Training, Training

Just like that, time passed, and a month slipped by.

As a newly minted ninja, Orochimaru's career wasn't as thrilling as he'd imagined.

Instead, it began with the lowest-ranking D-rank missions: pulling weeds, finding lost cats, looking after children, repairing walls... mostly tedious little jobs like that.

Orochimaru didn't mind. These missions usually took place around Konoha, giving him a chance to observe the village.

His main goal was to see what business opportunities might be nearby. After all, research required funding.

Aside from that, he'd spent most of his time on another matter.

He was working on an improved design for a weapon commonly used by master Assassins in another world: the Hidden Blade, based on his memories of that life.

Drawing on this world's knowledge of mechanical devices, he'd modified its trigger mechanism to be chakra-activated, making it better suited to the stealthy, swift combat style of ninjas.

With the plans finished, all that remained was to make them a reality.

He found a blacksmith's shop in the village with a decent reputation.

It was small, tucked away in a somewhat secluded alley. The air was thick with the scorching, metallic tang of hot iron and the choking smell of burning coal.

Orochimaru handed the plans to the sweat-soaked blacksmith and briefly explained what he wanted.

The blacksmith studied the intricate design, surprise flashing in his eyes. It was the first time he'd seen plans with such detailed annotations.

"This thing... has a very clever mechanism. The materials and craftsmanship it requires aren't cheap, either.

"It'll take a lot of work to make.

"As for the price... Since you're a Konoha Ninja, I'll do it for a hundred thousand ryo."

After a long pause, he set down the plans, wiped away his sweat, and spoke in a low voice.

A hundred thousand ryo?

Even though Orochimaru had been expecting a high price, his eyelid still twitched when he heard the figure.

From what he'd learned so far, he earned around a thousand ryo on average for each D-rank mission.

A steaming bowl of ramen from a street stall cost about sixty ryo.

A hundred thousand ryo was roughly the equivalent of a hundred D-rank missions.

Still, the First Shinobi World War had only recently ended, and the village was rebuilding. Military supplies like weapons were bound to be marked up, so the price wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Besides, the Hidden Blade's design really was complicated, and demanded exceptional craftsmanship.

He took a deep breath and pulled a small pouch from his Ninja Tool Pouch.

"Here's the deposit. Have it ready as soon as you can."

He pushed the pouch over, his voice calm.

It stung to pay so much, but the blade might come in handy at a critical moment.

"No problem. Come back for it in a week."

The blacksmith weighed the pouch in his hand, his eyes lighting up, and nodded.

The afternoon sun was a little harsh as Orochimaru stepped out of the shop.

Money. Still not enough...

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, feeling a little rueful.

If just making a Hidden Blade cost this much, who knew how much it would take to build a fully equipped biology lab?

The money from missions alone certainly wouldn't be enough. And if he spent every day doing missions, he'd have less time for experiments.

He'd have to find a more efficient way to make money as soon as possible...

As his thoughts whirled, a furtive figure caught his eye.

That distinctive white hair stood out in the crowd. It could only be Jiraiya.

At that moment, he was on tiptoe, craning his neck to peek in the direction of the women's bathhouse.

That guy... some things never changed...

Orochimaru's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. He silently looked away, pretended not to know Jiraiya, and turned in the opposite direction.

After walking for a while, he returned home.

He opened the door. The room was dim.

As soon as he stepped into the entryway, two identical figures silently appeared in the living room and nodded to him in understanding.

"Poof!" "Poof!"

With two soft pops, the Shadow Clones vanished into white smoke. At the same time, a torrent of information flooded Orochimaru's mind: all the experience and insights the two clones had gained from training in Chakra Nature Transformation over the past few hours.

The Shadow Clone Technique was one of the most incredible, almost cheat-like jutsu in the Naruto world.

It created tangible clones that possessed all the original's experience. When a clone was dispelled, its experience and memories were fed back to the original in full.

It was incredibly useful for both training and research...

But the technique had a downside: taking in so much information at once placed a heavy strain on the mind.

Fortunately, thanks to his experiences sharing consciousness and memories with his other "selves" in the Gray Mist Space, his mental energy far exceeded that of his peers, and his soul had grown much more resilient.

For now, it wasn't the mental strain holding him back. It was the amount of chakra he had!

After all, he didn't have a Tailed Beast or Uzumaki bloodline or anything like that...

He closed his eyes and quietly absorbed the new information in his mind.

The main focus of his Shadow Clones' training during this period had been Chakra Nature Transformation.

Nature transformation meant imbuing one's chakra with a specific nature, such as wind, fire, lightning, water, or earth—or, in other words, giving one's chakra the properties of those elements.

Ninjas who mastered nature transformation could unleash greater power when using the corresponding style of jutsu.

For example, Fire Style infused with fire-nature chakra would burn hotter and deal more damage, while Wind Style infused with wind-nature chakra would generate wind more quickly, and so on.

Depending on their innate physical aptitude, every ninja was naturally more compatible with certain chakra natures.

For example, his basic natures were wind and earth. That meant he could make twice the progress when training in nature transformation for those two elements.

That didn't mean he could only use jutsu of those two natures, though. With enough hard work, he could master the nature transformations of other elements, and even develop a Kekkei Genkai or Kekkei Tōta by combining multiple natures.

He'd learned all this, along with the method for training in Chakra Nature Transformation, from his teacher, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had given him special instruction.

After witnessing his talent during the bell test, the Third Hokage naturally hadn't refused his request to learn ninjutsu.

The title of Professor of Ninjutsu was well deserved. The Third Hokage had a profound understanding of jutsu.

It was just a shame that he focused more on how to use them than on uncovering how they worked.

Orochimaru nodded in satisfaction. The Shadow Clone's training efficiency truly lived up to its reputation.

What interested him more, though, was the mechanism behind transferring information and creating tangible clones.

However, he had a more immediate problem to deal with.

He walked over to the desk in the corner of the room, pulled open a drawer, and took out a bankbook where he recorded his income and expenses.

Looking at the balance, Orochimaru sighed. Once he paid the remaining balance for the Hidden Blade, he'd probably have to live on dirt.

It was time to seriously think about ways to make money...