Special Lessons Beyond the Village

Beyond the Village

The sounds of clashing blades rang through the jungle, startling flocks of birds into flight.

Three figures raced through the forest. Kunai and shuriken sparked as they collided, while patches of scorched earth and craters pocked the ground. Trees of all sizes lay toppled across the forest floor.

Orochimaru had kept his word and taken Akashi along for training.

There was no denying he was a very capable mentor. Not only had he taught Akashi the Snake Clone Technique, he'd also personally guided him through combat practice. The only downside was how brutal it got.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Uchiha Akashi muttered, quickly forming hand seals.

A blazing torrent rushed forward, only to be blocked by a Water Formation Wall that surged from the ground. Mist billowed into the air, and Orochimaru darted through it like a ghost, kicking Akashi hard enough to send him flying more than a dozen meters. His back slammed into a tree trunk.

"Haah... haah..."

After several rounds of combat, Akashi could feel the gap between them.

Under Orochimaru's terrifying pressure, even defending himself took everything he had. Anko could do little more than provide support, and the two of them together still weren't enough.

The Sannin's strength was beyond that of an ordinary jōnin.

Orochimaru held a kunai in one hand and ran his tongue along its edge. In a raspy voice, he said, "You've both made a lot of progress, especially you, Akashi. You're finally starting to keep up with my speed."

Akashi smiled. "I still have a long way to go."

Orochimaru smiled too. Akashi was being modest, but he knew the boy's abilities inside out. He'd already mastered a variety of techniques, including Fire Release and Wind Release. He'd even learned the Snake Clone Technique in just a few days. His talent was remarkable, much like Orochimaru's own had been at that age.

Against an ordinary Special Jōnin—no, even a jōnin—Akashi would have a very good chance of winning.

He was probably on par with that genius, Hatake Kakashi.

"Come on. Let's keep going."

"We're still fighting? I've already hit my limit."

"You're still standing here talking to me, so that can't be true." Orochimaru's gaze suddenly sharpened. He took a light step and leaped, sending the kunai in his hand whistling toward Akashi.

At the same time, six serpentine shadows shot from his sleeves. The gray snakes twisted through the air and lunged at Akashi, their bodies coiling as they closed in.

Akashi quickly retreated. The instant he dodged the kunai, he formed hand seals.

The gray snakes tangled together as they surged forward, baring their venomous fangs. They attacked from every angle, using their fearsome appearance to intimidate him—but a fireball met them head-on.

The flames weren't hot enough to kill, but they could certainly scald a snake.

Even so, Orochimaru had used only one hand.

At some point, he'd drawn a ninja blade with the other. The blade was usually straight and meant for thrusting. Combined with Orochimaru's graceful movements, it made him look like a whirlwind in motion.

Anko immediately threw shuriken to impede Orochimaru, then tossed Akashi a ninja blade.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

The sharp notes rang out one after another. Orochimaru easily knocked the shuriken aside, then spun his blade, sweeping out a silvery arc.

The movement looked elegant, but its force was absurd.

Akashi barely managed to meet the attack. The blades scraped together with a shrill screech, and his heel sank half a centimeter into the soil.

A close-quarters blade fight wasn't his strong suit. Orochimaru drove him back again and again.

Seeing that things were going badly, Anko threw ninja tools from a distance to support him and used specially made smoke bombs as well. But Orochimaru knew all about those tricks, making it hard for them to land a hit.

After a few exchanges, Akashi's arm had been cut, and several chunks had been sliced off the hard stone pillars nearby.

"Is that all?"

Orochimaru swung a leg through the air and kicked Akashi away, then hurled his ninja blade straight at Akashi's left side.

Poof!

The instant before the blade struck, the Substitution Technique took effect.

The gleaming blade buried itself halfway into a log, and Akashi vanished from where he'd been.

This was one of the Ninja Academy's most basic lessons. It was simple to learn and widely useful. There were ordinary substitutions that used wood or animals as mediums, as well as advanced ones that used elements like water or earth. There were also special techniques like the Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique.

For the cost of a little chakra, a shinobi could evade a tremendous amount of damage. It was an excellent trade.

Of course, the Substitution Technique had its limits.

At its core, it was just a "trick of the eye," not a life-saving skill that could be activated at any moment. The object to be swapped in had to be prepared in advance, and the user had to anticipate when to activate the technique. The distance of the swap generally couldn't be too great, either.

The key was "in advance."

In combat, the technique was usually used to fool an opponent with an illusion, dodge danger, and counterattack an opening. It could also be used to draw an enemy's attention while hiding one's tracks and escaping.

It was nothing like techniques such as Amenotejikara or Izanagi, which could overturn reality.

In a cloud of white smoke, Akashi swapped places with the log and appeared on a thick branch. Before he could catch his breath, a snake shot up from below, as if Orochimaru had already seen through his move.

This was sheer misery!

Akashi grumbled to himself and fired a shuriken, knocking the snake away.

He quickly returned to the ground, only to find Orochimaru closing in. In a panic, he formed hand seals. "Wind Release: Breakthrough!"

As he built up chakra in his mouth to the limit, a massive burst of wind surged forward. The gale bent the trees and stopped Orochimaru's charge.

But Orochimaru only smiled faintly. His long hair whipped about as his fingers moved. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Akashi grimaced as the countering gale blew him off his feet. He hit the ground hard, landing beside Anko.

When he got back up, no one was in sight.

"Your hand seals are too slow. That's your weakness."

The voice suddenly came from very close by. The ground heaved, and Akashi and Anko realized something was wrong—but it was too late. Several gray snakes burst through the soil and coiled around their ankles. This time, Akashi had no clone or substitution to help him. He was bound fast.

If Orochimaru wanted, the snakes could bite them at once.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands." Akashi swallowed, casting a wary glance at the vicious snakes. His heart tightened.

"You use your various ninjutsu very well, and you have enough chakra. You truly are a member of the Uchiha Clan. I may consider teaching you Hidden Shadow Snake Hands."

Orochimaru let go, and the gray snakes slipped back into his sleeves.

"You're too kind."

"Come help with tomorrow's experiment." Orochimaru sheathed his ninja blade and turned away, walking slowly toward the jungle. "As for you, Anko, you should ask Akashi for guidance more often from now on..."

With that, he leaped away and disappeared.

Akashi stared at the empty woods, his taut nerves finally relaxing.

Orochimaru was strong.

Akashi had thought he was just someone with high stats and a hodgepodge of skills that didn't deal much damage. But looking back at the battles he'd been in, they'd been against the Third Hokage, Four-Tails Naruto, and the Kage Level powerhouses of the Akatsuki—and most of the time, they hadn't even been at their peak.

You could say he was strong, but he seemed to use only those two techniques.

You could say he wasn't strong, but he was the only living person in the entire Shinobi World who could use those two techniques.

If he hadn't ruined his body, he might have gone far after learning Senjutsu. You could only say fate had played a cruel little joke on him.

Akashi wasn't particularly interested in Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.

What he wanted was Senjutsu and biotechnology.

Still, he'd only just started working with Orochimaru, so making even a little progress was good enough. Getting too impatient would only backfire. Besides, Akashi was working under Orochimaru on a temporary basis. He wasn't officially part of the research team, and if his family or the Third Hokage found out, it would probably cause more trouble.

Fortunately, he was already used to people targeting him, and he'd come up with a clever solution.

When in doubt, just say you're a spy.