Chapter 115: The Life Tree
After Kiumaru Ichiro finished his report, Baishi sat in contemplative silence. A long pause later, he waved his hand dismissively.
"That's enough. I understand. You can leave now."
"Yes, my lord!"
Kiumaru Ichiro bowed respectfully before exiting the room.
For a moment, the room was filled only with the sound of Baishi idly tapping the tabletop.
"Ah, such a turbulent world," he muttered, standing by the window and gazing at the town below, which was just beginning to regain a semblance of prosperity. He shook his head, pushing aside his thoughts.
The evening was well underway, and Baishi had no intention of continuing his journey that day. After two months of intense training, his mind and body felt weary. Tonight, he decided, would be a rare night of rest.
---
Deep into the Night.
Just outside the small town.
Dozens of burly men, their faces covered with cloth masks and armed with an assortment of weapons, crouched silently under the moonlight, watching the town.
Like predators eyeing their prey, their eyes glimmered with greed.
"Boss, when do we strike?" one of them whispered impatiently.
The leader shot him a sharp look. Only when the man lowered his head did he reply, "We wait a little longer—until they're all asleep. Then we move."
He paused and swept his gaze across the group. "You all remember the targets, right?"
"Don't worry, boss!"
"We're not rookies! No mistakes this time," the group responded with scattered affirmations.
"Good. Quick and clean. We leave in half an hour, no matter what," the leader ordered.
"Understood, boss!"
Though their leader was strict and meticulous, they all recognized that his careful planning was the reason they had lived freely and successfully for so long. His words carried weight, and they followed his lead willingly.
Time crept by. In the town, most residents had fallen into a deep slumber, completely unaware of the lurking danger.
---
Inside the Inn.
"Help! Save us!"
"The bandits are here! Everyone run!"
"Please spare me! I beg you—"
Baishi's peaceful sleep was shattered by the cacophony of screams and cries outside.
Groaning, he sat up as the voices filled his ears.
"Bandits?"
His expression darkened. He had finally taken a rare night to rest, only to have it disrupted.
While he wouldn't interfere in conflicts between ninja, he couldn't abide bullies and tyrants preying on the weak.
A decision made, Baishi vanished from the room, reappearing at a street corner before a bandit armed with a steel blade.
"Huh? Who are you?" The bandit, startled by Baishi's sudden appearance, swung his weapon without hesitation.
Baishi casually raised a hand and caught the blade in mid-swing.
No matter how hard the bandit tried, he couldn't move the blade an inch.
Finally, the man's fear overtook him. His earlier bravado melted away, replaced by trembling desperation.
"Let go, you brat!" he barked, trying to mask his fear.
"Let go?" Baishi chuckled coldly. "Sure."
With a slight exertion of force, the steel blade shattered into shards in his hand.
The bandit collapsed to the ground, staring at the fragments in shock. His lips moved, but no coherent words came out.
A sharp, acrid smell reached Baishi's nose. The man had wet himself in fear.
Wrinkling his nose in distaste, Baishi flung a shard of steel, piercing the bandit's throat. The man clutched his neck, his eyes wide with despair as his life ebbed away.
Without sparing the body a glance, Baishi moved to his next target.
---
In just a few minutes, Baishi had dispatched most of the bandits. Only their leader remained—a surprisingly competent Chūnin-level ninja.
"Please, my lord, spare me!" the leader begged, dropping to his knees.
"Spare you? Did the people you slaughtered beg for mercy?" Baishi's voice was icy, devoid of sympathy.
Realizing his pleas were futile, the leader's eyes filled with despair.
He attempted to fight back, even to take his own life, but found his body completely immobilized. All he could do was watch as Baishi's hand drew closer to his head.
Suddenly, a surge of mental energy invaded his mind. It overwhelmed him instantly, shattering his will in an instant.
"Ah, a memory seal? So there's more to this."
Moments later, Baishi withdrew his hand, his expression dark.
The process of extracting the man's memories had been seamless. But the content of those memories left him fuming.
Baishi had always known the ninja world was cruel, a place where human life was cheap. But the calculated, cold-hearted use of innocents as mere pawns disgusted him.
The leader's true identity was an Iwagakure Anbu. He had gathered this band of thugs to sow chaos, attracting Konoha's attention and draining their resources.
With the war between Konoha and the Cloud underway, Iwagakure sought to prolong the conflict and deplete both sides' strength.
To achieve this, Konoha was forced to divert manpower to handle these bandit attacks, weakening their position against the Cloud.
In Baishi's eyes, the plan was almost laughably insignificant. But from Iwagakure's perspective, the cost was negligible. A single Chūnin was a small price to pay for even a slight advantage.
Innocent lives were collateral damage—irrelevant to Iwagakure, especially since the victims weren't their citizens.
Understanding all this, Baishi sneered and snapped the leader's neck.
"If this is how you all play the game, then why should I care about maintaining this system?"
His resolve hardened. "Change begins today."
---
Baishi moved to the town square and began forming seals. A long series of hand signs later, he pressed his hands to the ground.
"Come forth, Life Tree!"
A massive tree, towering 50 meters high, erupted from the earth.
This wasn't just any tree. Its branches bore countless glowing green fruits, each about the size of a fist. They shimmered with an otherworldly light.
These fruits weren't natural—they were manifestations of Life Seeds 3.0. Encased within layers of fruit flesh, they were designed to gradually awaken the consumer's ninja potential and enable them to produce chakra.
Baishi had spent the last two months refining his understanding of sealing techniques, merging them with Wood Release to create this Life Tree.
By consuming its fruit, anyone could gain the power of a ninja. Whether they used it to preserve peace or overturn the established order was up to them.
"I wonder if history will remember me as a savior or a villain," Baishi murmured with a bitter smile.
He tapped the tree lightly, causing all its fruits to fall and scatter across the town. The tree itself crumbled into dust, its energy spent, leaving only the mystique of its fleeting existence.
Baishi made no effort to explain the fruits to the townsfolk. He knew they would eventually eat them out of curiosity or desperation.
Thus, the seeds of change were sown.
With a final glance at the bewildered townspeople, Baishi activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and vanished.
In time, the townspeople would tell stories of a divine tree that bore miraculous fruit, said to end hunger and transform lives.
And so, the legend of the Tree God began.
(End of Chapter)
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