Nature is fragile; although every climate environment has its internal equilibrium, it is like a bubble that bursts with a single poke.
Just like a desert, where there is an extreme lack of water, humans, animals, and plants all suffer from water scarcity. While a sudden flood might seem like a good thing,
the long-standing drought has caused this land to lose its ability to store and prevent water. Excessive water does not improve this land; instead, it makes it a mess.
Similarly, what appears to be a joyful gift can often harbor unbearable consequences.
Tatsuma looked in Minato's direction. He had not shared this plan with anyone, not even with his most trusted Minato.
Tatsuma is not someone who easily lets down his guard. Even if Minato is his most trusted friend.
Seeing Minato signal for a possible retreat, Tatsuma nodded and returned a signal for an immediate withdrawal, then ended the summoning with Shokuyu.
Minato frowned, somewhat puzzled, but still ended the summoning with Bunta, then quickly moved to Tenko's side to take him away.
Tatsuma, holding a scroll in one hand and pressing the ground with the other, was once again sensing the distance of the Hidden Sand Village's reinforcements. Rasa had also reacted and was starting to converge towards Tatsuma.
But Tatsuma was still waiting, waiting for the precise moment when he could control a Hidden Sand Village Ninja, but one that would require a significant cost.
If a dozen or so Jonin work together, it should still be possible, right?
At this moment, Caterpillar had also arrived beside Tatsuma, adjusting his sunglasses and saying, "Leader, there are seven seconds left."
Seven seconds is the distance Rasa and Karura need to get close enough to launch an attack. Tatsuma nodded, knowing he could no longer hesitate. He swung his right hand, releasing two bundles of scrolls.
The length of the scrolls, far exceeding that of ordinary sealing scrolls, was covered in dense Sealing Jutsu formulas, which could easily boggle the mind.
Caterpillar glanced down and his face showed a look of confusion. He had thought that the scrolls in Tatsuma's hands were sealing explosive tags, given the excellent results from the recent bombardments of explosive tags.
But looking at the length of the scrolls and the complexity of the techniques, if they were only used to seal explosive tags, the number of tags required would likely cover the entire Land of Wind.
Not to mention whether Tatsuma is that crazy, even if he were, the village couldn't provide that many explosive tags for him.
Before Caterpillar could figure it out, Tatsuma had already begun hand seals. With the last seal completed, Tatsuma struck the two bundles of scrolls with his right hand.
The Sealing Jutsu formulas were activated, starting to surge continuously. The scrolls, originally lying flat on the ground, began to ripple like waves.
Caterpillar even felt that the air he was inhaling was no longer the dry air of the Land of Wind; it felt heavy and damp, more so than the Land of Rain, almost like drowning.
"Let's go."
For some reason, Caterpillar suddenly felt that his leader's voice had become somewhat heavy, perhaps influenced by the howling yellow sand and sand gold in his ears.
In the next moment, Tatsuma's hand was on his shoulder. Caterpillar was certain that before he felt weightlessness, he had smelled a salty and sticky scent.
This smell, apart from the entertainment district, he had only smelled at one place—the seaside!
"Whoosh~ Boom!"
Rasa swore he had never seen so much water before; he had never imagined that water could be described as something as immense as a mountain.
But the constantly surging water in front of him gave him that feeling—it was as if it were not water but a collapsing mountain, a water mountain so high he couldn't see the peak even when he looked up.
"Secret Jutsu! Quicksand Waterfall Flow!"
While Rasa was still in shock, Karura, looking at the pouring water, began manipulating the sand to counter the collapsing water mountain.
"Rasa!"
Just as the sand and water began to clash, Karura's face went pale as she shouted at Rasa. Only then did Rasa snap back to reality, bringing his hands together to try and combine his Sand Control with Karura's efforts.
But the sand gold was too heavy; he couldn't manage it in time.
"Boom~"
The water mountain cascaded down, and Rasa, Karura, and others were instantly knocked unconscious. The quicksand, which had barely managed to resist the water mountain for less than three seconds, lost control in an instant.
From an aerial perspective, it would appear as though an inland sea had formed in the center of the desert, spreading outwards.
" Ding~ [Ninjutsu+580], [Spirit+488], [Seals+451], [Wisdom+443], [Stamina+505]. Would you like to claim?"
As Tatsuma traveled through space, he heard the system's notification. His expression remained unchanged as he mentally said, "Claim."
...
"It's Rasa and the others!"
At this moment, the Hidden Sand Village reinforcements had finally arrived. Even from a distance, they had seen the situation here, but despite their hurried efforts, all they could see were Rasa and the others floating in the water.
"You two, go save Rasa and the others. You, inform the village. The rest, follow me to block the spread of the seawater."
The leader quickly issued commands. Unlike the young ones like Rasa who only operated within the village and its surroundings, his years of traveling and experience made him quickly realize that this rushing water was not ordinary.
It's seawater!
Just thinking about the consequences of the seawater spreading made him shiver uncontrollably. If this seawater spreads, before the desert swallows it, it will destroy all the surrounding oases.
At the same time, towns, industrial areas, and even some already meager rivers would be completely devastated. The impact is far beyond just the area covered by the seawater.
Their only option now is to block the seawater first, because the entire Land of Wind has no river system capable of handling such a volume of water.
They must first stop the seawater from spreading, then urgently create a sufficiently large river channel to redirect the seawater to the sea or to other countries with better river systems, such as the Land of Rivers.
