Orochimaru and Might Duy

Inside Konoha's training grounds.

Ninja after ninja, clad in green flak jackets, had already taken their positions.

More ninja surrounded the perimeter, preventing others in the village from investigating.

After all, spies still existed within the village.

Among the ninja standing in the training grounds,

there were quite a few young children.

Orochimaru's gaze darkened.

These young children made up half the group.

They were the ones who had graduated early.

The Ninja Academy's teachings were primarily educational. Once they became ninja, missions became their focus, and they grew faster than they had in the academy.

A year of mission training had indeed forged them into a force that could not be underestimated.

At the same time, they had seen blood during their missions, so they would not be overly timid when facing life-and-death combat.

But doing missions and going to war were two entirely different things.

He did not think these children would survive the battlefield.

Right now, it felt as though he was leading them to their deaths.

Yet they were among the few remaining forces in the village.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi had moved up the Ninja Academy's graduation schedule, he still had some conscience. He had not sent them straight to the battlefield, instead keeping them as the village's defensive force.

And to preserve that shred of conscience, he had pushed the responsibility onto Orochimaru.

Orochimaru did not care in the slightest.

"Gentlemen, for Konoha, may our martial fortunes flourish!"

"For Konoha! May our martial fortunes flourish!" everyone shouted in unison. From their excited expressions, they clearly did not know they were headed for the most dangerous battlefield.

Orochimaru had no more words to raise morale. Facing some of the younger ninja, he could not even bring himself to speak.

Snakes were cold-blooded creatures and did not care about such things, but Orochimaru was human, and humans could not avoid being swayed by emotion.

Still, emotion only affected him to a limited extent.

Just as he was preparing to lead everyone out,

a disturbance broke out among the guards outside the training grounds.

A voice came from the commotion.

"I want to see Jonin Orochimaru! I want to go to the front lines too!"

Orochimaru frowned. All the forces the village could muster were here now. Those remaining were either ninja tasked with guarding the village

or ninja utterly useless on the battlefield.

Hearing the commotion outside,

the jonin beside Orochimaru dropped to one knee.

"Lord Orochimaru, it is a useless genin with no talent as a ninja. I will drive him away at once."

This ninja knew who had arrived.

But Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.

"I am rather curious. How did a useless genin draw the attention of a jonin like you?"

Sweat trickled down the kneeling jonin's forehead.

He cursed inwardly.

Damn it, Might Duy. Couldn't you just stay quietly in the village?

Orochimaru did not care what motives had prompted the jonin to speak.

"Bring him to me."

"Yes!" The jonin could only comply and headed toward the disturbed guard post.

Before long, he returned with Might Duy.

Orochimaru licked his lips.

"I did not expect to see a familiar face. It has been a long time, Duy."

Might Duy dropped to one knee before Orochimaru in pleasant surprise.

"I did not expect Jonin Orochimaru to remember me."

"Duy, your taijutsu left quite an impression on me back then."

The two had once been classmates in the Ninja Academy.

Back when the Second Hokage was still alive, Might Duy had been in Class A.

But after the Second Hokage passed away, Might Duy had been thrown into Class C because his talent for ninjutsu was too poor.

After that, Orochimaru had rarely seen Duy.

Orochimaru inwardly sighed at how things had changed since they last met.

Time passed so quickly.

"Lord Orochimaru, please let me join the group. I want to fight for Konoha too." Might Duy knelt on the ground and pleaded.

"Lord Orochimaru, Might Duy has no talent for any ninjutsu at all. He is merely a taijutsu-focused ninja, and his wife has even just given birth."

The ninja who had been stopping Might Duy also spoke up, doing everything he could to keep Might Duy off the battlefield.

"I am sorry, Duy. You would be of no use on the battlefield. Taijutsu alone is not enough there."

Orochimaru shook his head regretfully. He did not know whether the ninja stopping Might Duy was acting out of kindness or malice.

A ninja who focused solely on taijutsu

was not even as useful as cannon fodder on the battlefield. Once a barrage of ninjutsu came down, they would simply be gone.

Did they think everyone was Uchiha Jin?

"Lord Orochimaru, I can use ninjutsu now."

Might Duy was unwilling to give up.

"Look."

His hands began forming seals clumsily.

In an instant, everyone closed in and drew their weapons.

Forming seals before the commander at a time like this would certainly be taken as an attack.

But Orochimaru raised a hand to stop them, narrowing his eyes as he watched Might Duy's clumsy hand seals.

If Orochimaru had not acted quickly enough, Might Duy would have been killed on the spot.

Watching Duy's sealing speed,

a single set of seals for the Transformation Jutsu took nearly twenty seconds.

The others all shook their heads and sighed. At that sealing speed, he could not even stabilize his Chakra, much less successfully cast a jutsu.

Under everyone's mocking gazes,

Might Duy flashed a toothy grin.

"Thank you all for supporting my hard work!"

"Transformation Jutsu!"

"Poof!"

Might Duy transformed into an exact copy of Orochimaru.

Everyone was stunned.

Even the ninja who knew Might Duy looked shocked.

In their memories, Might Duy had been incapable of anything except taijutsu.

But what shocked them most was how seals that should have failed had succeeded.

"How is that possible?!"

"His Chakra had become unstable from forming seals so slowly! How could he possibly succeed?!"

"He must have cheated! But how could anyone cheat with a jutsu like that?!"

Might Duy's sealing method shattered everyone's understanding.

The reason for forming seals quickly was not only to cast ninjutsu faster, but also to successfully use ninjutsu while the Chakra remained stable.

When seals took too long, Chakra would no longer be as stable as it had been at the start.

This display made Orochimaru narrow his eyes. He sensed traces of Basic Inner Cultivation.

The war merit required for Basic Inner Cultivation was now getting higher and higher. It was not something an ordinary genin could easily exchange for.

Orochimaru had some guesses about where the man had obtained it.

At the same time, he recalled something someone had once said.

"When it comes to taijutsu, I am merely average. But I do know someone in the village who, if he were willing to risk his life, could block even the Third Hokage with taijutsu alone."

Yet he had never heard of such a person at all.

"Duy, do you know Uchiha Jin?"

"Young Jin?" Might Duy scratched his head, showing his kindly front teeth as he raised a thumb in praise.

"He is an incredible person."

Just as expected.

Orochimaru's snake-like tongue slid across his lips.

It seemed he had found the strongest taijutsu man Jin had spoken of.

"Duy, if you want to go to the front lines, you will need to prove your strength."

"My lord, let me do it."

The ninja who had been stopping Might Duy immediately spoke up.

"No." A smile appeared on Orochimaru's face.

"I will test Duy's strength myself."