Spirit Beast

Hui arrived at the training ground and looked at the open space around her. She opened the scroll to scan its contents; although Orochimaru did not intend to teach her personally, the scroll was written in great detail.

Hui familiarized herself with the sequence first before releasing her chakra, but she failed at the start because she could not control the flow.

The seal formation on the ground vanished. Hui tried a few more times without much success, and even when she did manage to summon something, it was only a few small snakes.

Hui suddenly remembered that Orochimaru had a technique for summoning a multitude of snakes. Following the sensation of that forbidden jutsu, she attempted to summon again. Suddenly, a swarm of small snakes emerged, crawling densely across the ground.

Hui was startled. Seeing the snakes slithering on the ground made her scalp tingle; as expected, the number of snakes summoned by the Summoning Jutsu was immense.

She dispelled the summoning to send them all back and had no choice but to begin practicing the most basic summoning techniques.

Her fingers had been bitten in several places, and she could only summon snakes slightly taller than herself. Furthermore, there was the issue that these snakes would bite people.

Hui truly felt overwhelmed. She looked at her fingers with a pang of heartache; the stinging pain had yet to fade.

Hui sat on the ground, feeling powerless. She figured that if she didn't succeed today, she would likely be looked down upon. Hui scanned her surroundings and caught sight of a high mountain in the distance. A flash of inspiration struck her: Should I pull a Naruto and jump off a cliff?

Hui scrambled up from the ground, acting on her impulse. The moment the thought crossed her mind, her heart began to race with excitement. She leaped a few times to reach the area and, after exerting every ounce of her strength, finally stood at the summit.

Looking down at the distant ground, Hui let out a long breath. She stepped back a few paces, then sprinted forward at full speed. As she neared the edge of the cliff, she leaped high into the air.

"Ah!!"

Hui jumped off the mountain and plummeted straight down. The fierce wind whipped against her face, and the immense sensation of weightlessness instantly washed away the adrenaline that had been fueling Hui Youling. She truly felt that there was something wrong with her brain.

"Whoa!"

Hui could not control her expression; her face stung from the wind. She hurriedly bit her finger and performed hand seals rapidly. Chakra surged out frantically, but no miracle occurred.

"Ah!!!"

Watching the tree branches draw ever closer, Hui resigned herself to her fate and shielded her body. She crashed into the trees, scraping against branches and colliding several times before finally hitting the ground after multiple buffers.

Hui landed on her back. She felt a sharp pain in her tailbone; it was fortunate she had adjusted her posture, or she would have landed face-first, though the rest of her body didn't fare much better.

"So painful..." Hui rubbed her waist, curling into a ball in misery. Her tailbone felt like it was going to break.

"Your method of training is truly unique."

A cold, mocking voice came from behind her. Hui turned to look and saw it was Kimimaro, though he looked different—she couldn't quite put her finger on what had changed.

"Kimimaro?!!" Hui looked at him in surprise; it felt like she hadn't seen him in a long time.

"I thought that with your strength, learning this Summoning Jutsu wouldn't be difficult. Yet, you chose such a foolish method." Kimimaro walked toward Hui, his eyes devoid of emotion.

Hui frowned uncomfortably. "I can grasp it, but it always feels strange when I release my chakra."

Green chakra rose on Hui's hands as she began to heal the injuries on her body.

"Hui, do you remember how you released your chakra when using Wind Style: Instant Kill?"

Hui furrowed her brows in thought. At that time, she had released all her chakra outward. She did indeed feel that same sensation when using the Summoning Jutsu.

"Summoning beasts are a form of space-time ninjutsu, not a wide-area damage technique. You must gather the chakra in your palms before releasing it over a wide area." Kimimaro glanced at her indifferently. Seeing her head bowed in contemplation, he knew she understood his meaning.

"Think about it yourself. I'm leaving." Kimimaro stopped talking to her and turned to walk away. Hui raised her eyes to look at him and noticed the Earth Cursed Seal. So, that was what was different?

A strange emotion flickered through Hui's heart. Orochimaru's Cursed Seal had succeeded after all. She didn't know if she felt excited or afraid; it was complicated. After thinking for a moment, she decided not to dwell on it.

She should focus on treating these pathetic-looking wounds first. As expected, medical ninjutsu was very useful at times like this.

She tried the Summoning Jutsu again. This time, she finally summoned a large snake. Its cold, serpentine eyes fixed on Hui. Hui activated her Mind's Eye of the Kagura to meet its gaze. How could she have forgotten that if these summoning beasts did not acknowledge the person who summoned them, why would they serve her?

The giant snake opened its maw and lunged at Hui. Having sensed it, Hui leaped to the side and quickly performed hand seals. The snake changed direction to bite at her, and Hui unleashed several Wind Blades at the serpent.

"Hiss!" The Wind Blades struck the snake, carving several gashes into the ground, but the snake's body only sustained a few minor wounds, proving how thick its scales were. Hui did not stop her movements; she used a Body Flicker to appear at the snake's head and delivered a fierce kick.

The giant snake crashed to the ground and vanished with a poof. Hui landed on the ground, but her gaze was not on where the snake had disappeared, but in another direction. Sure enough, she saw Orochimaru.

"Master Orochimaru."

Orochimaru smiled faintly, still somewhat eerie, and said in a raspy voice, "Not bad, Hui. You can experiment with more Wind Style ninjutsu now."

Hui pondered for a moment before asking, "Master, is it possible to achieve flight by controlling the wind?"

Hearing Hui Youling's question, Orochimaru chuckled softly. "Of course. I once collected a scroll on that very technique."

Orochimaru produced another scroll from somewhere and tossed it to Hui. Hui hurriedly raised her hands to catch it.

"Additionally, you have been experimenting with the Drilling Air Bullet. I have now found the appropriate chakra ratio for it."

"Drilling Air Bullet?" Hui felt that the name did not exist in her memory.

"What, have you forgotten? That technique you could only manage to use once," Orochimaru sneered, squinting his eyes at her.

Hui finally recalled the move—the ninjutsu that had forced Kimimaro to defend himself the first time. "That's called the Drilling Air Bullet? It seems there was another technique from the Demon Wind Clan. What was its name?"

"Fierce Slash. You simplified that technique into several Wind Blades," Orochimaru chuckled lightly, surprised by Hui's learning ability.

"Yes. Ordinary Wind Blade attacks are too weak and easily dodged. That technique has extremely fast attack speed and high damage," Hui admitted truthfully.

"Good. Spend this time learning the contents of the scroll. I believe the ninjutsu you mentioned today can be further improved." Orochimaru's eyes were filled with the excitement of researching new techniques.

Hui nodded. "Understood. I will trouble you during this time, Master."

Orochimaru smiled enigmatically, stopped looking at Hui, and turned to leave.

Hui withdrew her gaze from Orochimaru and turned to the scroll in her hands. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly. These ninjutsu suddenly interested her as well; although they had many flaws, the power of the techniques was truly immense. If she could refine them, they would surely become her signature moves.

In less than a week, Hui finally mastered the chakra ratio for the Drilling Air Bullet. Orochimaru provided suggestions from the sidelines, and she progressed very quickly. She also made headway with wind-controlled flight; although it took quite some time to master the balance of flying, with Orochimaru's guidance, her progress was rapid.

Afterward, Hui Youling followed Orochimaru to change bases, arriving at a small island. The entire journey was made by walking directly across the surface of the water, and Orochimaru simply taught her the basics of how to control it.