Test

In a clearing within Konoha's forest.

Kagetsu stood beneath a tree, his feelings somewhat complicated. What lingered in his mind was still the matter from two days ago, when Orochimaru had visited his parents and said he wanted to take him as a disciple.

As one of the Sannin and a future Hokage candidate, with the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's approval, Orochimaru's personal visit to make the request of Nara Shikaji and his wife alone showed how highly he regarded Kagetsu.

This was not like being assigned a squad leader after graduating from the Ninja Academy. It went a step further—a close disciple who could truly inherit a master's teachings and be treated as their successor.

After all, a squad leader was merely a superior. How much they were willing to teach you, and what ninjutsu they would impart, depended entirely on their inclination. But with a relationship steeped in master-disciple inheritance, they generally held nothing back and passed down everything they had kept in reserve.

The clearest example was Team 7 at its peak in the future. Kakashi was the squad leader of Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto, and Haruno Sakura, but the only one who could truly be said to have inherited his ninjutsu legacy was Sasuke.

Likewise, such a thorough and solemn visit signified not only importance, but also that there was little room to refuse—unless they wanted to offend Orochimaru.

So regardless of whether Kagetsu was willing, from the moment Orochimaru visited his home, he had already become the other man's successor. Even Nara Shikaji could do nothing about it.

Today was the time agreed upon for his first meeting after becoming Orochimaru's disciple.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind suddenly rushed over. Then, beneath Kagetsu's raised gaze, a girl who looked eight or nine years old, wearing a Genin forehead protector and a fishnet outfit, leaped down from a branch overhead and landed lightly beside him.

"A brat from the Nara Clan?" The newcomer straightened up and raised an eyebrow at Kagetsu's clothing, which bore the distinctive style of the Nara Clan.

"You're both here already. Very good."

Before Kagetsu could reply, a familiar hoarse yet magnetic voice abruptly sounded nearby, as though someone had been waiting there for a long time before suddenly speaking. It startled both Kagetsu and the girl.

"Orochimaru Sensei!"

"Orochimaru Sensei!"

The two childish voices rang out at once. Compared to Kagetsu's somewhat listless voice, the girl's cry was far more spirited, carrying an uncontrollable fervent admiration.

Kagetsu instinctively moved a little farther away from her.

By now, he had deduced who this young-looking girl was.

Mitarashi Anko!

Orochimaru's only disciple to survive after his defection from Konoha.

He called her the only survivor because Kagetsu could not be sure whether Anko was truly Orochimaru's only disciple after Nawaki.

Though she had no particularly notable achievements in his memory, she had still received Orochimaru's wholehearted instruction and possessed some talent. If she had been too foolish or untalented, Orochimaru would not have valued and taught her, much less passed down Ryūchi Cave's contract to her.

"Introduce yourselves. I am Orochimaru, and I will be your squad leader in the future. I enjoy exploring and learning every ninjutsu in this world. I dislike those without talent, as well as those too foolish to be saved." Orochimaru led the two to the nearby clearing and stopped facing them from five or six meters away, demanding their introductions.

"Me first, me first! My name is Mitarashi Anko. I just turned ten this year and will soon graduate from the Ninja Academy! I hope to become a powerful ninja like Orochimaru-sama! As for people I dislike... hmm, there aren't any for now." Anko eagerly raised her hand and shouted before Kagetsu could speak.

"Nara Kagetsu, six years old. I am still attending the Ninja Academy. I enjoy doing research I'm interested in. I dislike troublesome matters unrelated to research." Seeing Orochimaru turn his gaze toward him, Kagetsu gave a brief introduction as well.

"Before teaching you, I need to test you. The two of you may use every method at your disposal and attack me with the intent to kill. Do not hold back. I need to know your current strength and abilities."

Orochimaru licked the corner of his lips. A bell fell from his raised fingers, and he used his foot to draw a circle around himself. "See this bell? If either of you can snatch it from me, you will pass this test. Naturally, for fairness, I will remain standing inside this circle."

