Experiment, Sparring

Experiment, Sparring

Techniques could not be developed overnight.

Even after a whole night of busy discussion, the three of them had only temporarily established the framework and found some clues and direction.

With clues and direction, plus Orochimaru and Tsunade's breadth of experience to break through obstacles and resolve difficulties, it was only a matter of time before this technique on paper was created.

As a result, Kagetsu had another task in the evenings. He returned home later and later, and the entire Nara Clan began looking at him more and more strangely.

However, Kagetsu no longer had the energy to care about any of that.

Hokage's Office.

The Third Hokage stood by the window, puffing out clouds of smoke. Behind him sat Jiraiya, whom he had summoned, in an utterly improper posture.

"Old Man, why did you call me here?"

Hearing that carefree voice behind him, a trace of helplessness flashed through the Third Hokage's eyes. He turned around and looked at Jiraiya.

"Didn't I tell you to get in touch with Tsunade and Orochimaru more often during this time?"

"I did contact them." Jiraiya's tone sank slightly at those words, but he quickly rallied. "Your idea of contact was just having one gathering with the two of them?"

"Isn't that enough?" Jiraiya spread his hands helplessly. "Neither of them wants to see me. Besides, Minato needs me as his teacher too."

"Forget it." The Third Hokage opened his mouth as if to say something, but when he saw Jiraiya's grinning face, he fell silent again.

Why had he expected anything from him in matters like this?

"Nothing else, right? If there's nothing else, I'm heading back. Minato is still waiting for me at home." Jiraiya looked at the silent Third Hokage, sprang up from his seat, walked to the window, opened it, and turned back to speak to him.

The Third Hokage waved a hand.

Jiraiya immediately jumped out the window without hesitation.

It was not that he did not understand the Third Hokage's hint. He simply did not want to involve himself and make the already cooled relationship between the three of them even worse.

As a ninja skilled at gathering intelligence outside the village, even though he had not returned for three years, enough time had passed that he could more or less infer certain things, whether he was supposed to know them or not.

That was precisely why he was even less willing to be dragged in by the Third Hokage and add more turmoil to an already complicated situation.

He could not solve the core problem, nor could he persuade Tsunade, Orochimaru, or even his own teacher. What would be the point of entering the fray? To get himself stuck in the mire as well?

It would be better to devote all his energy to teaching Minato, making up for the neglect he had shown Minato as a teacher over the past three years, and avoiding the village's whirlpool.

In any case, he did not want the position of Hokage, did he?

The Akimichi Clan's barbecue restaurant.

"You and Sensei have gone too far!"

Anko widened her eyes and glared furiously at Orochimaru and Kagetsu. Off to the side, Tsunade and Shizune stood with their arms crossed, silently watching the rather amusing scene.

"You secretly underwent special training and actually left me out!"

"No. Kagetsu and I were merely creating a technique." Orochimaru calmly looked at the furious Anko.

"I think that makes it even more insulting!" Anko's face instantly turned red. "Orochimaru Sensei, are you questioning my intelligence?"

"Sensei means that he is creating a technique tailored for us—mainly for you." With a single sentence from Kagetsu, Anko's frozen expression instantly stiffened, and the blazing fire of jealousy in her chest cooled considerably.

"Impossible! You're lying to me!" Anko quickly put on a stern face again. She did not quite believe Kagetsu, so even as she denied it, her gaze kept flicking toward Orochimaru's face.

"It's true. I'm from the Nara Clan, and I still need to focus on my clan's secret techniques. Under those circumstances, there's no need for Orochimaru Sensei to create another technique specifically for me." Kagetsu spoke with a serious expression.

"What you said makes sense, but my instincts say you're lying to avoid trouble!" Anko listened patiently and found no fault in Kagetsu's logic, but instinctively, she still felt that something was off.

Not that bright, but unexpectedly sharp instincts?

This was not the first time Kagetsu had seen this kind of instinctive acuity in Anko.

He was very grateful that the Talent Card had only brought over Mayuri Kurotsuchi's talent and had not imported his temper and personality wholesale as well.

