Three Months

The facts proved that Uchiha Kiyoshi had overestimated the strength of their three-man group. Just five minutes into the battle, they had already been completely wiped out. As for Orochimaru using the Body Flicker Jutsu, did they dare argue with him about it?

This battle clearly showed that although Uchiha Kiyoshi had a solid foundation and many of his ideas were effective, he still could not escape the limitations of his lack of combat experience.

Although Uchiha Kiyoshi had fought the beasts in the back mountains over the past few years to hone his movement techniques, beasts were still just beasts. They had no intelligence, and their fighting was purely instinctive. Once Uchiha Kiyoshi figured out their patterns, he could easily evade them. But things would be different in the future. As a ninja, Uchiha Kiyoshi's future enemies would all be ninja.

And the greatest trait of ninja was their exceptional combat skill—one could even call it an art. With fragile bodies, they used all kinds of Ninjutsu and tactics to kill their enemies. This was a contest of wits, and especially before reaching the Jonin stage, tactics and experience were crucial.

Yet in both of those areas, Uchiha Kiyoshi was still immature. Whether it was experience fighting ninja or tactical knowledge, it had all been imagined and constructed by himself. He had never experienced a real battle, so it had not yet matured.

"Hmph!"

Looking at the three with their heads hanging low, Orochimaru snorted coldly and directly released an immense aura that nearly left them unable to breathe.

"Who do you think you are? Your opponent was a Jonin. Even a Jonin suppressing his strength possesses combat experience and techniques beyond anything you can imagine. Did you really think you could last long under my hands?"

Although they knew Orochimaru probably would not actually do anything to them, his chilly tone and the killing intent he released made the three members of Team 3 feel as though they had fallen into an ice cellar.

Only after Orochimaru withdrew his killing intent did the three gasp for air like drowning people, their backs soaked through with sweat.

So this is a Jonin? Just a trace of killing intent is enough to make people tremble. How many people would one have to kill to cultivate such an aura? Then what about Kage-level, or even Super Kage-level experts?

Uchiha Kiyoshi panted heavily, inwardly shocked by the aura Orochimaru had just released. It was even more powerful than he had imagined. It seemed he had been somewhat stuck in armchair theorizing before; he had never truly witnessed the real strength of a Jonin.

At the same time, Uchiha Kiyoshi realized that even within the ninja system, being separated by a single rank meant a truly earth-shattering difference in strength. This further strengthened his resolve—his resolve to become stronger, to possess enough power to control his own Fate. Forget saving the world or anything like that. Simply not wanting to be casually erased by someone stronger was motivation enough.

If that aura just now was what a Jonin is like, then my estimates were wrong. Reaching Jonin in a short time will be difficult. I can only become a Special Jonin as quickly as possible. At the very least, I need to reach the peak of Elite Chunin, so I can awaken the Sharingan and use it properly. Even a two-tomoe Sharingan would provide a tremendous boost in strength. Only then can I improve faster and reach Jonin sooner.

After releasing his aura to intimidate the three of them, Orochimaru was quite satisfied with their reactions.

"Although you lost rather quickly in that battle, your overall strength is still passable. Your tactics and combat experience are simply too limited. From now on, you will spar every day. Whether against me or among yourselves, this part of your training cannot be skipped.

"Oh, right. Your rewards."

As he spoke, Orochimaru tossed out three scrolls, one to each of them.

Sarutobi Saku received notes on Ninjutsu training experience, while Nawaki received notes on various combat techniques. Uchiha Kiyoshi's was different: it was a scroll containing an Earth Release Ninjutsu. Both sets of notes included explanations of Chakra control training.

It had to be said that the scrolls Orochimaru gave them were each best suited to their needs. Sarutobi Saku was a typical burst-damage fighter. He seemingly did not lack Ninjutsu; what he needed was to better control their release and reduce wasted Chakra. Nawaki, on the other hand, was a complete mess when it came to combat techniques. No one knew how he had survived under Tsunade for so many years. He seemed to know only how to take a beating—well, even his counterattacks were extremely clumsy. So he had been given notes on combat techniques for him to study and master as much as possible in future battles.

As for Uchiha Kiyoshi, Orochimaru had also praised his control of the Fireball Jutsu. Therefore, what he needed was not deeper training, but new Ninjutsu.

Orochimaru was also quite pleased with the development directions of the three under him. Two damage dealers and one support made for a very good combination, especially since there were only three of them.

Sarutobi Saku's future path would be burst damage, while Nawaki's would be sustained damage. The two would be the main attackers responsible for killing enemies. Uchiha Kiyoshi would have to take on many roles: tank and healer, making him the most important link. Having been on the same team as Tsunade, Orochimaru naturally understood the benefits of having a medical ninja like Uchiha Kiyoshi. It was not only that injuries could be treated promptly, greatly increasing survival ability; more importantly, he could also heal during battle, improving the team's endurance.

Of course, to free up his hands to heal someone, he would need to create at least one Shadow Clone. Thus, Uchiha Kiyoshi needed more Chakra as well, or he would collapse before he could heal for long. From the looks of it, Uchiha Kiyoshi's Chakra reserves were fairly good. Though they could not compare to Nawaki, a ninja of the Senju Clan, they were at least twice Sarutobi Saku's.

Sarutobi Saku had roughly thirty or forty Ka of Chakra, enough to exhaust it all with one C-rank Ninjutsu. Even so, that was already considered a lot among those his age. Many other ninja had only ten or twenty Ka, and some civilian ninja did not even have ten Ka.

Although he had arranged their training thoroughly, Orochimaru had no interest in explaining it to them. He merely left them with the words, "Practice according to the scrolls yourselves. I will judge the results. If you do not learn well..." The three immediately promised to cultivate diligently.

After arranging the three's training, Orochimaru vanished with a Body Flicker Jutsu. He had other matters to attend to and did not have that much time to watch three brats practice. It was enough for him to come inspect their training results once a day.

After Orochimaru left, Nawaki could no longer hold on and collapsed directly onto the ground.

"That was way too terrifying. That aura—just how many people has he killed? Even my sister doesn't have that much killing intent."

"Yeah. Teacher Orochimaru's personality is far too frightening. I always feel like he's kind of eerie."

Very quickly, through Nawaki's "efforts" as an energetic person, Sarutobi Saku became familiar with the other two as well.

Training time passed quickly, and just like that, three months went by.

The three not only had to carry out the training Orochimaru had assigned, but also complete their required missions. With Nawaki, such a burden, Uchiha Kiyoshi's workload was also heavy. Yet even Uchiha Kiyoshi, who had been prepared for it, found those D-rank Missions exhausting. If the missions did not pay fairly well, he would not have been able to keep it up.

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