"So you can already add nature transformation?" Orochimaru's eyes lit up as he stared at the orange-red sphere in Gojo Yoru's hand. "That's truly impressive."
He could have dodged easily, but he chose to take the hit head-on—wanting to see just how powerful a Rasengan infused with Fire Release nature transformation really was.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Orochimaru formed seals with both hands, crouched, and slapped his palm to the ground.
A ridiculously thick, towering earthen wall immediately surged up from the earth, blocking Yoru's attack path.
BOOM—!
The orange-red sphere slammed into the wall with an ear-splitting explosion.
From Orochimaru's side, the wall instantly began glowing orange-red, forming a massive spiral pattern across its surface.
Orochimaru's pupils tightened, and he leapt sideways without hesitation.
In the next second, the wall shattered. The spiral pattern transformed into a roaring, gigantic fire tornado that burst outward.
The fire tornado struck the spot where Orochimaru had been standing and plowed forward nearly ten meters before slowly dispersing.
A scorched trench—still radiating heat—was carved into the training ground.
Watching from far away, Kushina was already completely stunned.
"S-so strong… No wonder Yoru kept telling me to focus on nature transformation. So the Rasengan can actually take nature transformation too!"
"Hah… hah…"
Yoru panted heavily. He wasn't surprised his attack hadn't hit Orochimaru.
Wiping the sweat that had surfaced as his chakra hit empty, Yoru raised a hand toward Orochimaru. "Orochimaru-sensei, I'm out of chakra."
"To reach this level, you're already extraordinary," Orochimaru said sincerely.
Even he felt he probably couldn't form many Rasengans like that.
And that was indeed true.
Even Uzumaki Boruto—Naruto and Hinata's son—couldn't learn the Big Ball Rasengan due to insufficient chakra, and could only inject nature transformation like Lightning or Wind into an ordinary Rasengan.
With Yoru's current chakra reserves, being able to produce even one Fire Release: Rasengan was already remarkable.
As for Big Ball Rasengan and Rasenshuriken—those were beyond imagining.
Without chakra on the level of Sage Jiraiya or a jinchūriki, even if you learned them, you couldn't actually use them.
Hearing Orochimaru's praise, Yoru smiled. "I didn't disappoint your expectations from last year, did I, Orochimaru-sensei?"
"You're even more outstanding than I imagined. At your age, I was nowhere near you," Orochimaru said. He glanced at Kushina in the distance, who was already looking anxious, then smiled lightly. "I understand your strength well enough now. Tomorrow morning at nine, meet here again. I'll guide your training."
With that, Orochimaru vanished with a Body Flicker.
The moment Orochimaru left, Kushina ran over. Seeing Yoru's pale face and sweaty forehead, she asked worriedly, "Yoru, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just burned through my chakra all at once, so it feels rough," Yoru said with a smile, then warned her, "Don't try it casually. Before your chakra control and nature transformation reach a certain level, forcing nature transformation into it is easy to hurt yourself."
"So that's why you never showed me that Rasengan?" Kushina raised an eyebrow, pouting. "Do you really think I'm that reckless in your eyes?"
"Who knows whether you'd secretly try it at home just to beat me?" Yoru rubbed her "dog head" and laughed. "Besides, that kind of Rasengan doesn't suit someone of your—weight class. I've prepared a better Rasengan for you."
"Weight class?" Kushina's eyes widened. Then she puffed up angrily at Yoru. "Stinky-mouth Yoru, are you calling me fat?"
"Ahhh—girls' brains really are something else. Is that what I meant?"
"Then why are you describing me with 'weight class'?"
"I mean you're fat. So what? Your face is so round you look like a tomato. And that monster strength of yours—pretty sure it's weight-class suppression!"
"You're out of chakra right now—watch me beat you to death!"
The familiar chase-and-bicker scene appeared again across the training ground.
And that scene also made its way into Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes.
Puffing on his pipe, Hiruzen lightly swept his palm across the crystal ball.
The crystal sphere—acting like a monitoring screen—immediately returned to its normal appearance.
Knock knock knock—
Before long, someone knocked on the Hokage's office door.
"Come in."
At Hiruzen's voice, Orochimaru pushed the door open and entered.
Hiruzen didn't seem surprised at all. Smiling, he asked, "Well?"
"Very talented. His ninjutsu genius surpassing Sa is basically guaranteed," Orochimaru answered truthfully, smiling. "Once his chakra reserves and overall shinobi fundamentals rise, Konoha will gain another ace combat asset."
"An ace isn't enough. If he's meant to be the chain that binds the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, he's still far from enough," Hiruzen said, exhaling smoke. His gaze beneath the haze grew deep as he suddenly asked, "Orochimaru—given his Body Flicker talent, do you think he has hope of learning the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
But thinking of Yoru's near-invincible close-quarters Phantom Body Flicker, Orochimaru still gave a very high assessment. "If it's him… it might actually be possible. At least, his odds are higher than ours."
As the Third Hokage's direct student—and one of Konoha's few elite jōnin—Orochimaru naturally had the qualifications to learn forbidden techniques.
He couldn't freely read the Book of Seals, and he wasn't allowed to learn the strictly forbidden Impure World Reincarnation technique—but Flying Thunder God wasn't in that category.
Just like Wood Release, Konoha wanted nothing more than for Flying Thunder God to reappear.
Unfortunately, that super–S-rank technique was simply too difficult.
Even Hiruzen, known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, and Orochimaru, with his exceptional talent, couldn't learn it.
That technique was like sealing arts—an absurdly talent-hungry field. Without extraordinary Body Flicker talent and a deep understanding of space, you couldn't cross that threshold.
Hiruzen seemed to have expected Orochimaru's answer. He pulled a red-and-white scroll from a drawer and tossed it to Orochimaru.
"This is a standalone scroll for the Flying Thunder God Technique. When you feel the time is right, give it to him and let him try."
Hiruzen in his "Ninja Hero" era had frightening decisiveness.
Orochimaru caught the scroll and nodded. "Understood, Sarutobi-sensei."
~~~
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