The events here quickly reached the Hidden Sand Village. The Third Kazekage, unable to hold a meeting to discuss solutions, went directly to the site.
As for the instigator, Tatsuma had already returned to the Land of Fire. They did not return directly to the village because the continuous Flying Thunder God transfers were not something an ordinary person could endure.
Moreover, the group needed to rest after the battle, so Tatsuma had previously arranged a resting point. At this time, the four of them arrived at the agreed-upon location.
Minato paced back and forth, relieved to see Tatsuma and Caterpillar arrive. Tatsuma's skill with the Flying Thunder God Technique was no less than his own, so their late arrival was unexpected.
Even though it was only a delay of a few seconds, Minato had already considered going to meet Tatsuma countless times.
Seeing that Tatsuma was unharmed, Minato's anxious heart finally relaxed. He first helped Tatsuma steady the slightly disoriented Caterpillar and then asked:
"Why the delay? And what's that smell?"
Minato's nose twitched as he noticed an unfamiliar scent on Tatsuma and Caterpillar, something that didn't belong to the desert. Tatsuma waved his hand and said, "Just delivered a small gift to the Hidden Sand Village."
Tatsuma didn't offer further explanation, and Minato didn't press for more details. Instead, he said, "Then you should rest for now. I'll handle the guard duties."
Upon hearing this, Tatsuma didn't refuse. He had expended too much Chakra, which equated to a significant depletion of his physical strength, and indeed needed to rest for a while.
He took out a Military Rations Pill, popped one into his mouth, and sat down to rest, not rushing to refine Chakra as he did during the battle.
The Divine Tree Cells within Tatsuma's body rapidly proliferate when he is injured, and this is the time when they proliferate the fastest. This is followed by periods of physical weakness, including illness, injury aftermath, and general fatigue.
For example, now, with excessive Chakra consumption and near exhaustion of physical strength, his body's cellular immunity would also experience a noticeable decline. This creates an opportunity for the Divine Tree Cells to more easily consume body cells.
Even normal Chakra refinement sees a decline in the body's cellular resistance to the Divine Tree Cells. Although it's not as apparent as when injured, Tatsuma can deduce this from the growth of his talent ceiling.
This is also an important reason why Tatsuma did not study the Yin Seal after Uzumaki Mito's seal was exhausted.
Not to mention the difficulty of learning the Yin Seal, its flaws, and so on, just the process of storing power with the Yin Seal is equivalent to aiding the proliferation of Divine Tree Cells.
The Chakra in the Yin Seal doesn't come from nowhere; it can only be accumulated during non-combat times. This process requires additional daily refinement of Chakra to replenish it.
While consuming Chakra during combat and storing Chakra normally might seem similar, the latter appears to be more convenient. However, the Yin Seal has its flaws.
The flaw is that when the Yin Seal is released, the Chakra that flows out of the seal and into the body is excessive and overflowing.
This excess Chakra is an unnecessary expenditure. For Tatsuma, it means that the Chakra, which should have been used to resist the proliferation of Divine Tree Cells, ends up becoming part of the Divine Tree Cells instead.
Until Tatsuma figures out a method to suppress the proliferation of Divine Tree Cells or fully understands their effects, he will not attempt this method. As for finding a solution or determining the consequences later...
At this point, Tatsuma's own Chakra reserves are sufficient to reach a level where he no longer needs the Yin Seal.
Even if there are slight deficiencies, he can fully utilize the two talents provided by the [Shiro Yaksha] physique, namely [Blood Awakening] and [Growing Through Battle], to quickly realize his potential.
Just thinking about the ever-proliferating Divine Tree Cells in his body makes Tatsuma's heart, which had just settled from the battle, become restless again.
His knowledge is not yet enough to support such research. During his collaboration with Orochimaru, he provided ideas and directions, while Orochimaru executed them.
In other words, to completely uncover the secrets of the Divine Tree Cells, he has to rely on Orochimaru. However, Orochimaru's research requires a significant amount of money.
Tatsuma's mind keeps flashing with products from his past life that seemed capable of making a fortune, but each one is promptly dismissed.
Phones, computers, the internet, and so on cannot be managed by just one person or a single team. These things require an entire ecosystem to achieve profitability; otherwise, the cost would far exceed Orochimaru's current research expenses.
As for methods that don't rely on an ecosystem, they don't seem to make much money, and the initial investment is also something Tatsuma finds difficult to afford.
Perhaps engaging in real estate isn't suitable for him; he might need to try selling technology and solutions instead. After all, Orochimaru had similar ideas.
However, this approach has many challenges in implementation. After all, the village had reclaimed all ownership of the research results from the time Tatsuma and Orochimaru spent at the Wood Release research facility.
This action is not a big deal, as Tatsuma still has many technologies and solutions. What matters is the attitude of the village and the Daimyo's office.
If he presents new technologies and accompanying solutions, and the village or Daimyo's office asks, "How can you prove that this was not developed at the Wood Release research facility?"
Just thinking about it makes Tatsuma feel overwhelmed. Expanding his business empire would require time, but his body can't wait.
Moreover, some research can't be completed just with money; it also requires permissions and even special licenses.
Tatsuma closed his eyes for a moment, hiding all his worries deep within. When he opened them, he said to Minato, "Let me take over. You should rest for a while."
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