"The chakra consumption is huge it actually consumed a full one-third of my chakra!"
Having seen the White Zetsu nearly drain their own chakra when using this technique, Uchiha Fugaku already knew this ninjutsu had an enormous chakra cost.
Yet when he tried it himself, he couldn't help but be a bit surprised by just how taxing it was on his chakra reserves.
As an Anbu Captain-level ninja, Fugaku naturally possessed a large chakra pool.
Still, losing a third of it was a massive consumption.
"With such a huge cost, no wonder the Akatsuki have to rely on the vast chakra of the Tailed Beasts to mass-produce these!"
Fugaku's mind suddenly clicked.
One of the Akatsuki's reasons for gathering the Tailed Beasts was probably to manufacture these White Zetsu clones in large numbers.
He reached out and touched the spore clone's body, feeling the texture of flesh and blood.
Even if force enough to cause damage was applied, the clone wouldn't disappear — it would only bruise like real flesh.
This clone was composed entirely of flesh and blood.
Even if it died, a corpse would remain.
Aside from being far weaker than the original, it was nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.
"The reason for such high chakra consumption must be that the process of inducing flesh and blood cells consumes massive chakra!"
Fugaku speculated.
The creation of flesh cells was completely dependent on chakra stimulation.
And flesh generation was extremely nutrient-demanding.
Using chakra to replace these nutrients naturally led to a huge chakra drain.
This was why creating such clones cost so much chakra.
"Apart from the high chakra cost and weaker combat power, in every other aspect, the spore clone is superior to shadow clones."
"However, spore clones have one major drawback: when a spore clone dies, the information it has gathered during its existence is not transmitted back to the original."
"Though, there is a way to somewhat compensate for this flaw."
Fugaku touched the spore clone again, allowing chakra to flow back from the clone into his body.
The spore clone's form quickly shrank until it was back to spore size, then slipped inside Fugaku's body and vanished.
Simultaneously, a flood of memories poured into his mind — the clone's experiences from its creation to disappearance.
This method of absorbing memories by reverting the clone to a spore allowed an effect similar to that of shadow clones.
"The spore clone must have the Wood Release kekkei genkai.
If I were to use corpse melting to fuse my own spore clones, could that boost the strength of my Wood Release kekkei genkai?"
Suddenly, Fugaku's mind sparked with a strange idea.
Though the notion was bizarre — almost like killing himself — if it worked, it could rapidly enhance his Wood Release power.
"Spore Technique!"
He performed the technique again, creating another spore clone.
With a thought, the clone died.
As the original, he had absolute control over his spore clones and could decide their life or death at will.
He could also set prohibitions, so if a clone violated those conditions, it would die automatically.
The White Zetsu clone whose head had suddenly exploded earlier must have died due to such a prohibition.
"Corpse melting—"
His eyes became Mangekyō Sharingan as he activated corpse melting, and the black vortex appeared.
He threw the spore clone into the vortex, waiting for the corpse melting to take effect.
But after a moment, the spore clone, immersed in the black liquid, showed no change, no sign of dissolving.
"Impossible to melt?!"
Fugaku frowned as the corpse melting space spat out the clone's body.
It was apparently immune to corpse melting.
"Could it be because the spore clone shares my own flesh and blood, so corpse melting can't affect me, the ocular jutsu user?"
He speculated.
"No matter the reason, trying to strengthen the kekkei genkai by corpse melting my own spore clones won't work."
Fugaku shook his head, a little disappointed.
He had thought of a quick way to boost his kekkei genkai, but it was no good.
He sealed the spore clone's body into a sealing scroll for future use and stepped out of the secret chamber.
The tests he wanted to conduct were complete.
Though the method to rapidly enhance his Wood Release kekkei genkai didn't work, melting the two White Zetsu bodies had still yielded decent results.
...
In an underground stone chamber, Shimura Danzō's face was clouded with gloom.
Since Shimura Daisuke and his group left Konoha, all contact had been cut off.
Sensing something was wrong, Danzō had sent men to track them along the way.
No news had returned yet, but he had a bad feeling: Shimura Daisuke and his group were likely in grave danger.
"Lord Danzō, news has arrived!"
A Root ninja wearing the insect mask known as "Insect" entered the chamber holding a small scroll.
He approached Danzō, presenting the scroll with both hands.
Danzō took it, broke the seal, and unrolled it.
Though the scroll's contents were specially encrypted, Danzō knew the decryption method and quickly read the message:
"Shimura Daisuke and his group were found dead in a forest over five hundred ri from Konoha.
Many of them bear signs of attacks by Wood Release techniques.
Suspected to have been killed by Wood Release kekkei genkai ninja…"
"Wood Release kekkei genkai ninja…"
After reading the scroll, Danzō's face turned ashen.
His hand clenched into a fist so tightly the veins bulged on the back of his hand.
He was visibly furious.
Shimura Daisuke was the head of the Shimura family, now killed by Wood Release kekkei genkai ninja.
Though the target might have simply been missing Konoha ninja, not necessarily aimed at the Shimura family, the damage to his and his family's interests was obvious.
"No, this was deliberately targeted against the Shimura family — or rather, against me!"
Suddenly, the eye visible outside his mask glinted with a fierce light, murderous intent radiating from his entire being.
The assassination attempt on Shimura Daisuke was no accident but a targeted strike.
Danzō's conclusion was based on the prior deaths of Aburame Shibi and two of the Aburame clan's Jonin.
Though these three were neither Shimura family members nor Root ninja, they had ties to both.
Therefore, it was nearly certain that the Wood Release kekkei genkai ninja had set their sights on his faction.
"Why target me specifically? Is there a grudge against me?"
Taking a deep breath to suppress his anger, Danzō frowned and thought hard.
It was possible the Wood Release kekkei genkai ninja held a grudge against him but pinpointing who was difficult.
After decades leading Root, he had made many enemies.
This was also why he stayed mostly in Konoha, having Root members protect him closely, barely ever leaving the village.