July 31st, year 36 of the Leaf.
The children of the Ninja Academy finally welcomed their long-awaited vacation.
Of course, the arrival of vacation also meant that another batch of children around twelve years old would graduate from the Ninja Academy. Some would successfully pass the assessment and become honored Konoha genin, while those who failed would return to a normal life.
From this moment on, the fates of these two groups would diverge onto completely different paths.
Nawaki stood by Orochimaru with his head drooping. Despite his persistent efforts, he had ultimately failed the assessment.
"Teacher, I actually think becoming a ninja first wouldn't be so bad!"
Watching his companions walk out, each adorned with the Konoha forehead protector, Nawaki grumbled enviously.
"Even if it's just to help you pick teammates, you could have let me be a genin for a year, and then waited for Kushina to graduate, right?"
"School is really so boring..."
Nonō, standing beside him, saw Nawaki's dejected expression and immediately stepped forward to comfort him.
Orochimaru patted Nawaki's head and lightly said,
"It's all for your own good, teacher!"
"Let's go!"
"Even if you haven't become a ninja, you can't slack off on your training!"
"The vacation is long. During this time before school restarts, I will teach you two something different!"
After giving his two disciples a brief instruction, Orochimaru walked out of the village along the Konoha River.
...
To enhance their strength, in addition to refining chakra, ninjas needed to spend a significant amount of time practicing means of defeating their enemies.
Ninjutsu, ninja tool throwing, taijutsu...
For the scions of large clans, it was relatively simple. The clan would often designate a specific training ground. However, civilian ninjas lacked such facilities, and finding a quiet place to train was like dreaming.
Considering this problem, Tobirama Senju, after founding the Ninja Academy, thoughtfully designated a portion of the forests in Konoha's outer areas, outside of strictly guarded zones, as training grounds for civilian ninjas.
As of today, these training grounds were numbered from 0 to 44.
Training grounds 0, 5, 23, and 44 were particularly large and inhabited by many wild beasts, posing a certain degree of danger to ninjas. Therefore, these separately designated training grounds were also called "Training Grounds for Combat Exercises" by Konoha, and were occasionally used for the assessments of genin promoted to chūnin.
Orochimaru's destination today was Training Ground 44, located in the eastern forest of Konoha.
The Konoha River, which flowed through the center of the village, had two branches. One flowed south from near the Uchiha compound, passing through the forest and forming a magnificent waterfall at its end.
This branch was named the Naka River by the people of the Land of Fire who lived nearby. After the Uchiha clan moved to Konoha, they immediately took a liking to this auspicious location and established their shrine near the Naka River without hesitation.
The other branch was even more remarkable!
It wound from Konoha's east gate into the forest and finally plunged into a valley where two colossal statues stood. This was precisely where Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had their final battle.
The Valley of the End derived its name from this event.
...
"Kurama, we're not here for a barbecue party for you!"
"Keep an eye out around the surroundings. I have something to teach these two children."
Seeing the Nine-Tails emerge from the forest, dragging a black bear like a hound, Orochimaru shook his head helplessly.
This fellow, after just one taste of grilled meat, wanted to turn his carefully prepared outdoor teaching session into a feast. Truly, there was no one else like him.
Kurama glanced at him and, with a casual flick of his paw that splattered the black bear's brains, indifferently said,
"You teach yours. Keeping watch is a minor matter!"
"Remember to grill meat for me later!"
Orochimaru looked speechlessly at the black bear that had met its demise under Kurama's paw and finally nodded.
"Nonō, handle this black bear. You are not allowed to use any weapons."
"The scroll your teacher gave you contains a method to transform chakra into an attack. Go!"
Nonō looked at the black bear, several times larger than her, and her small face scrunched up.
"Teacher, I..."
"I can't move it..."
Kurama cast a disdainful glance at Nonō and, with a single swipe, pushed the bear's carcass to the bank of the Konoha River.
"Little girl, hurry up!"
"Don't delay my meal, or I'll make you my lunch!"
Nonō was familiar with Orochimaru's summoned beast named Kurama. Although its name was a bit strange and it looked fiercer when it enlarged, Nonō knew that Kurama was just trying to scare her.
She gave Orochimaru a pleading look. Seeing that her teacher indeed had no intention of helping, Nonō reluctantly pouted and went to process the ingredients for Kurama.
"The scroll says that a chakra scalpel is formed by concentrating chakra in the hands, creating a sharp cutting ability."
"It looks no different from healing techniques, doesn't it? How can chakra become offensive?"
"Kurama, do you know how to do it?"
A ball of green light appeared in Nonō's palm. After demonstrating it in front of Kurama, she asked with a worried frown.
"Oh, why am I asking you!"
"You're just a summoned beast with more strength. You don't even know what ninjutsu is, do you?"
Kurama bared his teeth and snorted disdainfully, extremely annoyed that Orochimaru was treating him like a nanny.
"I don't know?"
"Hmph!"
"Little girl, don't waste your efforts. Your teacher is tricking you!"
"Although I don't know human ninjutsu, I've heard Tsunade say that learning the chakra scalpel is an A-rank jutsu, something you can't possibly master right now."
"Give up! You'll never learn it!"
Hearing Kurama speak of her teacher like that, Nonō immediately retorted with displeasure:
"Don't you talk about my teacher like that! Teacher must have his reasons for arranging this!"
"Even if you know, so what? If you don't want to say it, fine, I'll learn it myself!"
"Teacher said I can learn it, so I definitely can!"
Kurama glanced at her and let out a nasal grunt.
"Hmph hmph!"
"You don't even know how to control your own chakra, and you're boasting!"
"Perhaps when you can climb that large tree using only your feet, without any help from your hands, you might have some hope of learning it."
"Otherwise, heh..."
