and Kabuto often ran errands for him, hoping he could guide them during their training breaks.

"Kakashi-senpai, this is the first time I've seen you so young. Your eyes aren't injured yet, that's great."

Looking at Kakashi, who was vastly different from the Kakashi he knew and seemed to lack any darkness or loneliness, Yamato felt a pang of emotion.

"Eye injury?"

Kakashi touched the area around his eyes. Would his future be like that? Just as he was about to ask, Tatsuma interrupted, "Tell me why you're here."

Yamato withdrew his gaze and looked at Tatsuma, unconsciously bowing slightly as if to treat him as a subordinate. There was no other reason than Tatsuma-senpai's aura was too strong, even stronger than Tsunade-sama's, just like the feeling one gets from the picture of the Second Hokage hanging in the Hokage Building.

He spoke in a respectful tone: "Senior Tatsuma, I was here on the orders of the Fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade, to capture the rogue ninja Hyakujutsu from Sunagakure. I accidentally entered the ruins of Loulan and was submerged by the energy of the Dragon Vein, which led me here."

"A centipede?"

"It should be An Lushan. He also came from across time and space, but he arrived several years earlier than you."

After finishing his sentence, Tatsuma looked at Yamato and asked, "Are you Naruto's Jonin instructor?"

"No, I am only the temporary captain. Naruto's mentor is Kakashi-senpai."

"I?"

Kakashi pointed to himself, then looked at Tatsuma with some confusion. Who was that Naruto? Was he even worthy of being led by him?

Ignoring Kakashi's question, Tatsuma asked Yamato, "How much do you know about Naruto's background?"

"life experience?"

A hint of wariness flashed in Yamato's eyes as he glanced at Kakashi. Although Kakashi-senpai seemed to dislike Tatsuma-senpai on the surface, he appeared to respect him. After a moment's hesitation, Yamato tentatively asked:

"Are you referring to the fact that Naruto is the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki?"

"no."

Tatsuma shook his head, then observed Yamato. Yamato looked puzzled. Seeing this, Tatsuma looked away, shook his head, and said, "It's nothing."

Although Yamato was somewhat annoyed by Tatsuma's ambiguous behavior of only giving half the story, he didn't dare to ask rashly. Moreover, he remembered something more important and asked, "Tatsuma-senpai, did you just encounter Naruto? Is he alright?"

"With Minato around, there's no way he'll get into trouble."

Tatsuma said calmly. Hearing that Minato was protecting Naruto, Yamato breathed a sigh of relief. Although Kakashi-senpai said that the Sakamoto Tatsuma in front of him was the Fourth Hokage, in Yamato's memory and understanding, the Fourth Hokage was Namikaze Minato.

Naturally, he trusted Minato Namikaze's abilities more than Tatsuma Sakamoto's, even though Tatsuma had already demonstrated what could be described as astonishing power.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Yamato asked, "Seniors, what is the purpose of your visit to Loulan?"

"Protecting Loulan, in the final analysis, is the same as what you all do: get rid of the centipede, now known as An Lushan."

After Tatsuma finished answering, Yamato said with some delight, "Then, senior, shall we join forces? After dealing with the centipede, we'll look for a way to return to the future."

"But...you are weak."

This time it wasn't Tatsuma who spoke up, but Kakashi. Yamato's face showed embarrassment and anger as he tried to defend himself, saying, "Kakashi-senpai, actually... I just... I just ran out of chakra."

In front of Tatsuma, Yamato couldn't bring himself to say that he wasn't weak, but after all, he was a Jonin of Konoha and Naruto's temporary captain, so he should still be of some use, right?

If the Nine-Tails inside Naruto goes out of control, his Wood Release—no, Sakamoto Tatsuma also has Wood Release, and it's far, far stronger than his—seems to be really useless.

"You're a survivor of the Wood Release experiment, aren't you?"

Tatsuma spoke up, ignoring Yamato's surprise, and continued, "Your body is very special. It can withstand the characteristics of Hashirama cells, but those Hashirama cells cannot proliferate and develop, which is why you are so weak."

The light in Yamato's eyes completely disappeared. In such a short time, he had been called weak by two people, and he couldn't even refute them. This feeling was truly despairing.

However, Yamato asked curiously, "Senior Tatsuma, are you also a survivor of the Wood Release experiment? Your Wood Release..."

"I am not, but I was one of the researchers of the Wood Release experiment. It's a pity that you didn't conduct more Hashirama cell transplant experiments, otherwise you would have become stronger, or... reached your physical limits and become a failed experiment."

Tatsuma's regretful words sent a chill down Yamato's spine. He forced a smile and tried to back away, but Tatsuma suddenly reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Tatsuma-senpai! You..."

Just as Yamato was about to break free, a force surged into his body, followed by a gnawing, itchy pain all over his body.

"Let's triple the number of Hashirama cells first. You should be able to handle it. Go back and train hard. Don't let people think that Wood Release ninjas are just like you."

Tatsuma's voice entered Yamato's somewhat dazed mind. He wanted to say something, but the pain in his body was getting stronger and stronger. He couldn't control his body at all, and he couldn't even speak.

After performing a short zombie dance, Yamato's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Tatsuma looked at Kakashi and said, "You stay here and take care of him a little, and don't let him get involved in our operation this time."

"Okay."

Kakashi seemed a little confused, but he nodded nonetheless.

Tatsuma could have made it easier to remove Yamato's influence over the operation, but since they are both Wood Release ninjas, he decided to use "bribery" instead.

Moreover, it wouldn't be difficult for Tatsuma to make the Hashirama cells proliferate in Yamato's body. The Shinju cells are almost identical to the Hashirama cells, with only minor differences.

Besides the power of the Tailed Beasts and positive and negative chakra, the energy stored within the Divine Tree cells also contains a special life force, which is the foundation for Wood Release and the energy source for the proliferation and development of the Divine Tree cells.

By channeling this energy into the Hashirama cells within Yamato's body, the Hashirama cells, which had previously lost their ability to divide and engulf, can become active again.

Of course, because this process was accelerated too much, Yamato would suffer exceptionally much, but for the sake of what was to come, Tatsuma felt it was worth it.

Because what he was about to do was very likely to be noticed by Yamato, who was also a Wood Release ninja. Although Yamato had almost no influence over his actions, there was no need to cause misunderstandings.

This next matter should remain a secret known only to him.

Keeping Minato and Choza busy with Naruto's troubles, negotiating to prevent Orochimaru from interfering in another world, and now preventing Yamato and Kakashi from entering Roran—all of these were part of Tatsuma's original plan.

"Let's meet, Sage of Six Paths."

Chenma called out in his heart, turned around and entered Loulan, heading straight for the central tower.

(End of this chapter)