A Little Bit of Talent

Some people believed Sasuke had learned nothing from Orochimaru. That was completely wrong.

Before following Orochimaru, the gap between Sasuke and Itachi had been like an abyss!

Of Sasuke's eight attributes—Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Wisdom, Strength, Speed, Stamina, and Hand Seals—Itachi had thoroughly surpassed him in all but Stamina.

Stamina represented Chakra reserves. Being beaten in every other category meant that having a little more Chakra was useless.

Genjutsu in particular had been especially bad. Sasuke only had a three, while Itachi had a ten—and Itachi was precisely the kind of ninja who liked to open with Genjutsu as a greeting.

Out of a perfect score of eighty, Itachi had received an astonishing seventy-one overall, while Sasuke had only scored forty-five.

After studying under Orochimaru for three years, Sasuke underwent intensive training in Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, cursed seals, and Summoning Techniques.

Sasuke's score had risen from forty-five to sixty-three. That was equivalent to climbing two whole new tiers, an enormous increase. His Genjutsu in particular had risen from three to eight.

Although the Sharingan possessed Hypnotic Eyes, that did not mean its Genjutsu abilities would automatically improve as it evolved. One still had to learn Genjutsu to bring out the true effects of Hypnotic Eyes.

In the Book of Combat, Sasuke already had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, yet his Genjutsu was still only a three. He had not even used Genjutsu on Naruto during the battle at the Valley of the End.

That was the result of Orochimaru's teaching. Orochimaru had a Genjutsu score of ten, one of only five people in the databook with maxed-out Genjutsu.

The other four were Itachi, Kurenai Yuhi, Tayuya, and Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Orochimaru had been instantly defeated by Itachi in a Genjutsu battle mainly because his soul had been far too weakened after Living Corpse Reincarnation, causing his resistance to Genjutsu to plummet.

It was only natural for him to lose against Itachi, who also had a Genjutsu score of ten and the enhancement of the Mangekyo.

Hadn't Kurenai Yuhi also been instantly defeated by Itachi?

Besides, data was just data. Some people scored full marks because they had reached their limit, while others did so because the test was only worth that many points. Their true limits were far higher.

Thanks to his tremendous improvement in Genjutsu, Sasuke had turned the tables and killed Orochimaru. In the opening Genjutsu clash against Itachi, he had fought him to a draw.

His Genjutsu improvement had been the most obvious. His Ninjutsu and Speed had been less noticeable, but they had still improved greatly, reaching ten and nine respectively. That was already top-tier.

The signature of his Ninjutsu was the Chidori Current series.

Although Sasuke had already known Chidori before defecting to Orochimaru, and Orochimaru himself did not know Chidori, that did not mean Orochimaru could not provide effective guidance.

When Naruto trained in Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, neither Kakashi nor Yamato taught him Wind Release. They had Naruto seek advice from Asuma, yet Naruto's Rasenshuriken had still been trained step by step by Kakashi and Yamato.

Yamato had used Water Release and Earth Release to create a training ground, then used Wood Release to suppress the Nine-Tails' Chakra inside Naruto.

Kakashi had provided the training methods: using Shadow Clones to accumulate experience, as well as explanations of nature and shape transformation.

The same applied to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's basic Ninjutsu score was ten. He harbored ambitions of mastering every Ninjutsu, possessed every Chakra nature, and had been praised by Hiruzen Sarutobi as a genius seen only once in decades. What he excelled at most was developing Ninjutsu and the five forbidden techniques.

Could his guidance for Sasuke really have been less thorough than that of Kakashi and Yamato?

As for Speed nine, it had come from Sasuke's talent, the power of the cursed seal, and Orochimaru's influence.

During the battle at the Valley of the End, Sasuke had mastered the Heavenly Cursed Seal, but that did not mean the cursed seal had no more potential to develop.

The cursed seal had aided Sasuke many times. For example, when his hand seal speed could not compare to Itachi's, he had still achieved miracles through sheer force with the cursed seal.

Sasuke's Taijutsu had risen from five to seven. There were no shortcuts for that. After copying Taijutsu, all one could do was train bitterly and gain real combat experience.

As the master of Otogakure, Orochimaru had provided Sasuke with no shortage of sparring partners.

Combined with the electrical stimulation strengthening method, Sasuke's close-combat ability was very strong. Of course, there was still quite a gap between him and Killer B.

Finally, there was the use of Summoning Techniques.

The snakes of Ryūchi Cave did not have as many tricks as Mount Myoboku's creatures, but knowing how to use them was equally a deep field of study.

Snake Summoning Techniques had saved Sasuke from danger many times. Their greatest showing had been against Deidara's sneak attack and self-destruction.

There was also the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique used against Amaterasu, as well as the one-hit-kill Kirin.

The Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique was the king of Substitution Techniques. It was ridiculously useful.

When Kirin appeared, Itachi had not looked as though he was merely pretending to panic.

Sasuke's enormous improvement in his foundational Genjutsu ability, combined with his normal soul and mental strength, plus the boost from a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan, meant that he would not be as helpless against Tsukuyomi as Kakashi had been.