So he had no intention of ruthlessly mocking Anko and making her lose her composure. He only needed to soothe her and keep her from disrupting the atmosphere.

"You don't have to believe me, but you can believe Orochimaru Sensei." Without hesitation, Kagetsu dragged Orochimaru beside him into it as well.

"Once this technique is created, you can be the first to learn it." After thinking for a moment, Orochimaru gave his answer.

Anko's face instantly heated up again. But the previous heat had been anger; this time, it was joy and excitement.

"Orochimaru Sensei is the best!" Anko shouted.

"Doesn't she know she's being fooled?" Shizune, who had watched the entire farce from the side, leaned close to Tsunade's ear and whispered.

"Don't crush the child's enthusiasm." Tsunade tilted her head slightly and replied.

After this period of research, Blood Armor had reached its initial form. However, because its creation was based on numerous S-Rank Forbidden Techniques in both difficulty and power, it was extremely difficult as well.

S-Rank.

But after being divided, it could be split into two A-Rank techniques.

This was the crude initial version, weakened and simplified to lower the difficulty of learning it.

If nature transformation or shape transformation were added, the two split techniques could both advance into their complete forms and be classified as S-Rank Forbidden Techniques.

Just like Tsunade's Creation Rebirth and Strength of a Hundred Sealings Technique.

But the foundational initial version was enough for now. They had to test it first.

Orochimaru and Kagetsu did not care about keeping this technique secret. Especially for Kagetsu, as long as the technique was successfully created, he would already be fully satisfied.

As for teaching it to Anko?

Kagetsu would not object. In fact, he had been the first to suggest it. The same went for Shizune and the others; Kagetsu had no intention of keeping it to himself.

After all, strictly speaking, this technique was the joint work of the three of them, with Orochimaru and Tsunade accounting for more than half of the contribution.

Therefore, as the disciples of the two of them, Anko and Shizune could naturally choose freely whether to practice this technique.

Compared with Anko, Shizune had a solid foundation in Medical Ninjutsu and thus possessed a greater advantage with this technique. She could practice it more completely.

As for Anko, she could only first learn the offensive Blut Arterie, then study Medical Ninjutsu. Once she reached the threshold, she could learn the defensive Blut Vene.

After finishing the barbecue, Orochimaru's group did not part ways. Instead, they went together to an open space on the back mountain that served as a Training Ground.

"This technique was just created and still has room for improvement. If anything feels wrong with your body, make sure to tell us."

Watching Orochimaru step onto the field to begin teaching, Tsunade patted Anko's little head. She had come along to prevent any accidents.

After all, Blood Armor involved the body's meridians and hidden power. If used recklessly, it would inevitably place an extremely harmful burden on the body.

Orochimaru taught Anko the key points and hand seals of Blut Arterie. He answered her questions over and over without impatience, correcting any misunderstandings she had.

Children recognized by Orochimaru were either smart enough to become his assistants or possessed talent and value of their own.

What Orochimaru valued in Anko was her talent with her body and techniques.

She could quickly master Orochimaru-style Nintaijutsu, and she also possessed considerable talent for rapidly learning ninjutsu.

She could not compare to true geniuses like Kakashi, but in many people's eyes, she could already be considered a genius.

Thus, under Orochimaru's repeated instruction, driven by her worship and admiration for him, Anko put nearly all her effort into understanding the technique and practicing according to his guidance.

After repeated failures, three days later, Anko finally gained an initial grasp of Blut Arterie.

"Orochimaru Sensei!"

Feeling as if some restriction within her body had been lifted and her strength had suddenly surged, Anko instinctively looked first at Orochimaru standing before her.

"Is that Anko's Active Blood Armor Mode?" Shizune looked curiously at the layer of light emanating from Anko's body.

"Want to give it a try, Shizune?" Orochimaru looked approvingly at Anko as she maintained Active Blood Armor Mode, then turned to Shizune beside Tsunade.

During these days, Tsunade had naturally not only been teaching Shizune and Kagetsu while Orochimaru instructed Anko. Tsunade had also been teaching Shizune.

