Chidori's Challenge, the Cause of Failure

The electric current Liuyun could wield at the moment was still far from capable of piercing through objects. It was not because he lacked Chakra, but because the current would injure his palms.

This left Liuyun utterly baffled. Kakashi in the original story did not seem to have encountered this problem either...

This was the difficulty Liuyun currently faced. Only by overcoming it would there be any possibility of developing Chidori.

"Lightning itself is an extremely difficult force to control. Making it cling to the palm without harming oneself, while also retaining lightning's penetrating power—this is theoretically very difficult to achieve..."

Even Orochimaru could not immediately think of a way to solve the problem Liuyun had raised.

Liuyun was not surprised. Chidori was, after all, an A-rank ninjutsu, with a difficulty comparable to the Rasengan. The original story had only mentioned it in broad strokes; the key issues still had to be explored by themselves.

Now, he had handed this problem to Orochimaru, hoping that this ninjutsu master could offer him some guidance.

"Write down the hand seal sequence you used just now. I'll go back and study it. Come to my house tomorrow morning..."

Liuyun's hand seals had been extremely fast just now, and there had been many of them. Orochimaru had not had a good look, so he asked Liuyun to write them down.

Liuyun nodded and took out pen and paper from his schoolbag. Orochimaru then gave him his home address.

Taking the paper, Orochimaru looked thoughtfully at the seals written on it. After chatting with Liuyun for a few more moments, he took his leave.

The new ninjutsu had sparked his interest. He felt that it had a chance of succeeding, and he could not wait to learn more and try it out.

Liuyun returned home, put down his schoolbag, and said a few words to Asuka, who had quit her job to stay home and tend flowers. Then he strode out the door again.

He jogged all the way from home to Konoha Hospital, paid the fee, registered, and found a Medical Ninja.

"My palms were injured by electric shocks. Please use medical ninjutsu to treat them."

Liuyun proactively explained his injury.

"Uh... Let big sister take a look..."

The female Medical Ninja carefully examined his palms. Once she confirmed that they were indeed electrical burns, she immediately began treatment with medical ninjutsu.

"Little brother, how did you get hurt like this? And judging by your palms, this probably did not happen just today, did it?"

The female Medical Ninja frowned as she treated him.

"Mhm, mhm. Big sister guessed right, but it wouldn't be convenient to reveal the specific reason..." Liuyun replied with an awkward smile.

"..."

The female ninja was slightly surprised by his answer. She merely nodded and did not ask any further questions.

Ten minutes later, Liuyun felt that the pain in his palms had noticeably faded.

"Big sister, I saw the hospital recruiting Medical Ninjas in the lobby just now. Do you have to become a Genin before you can learn medical ninjutsu?"

Out of curiosity about medical ninjutsu, Liuyun voiced his question.

"What? Are you interested in medical ninjutsu, little brother?"

"Mhm, I am. I think Medical Ninjas are the angels of the Shinobi World." Liuyun gave the female ninja a small bit of flattery.

"Ha ha... Instead of pursuing powerful ninjutsu, why would a little brother like you want to learn medical ninjutsu?"

"To become a Medical Ninja, you definitely need to have a Forehead Protector. If you are not even a ninja and might not even possess Chakra, how could you learn medical ninjutsu..." the female ninja answered with a smile.

"So that's how it is..."

Liuyun murmured softly. He really did want to learn medical ninjutsu. After all, one could never have too many skills, and medical ninjutsu could be extremely useful at critical moments.

Moreover, his spiritual power was exceptionally strong to begin with, and with the help of Shadow Clones, he learned everything especially quickly. He did not need to worry about lacking the energy for it.

Especially now, with summer vacation underway, it was the perfect time to prepare a few more training projects.

Unfortunately, medical ninjutsu required a ninja identity to enroll... If he wanted to learn it, he would probably have to wait until he obtained a Konoha Forehead Protector.

"All healed!"

Very soon, the female ninja had healed Liuyun's injuries.

"Your injury isn't serious, but it would be best to reduce hand movements. Don't injure your palms again..." the young woman kindly reminded him.

There were many calluses on Liuyun's hands, and they were quite rough. At a glance, it was clear that he was no ordinary little boy.

"Okay, thank you, big sister. I'll be careful."

Liuyun gave a slight bow, then rose and took his leave.

Giving up on developing Chidori was impossible.

The next morning, Liuyun completed his usual daily morning training. After returning home for breakfast, he hurried to Orochimaru's residence.

Orochimaru was a war orphan and lived alone. His residence was not small, and it was located in a particularly remote area.

Whether intentional or not, the area where his home stood happened to be very close to Konoha's cemetery...

"Orochimaru-sama!"

Upon seeing Orochimaru, Liuyun bowed in greeting.

"No need for formalities. Come in." Orochimaru beckoned, and the two headed into the garden together.

Liuyun saw many strange species of snakes in the garden, all in different colors. The sight made his scalp tingle.

Orochimaru waved a hand, and the snakes in the garden immediately scattered into every corner, concealing themselves from view.

"I have already looked into the new technique from yesterday. I have to say, Liuyun-kun, you truly are a ninjutsu genius. At such a young age, you already have a preliminary understanding of Chakra shape transformation and nature transformation..."

Orochimaru could not help praising him, but Liuyun did not feel much upon hearing it.

After all, he was merely copying someone else's work.

Kakashi in the original story had explained the concepts of Chakra nature transformation and shape transformation more than once. Combined with the various ninjutsu theories taught at the Ninja Academy, Liuyun had not found them difficult to understand.

He had devoted a great deal of time and effort to developing Chidori, and a large portion of that effort had gone into studying the foundations of Chakra nature transformation and shape transformation.

If he wanted to create Chidori, those two aspects were basic prerequisites.

Liuyun's demonstration of gathering electric current in his hand yesterday might have looked simple, but in the eyes of a ninjutsu expert like Orochimaru, using such a method required extremely high attainments in ninjutsu.

Only Orochimaru, who had examined this new technique in depth, knew just how extraordinary the elementary school student before him was.

Liuyun's understanding of Chakra and ninjutsu far surpassed that of his peers. They were not even on the same level. Outstanding was no longer enough to describe how special he was.

He was like an anomaly hidden among the crowd, someone who could mingle with ordinary people for years without being seen through.

The more Orochimaru thought about it, the more terrifying it became. Even he felt a vague, inexplicable wariness toward Liuyun.

If he had not happened to witness Liuyun defeat seven Uchiha children, he likely would not have known that the Ninja Academy concealed such an anomaly!

"I also understand the difficulty you mentioned yesterday. In truth, the concept behind your new technique is sound. The ninjutsu itself and the hand seals do not have any major problems either..."

"The reason you injured yourself is because you are being too conservative... Of course, it could also be because your Chakra is insufficient, which prevented the new technique from taking shape..."

Hearing Orochimaru say this, Liuyun hurriedly asked about the specific reason.