"—Rasengan!"
Another round of survival drills.
Using the dust and haze kicked up by Kushina's Wind Release as cover, Gojo Yoru threw several kunai at Orochimaru.
Even though his view was a bit obscured, Orochimaru still dodged the kunai with ease.
In the next instant, his pupils constricted.
Gojo Yoru had already appeared in front of him without the slightest warning, holding a blue-white sphere of energy in his palm—stopped just a few centimeters from Orochimaru's abdomen.
For the first time, cold sweat broke out on Orochimaru's back.
And at the same time, his eyes shone with excitement. "You learned Flying Thunder God?"
"Actually, I already learned it the day we got back," Yoru said with a light chuckle. Then he vanished with Flying Thunder God and slammed the Rasengan into a large tree, blasting it apart in an instant.
Watching the tree collapse as dust billowed, Orochimaru—rarely—felt a flicker of envy. He murmured, "So this is Flying Thunder God… No wonder Sarutobi-sensei has been desperate to see it return. It's terrifying."
When Orochimaru was young, neither the First nor Second Hokage had died yet.
But by the time he could stand on his own, Konoha had already entered Sarutobi Hiruzen's era.
He had never seen Wood Release or Flying Thunder God with his own eyes.
Feeling Flying Thunder God's threat firsthand, Orochimaru finally understood space–time's horror—and why Tokiya hadn't even had time to react before he was shredded to pieces.
Because he knew Yoru wanted to hide his space–time bloodline, Orochimaru had assumed Yoru wouldn't use space–time power in survival drills—so Orochimaru had been careless and hadn't noticed anything wrong with those kunai.
If Yoru had actually pressed the Rasengan into him just now, even Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to react in time.
That kind of warningless blink, paired with a hand-signless jutsu with nearly zero wind-up… was an enemy's nightmare.
And Orochimaru knew Yoru also had an even stronger move—Dimensional Slash—the true killing technique that paired best with Flying Thunder God.
Anyone who hadn't gathered intelligence beforehand and ran into Yoru's combo would die, no question.
Yoru returned to Orochimaru, smiling. "Orochimaru-sensei, how was I this time? I didn't disappoint you, did I?"
"Not only did you not disappoint me—when it comes to fighting, I have nothing left to teach you," Orochimaru said with a smile. "From now on, your combat style and tactics can revolve around Flying Thunder God. Flying Thunder God plus Rasengan, Flying Thunder God plus your chakra blade, or Flying Thunder God plus sealing arts… any of it will make enemies unable to defend!"
"I still have many things I need to learn from you, Orochimaru-sensei," Yoru said with a modest smile.
"Of course. I still have plenty to teach you," Orochimaru replied. "Your trump cards and Flying Thunder God are extremely powerful. In real life-and-death combat, you can 'dirty-kill' anyone who doesn't know your information. But if someone manages to escape, your information will spread across the shinobi world at the fastest speed."
"And once that happens, you won't be able to one-shot people as easily as you did in the Land of Rain."
"They'll quickly find your weaknesses and build counters for you—and once they strike, they'll do it with full preparation."
"Your chakra isn't strong enough yet to instantly break powerful genjutsu. And truly strong genjutsu users can use all kinds of unbelievable methods to trap you in illusion without you realizing it. The Uchiha's Sharingan, for example—just making eye contact can drag you into an illusion world, and can even create the false sensation that you've already broken free."
"And those eyes can also cast immobilization techniques like the Sharingan's Binding Technique—also extremely hard to guard against."
"Like the Phantom Rain, Tokiya, you faced before—he could cast genjutsu through rainwater and the sound of rain."
"Your attacks are only lethal at close range, and closing in often gives the enemy a chance to land a lethal hit as well. So this weakness—genjutsu—you must strengthen it as soon as possible."
Hearing that, Yoru immediately asked humbly, "Orochimaru-sensei, what do you recommend?"
Kushina, who had walked over, stayed quietly at the side and didn't interrupt.
"To strengthen resistance to genjutsu, you must first understand how genjutsu works."
Orochimaru led them under a tree to sit down and began teaching, speaking slowly. "Genjutsu is a technique powered by Yin Release chakra. Its effect is to manipulate the flow of chakra in the enemy's brain nerves, achieving mental attacks, illusion construction, confusion, hypnosis, and more…"
"However, no matter the type of genjutsu, it must send invisible Yin Release chakra into the enemy's brain through the five senses."
"So, the most common genjutsu types are five: visual, olfactory, auditory, taste, and tactile."
"If someone could shut off all five senses, they could basically become immune to all mainstream genjutsu—but that's obviously impossible."
"So there is only one way to counter genjutsu: make your own chakra chaotic, so the genjutsu user can't control the chakra in your brain nerves."
At this point, Orochimaru abruptly changed the subject and asked, "Do you know who the strongest person in the shinobi world is right now?"
"Uh… isn't the strongest the Hokage?" Kushina asked blankly.
Even though she grew up overseas, she still knew that the Land of Fire and Konoha were the strongest nation and village. As leader of the strongest village, the Hokage should logically be the strongest.
"The Hokage is indeed the strongest—at least in ninjutsu," Orochimaru said with a smile. "In the entire shinobi world right now, no one understands and uses the five elemental releases better than the Hokage."
"But in terms of individual combat power, the Hokage isn't the strongest."
Orochimaru began explaining. "In this era, there are six existences at the pinnacle of the shinobi world: the current Five Kage, and Hanzō of the Salamander of Amegakure."
"Among them, four are recognized as the strongest."
"They are: the Hokage, strongest in elemental ninjutsu; Hanzō, strongest in strategic deterrence; the Third Tsuchikage, strongest aerial threat; and the strongest individual… the Third Raikage."
Orochimaru continued quietly, "The Hokage has mastered the nature transformations of all five elements and can fuse them into composite techniques—extremely powerful. Hanzō's summon, the salamander, possesses the most terrifying poison in the shinobi world; combined with Hanzō's own strength, one man and one beast can fight a nation. The Third Tsuchikage wields Dust Release, a kekkei tōta formed from three nature transformations, which disintegrates anything it touches into atoms; and Iwagakure's Earth Release: Light-Weight/Heavy-Weight technique allows flight—invincible in aerial combat."
"But when it comes to pure individual power, only the Third Raikage is called 'the strongest.' Do you know why?"
Kushina shook her head blankly.
Yoru, however, caught the point. His eyes lit up. "Orochimaru-sensei… you mean Lightning Release?"
"Exactly," Orochimaru said with a smiling nod. "The Third Raikage is powerful—known as the man with the strongest offense, defense, and speed. Legend says he can fight the Eight-Tails to a standstill; no ninjutsu can break his defense, and even genjutsu doesn't work on him."
"And yet, despite being that strong, he has no kekkei genkai and no kekkei tōta. He doesn't even need a summon. He specializes only in Kumogakure's Lightning Release nintaijutsu."
"You don't need to train Lightning Release to his level. You only need to master Lightning Release, and use lightning chakra to keep the chakra inside your body in a constant state of turbulence. That will strengthen your resistance to genjutsu—and it can also increase your speed further."
Pointing at Yoru, Orochimaru said, "So your next stage is to train Lightning Release nature transformation."
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 70 Chapters Ahead of Others!