Chidori's First Use, Orochimaru Wants Another Disciple?

"Try the new technique again, then listen to my instructions..."

Orochimaru gestured for Liuyun to try Chidori once more.

"Okay!"

Liuyun rapidly formed hand seals, and arcs of electricity soon appeared in his palm.

"The key to this technique is increasing your Chakra output. At this moment, you must not be stingy with Chakra. If you don't let the electric arcs fully spread out, your palm will be injured!"

Orochimaru suddenly raised his voice in warning. Upon hearing that, Liuyun instantly realized his mistake.

"So that's it!"

He had failed to notice this before and had always held back when exerting force... So this was why he had kept failing!!!

It was such a simple reason, yet because no one had pointed it out, it had troubled Liuyun for a long time.

Now that he understood, Liuyun immediately stopped hesitating and conserving energy. The Chakra within his body surged explosively into his palm.

Gradually, the arcs of electricity began to emit piercing thunderclaps, and the technique's power was fully displayed for the first time.

"This level of lightning power..."

Orochimaru's pupils involuntarily contracted. The snakes hiding nearby were startled by the repeated thunderclaps and scattered in all directions.

"Hahaha, now that's more like it!"

Liuyun laughed loudly, holding the ball of lightning level with his hand.

Although the Chakra in his body was being rapidly drained at a visible rate, he could not help feeling delighted.

The electric arcs from before had not even made a sound. This was Chidori in the true sense of the word!

"What blinding light..."

Orochimaru instinctively narrowed his eyes, mentally defining the intense light as a flaw. It would create partial blind spots in the user's vision, something enemies could easily exploit and target.

And the piercing thunderclaps were another flaw in the ninjutsu.

The moment you started the technique, everyone would know you were about to unleash a powerful move... Even an idiot would know to guard against it, or at the very least, move out of the way first.

"Go on! Let's see how powerful it is!"

Orochimaru pointed at a large, strange boulder placed in the garden.

"Mm!"

Liuyun narrowed his eyes. With a few steps, he charged before the boulder at incredible speed.

His dazzling hand blade struck forward with force. Terrifying lightning poured forth in an instant, and the massive boulder exploded with a bang!

"Very impressive power!"

Orochimaru could not help clapping his hands in praise.

Liuyun looked at the palm that had held the lightning. It had only suffered minor injuries. Such damage was unavoidable, but entirely acceptable.

The massive loss of Chakra left him panting repeatedly. At most, he could only unleash an attack like that three times.

Of course, once he had fully mastered the technique and could use Chakra more appropriately and skillfully, the consumption probably would not be so great.

Chidori was extremely powerful, but its flaws were also quite obvious.

Numerous hand seals + intense light + loud noise + enormous consumption + a fixed attack path—these were all Chidori's shortcomings.

Although the new technique had major flaws, Orochimaru still considered it a successful ninjutsu.

"Liuyun-kun, you created this ninjutsu. Have you decided what to call it?" Orochimaru asked with a smile, licking the corner of his mouth.

"..."

After a brief silence, Liuyun smiled and answered, "Let's call it Chidori!"

"The piercing thunder sounds like countless birds chirping at once. You really know how to name things!" Orochimaru praised generously.

Sorry, Kakashi... Liuyun silently mourned for three seconds.

The Chakra theory involved in this new technique was extremely complex. Based on its difficulty to learn, Orochimaru classified it as an A-rank Lightning Release Ninjutsu!

"Liuyun-kun, can you tell me why you thought of creating this ninjutsu? And who taught you your knowledge of ninjutsu?"

Orochimaru did not believe the ninjutsu knowledge taught at the academy could support the creation of an A-rank advanced ninjutsu. He believed there had to be someone behind Liuyun.

"To be honest, while carrying out a mission, my father happened to obtain a scroll of ninjutsu notes from the corpse of a ninja from an enemy country. Since he didn't have a Lightning affinity, and the ninjutsu was incomplete, the notes were left stored away in our family warehouse..."

"When my mother was sorting through the warehouse, she found those notes. I saw how powerful the ninjutsu was, and since I happened to have a Lightning affinity, I got the idea of completing this Lightning Release Ninjutsu."

Liuyun gave the excuse he had come up with the night before.

There was not much truth to the explanation, but it was at least something to say.

Orochimaru nodded, with no intention of pressing the matter.

"Liuyun-kun, being able to work out a complete advanced ninjutsu from an incomplete scroll means your talent for ninjutsu truly should not be buried..."

"I wonder, Liuyun-kun, would you like to learn more ninjutsu? If you do, I could teach you..."

At those words, Liuyun's eyes immediately widened in disbelief.

He had never expected Orochimaru to want to take him as a disciple. After all, he was already the teacher of Konoha's young prince—Nawaki...

"What? Liuyun-kun, are you unwilling?" Seeing him frozen where he stood, Orochimaru could not help finding it amusing.

"No! I'm willing!!!"

Liuyun immediately spoke after coming back to his senses.

With Orochimaru, one of the future Three Ninja, guiding him, he would undoubtedly take far fewer detours on his path of cultivation and growth.

The benefits far outweighed the risks. Liuyun weighed the pros and cons in an instant. Opportunities like this were rare—he could not let it slip away!

"Master, please accept this disciple's bow!"

Liuyun bent forward and directly performed the formal bow of apprenticeship.

"Haha... I never said I would accept you as my disciple." Orochimaru laughed, saying something that left Liuyun awkward.

Orochimaru had recently had nothing much to do. While guiding Nawaki's cultivation, he had thought he could also give Liuyun some pointers.

After all, he was a highly promising talent. Although Orochimaru did not intend to take on another disciple for now, he was willing to help him develop!

"The academy is on summer break. If Liuyun-kun finds the vacation too boring and wants to learn ninjutsu, you may come find me. If you have questions about ninjutsu or cultivation, you can also come ask me anytime..."

Orochimaru left him a way to contact him and even took the initiative to give him a Communication White Snake. If necessary, he could use it to pass along messages so Liuyun would not be unable to find him.

The two sat in the garden and chatted for quite a while. Orochimaru taught him how to simplify the hand seals for Lightning Release: Chidori and explained Chidori's various flaws.

Liuyun listened very attentively. In truth, he himself was aware of Chidori's weaknesses.

The blinding speed of the charge produced when using Chidori, as well as the visual blind spots created by the lightning's intense light, could both be resolved once he activated the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

The point Orochimaru found most troublesome was one Liuyun already had the means to solve.

For the time being, he did not dare reveal that he possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

"This is a Ninjutsu Scroll regarding the fundamentals of Lightning Release. It contains the cultivation experience of those before you. Take it home and read it. It will help you fully master Chidori..."

Orochimaru tossed a scroll to Liuyun.

He felt that Liuyun's Lightning-nature Chakra transformation and shape transformation were not refined enough. That would make the ninjutsu harder to form and consume more Chakra.

The knowledge inside the scroll could help Liuyun better control Chidori.

"Thank you, Teacher Orochimaru!"

Liuyun accepted the scroll and immediately gave a ninety-degree bow. The smile beneath his messy hair looked somewhat sly...

"..."

Orochimaru's mouth twitched slightly. Though he felt that form of address was somewhat improper, it somehow sounded more pleasant than "Orochimaru idiot"...