In short, after three years of study under Orochimaru, Sasuke had gone from someone thoroughly outclassed in every way to someone capable of facing Itachi directly.

The claim that Itachi could simply open with Susanoo and instantly kill Sasuke was fundamentally untenable. Battles in the ninja world always began with probing; no one started by immediately unleashing their ultimate move.

With Itachi's Chakra reserves of only Stamina five and his terrible physical condition, as long as Sasuke avoided the edge of his power, Itachi would definitely be the first to collapse.

The half-body Susanoo had a limited attack range, while Sasuke was fast and had many survival techniques.

The Sword of Totsuka was not a locking attack. Even if it were, Sasuke could still escape with the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique.

If Orochimaru had not insisted on showing off, gotten pierced by the Sword of Totsuka, and failed to use the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique in time, he would not have been sealed away.

This had been the combined result of Sasuke's own talent, hard work, and Orochimaru's teaching. How could it be erased with just the words "holding back" or "going easy"?

Uchiha Gen believed Itachi had truly been surprised by Sasuke's strength. Even if he had held back, it had not been by much, let alone to the extent of going easy on him.

Erasing Sasuke's three years of grueling cultivation with a single phrase like "holding back" or "going easy" was far too biased!

Such outstanding teaching ability naturally could not be passed up.

Even if he had his own plans for becoming stronger, who would dislike becoming more well-rounded and more powerful?

"I look forward to your performance."

The moment Orochimaru finished speaking, he attacked. His body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, and his fist smashed toward Uchiha Gen's handsome face.

Uchiha Gen sidestepped, grabbed Orochimaru's arm with his left hand, and raised his left leg to kick at his abdomen.

Orochimaru pressed downward with one hand. The arm Uchiha Gen had grabbed twisted, his wrist bending as bonelessly as a snake, and he seized Uchiha Gen's wrist in return.

Uchiha Gen raised his right hand and fiercely hammered the joint between Orochimaru's forearm and upper arm.

Orochimaru released him and attacked again. Fists, feet, palms, and knees came crashing in like a raging storm.

Uchiha Gen activated his Sharingan and dealt with them calmly.

Their bodies were nimble and swift, shifting and leaping, crouching, arching, jumping, and flipping in smooth flowing motions. Every move embodied speed, precision, and ruthlessness, while the dull thuds of fists and feet colliding rang out continuously...

After three minutes, even with the boost of the Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Gen faintly felt that he could no longer hold on. He immediately drew the ninja sword from his back and counterattacked.

Orochimaru's Taijutsu was truly powerful. He lacked neither strength, speed, nor precision, and from time to time, he unleashed bizarre moves that caught one completely off guard.

After avoiding the sword light, Orochimaru quickly retreated, threw back his head, and spat a sticky Kusanagi Blade from his mouth.

Without even bothering to clean it, Orochimaru grabbed the hilt, casually shook it once, and charged forward.

Clang, clang, clang...

The sound of metal striking metal rang out without pause, sparks flying in every direction. Compared with their fist-and-foot exchange, the intensity of their swordsmanship duel had risen by another level.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

Two minutes later, Orochimaru used a feint with the Kusanagi Blade in his right hand to lure him in. Then he flicked his left hand, and four black-and-gray venomous snakes suddenly shot out from his sleeve, each aiming for his neck, heart, and both kidneys.

Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!

His eyes swept across them, and the four venomous snakes instantly fell under Genjutsu. They involuntarily changed their attack paths, their coordinated strike missing completely. Then Uchiha Gen advanced rather than retreating, thrusting his sword toward Orochimaru's heart.

Clang! Orochimaru blocked with his sword, admiration appearing on his face. "Your Taijutsu and swordsmanship are passable, but what truly amazes me is your Genjutsu."

"With merely a C-rank Genjutsu, you avoided a lethal sneak attack. And you cast it through the Sharingan without forming hand seals."

"You have a very high talent for Genjutsu."

Orochimaru knew Uchiha Gen possessed the Sharingan, so he had gradually gathered the Chakra for Hidden Shadow Snake Hands from the start of the fight. Uchiha Gen's Two-Tomoe Sharingan had not detected anything unusual at all.

Such minute Chakra fluctuations likely required the insight of a Three-Tomoe Sharingan or Byakugan to detect.

"I really do have a tiny bit of talent in Genjutsu."

"Fortunately, I have talent for Genjutsu. Otherwise, without the Sharingan detecting it, I would likely have fallen for that."

"It seems I cannot rely too much on the Sharingan..."

"It is very good that you realized that."

"The Sharingan may be powerful, but you cannot depend on it excessively."

Orochimaru spoke with great confidence at that moment. Although he was interested in the Sharingan, he was not crazily obsessed with it.

"Again. Let me see more of your talent."

Perhaps he had encountered something that delighted him, because Orochimaru's voice carried a trace of excitement.

"As you wish!"

Sorry for all the extra commentary in this chapter. I mainly had to get it off my chest. I feel that Sasuke was unfairly criticized in his battle against Itachi. His three years of dangerous, hard work were erased with claims of Itachi holding back or going easy on him. Some people's comments really make my head hurt...