บท 50: Chapter 50: The False Divine Tree
A messenger hurriedly approached Akira, saying, "Akira, the people over at ShinTen Biotech asked me to inform you—they need you to come over. The director there has something important to discuss."
Akira glanced at Mikoto and said, "Mikoto, I'll head over now."
Mikoto nodded knowingly. She understood what was happening over at ShinTen Biotech and assured him,
"Go ahead. I'll take care of things with Kushina."
Upon arriving at the ShinTen Biotech lab, Akira went straight to the office of Yakushi Nonō. As he entered, his gaze was instantly drawn to a small, vibrant potted plant on her desk, about fifty or sixty centimeters tall.
It was a small tree, lush and teeming with an intense aura of life.
Nonō stood silently beside it, studying the tree.
"This tree… the life energy radiating from it… it's chakra…" Akira instinctively activated his Sharingan, his eyes narrowing in surprise.
"Akira," Nonō greeted him as he entered.
"So, you managed to get that branch I gave you to sprout?" Akira inspected the small tree closely.
He hadn't expected her to bring life back to the piece of flesh he'd obtained from the Gedo Statue.
"More or less," Nonō replied, glancing at the plant with a strange expression. "What you gave me wasn't just any branch, was it? It's more like… the flesh of a living creature, right?"
Akira looked at her, nodded, and said,
"You're correct. It's not a simple branch—it's actually the transformed flesh of a certain creature."
Hearing his confirmation, Nonō nodded as if in sudden understanding.
"That explains it. Using biological cultivation techniques would naturally cause it to sprout and revive."
Then, after a quick glance at the door, she lowered her voice.
"Could this be… the flesh of the First Hokage?"
Akira chuckled. "No, it's not. Don't worry."
"Good," Nonō exhaled in relief.
During her research, the various traits of the branch had repeatedly reminded her of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama: its intense vitality, chakra absorption, rapid growth, incredible healing abilities, aggressive nature, and even the emergence of Wood Release properties. The similarities to Hashirama's cells were uncanny.
"Why would you think it's from the First Hokage?" Akira asked, curious. "Is it really that similar to his cells?"
"It's beyond similar." Nonō smiled wryly. "At times, it feels as if this thing was derived from his very body."
"So you're saying that the traits it exhibits are almost identical to those of Hashirama's cells?" Akira looked at her in surprise.
"Not identical," she clarified thoughtfully. "I once participated in the Root's cell transplantation experiments with the First Hokage's cells, and this sample seems even more potent than his."
"In other words, the sample I gave you is stronger than the First Hokage's cells?" Akira asked, sounding as if he was confirming a hypothesis.
"Essentially, yes," Nonō nodded. "Of course, we haven't fully explored its properties yet, but from what we've seen so far, it does seem like a more powerful variant of the First Hokage's cells."
Akira considered this. "Then, in theory, if one were to successfully transplant these cells, they could potentially gain Wood Release?"
"In theory, yes," Nonō agreed, then added cautiously, "However, given its traits, the transplant process would likely be even more difficult than with the First Hokage's cells."
"I've actually conducted some preliminary transplant experiments with animals, but unsurprisingly, they all failed," she added, her tone growing serious.
Nonō paused for a moment, then continued gravely, "Moreover, what we've discovered so far only scratches the surface. There's more to this substance than just these overt characteristics—it's hiding a lot more."
Akira nodded slowly. He understood why Nonō was telling him all this. She was cautioning him, advising him against following the path that Konoha once took in attempting dangerous human experiments to gain Wood Release.
As Konoha's most prominent clan, the Uchiha had access to the resources of the police force and could, in theory, conceal such experiments for quite some time.
Then, Akira's Sharingan fixed on the small, green tree. He murmured, "It's growing awfully fast."
In the time they'd been talking, the tree had shot up another ten centimeters, growing faster than bamboo.
Noticing it too, Nonō turned to the plant, exclaiming, "It wasn't this fast before! What's going on?"
"The chakra within it is increasing, gathering at the top of the tree," Akira muttered. Then, as if a thought crossed his mind, he murmured, "Could it be… preparing to bloom and bear fruit?"
"Bloom and bear fruit?" Nonō echoed, puzzled by his observation.
Though she was confused, Nonō didn't hesitate. Her hands glowed green as she pressed one to the trunk, focusing her chakra to examine it.
As soon as she touched the tree, the green glow of her chakra vanished as if it had been sucked into an invisible vortex within the plant.
Nonō gasped, pulling her hand back, staring at the plant with alarm. "It could absorb chakra before, but nowhere near this level…"
"Let's just observe it for now," Akira suggested, stopping her from making any further moves.
Hearing this, Nonō stepped back, respecting his authority as the one in charge at ShinTen Biotech.
One minute passed… two… ten…
Eventually, the small tree had grown to about a meter. At the top of its densely leafed trunk, a dark purple bud, roughly the size of a fist, began to form.
As time passed, the purple bud slowly blossomed, eventually revealing a small, dark red fruit about the size of a baby's fist. The surface of the fruit was dark red with faint, black, tomoe-like markings.
Nonō stared at the dark red fruit at the top of the plant, astonished. "It really did bloom and bear fruit!"
Akira wasn't as surprised. He looked at Nonō and said, "Run some tests on this fruit. It might have some unique properties."
He certainly didn't think this was a true Divine Tree fruit, that was impossible. This was just something grown from a part of the Gedo Statue's body.
However, if chakra from all Nine-Tails Beasts was poured into a sapling like this, it might indeed produce something with some of the chakra fruit's properties.
As things stood, though, it was simply a unique fruit, one that likely held unusual qualities.
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