The Sannin were all exceptionally devoted teachers.
None of the disciples they had trained in the Original Work were simple characters. Even the weakest, Mitaraishi Anko, had become a Special Jonin.
Teacher Orochimaru had not taken Gojo Yoru on any D-Rank Missions.
Instead, he guided Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina's training at an abandoned training ground.
Within the forest, Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina were conducting a Survival Exercise, evading Orochimaru's pursuit.
To confuse Orochimaru, Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina not only set a large number of traps around the area, but also had Uzumaki Kushina create Shadow Clones that transformed into Gojo Yoru to lure Orochimaru out.
Their real bodies used the Invisibility Technique to hide.
In the end, Orochimaru saw through every one of those tricks.
Then battle erupted in the forest.
Unfortunately, even after using every method at their disposal, they could not harm Orochimaru in the slightest. He did not even use any ninjutsu above B-Rank throughout the entire fight, yet easily subdued Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina.
Gojo Yoru fared somewhat better. His powerful Body Flicker Technique allowed him to struggle against Orochimaru for a while.
Uzumaki Kushina, on the other hand, felt rather stifled. She had an enormous amount of chakra, enough that every Shadow Clone could wield a Rasengan, yet Orochimaru instantly took her down with a single Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu. She had strength but nowhere to use it.
"Your Shadow Clone tactic just now was quite good. A ninja's battle is a battle of intelligence."
"However, you must remember one thing: whatever you know, the enemy may know as well."
"Although the Shadow Clone Jutsu was invented by the Second Hokage, its intelligence-gathering capabilities are extremely powerful, so it has long spread among ninja in every country. It is not something only Konoha ninja know."
"Before you are certain whether the enemy is the real body, never expose your own. And before you are confident of killing with a single blow, do not waste chakra on high-level ninjutsu. Otherwise, you may very well fall into the enemy's trap."
"Ninja are tools of assassination. Assassination is always the first choice!"
"Also, your coordination at the start was excellent. But once one of you fell into a disadvantage, you lost your composure. That is a major taboo on the battlefield."
"At that time, you should cover your teammate's retreat, not come over and create more trouble."
"..."
During the post-battle review, Orochimaru pointed out Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina's shortcomings.
The one he criticized most was Uzumaki Kushina.
Unlike yesterday's one-on-one battle, today's Survival Exercise allowed Orochimaru to show Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina the gap between themselves and a Jonin.
It was not a gap in chakra or combat power!
In terms of chakra, even without counting the Nine-Tails inside her, Uzumaki Kushina possessed many times more chakra than Orochimaru himself.
As for combat power, Gojo Yoru's Phantom Body Flicker Technique and Rasengan were powerful enough as well.
Yet Orochimaru merely used the forest terrain to restrict Gojo Yoru's Body Flicker Technique. Then, through covert observation, he saw their reliance on and concern for each other, easily subduing them both.
He had not used even a single large-scale high-level ninjutsu throughout the entire battle. When he fought Gojo Yoru yesterday, he had at least used Earth Release: Earth Flow River once.
So Gojo Yoru humbly asked, "Teacher Orochimaru, what aspect do you think we should strengthen next?"
No matter how much a transmigrator knew, it was merely armchair theory.
Unless one's strength completely overwhelmed the opponent's, any shortcomings would be laid bare when facing an enemy stronger than oneself.
Orochimaru had wanted to teach him a lesson today, to make him cast aside arrogance and impatience.
At that moment, Uzumaki Kushina was also looking at Orochimaru with sparkling eyes.
After only one Survival Exercise, Uzumaki Kushina had been won over by Orochimaru's strength. No wonder he was Gojo Yoru's teacher.
"As I said before, assassination is always the first choice."
"To assassinate an enemy, you must first find their real body, then silently infiltrate their position."
"Next, you can focus on improving your sensing and infiltration abilities."
Looking at Uzumaki Kushina's hair color, Orochimaru smiled. "The Uzumaki Clan's Mind's Eye of the Kagura is among the pinnacle Sensing Techniques in the Ninja World. If you can awaken this unique ability, even my concealment skills will have nowhere to hide before you."
"I've heard the clan head and the others mention that too." Uzumaki Kushina wore a troubled expression. "But even in Hidden Whirlpool Village, only a small number of people can awaken this ability."
"My current sensing is not even as good as Yoru's. I don't think I have the talent to awaken it."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Mind's Eye of the Kagura cannot be brought out simply by learning ordinary Sensing Techniques. It requires rigorous training."
Uzumaki Kushina's eyes widened, and she looked at Orochimaru with excitement. "Teacher Orochimaru, do you have a way to help me awaken Mind's Eye of the Kagura?"
"We can try. At the very least, we can determine whether you have the potential."
If anyone else had said that, Gojo Yoru would never have believed it.
But since it was Orochimaru, Gojo Yoru only felt that he was being far too modest.
In the Original Work, Karin had only possessed Physical Healing during the Chunin Ninja Exams.
Yet after joining Orochimaru, she awakened Mind's Eye of the Kagura and Adamantine Sealing Chains through training in just a few years.
It was impossible for Orochimaru not to have helped her.
"Teacher Orochimaru, please, I'm counting on you!" Uzumaki Kushina hurriedly stood and bowed deeply to Orochimaru.
"Sit down first."
Orochimaru raised a hand to gesture to her, then looked at Gojo Yoru and smiled. "You have an Earth affinity as well. Next, you will study Earth Style with me and improve your infiltration ability."
"Yes, Teacher Orochimaru." Gojo Yoru nodded.
The current Orochimaru had yet to develop his own Orochimaru Style.
Aiming to become Hokage and being a disciple of the Third Hokage, what he excelled at most now was Five Element Ninjutsu.
Among them, his Earth Style ninjutsu was used with almost supernatural mastery.
What he had used to toy with Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina throughout the entire exercise were Earth Substitution and Earth Body Flicker, while his concealment ability came from Earth Invisibility.
His fundamentals were absurdly strong!
The Gojo Family's inheritance did not include these foundational Earth Style Extension Techniques, and Gojo Yoru was quite interested in this basic Earth Style as well.
Especially Earth Body Flicker, which allowed one to move underground. It was practically a perfect match for Gojo Yoru's Space-Time Phasing.
Although Gojo Yoru no longer needed to keep both hands in a hand seal at all times to keep his body in a phased state.
He still needed to divide his attention to control the flow of Space-Time Chakra within his body if he wanted to maintain Phasing.
If he tunneled underground, Gojo Yoru would still need to maintain the hand seal posture. Otherwise, a slight mistake could leave him stuck in the earth.
If he could learn Earth Body Flicker, he would not only be able to infiltrate underground, but also have two different choices depending on the situation.
First, if there were many enemies, or if the enemy's strength and sensing abilities were extremely powerful, Gojo Yoru could use Space-Time Phasing to assist Earth Body Flicker, perfectly concealing both his presence and chakra.
Second, if the enemy's strength and sensing abilities were weak, Gojo Yoru could rapidly infiltrate, then use Space-Time Slash to kill the enemy in a single blow.
That image was even more infuriating than Garen bursting out of a bush!
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