Uchiha Madara stood with his arms crossed atop a stone pillar, exuding an air of unparalleled power.
Below him, seven figures signaled the recommencement of the battle.
Lin Nan indeed needed the strength of the Five Kage. Currently, he and Madara were both in the state of Edo Tensei, balanced on a critical precipice, rendering Lin Nan unable to harm him.
Of course, Uchiha Madara was also powerless against Lin Nan; everything could be returned in kind.
In the original story, Madara’s fight against the Five Kage was akin to a cat toying with mice. However, with their intervention, Lin Nan’s chances of sealing Madara would skyrocket to ninety-nine percent.
Lin Nan was confident in this and was eager to see how the main battlefield would unfold without Madara’s participation!
"Lin Nan, you said years ago it was Hashirama and my era, but now, only I remain!"
Suddenly, Uchiha Madara roared, extending his hands as the earth began to tremble.
Lin Nan’s heart jolted as he heard a deep murmur.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The ground cracked, and countless roots erupted, slithering like snakes towards Lin Nan and the others.
The roots coiled and twisted, transforming into a dense, interlocking network of tree trunks that covered a vast area.
In this desert, the continuously growing branches appeared exceptionally sinister. From an aerial view, it resembled a monstrous maw opening in the desert.
"Wood Style?" Tsunade gasped in utter shock.
The others also looked on in surprise.
After all, in everyone's collective understanding, Wood Style was the exclusive secret art of the First Hokage, the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju. Not only had no one inherited it, but even experimental attempts to develop Wood Style had only yielded half-baked results so far.
They had even paid a bloody price for it.
Yet now, they were witnessing Wood Style once more?
And a complete manifestation of it.
"Retreat!"
Lin Nan shouted, and everyone leaped backward.
The mass of tree trunks surged towards them like a breached dam, shattering the earth wherever they passed, a testament to their immense chakra.
"Let me shred it!"
Naruto attempted to use a Rasenshuriken but was stopped by Lin Nan.
"Hide behind me. My technique might not have as wide a range?"
The group was startled. Before they could react, Lin Nan clapped his hands.
"Wood Style: Forest of Growth!"
Countless roots sprouted from beside Lin Nan, rapidly coiling and fiercely resisting the encroaching tide of tree trunks.
As the two masses of wood collided, wood chips instantly flew.
The duel of Wood Style left the onlookers stunned.
Wood Style, and two of them?
Was Wood Style as common as cabbage?
Why could anyone use it?
Naruto immediately exclaimed, "I didn't expect Mr. Lin to be such a master of ninjutsu, even knowing Wood Style, and it looks much more powerful than Lord Yamato's!"
"Stop the flattery, attack him from above. I can only guarantee I won't lose; his technique has a wider range than mine!" Lin Nan shouted.
Naruto jolted and exchanged a glance with Gaara. He then summoned a pile of sand and gestured for the others to join him.
Mei Terumi shook her head, her beautiful eyes filled with admiration as she watched Lin Nan.
The Raikage boldly stepped forward.
Onoki also floated up, aiming to control the airspace against Uchiha Madara.
Lin Nan gritted his teeth. Although their techniques seemed evenly matched, Madara's Wood Style covered a significantly larger area, and he would eventually be overwhelmed.
Madara possessed an immense chakra reserve, which, combined with the Wood Style cells, multiplied exponentially.
As for Lin Nan…
Lin Nan’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. That’s right, he also had Wood Style cells!
"System, release the Wood Style cells you sealed on me before, unlock them!" Lin Nan mentally urged.
However, Lin Nan knew the system was passive, lacking any communicative sprites.
But he was desperate. Lin Nan had tried in his past life, searching his entire skill library and other areas, but he couldn't find any access to his sealed Wood Style cells.
As mentioned earlier, upon arriving in this world, Lin Nan had been a lab rat for Konoha Village, even considered a perfect experimental subject.
Sharingan, Wood Style cells, Orochimaru's cells, cursed seals – Lin Nan possessed them all.
It was like raising an army of insects.
The others were manageable, but Wood Style cells were notoriously fatal. Lin Nan was among the one in a million survivors; his survival was due to the system's seal.
Without the system, Lin Nan wouldn't have survived two months in this so-called ninja world.
But the Wood Style cells had remained sealed ever since. Even when Lin Nan had the fortune to witness the First Hokage's techniques and could replicate them, the Wood Style cells remained locked.
These cells weren't difficult to find; Konan could easily detect their presence within Lin Nan.
Yet, he couldn't use them, and the system offered no solution for unlocking them.
If he could have assimilated the Wood Style cells back then, Lin Nan wouldn't have constantly run out of chakra.
Even when he was mortal and couldn't suppress the backlash of the Wood Style cells, now that he was Edo Tensei, why wouldn't they let him use them?
Just as Lin Nan recalled this long-forgotten memory and intended to try and break the seal on his Wood Style cells, he suddenly felt a surge of warmth throughout his body, and his chakra felt as boundless as an inexhaustible spring.
This wasn't a cycle of depletion and recovery; it was as if he were immersed in a moving spring.
Had the Wood Style cells been unsealed?
Lin Nan rejoiced, only to realize two soft hands pressing on his shoulders.
Was Tsunade transferring chakra to him?
"Bang!"
The next moment, the ground in Lin Nan’s vicinity shattered layer by layer, and the speed of countless branches erupted to an extreme, instantly repelling Madara's Wood Style.
"Hm? This familiar chakra?" Uchiha Madara looked at the chakra glowing amidst the wooden stumps, a wry smile on his face. "I didn't expect…"
It turned out that the chakra flowing within Lin Nan’s body, upon contact with Tsunade's chakra, had experienced a rapid increase in flow velocity, and the unique bloodline power of the Senju clan had loosened the seal on Lin Nan’s Wood Style cells.
So that was it.
Lin Nan felt the Wood Style cells within him. These cells required the bloodline of the Senju clan as a guide to be successfully assimilated.
No wonder the Five-Point-Five Hokage with the chrysanthemum on his face had such unsuccessful experiments, eventually exhausting resources only to produce a half-finished product.
In this era, besides Tsunade, there were no other descendants of the Senju clan. He wouldn't dare target Tsunade, so the experiments with Wood Style cells would naturally yield no results.
Do not underestimate these Wood Style cells; they were known as perpetual motion machines, more cancerous than cancer cells!
After all, Uchiha Madara had only taken a piece of Hashirama’s flesh.
Lin Nan glanced back at Tsunade, silently offering his gratitude, and then signaled her to stop.
Tsunade's chakra was merely the key; the door had already been opened for him.