With her foundation in Medical Ninjutsu, Shizune had successfully mastered the defensive Blut Vene under Tsunade's guidance.

"Do you want to go up, Shizune?" Tsunade lowered her head and asked for Shizune's opinion.

"I'm fine with it, Lady Tsunade!" Shizune nodded. She was still young, after all. Looking at Anko, who was about her age, she also wanted to spar and get a feel for her technique.

Besides, with Lady Tsunade present, even if they were injured, their lives would not be in danger. Both of them could experience the other's technique.

"Then have a sparring match and stop when appropriate." Orochimaru withdrew from the field. As one of Blood Armor's creators, it was now time to inspect the results.

"I'm coming, Big Sister Shizune!"

Feeling endless power filling her entire body, Anko gave Shizune, who stood across from her, a reminder before immediately launching an attack.

Whoosh!

Thud!

Anko's figure instantly flashed past Shizune. As if she had failed to rein in her strength, she shot straight into the forest behind her.

She quickly leaped back out, her face somewhat flushed as she launched another attack at Shizune.

So embarrassing! In front of Orochimaru Sensei!

Anko had not expected her body to be enhanced to such an incredible degree that she could not fully control the power surging through her.

Just now, she had clearly intended to leap to Shizune's position and attack, but the greatly increased power had sent her past Shizune and much farther away.

"Looks like the increase in strength is enormous. Even her speed is nearly doubled." Orochimaru paid no attention to Anko's mistake. Instead, his eyes lit up as he watched.

Even if the enhancement did not reach the same doubled level for him, it would still be an enormous boost at a critical moment.

This time, having controlled her strength and made no further mistake, Anko finally attacked Shizune successfully. However, she felt as though her fist had struck a steel plate when it landed on Shizune's abdomen.

Black lines like blood vessels appeared over the spot she had struck, spreading like a spiderweb and completely absorbing the force carried by her fist.

Sensing something wrong, Anko immediately backflipped away to widen the distance again, casually flinging several shuriken to prevent Shizune from catching up.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The shuriken still had no effect when they struck Shizune. Instead, they were directly deflected.

"So that's the Blut Vene Sensei mentioned? It's so hard!" Looking at the black lines gradually fading from Shizune's exposed abdomen, Anko shook out her slightly sore palm.

She began carefully recalling the information her teacher had told her about Blood Armor.

"Since close combat doesn't work, let's settle this with ninjutsu." Anko's combat instincts immediately made her switch tactics.

Her fingers began forming hand seals at high speed. Then she took a deep breath and leaned back, her chest and abdomen swelling high before she breathed a blazing straight-line flame toward Shizune.

Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!

A Fire Release ninjutsu focused on concentrated killing power.

Compared with the one she had used during the bell-grabbing exercise, the Dragon Fire Technique enhanced by Blut Arterie was even hotter and more intense.

Water Release: Water Formation Wall!

A rotating curtain of water surged up before Shizune as well.

The water curtain was evaporated completely in an instant, but Shizune used the brief delay to escape and move outside the Dragon Fire Technique's range.

"Alright, you can stop now." Orochimaru used Water Release ninjutsu to extinguish the burning flames, then entered the field alongside Tsunade and stopped the two from fighting.

"Orochimaru Sensei." Anko dispelled Blut Arterie, and her body instantly staggered, nearly collapsing to the ground.

"It feels so strange!" Anko steadied herself again and felt the emptiness inside her, somewhat dejected.

The sensation of her body being filled with boundless strength, as though she could do anything, had been far too wonderful. After experiencing that fleeting illusion of omnipotence, she found herself unable to adapt to normalcy again for a moment.

"How do you feel now?" Tsunade came to Anko's side with Shizune and asked as she looked down at her.

"I'm hungry. I want to eat lots and lots of food." Anko pouted. It had not even been long since she had eaten barbecue before training.

"It seems that as long as the duration is controlled, the only Aftereffects will be hunger." Tsunade personally examined Anko's body, then reached her conclusion.

"Then it seems Blood Armor has succeeded." Orochimaru was fully satisfied.