"Ah, Aoi, you'd better put that away."
Kakashi took a step back. He couldn't really blame her though — she was just a kid herself.
"It really is pretty."
Ginji, whether truly fascinated or simply trying to stay cool, reached out and scooped up the jade-green little snake.
"Bro, you're brave."
Kakashi couldn't help but worry for Ginji.
If anything went wrong, he'd have to get Auntie here fast.
"Little Qing behaves well."
Aoi became even happier when she saw Ginji also liked her pet.
The other kids would've run faster than rabbits if they saw Little Qing coming.
Only Nawaki-sempai ever showed any interest in Little Qing at all.
"Why don't you ask your uncle to get me one too?"
Ginji played with the little snake as if genuinely captivated.
The "uncle" he mentioned naturally referred to Orochimaru.
"Sure! I'll ask Dad to find another one for us later!"
"That way, they can be friends!"
Aoi nodded quickly. Her dad never said no to anything she asked for.
As the two kids played around with the snake, unaware of anything else, Kakashi and the others were left speechless.
"Can Little Qing grow bigger?"
Ginji coiled Little Qing gently around his wrist, making it look like an emerald-green bracelet.
"Dad says Little Qing will stay this size forever."
"But he did say Little Qing will have a stronger bite someday."
Aoi nodded quickly. She feared Ginji might dislike Little Qing since she had seen Orochimaru's giant snakes before.
Compared to those monsters, Little Qing didn't look scary at all.
As for what Orochimaru meant by "a stronger bite," she wasn't quite sure.
How strong could its bite really be?
Right now though, that was the only thing she could think of to say.
"Deadly upon contact with blood?"
Nagato knew more about medicine than anyone else there.
"More or less."
Nagato nodded.
His intuition told him these small snakes raised through Orochimaru's special methods weren't as simple as they appeared.
Their hushed conversation didn't stop Aoi and Ginji from playing.
"It really looks great like this!"
Ginji rotated his wrist, growing fonder by the moment.
"Little Qing usually climbs up bamboo stalks."
Aoi glanced around, but aside from a few large trees, there wasn't any bamboo in the Hatake family training hall.
"So climbing on small branches would work too, right?"
While asking, Ginji placed his hand on the ground.
Suddenly, something strange happened! Right before their eyes, a tiny tree burst from the ground.
It wasn't explosive, but within seconds, it shot up to nearly a meter tall.
Ginji reached for a slender branch, and Little Qing climbed up along his hand.
"That's amazing."
"How did a tree suddenly grow here?"
Aoi was utterly amazed by the sudden sprout.
The two children didn't understand what this meant, but the four people beside them already had their mouths wide open.
"I-is… Is this Wood Release?"
Kakashi stammered as he looked toward his seniors for confirmation.
"Elder, Ginji seems to have awakened the [Wood Release] technique!"
Konan called out to Kawaki the moment she realized what was happening.
This was no small matter.
"Wood Release?"
Kawaki's expression turned serious, and he disappeared from his seat in an instant.
"Self-Awakened?"
Orochimaru stood up the moment he realized.
He actually achieved it before him?
How maddening!
"Let's go see for ourselves too,"
Natsuki said to Pakura. The two of them were the only ones remaining by the stone table.
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