"What if we can't take it?" Anko raised her hand, looking eager to try. Of course, she knew they could not defeat Orochimaru, but if they only had to take the bell, then with her teammate's cooperation, it should be possible, right?

As she thought this, Anko glanced at Nara Kagetsu beside her and felt that she might have been overly confident.

"That means you fail the test, and there will be a very harsh punishment." Orochimaru's smile instantly took on an indescribably sinister feeling and oppressive pressure.

"Of course, if you can do it, I will give you a reward as well." As Orochimaru spoke, a palm-sized scroll slipped from his sleeve. Under Kagetsu and Anko's gazes, Orochimaru formed hand seals and released the scroll.

Poof!

When the smoke dispersed, a massive scroll nearly as tall as a person appeared before Orochimaru.

"This is the Summoning Contract scroll of Ryūchi Cave! If you can take the bell, or perform well enough, then after the test, I will write both your names on it." Orochimaru's tone was full of temptation.

Anko's body trembled with excitement.

A Summoning Beast!

Who would not want a powerful Summoning Beast?

Especially one from the sacred land of Orochimaru, one of the Sannin!

Orochimaru did not need to provoke her further. She was already filled with fighting spirit. Kagetsu took a deep breath. He vaguely felt that this reward seemed tailored specifically for him.

But regardless, Orochimaru's reward had struck a chord within him. Under the influence of the Talent Card, his desire to study Ryūchi Cave, one of the three great sacred lands of Summoning Beasts, had begun to boil over.

Sage Art alone was enough to make Kagetsu give it everything he had.

"It seems you are very satisfied with this reward. Then let us begin." Orochimaru tossed the scroll onto a nearby tree, signaling the start of the test.

Kagetsu and Anko exchanged a glance. Rather than attacking immediately, they swiftly ran away from their original positions, moving far out of Orochimaru's sight.

"Are they trying to catch me off guard? Or are they trying to familiarize themselves with their partner's abilities?" Seeing their actions, a hint of satisfaction flashed through Orochimaru's eyes. If they had simply charged at him like reckless fools, he would have been somewhat disappointed.

"You know the Nara Clan's secret techniques, right?" Anko clearly knew something about the Nara Clan. The moment they left Orochimaru's line of sight and stopped, she asked Kagetsu.

Kagetsu nodded.

"Then let's do this. You support me from the side with the Nara Clan's secret techniques, and I'll be the main attacker. As long as you seize the right moment and cooperate well with me, with Orochimaru-sama unable to dodge, we have a chance of taking the bell." Anko immediately assigned their roles.

She did not expect Kagetsu to be of much help, not because she doubted his talent, but because he simply looked too young. As long as Kagetsu could use the Shadow Secret Technique to support her at the right moment, she might succeed if she seized the opportunity.

Kagetsu had no intention of arguing with her over that. After all, her arrangement did not sound wrong.

"It's fine for you to be the main attacker while I support you, but we have no coordination whatsoever, and it will be difficult to develop any in such a short time. If there were a third person, and that person were from the Yamanaka Clan, it would be ideal. With the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques, we could use their mental technique as the core to communicate mentally." Kagetsu first acknowledged Anko's request, then refuted her point about seizing the right moment.

Mature, experienced ninjas could achieve a certain degree of coordination even without being particularly familiar with one another. But expecting two people who were not even Genin yet to cooperate flawlessly while complete strangers was wishful thinking.

"Then what do you suggest?" Anko's cheeks puffed up in anger.

"Since we have no coordination, then we won't rely on coordination," Kagetsu said calmly. "We'll divide our offensive into individual steps, then assign those steps between us.

"We only need to carry out our respective steps like a preprogrammed sequence. There is no need to consider what our partner is doing or how we should cooperate with them next. We just need to follow the plan."

"Will that work?" Anko thought it over carefully and felt that Kagetsu's words did make sense, but she still had doubts. "Can that really succeed?"

