Forest of Death.
Danzo's Wood Release Laboratory.
"Danzo's not here?"
"There are only a few guards."
In the shadows, Shishou used his chakra bug clone to scout the laboratory.
Activating his Sharingan, Shishou began searching the lab.
Since Danzo wasn't around and there were few guards, he could safely and boldly inspect the contents of the lab.
Using a combination of chakra bugs and Flying Thunder God, Shishou silently bypassed several large doors and arrived outside the central door of the lab.
Pressing his finger against the door seam, Shishou released his chakra bugs.
Then, his figure disappeared from the spot and reappeared on the other side of the door.
"Hmm?"
"Are these Yamato's clones?"
Seeing the numerous Yamato clones soaking in glass containers, Shishou was slightly shocked.
He hadn't expected Danzo to give up on transplanting Hashirama's cells and settle for cloning Yamato instead.
Perhaps this was the true purpose of Danzo's lab.
Shishou thought to himself.
However, these clones looked strange.
Although their faces were identical to Yamato's, many had some form of deformity on other parts of their bodies.
Three legs, three arms—that was the least of it.
Some were so misshapen that Shishou didn't know how to describe them.
They all looked like they wouldn't live long.
It seemed Danzo's cloning technology wasn't that advanced.
He never led a Yamato army to seize the Hokage position, likely because he failed.
During his time under Orochimaru, Danzo hadn't secured the core technology for himself.
So when Orochimaru left, he was left scrambling.
Danzo, that old dog, really wasn't up to the task.
"Well, this works in my favor."
Shishou didn't touch anything in the lab and headed straight to the place where bodies were disposed of.
"Looks like Danzo conducted quite a few experiments."
In the basement where bodies were disposed of.
It was more of a cellar, as there was only a chute in the ceiling for dropping bodies, with no other doors.
Because of this, Shishou wasn't worried about others discovering the missing bodies.
Glancing disdainfully at the dead Yamato clones, Shishou began releasing his chakra bugs.
Although these Yamato clones didn't contain many of Hashirama's cells and couldn't provide much of the Senju's power,
if Shishou consumed enough of them, the chakra bugs' feedback could grant him Wood Release.
Even though Shishou's total chakra was only 3 units,
he couldn't wield Wood Release as grandly and destructively as the First Hokage, but it would still give him more options in combat.
Yes, 'units'—the measurement of chakra quantity.
Using Kakashi's chakra as a baseline of 1 unit.
Seventeen-year-old Naruto had 4 units in his body, and with the Nine-Tails, it was 100 units.
After meeting Kakashi in the Land of Demons, Shishou calculated his own chakra.
After consuming dozens of clone bodies, Shishou left the lab and entered the Forest of Death.
Feeling the increase in his chakra, Shishou nodded, somewhat satisfied.
Perhaps due to insufficient numbers, he hadn't awakened Wood Release this time.
But Shishou didn't mind.
Danzo surely wouldn't stop and would continue providing clone bodies, so he could eventually awaken Wood Release by periodically collecting them.
Exploring the Forest of Death, Shishou enchanted two giant wild boars to breed chakra bugs before returning home.
...
A few days later, early morning.
Shishou woke up early and began inspecting the hairless caterpillars in his insect breeding space.
Today was the day they would emerge from their cocoons, and Shishou was excited.
After a few minutes, the caterpillars finally emerged, revealing a golden head.
The advanced hairless caterpillars had grown to the size of a baby's fist, turning golden in color, including their poisonous stingers.
[Golden Hairless Caterpillar: Rare species, prefers shade. Its sting causes severe redness, swelling, and itching, which is hard to heal by conventional means. Applying its secretions can quickly alleviate the symptoms.]
"The toxicity has increased."
"And it's harder to heal."
"It seems these caterpillars are becoming useful."
Shishou nodded, then looked at the healing bugs, which still needed time to grow before they could evolve again.
He wasn't in a hurry and didn't plan to use the Sharingan to accelerate their growth, preferring to wait until he transplanted Hashirama's cells.
However, the chakra bugs were a bit of a headache.
Unlike other insects, the chakra bugs couldn't be accelerated by his Sharingan, and breeding them to meet the system's evolution requirements required a vast amount of energy.
Currently, the number of chakra bugs had only reached half of the required quantity for evolution.
Meanwhile, the remaining animals in the Forest of Death were insufficient to support their further evolution.
"I need to find another place to cultivate the chakra bugs."
Leaning against the bed, Shishou began to think of suitable places for his chakra bugs.
First and foremost,
the best places would be the three major summoning grounds: Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave.
There were countless toads and snakes, more than enough for breeding chakra bugs.
However, if Shishou did that, he would be confronted by the Great Toad Sage and the White Snake Sage the next day.
So Shishou could only secretly consume a few snakes when opposing Orochimaru.
After all, snakes were cold-blooded animals, and Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage wouldn't care if a few died.
Of course, if he dared to consume Jiraiya's summoned toad, Gamabunta, he would be in a life-or-death struggle.
As for the Shikkotsu Forest, Shishou didn't even dare to think about it.
After all, the entire Shikkotsu Forest consisted of a single slug sage, and all the slugs summoned by Tsunade were part of it.
After thinking it over,
Shishou finally set his sights on Turtle Island in the Hidden Cloud Village.
Because there were many animals there, enough to evolve the chakra bugs.
If necessary, he could even consume the giant turtle.
Additionally, Shishou could breed the chakra bugs using humans, but the required number would be vast.
Last time, the Land of Demons had suffered heavy casualties due to Moryo's rampage. The priestess requested Shishou to dispose of the bodies to prevent an epidemic.
After consuming thousands of civilian corpses with the chakra bugs, he only reached half of the evolution requirement.
After all, civilians had no chakra, providing little energy, even less than wild beasts.
Moreover, slaughtering innocents for power didn't align with his principles.
"Looks like I need to find some time to visit the Land of Lightning."
Stretching lazily, Shishou got out of bed and began his morning routine.