Garp's Diary

Orochimaru had truly remained housebound during this period, handing all matters over to Mito Uzumaki and Snake Shadow.

Mito Uzumaki had also learned of Snake Shadow's existence. He handled affairs in the open, while Snake Shadow dealt with matters in the shadows.

However, Snake Shadow had already left Konoha.

The entirety of Konoha was filled with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo's people. Remaining any longer would only increase the chances of being discovered.

Orochimaru had not secluded himself because he truly feared suppression from the Third Hokage. He simply had a new research subject.

After leading his forces to victory against the Land of Wind and killing Shukaku, Orochimaru's prestige and influence had risen even further.

But since his reputation in the Shinobi World had already reached a considerable level, although the spacetime energy had increased significantly, it was still some distance away from condensing into the next item.

At this point, unless he went a step further and became Hokage, or reached Madara's level of strength, his personal influence had practically reached its limit.

Yet after he changed the event of White Fang's death, an item appeared.

There was no question about the influence a powerhouse like White Fang had on this world.

Perhaps because Hatake Sakumo had been subdued by Orochimaru, nearly all of his influence was counted under Orochimaru as well.

It was now almost as if Konoha's White Fang's influence had been added on top of Orochimaru's own.

Perhaps subduing or nurturing sufficiently powerful subordinates and building his own faction was also an excellent path.

In the past, perhaps because Mito Uzumaki had grown gradually, Orochimaru had not noticed it.

But after Sakumo became Snake Shadow, the spacetime energy had suddenly surged. Orochimaru could only explain it this way.

The item that appeared this time was a diary—Garp's diary.

After roughly reading through it, Orochimaru discovered that more than ninety percent of it was nonsense.

For example, "This old man found the senbei Sengoku hid away again today."

Or how Sengoku had stolen his donuts.

Or how he had used the Fist of Love to teach Ace and Luffy that day.

But the small remainder was extremely useful.

This diary began with Garp using a water pipe to beat a tiger as a child, and ended when he retired from the front lines to serve as a recruit instructor.

Though the writing was utterly incoherent, it truly condensed the magnificent life of a powerhouse.

Part of it included material on his training in his youth.

For instance, the process through which he trained in the Six Powers of the Navy when he was young.

And how he had once trained to improve his Armament Haki in order to defeat Chinjao.

To that end, he had flattened eight great mountains during the process.

Orochimaru had spent tremendous effort before barely sorting out some usable information.

But it was incomplete. To make it suitable for cultivation and use would require a long time to perfect, and it would also need to be adapted to the Naruto world.

People in this world did not possess the terrifying physical constitution of the pirate world.

The results would likely differ considerably from the original versions in the pirate world, but they were still highly meaningful.

Honestly, in the ninja world, only an all-purpose research talent like Orochimaru had the ability to study this sort of thing.

For example, Haki. Orochimaru could completely organize this information and use it as a basis to create certain secret techniques.

Orochimaru believed that Armament Haki and Observation Haki could, to a great extent, be linked to Yang Release and Yin Release in the Naruto world.

Yang Release, which acted upon the body, happened to correspond to Armament Haki, while Yin Release, which acted upon the spirit, corresponded to Observation Haki.

Beyond that, there were also many training methods within the Navy for strengthening the body, but the required training volume was enormous.

Orochimaru estimated that aside from those thick-browed, green-skinned fellows, no one could complete it without cutting any corners.

Orochimaru's taijutsu had improved considerably after several years of training. He was still far behind those like the Raikage and Tsunade, who made their living through Nintaijutsu, but he was already on the same level as the Third Hokage and Hanzō.

It could be said that he had reached the limit of what an ordinary ninja could achieve, yet he still did not believe he could carry out some of those training methods.

They all placed extremely high demands on the body.

The taijutsu level they could achieve was likely the limit of what could currently be attained in the Shinobi World through training alone.

Unless one constantly broke through their limits like Guy, but that actually placed certain demands on a ninja's innate talent for Yang Release.

Even the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan, whose Yang Release talent was exceptionally strong, mostly relied on their innate gifts rather than developing secret techniques that could continuously cultivate and strengthen Yang Release.

Even if such techniques existed, their effects were not obvious.

The Eight Gates Technique was precisely a secret technique the Second Hokage had researched in order to develop the Senju Clan's innate Yang Release.

However, the Eight Gates Technique had not been fully developed and was highly dangerous, so it was listed in the Scroll of Seals.

It was later improved by Might Duy and finally perfected, but Might Duy had consequently suffered many irreparable hidden injuries in his body, leaving his potential far below Guy's.

Might Duy had initially trained with the incomplete version, while Guy trained with the complete version.

Orochimaru believed that to fully use the Six Powers of the Navy in this world, one had to rely on the Eight Gates Technique.

Otherwise, no one could do it.

Orochimaru had estimated that, with his current physical condition, he should be able to learn Shave.

Shave was very similar to the ninja world's Body Flicker Technique.

The Body Flicker Technique referred to techniques that allowed one to move at high speed in an instant.

The most basic Body Flicker Technique could only be learned after mastering tree climbing and water walking, greatly improving one's Chakra control—especially the ability to manipulate Chakra sent to the soles of the feet.

Most people had mastered it by the Chunin stage.

As for hand control, that had already been trained while learning hand seals and the Three Basic Jutsu.

The basic Body Flicker required one to explosively release a certain amount of Chakra from the soles of one's feet within a short period, using the resulting recoil to achieve high-speed movement.

Physical Body Flicker, on the other hand, was a relatively advanced form of Body Flicker that required immense explosive power in the leg muscles.

There were also Lightning Body Flicker, which used Lightning Release to stimulate the body into greater activity, as well as Water Body Flicker, Flying Thunder God, and so on.

All of them fell under the broad category of Body Flicker Techniques.

Shave was somewhat like a combination of Physical Body Flicker and the basic Body Flicker.

Its specific requirement was to stomp the ground dozens of times in rapid succession within an instant, generating explosive recoil for high-speed movement. To an enemy, it looked as though the user had simply vanished.

However, it contained many details and techniques developed by predecessors in the ninja world, things that had been meticulously summarized by generations of Marines.

As for Storm Leg and Finger Gun, Orochimaru naturally could not perform them through physical strength alone.

It might be possible if the Eight Gates were opened beyond the third gate.

Orochimaru hoped to use Wind Release to create a Nintaijutsu.

With one thrust of a finger, he could fire a Wind Bullet; with one kick, he could launch a Wind Blade.

As for Iron Body and Moon Walk, the Eight Gates would likely need to reach a very high level before they could be performed properly.

Kami-e, meanwhile, was somewhat related to Sensory Ability.

That would also require careful study.

Unfortunately, after Orochimaru had entered the Gate of Opening, the First Gate of the Eight Gates, he had been unable to break through the next stage of his body's limits.

He could not be like Might Duy and Might Guy, seizing every moment to train.

It was not that Orochimaru lacked the perseverance; rather, he had many other things to do.

Therefore, Orochimaru planned to make contact with the Might father and son.

If Might Duy truly opened the Gate of Death among the Eight Gates at present, even Orochimaru did not know whether he could evade it.

And if he could heal those hidden injuries currently plaguing Might Duy's body?

Would he reach the heights Guy would attain in the future?

Orochimaru looked forward to it.