"Of course it won't be that easy. It is only a trick. With Orochimaru-sama's insight, he will see through it immediately.

"So our only chance is the first attempt, when he may not expect us to risk everything on such a trick. We don't need to think up many tactics. We only need to prepare one set." Kagetsu shook his head. He himself was not particularly confident.

After discussing their tactics in the dense forest, along with some simple cooperative methods and hand signals, the two immediately circled back to the testing ground.

Snake—Dragon—Rabbit—Tiger!

Dragon Fire Technique!

From the forest behind Orochimaru, who was still standing within the circle, a blazing pillar of fire suddenly surged forth. The scorching flame shot straight at Orochimaru, striking his location directly and turning it into a sea of fire.

But at the tip of the fire pillar, a spinning curtain of water suddenly rose from the ground and collided with the flames.

In an instant, thick mist began spreading in all directions.

Anko, who had unleashed the Dragon Fire Technique, immediately brightened. She gave Kagetsu a look, formed a Shadow Clone, and charged together with her clone toward Orochimaru.

When she launched her attack, she had already memorized exactly where the bell hung on Orochimaru's body. Based on its position, she had rehearsed the steps she needed to take countless times in her mind.

Kagetsu also sprang from the forest. Before the mist could dissipate, the black shadow beneath his feet instantly turned into black ropes, lashing across the ground like vines as they shot toward the position he had memorized.

The moment the mist began to clear and both sides regained some visibility, Kagetsu's shadow successfully connected with Orochimaru's. At the same time, the two Ankos had taken advantage of the chance to reach Orochimaru. One attacked him, while the other reached for the bell hanging from his waist.

Orochimaru saw Anko's movements, but in that instant, he felt his body lose some control and become numb and sluggish for a moment. In that moment, Anko's fingers touched the bell.

Their cooperation, whether in timing or tactics, was astonishingly seamless. It was as though the two before him had not just met, but had been familiar teammates for a long time, knowing each other inside and out.

Surprise flashed through Orochimaru's eyes.

Just as a smile spread across Anko's lips and she was about to tug the bell free into her palm, her footing suddenly faltered. Her reaching fingers brushed past the bell at Orochimaru's waist.

A snake slithered up Anko's leg, swiftly binding both Ankos so tightly that they could not move. Meanwhile, Orochimaru grabbed the hand of the other Anko who had attacked him and flung her away. With a bang in midair, she exploded into a puff of smoke.

Kagetsu's Shadow Imitation Technique could not affect Orochimaru for long. Therefore, as Kagetsu had said, all he could create was that instant of stiffness and opportunity.

After dealing with Anko, Orochimaru turned his gaze to Kagetsu. What he saw was Kagetsu's fingers forming hand seals like fluttering butterflies.

Orochimaru waited with interest for Kagetsu to finish his seals, only to be enveloped by a black curtain that suddenly rose from beneath his feet.

Shadow Coffin!

The black shadow curtain existed for only an instant before collapsing and fading away, revealing Orochimaru within, his skin covered in cuts.

"What an interesting technique. Why have I never seen it in the Nara Clan?" Orochimaru ignored the wounds seeping blood across his body. Instead, he fixed his interested gaze on Kagetsu, instinctively feeling that this ninjutsu was connected to him.

"The bell is in my hand, Orochimaru Sensei." Kagetsu, his face somewhat pale from the heavy Chakra consumption, raised his right hand. A familiar bell swayed and chimed in his palm.

"Interesting. That unfamiliar technique was actually a feint? The Shadow Imitation Technique bound me, an unfamiliar Shadow Secret Technique drew my attention and cut the bell's cord, then the Shadow Sewing Technique took the opportunity to carry away the bell from my body." Orochimaru quickly deduced Kagetsu's methods.

Was Anko part of your plan as well?

His gaze swept over Anko, who was still struggling on the ground. Being very familiar with the Nara Clan, Orochimaru instinctively counted her as part of the scheme. It perhaps even included a degree of understanding of him.