"I have to admit, you've surprised me."
Seated on a rock, Orochimaru studied Qi with keen interest. Their battle today had only been a test, and he hadn't joined in. Instead, he'd leisurely watched Qi's performance on the battlefield and after returning to camp.
"There aren't many kids like you in the Shinobi World—talented, yet still able to get along with people."
Orochimaru clicked his tongue.
"From what I've seen, you really are qualified to become my student."
He was genuinely pleased with Qi's performance. Usually, at Qi's age, someone with a kekkei genkai and a decent amount of strength would be cocky as all hell, acting as if they were about to become one of the Five Kage any day now.
There were a few low-key people like Qi, but they were rare. How much cunning could a child this young really have? Being young and hot-blooded was the norm...
Unlike Jiraiya, Orochimaru cared a great deal about talent. In his view, people without talent had limited potential and weren't worth cultivating.
Qi had met Orochimaru's standards during the tests on the road. He'd passed, and his performance on the battlefield had pleased Orochimaru as well.
People who didn't know how to handle their relationships with others tended to die quickly, too. There was no point in carefully cultivating fools who knew nothing but fighting.
In other words, Orochimaru's test of Qi had only now truly ended. From this point on, he would genuinely treat Qi as his student and instruct him carefully.
"So you mean I've been under your scrutiny this whole time, Master..."
Qi wasn't stupid enough to miss the implication. Hearing Orochimaru say that, he knew that if he'd actually died, the man probably wouldn't even have blinked.
That also showed the difference between Orochimaru and Jiraiya. Jiraiya wasn't merely acting as a teacher—he was practically acting as a father!
But Orochimaru wasn't like that. He'd teach you and provide opportunities for you to hone your skills, but if someone killed you, that meant you weren't good enough. He wouldn't bother to help...
"That's right. At least for now, you're qualified to be my student. I have another student, too. You can meet her after we return to Konoha."
Qi knew Orochimaru meant Anko. If he hadn't gotten involved, Anko would have been the only student Orochimaru ever officially acknowledged.
By comparison, Sasuke could only really be considered half a student...
"Thank you, Master. I won't let you down."
Now that he understood Orochimaru's true attitude toward him, Qi felt relieved. He'd been worried that Orochimaru would hold back when teaching him, treating him as nothing more than a passing amusement.
It seemed there was no need to worry... When Orochimaru was willing to carefully teach someone, the results could be remarkable.
"Go back and rest. Tomorrow's battle won't be anything like today's. I don't have time to explain things to you right now. Take this scroll and read it. Remember, killing is the best training. Someone who can't adapt to killing will never become strong."
Orochimaru handed him a scroll. It looked brand-new, clearly something he'd just written.
"Yes."
Qi took the scroll, said goodbye to Orochimaru, and left.
Orochimaru's meaning had been clear enough. Qi needed to rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle. If he couldn't understand that much, what kind of student could he be?
He soon returned to his camp.
Though it was only a temporary camp, the conditions for shinobi were clearly much better than those for ordinary people. The sanitation was better, and medical teams were constantly coming and going.
Thanks to Tsunade's new approach, members of the medical corps even fought alongside the shinobi. It would have been strange if Qi's squad hadn't had a single medical ninja.
"You're back."
As soon as he entered his squad's tent, Uchiha Xiu, who had been sleeping on his bed, looked up and greeted him.
"Yeah... I'm going to wash up."
After tidying his things into his pack, Qi grabbed a change of clothes and left the tent. He fetched a bucket of water and washed himself.
He wasn't worried about losing the scroll Orochimaru had given him. His teammates wouldn't stoop to stealing, either.
The laws—or rules—of the shinobi were much stricter than those of ordinary people. An ordinary person might get away with theft, but a shinobi who stole could be killed for it.
Even if the thief came from a prestigious clan, stealing a comrade's scroll would end terribly for him, no matter how ordinary the victim was. He'd broken the rules. The victim might not be able to do anything to him, but someone with the power to act would.
White Fang's suicide had also violated the shinobi code. Konoha hadn't driven White Fang to his death; the shinobi system had... Naruto had wanted to change that system. Whether he'd succeeded, Qi wasn't sure. It had been a long time since he'd watched Naruto.
After washing and changing, Qi returned to the tent. Everyone was asleep by then. He carefully lay down on his bed, then took out Orochimaru's scroll and began to read.
A long while later, he let out a soft breath...
"Just what you'd expect from one of the Sannin..."
He meant it. He was incredibly impressed with Orochimaru...
After observing him in battle for only a day, Orochimaru had already gained a thorough understanding of his abilities.
The scroll contained Orochimaru's assessment of Qi's first battle that day, along with his advice. Qi read through it carefully. There were dozens of points, all addressing fatal flaws he'd displayed.
And Orochimaru had saved time by listing only the most important, most dangerous ones...
Still, the scroll wasn't entirely a critique of Qi's shortcomings. Orochimaru had also written down ways to improve and methods Qi could choose from. He'd even included ways to strengthen weapons with Wind Release chakra and improve Qi's Ice Release kekkei genkai.
Most of the top shinobi in the world weren't kekkei genkai users, but that didn't stop them from understanding how to use them. Orochimaru was clearly one such shinobi.
For example, Orochimaru pointed out in the scroll that training to precisely control each chakra nature on its own could also improve Qi's control over his kekkei genkai.
Ice Release was formed by combining the properties of Water and Wind chakra. The more precise and balanced Qi's control of those two chakra natures became, the better his mastery of Ice Release would become as well.
Honestly, Qi had never thought of that. He'd always treated kekkei genkai and ordinary chakra natures as completely separate systems.