Casually offering a hint, Kurama lay down on the ground, closing his eyes in enjoyment.
This long-lost feeling of freedom was so wonderful!
Nonō's eyes lit up. She ran to a large tree and began to ponder.
"Climbing the tree with only my feet? Does teacher mean for me to completely master the chakra within my body, to train it so it can be dispersed anywhere in my body at will?"
"I understand!"
From afar, Orochimaru watched his disciple grasp the clue and a gratified smile spread across his face.
"A single hint can lead to such enlightenment. Teaching geniuses is truly the most effortless task."
Nawaki scratched his head, looking sheepish.
"Heh heh, I'm not *that* much of a genius..."
Orochimaru playfully slapped him.
"I'm not talking about you!"
"Compared to Nonō, you're at best a diligent fool!"
Nawaki immediately looked dejected, covering his head and complaining:
"Teacher, I'm quite strong, you know!"
"You yourself said my current strength is already comparable to a chūnin!"
"I'm only twelve years old this year. To reach chūnin level strength, my talent shouldn't be too bad, right?"
Orochimaru snorted coldly.
"Talent?"
"You're just relying on having more chakra than others!"
"A true genius, with half your chakra reserve, would already be a jonin at your age!"
Nawaki immediately looked unconvinced.
"Impossible!"
"How come I don't know of anyone like that?"
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and sternly rebuked him:
"Nawaki, arrogance is a ninja's greatest enemy!"
"What makes you think that such a person doesn't exist in this vast ninja world?"
"Let's not look too far. Minato Namikaze is a year younger than you. If the resources that have been poured into you over the years were given to him, do you think there would be any difference between you two right now?"
"Nawaki, the Senju clan now only has you and Tsunade left!"
"If you continue with this attitude, you'd better..."
"Never become a ninja!"
Nawaki's expression changed. He finally understood where he had gone wrong. With a look of shame, he lowered his head and bowed deeply to Orochimaru.
"Teacher, I'm sorry!"
Orochimaru's expression softened slightly, and he nodded gently.
"It's good that you know your mistake."
"Diligent effort to compensate for lack of talent may not always be correct, but it fits you perfectly."
"Your bloodline gives you a far greater advantage in training than ordinary people. As long as you are willing to work hard, there will undoubtedly be a place for you in the future ninja world."
Nawaki clenched his fists and nodded solemnly.
"Yes!"
"Teacher, please train me!"
Seeing that his objective had been achieved, Orochimaru displayed a look of relief.
A lack of talent wasn't a major problem. As long as he was obedient, Orochimaru had plenty of methods to make Nawaki a top-tier power in the ninja world.
Placing his hand on Nawaki's head, Orochimaru released a small amount of his chakra.
"Don't resist!"
Carefully using his chakra to take over all the meridians within Nawaki's body, Orochimaru perfectly replicated the process of activating the physical enhancement secret jutsu within Nawaki.
"Feel this sensation!"
"You don't need to understand the principle of this secret jutsu. Just let your body remember it!"
Unable to move or speak,
Nawaki's cells, under Orochimaru's control, continuously divided. The pain, as if his body were being crushed, nearly made him faint.
However, after all, Nawaki's veins flowed with the bloodline of Hashirama Senju's Sage Body. His innate powerful Yang Release was stimulated at this moment, quickly repairing the damage to his body.
Itching, swelling, soreness, numbness...
Waves of pain that ordinary people couldn't endure constantly assaulted Nawaki's body, but he diligently remembered his teacher's instructions, striving to let his body remember these sensations, and endured one session of physical enhancement secret jutsu.
Orochimaru withdrew his hand, silently waiting for Nawaki to catch his breath before placing it on him again.
"Again!"
...
"Do you remember it now?"
...
"Again!"
...
"Rest for a bit, then again!"
...
Repeating this process nearly twenty times, Nawaki, whose spirit was almost broken, managed a strained smile when Orochimaru withdrew his hand again.
"Teacher... I... I remember it!"
Orochimaru remained silent. The Yin-Yang Release chakra within him surged out, completely healing all of Nawaki's injuries, and then signaled him to perform it himself.
Nawaki's spirit surged. He skillfully controlled the cells within his body, and under Orochimaru's chakra supervision, independently completed a session of the physical enhancement secret jutsu.
"I succeeded!"
Orochimaru finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking at his overjoyed disciple, and nodded with a smile.
He took out a pre-prepared scroll from his robe and placed it into Nawaki's arms.
"This is the taijutsu training method that accompanies the secret jutsu. Take a look."
"Your future training will focus primarily on taijutsu. The ninja who can survive until the end is the true strong one!"
Orochimaru instructed, then walked towards Kurama.
Nawaki excitedly unrolled the scroll, and the four characters "Eight Inner Gates Formation" immediately caught his eye.
"Break through the limits of the body, open the eight gates, form the Eight Inner Gates formation, and combat power can be amplified a hundredfold?"
Nawaki was so astonished by the description of the Eight Inner Gates that his eyeballs almost fell out. He never imagined that the scroll his teacher casually handed him would be such a powerful taijutsu.
Even though it was clearly stated that opening each gate would place a heavy burden on the body, Nawaki, possessing the Senju bloodline and having just learned the physical enhancement secret jutsu, directly ignored this warning.
What a joke, if it were truly dangerous, would teacher let him train it?
Nawaki excitedly clenched the scroll, his excitement beyond words.
"What nonsense ninjutsu! Lord Nawaki will never need to learn such incomprehensible things again!"
"When we get back, I'll ask sister to teach me techniques for using strength, heh heh!"
"Super strength combined with the Eight Inner Gates..."
"Geniuses of the ninja world, get ready to see Lord Nawaki defeat you using only taijutsu!"