Cursed Tools, Cursed Speech

In a dark and damp underground cavern.

Orochimaru possessed the habits of a snake; whenever he needed to stay in one place for a long time, he would inevitably dig a burrow.

"Where are that blonde girl and the white-haired pervert?"

Kaminazuki asked, following behind Orochimaru.

Orochimaru paused his steps and said gently, "Forget about Jiraiya, but you should show some respect when referring to Tsunade. She really will beat you."

Kaminazuki gave a light huff. "It's hard to say who would be beating whom now."

Whether it was the influence of the Uchiha bloodline or, more likely, Kaminazuki's own nature.

After advancing to the Two-Tomoe Sharingan and gaining the ability to use ninjutsu, Kaminazuki was desperate for a suitable opponent to test his strength.

Orochimaru was out of the question; Kaminazuki feared that if he went all out, he might accidentally kill the old snake, and he didn't want to deal with the heartache of Jiraiya and Tsunade.

"It seems your strength has grown significantly of late..."

Orochimaru lit the dim lamps of the basement, revealing several corpses of Iwagakure ninjas.

"Since you chose to come to the battlefield, this is something you will see sooner or later. Will you be unable to adapt?"

Kaminazuki glanced at them and said indifferently, "War means people die."

"It's not that simple..."

Orochimaru placed a hand on Kaminazuki's shoulder and said slowly, "Mass casualties are a necessary condition for winning a war, but this doesn't just apply to the enemy—it includes our own side as well."

"Not just ninjas... but innocent civilians, too."

He pointed to a corpse and continued, "He wasn't a ninja, just a civilian from the Land of Rain who was unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire and died."

"Perhaps you were only ordered to blow up a bridge, burn a forest, or cut off a supply line. You didn't do it intentionally; you might not have even known they existed."

"And then..."

"A few days later, you pass by that place and see the corpses that died because of you."

"They are what we call 'collateral damage,' beings whose names won't even be recorded."

"That is war."

"Kaminazuki, are you truly prepared to join?"

"Can you bear it?"

Orochimaru had learned of Kaminazuki's views on enemies from Sakumo, and now he wanted to know if Kaminazuki would remain indifferent to the lives of the innocent.

He needed to know where Kaminazuki's "line" was to ensure he wouldn't cross it.

An ordinary ninja could still be guided, but once the rational line of an Uchiha snapped, it was almost impossible to repair.

After a moment of silence.

"Of course it would be distressing..."

Kaminazuki's voice was calm. "If one could watch their own kind die without feeling anything, they wouldn't be human anymore."

"Protecting every civilian is a bit unrealistic, but..."

He looked up, staring straight at Orochimaru, and grinned. "Your question is completely outside the scope of my considerations."

"I've said it before: I won't hide my existence."

"If they don't run when they see me, then there is no such thing as 'innocent'!"

Orochimaru was slightly stunned, then shook his head with a wry smile. "Isn't that restriction a bit too simple? What if the enemy runs away—would you not pursue them?"

"You're being long-winded."

Kaminazuki impatiently swatted Orochimaru's hand away. "I'm not some pre-programmed machine. Whether I chase or not depends on my mood."

"My mind and body are perfectly healthy. Instead of wasting time with this preaching, you'd be better off seeing a psychiatrist yourself."

Are you really healthy...

Kaminazuki pulled the Earth Grudge Fear mask from his robes and said, "Help me refine this again. It's too bulky; it's not very convenient."

He wasn't a freak like Madara Uchiha, who took pride in having Hashirama's face growing out of his own body; having a lump protruding from his skin was uncomfortable, to say the least.

"If it's just the size, that's not hard to handle..."

Orochimaru wanted to have a heart-to-heart with his disciple, but he swallowed the words.

Forget it, a tool is a tool. It is only right for a teacher to help his student.

As Orochimaru tinkered with the device, he asked casually, "I heard in the village that you seem to have mastered a special technique. Would you mind telling me about it?"

He had prepared himself for Kaminazuki to refuse, as he was already accustomed to it.

"Look at me."

Orochimaru instinctively looked up, meeting a pair of scarlet, two-tomoe Sharingan.

Three seconds later.

Orochimaru wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and gave a wry smile. "Next time... give your teacher a little warning. Having that much information injected all at once is quite uncomfortable."

"I am merely training your mental endurance; you should be thanking me."

It was too troublesome to speak sentence by sentence; this was how the Sharingan was meant to be used.

Cool and stylish.

Orochimaru took a long moment to recover, the gleam in his eyes growing brighter and his breathing becoming ragged.

"Using language as a medium for Chakra to interfere with reality... what a magnificent idea!"

"And not just that... you actually pulled it off!!"

"Kaminazuki..."

"Compared to you, I, who am called a genius, am nothing but a joke!"

Kaminazuki curled his lips and let out a soft hum. "That is only natural; there is no need to emphasize it."

Could you not consider your teacher's feelings and be a little humble...

Orochimaru shook his head, sorting through the information in his mind. "Currently, it requires the ocular power of the Sharingan to sustain, but this system has the potential to be perfected. It has the prospect of becoming as widespread as hand seals!"

"Perhaps..."

"Kaminazuki, you will surpass the ancestors of the Uchiha and become the progenitor of Ninjutsu, a grandmaster who establishes a sect just like the Sage of Six Paths!"

There were quite a few errors in Orochimaru's statement.

To be precise, the progenitor of Ninjutsu should be Indra, and the Sage of Six Paths was also considered an ancestor of the Uchiha.

However, that history had long been forgotten by the world after a thousand years.

Kaminazuki hadn't even reached twenty years of age across both his lifetimes, and most of that time had been spent in infancy.

At the end of the day, he still had the temperament of a youth and thoroughly enjoyed Orochimaru's praise, feeling that his old snake of a teacher had a certain talent for flattery.

"Hehe... you have a good eye, Teacher Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru busied himself for a while before handing Kaminazuki the Earth Grudge Fear, which was covered in Cursed Seals and compressed to the size of a fist.

"For you, the Earth Grudge Fear is not a forbidden technique to be implanted into the body; it is more like a tool. Calling it a Ninja Tool doesn't quite fit either..."

"Combined with your special constitution, it is foreseeable that your combat style will be completely different from a normal ninja, especially with that unique way of releasing Ninjutsu..."

After a moment of contemplation, Orochimaru's lips curled up. "Kaminazuki-kun, I wonder if I might have the honor of naming your special system?"

What he wanted most was to know everything and learn every technique.

Kaminazuki was almost his most satisfying disciple; from body to soul, he was filled with infinite possibilities.

Watching him was like witnessing the evolution of the ninja world. The feeling was so wonderful that it made him want to participate in it.

Kaminazuki weighed the Earth Grudge Fear in his hand; it was quite light. "Suit yourself."

Orochimaru thought earnestly.

"Such a special Chakra item as the Earth Grudge Fear needs to be distinguished from standard Ninja Tools... usually modifying its appearance with Cursed Seals..."

"Your constitution is called Heavenly Restriction..."

"Let's call them Cursed Tools!"

Kaminazuki nodded casually, not caring about this so-called naming; it was just a label, after all.

"As for the method of casting Ninjutsu through speech... Ninja-speak... Spirit-words... Incantation..."

Orochimaru shook his head slightly, rejecting several options, before his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Cursed Speech!"