Now he finally understood why his progress in training his kekkei genkai had been disappointing, even though he had the Yuki Clan's secret scroll...
He'd lost his balance... He'd barely trained in Wind Release chakra at all...
Kekkei genkai were envied because, once awakened, they became almost instinctive for their users. All they needed to do was train to use them better.
The Yuki Clan's Ice Release worked the same way. Once awakened, chakra combined on its own, rather than through deliberate control. But the stronger Qi's chakra control became, the more skillfully he'd be able to use his kekkei genkai.
It would all fall into place naturally. He'd be able to increase Ice Release's power, use it more quickly, and spend less chakra.
What interested Qi most, however, was Orochimaru's detailed explanation of chakra capacity. Qi had always wanted to increase his own chakra reserves.
But Orochimaru's take was that what people called "increasing" their chakra was, for the most part, better described as "overdrawing" it.
In other words, barring special circumstances, a person's chakra capacity was basically set at birth. It naturally increased as they grew and decreased as they aged...
Although chakra was a combination of spiritual energy and cellular energy—the so-called union of Yin and Yang—how could you strengthen something innate without resorting to special methods?
And if you used special methods, who knew what side effects they might cause? Besides, those so-called special methods were essentially forbidden techniques.
What were forbidden techniques? They were the kind of techniques you were better off not using unless you were ready to face the consequences.
It was a dead end, a perfect example of the saying, "There's no gain without loss..."
"Looks like there's no conventional way to increase my chakra reserves..."
After a while, Qi reached that conclusion and felt a little disappointed.
"Forget it. Things will work themselves out. Even if I can't increase my reserves, I can improve my control. My control seems pretty good already..."
Once he thought of it that way, he quickly felt better.
If there was something he couldn't have, there was no point in obsessing over it. You couldn't let yourself choke on disappointment.
Having settled his thoughts, he put the scroll away, lay down like the others, and fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again, dawn was breaking...
He'd learned how to sleep as efficiently as possible back when he fled the Land of Water. He needed only a short time to regain his energy.
The key to sleep was efficiency, not duration.
He climbed out of bed and felt completely refreshed.
"Doesn't matter where you are—the morning air is always the best!"
He walked out of the tent and took a deep breath. Then, following his usual routine, he began the muscle-training regimen Ogata had taught him. According to Ogata, it was an excellent way to train the body and make it stronger.
It was a lot like the radio calisthenics from his previous life, except there was no radio in the shinobi world...
Since it was still early, a few passing patrol ninjas nodded to him, signaling that he shouldn't wake the others.
That was completely unnecessary. Qi wasn't about to wake anyone up. People could be pretty irritable when they'd just gotten out of bed. Did he want to get mobbed or something...
But shinobi didn't exactly have the luxury of sleeping well. The stronger they were, the less likely they were to enjoy something as simple as sleep. Even while Qi was still doing his muscle-training exercises, more and more people were coming out of their tents to stretch and get moving.
Even Qi's four teammates came out one by one.
"Is this a workout? Your method looks pretty special..."
There was something appreciative in Hyuga Tong's gaze.
Ogata was only an average shinobi in the Shinobi World, but his control over his body was undeniably first-rate. This muscle-training regimen had been specially tailored for Qi, and Hyuga Tong, who specialized in Taijutsu, could naturally see its benefits.
"Yeah... My old master taught it to me. Want to learn?"
Qi didn't mind teaching others. Ogata had said there was no need to keep it secret, and that it worked best for Qi anyway.
"No need. This training routine looks like it was tailor-made for you. If other people tried it, I doubt they'd get even half the results you do."
Hyuga Tong had a sharp eye. He came from a great clan, after all, and had seen a lot.
Qi smiled. Just as he was about to say something, a shrill whistle suddenly rang through the camp. It was Konoha's signal to assemble immediately.
An assembly meant battle was about to begin. The command center would assign missions to each squad. Arriving late meant punishment at best and death at worst—just like military law.
"Time to assemble. Let's do our best today!"
Uchiha Xiu looked at his teammates with shining eyes. That was the way of the battlefield: even if you'd started out as strangers, surviving together could easily turn you into close friends.
That was what they called the three great bonds of life: killing together, going to school together, and, well, doing that other thing together.
Compared with the latter two, having killed together was naturally something special.
"Let's all make it back to Konoha alive!"
Genin could die at any moment, even if they came from a prestigious clan. No one on the battlefield cared who your family was. If you weren't strong enough, even the Hokage's son could be killed. Uchiha Xiu wasn't cursing anyone; he was offering a blessing. They all understood that.
"Leave any opponents skilled in close combat to me. The Rock Ninja's Hardening Technique is useless against the Gentle Fist of the Hyuga Clan," Hyuga Tong said.
He'd tested it the day before. Hardening Technique at the same rank as a Genin was practically no defense at all against his Gentle Fist.
"I'll handle harassment. My kekkei genkai is well suited to the battlefield," Qi said with a nod.
Against Earth Release's Hardening Technique, Gentle Fist really was useful.
As they spoke, the five of them reached the assembly area. Soon, hundreds of Konoha ninjas had gathered and were waiting to receive their assignments.
Just like the day before, Qi's squad was assigned to attack the formation.
The difference was that this time it wasn't a test. It was a real battle, because several Jonin, including Orochimaru, would be fighting as well.
The previous day's skirmish between the Genin units had already left over a hundred dead. Now that both sides' Jonin were joining the fight, the battle would inevitably end with one side suffering near-total losses. Even the victors would lose at least half their forces.
Battles between shinobi armies that included Jonin had always been deadly! It had been that way ever since the Shinobi World began.
The reason was simple: for a Jonin, killing shinobi below their rank was even easier than killing ordinary people was for a Genin!