Chapter 234 : A Special Tree
Reiko let out a cheer, clapping her small hands while nestled in Nagato's arms. Her little face bloomed with a radiant smile, her eyes curving into happy crescents. Her mouth stretched wide in a grin, revealing a few tiny teeth. She was absolutely thrilled.
"Yay, we're going to see the tree!"
Her crisp voice echoed through the quiet laboratory. She clapped her small hands together with a sharp smack, wriggling around in Nagato's arms like a slippery fish.
A gentle smile graced Nagato's face as he looked down at Reiko, his eyes filled with profound tenderness.
He doted on the little girl completely, showing not a hint of impatience. Without another word, he carried Reiko deeper into the underground facility.
Uchiha Taiga smiled and set down the glass jar he was holding. It landed on the counter with a soft clink. He gave Yugito Nii a nod, and the two of them followed close behind.
The underground facility was already massive. It had taken them several minutes just to walk from the entrance to the laboratory. As they ventured even deeper, the area grew increasingly vast and cavernous. The stone ceiling arched higher, the walls receded into the distance, and their footsteps echoed heavily through the open expanse.
The terrain also sloped steadily downward. Though the incline was gradual, the descent was continuous. After a few hundred paces, they were already dozens of meters below the entrance. White lights were embedded into the walls at regular intervals, keeping the wide corridor brightly illuminated.
It was clearly an artificial structure rather than a natural cavern. Heavy tread marks scarred the floor, indicating that carving out an underground space of this magnitude must have required a staggering amount of resources.
As they walked down the corridor, Uchiha Taiga swept his gaze across the walls and broke the silence.
"It has been a few days since my last visit. Looking at it now, our initial plans for excavating this underground base were a bit too conservative."
Nagato, walking at the forefront, did not look back. His voice drifted back to them, calm and even.
"It is sufficient for now."
He paused for a moment.
"Once your creation truly begins to grow, it will need to be relocated outside anyway. There is no need to waste further effort expanding this place."
Yugito Nii, walking beside Taiga, turned her head to look at him.
"Can that tree you developed really reach the level you envisioned?"
Her question was naturally directed at Uchiha Taiga.
He considered it for a moment, then shook his head.
"It is hard to say right now. However, there were no complications during its initial cultivation. In fact, it went a bit smoother than I had anticipated."
He paused, his gaze growing distant.
"I suppose it should be able to reach the expected stage."
His tone was neither entirely certain nor overly hesitant, hovering somewhere between quiet expectation and lingering uncertainty.
The three of them continued to chat as they ventured deeper. After walking for a while longer, they finally reached the deepest sector of the underground facility.
This area was a vastly deeper and wider cavern.
Compared to the upper levels, they had descended another two to three hundred meters. The drop in elevation was significant enough that the shift in air pressure was palpable. The sheer scale of the cavern was several times larger than anything above. The laboratory had been spacious, but compared to this, it was like comparing a small bedroom to a massive stadium.
It was also far more desolate and dim. There were significantly fewer lights here; only a handful of high-powered industrial lamps hung from the ceiling dozens of meters above. By the time their beams reached the floor, the illumination had faded into a weak, hazy glow.
Deep shadows clung to the corners, pooling into an impenetrable darkness that obscured everything within.
Fortunately, none of the three adults—nor the toddler Reiko—were ordinary people. Their vision was entirely unhindered by the gloom. Their eyes easily adapted to the darkness, allowing them to pierce through the dim light and immediately spot the object resting in the dead center of the cavern.
It was a tree.
Standing roughly twenty to thirty meters tall, it grew in the exact center of the space, completely isolated from any other plant life.
Its dark brown trunk was perfectly straight, shooting directly upward from the stone floor.
Its canopy spread out like a massive umbrella, reaching in all directions. The dense foliage blocked the overhead lights, casting a sprawling shadow across the ground below.
At first glance, it possessed all the anatomy of a normal tree: trunk, branches, leaves, and roots. Yet, despite its ordinary appearance, a single look was enough to tell anyone that this was no ordinary plant.
The closer they approached, the stronger an inexplicable aura became.
It was neither a fragrance nor a stench. Instead, it was an eerie presence that made the hairs on the back of one's neck stand up—a bizarre sensation of being watched.
It was as if the tree itself was a conscious entity.
No, that description was inaccurate; trees were naturally alive, after all.
They possessed life, grew, breathed, and absorbed water and nutrients.
What truly made this tree so unsettling was that it felt like an intelligent lifeform.
That alone made it entirely unique.
As the group drew near, the tree's canopy began to tremble. Branches swayed and leaves rustled loudly, making the entire crown look like a person shaking their head in excitement.
Astonishingly, the branches closest to Uchiha Taiga slowly began to elongate. A thick bough extended from the canopy, reaching out like an arm extending from a body. It stretched toward Taiga, bobbing up and down as if waving in greeting.
Reiko let out a joyful cheer.
"Tree!"
Her loud, crisp voice rang out. She pointed a tiny finger at the tree, her face blooming into a massive smile. She wriggled in Nagato's arms, leaning forward and stretching her little hands toward the branches.
Nagato bent down and set her on her feet.
The moment her feet touched the ground, Reiko pumped her short legs and stumbled eagerly toward the tree. Her steps were unsteady, and she nearly tripped after a few paces, but she didn't stop, pushing forward with determination.
Reaching the tree, she threw her little arms wide and hugged it. Her arms were far too short to wrap around the massive trunk, barely managing to cover a fraction of its girth. She pressed her cheek against the bark, rubbing against it affectionately with a face full of joyous laughter.
With a loud rustle, the tree shivered in response. Leaves clattered together, and a few drifted down from the branches, fluttering through the air before gently landing on the ground.
Uchiha Taiga did not approach, choosing to stand a dozen paces away.
He extended a hand, palm facing upward with his fingers slightly curled. One of the fallen leaves lifted off the ground, floating through the air until it landed gently in the center of his palm.
The leaf was green and relatively small, looking no different from any ordinary foliage.
However, as it rested in Taiga's hand, it began to change shape. The edges of the leaf curled inward, its surface shrinking and its veins twisting. The flat leaf rapidly condensed into an irregular lump, which then smoothed out into a perfectly round, pitch-black sphere.
The sphere was only the size of a pinky fingernail. It was a pure, absolute black, resembling a dark pearl.
It pulsed faintly in Taiga's palm, breathing as if it possessed a life of its own. A faint, dark luster coated its surface—so weak and subtle that it was nearly imperceptible without close inspection.
Observing this, Uchiha Taiga gave a slight nod.
"Its sentience is remarkable."
He spoke softly, his tone laced with genuine satisfaction.
"It seems it won't be long before it develops true intelligence."
He paused, shifting his gaze from the black sphere in his hand back to the tree. He took in its dense canopy, its perfectly straight trunk, and the branches that had reached out to greet him.
"If it truly reaches that stage, my experiment will be an absolute success."
His voice was thick with anticipation.
Nagato stood beside him, his eyes also fixed on the tree. Watching Reiko happily hugging the trunk, the corners of his mouth curled upward.
"When that time comes, this ninja world should finally find true peace."
His voice was incredibly soft, almost as if he were speaking in a dream.
Uchiha Taiga did not reply. He simply stood there, watching the tree.
Yugito Nii, however, spoke up. "Achieving true peace will not be that simple."
Uchiha Taiga shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I will intervene when the time comes. After all, I made a promise to Nagato, and I intend to keep it."
Nagato remained silent, merely shaking his head, his inner thoughts known only to himself.
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