Li could only smile wryly at that. A teacher actually asking his student for a meeting gift—he was utterly speechless. Still, Li had come prepared. Even if he had not applied for it himself, the clan would have allocated gifts for the Sannin to him in advance so that he would not disgrace the family.
Li handed over the item in his hand. It was a blue booklet. He had simply tossed the meeting gift provided by the clan into his room; after all, he understood the Sannin far better than his clan did.
When Jiraiya saw that blue booklet, the corner of his mouth twitched. He looked it over from top to bottom. It was quite old, its cover already somewhat yellowed, but the four large characters on it could not be erased—"Written by Jiraiya."
Jiraiya's mouth twitched again. "You actually managed to find this." He stuffed the booklet straight into his robes, then firmly patted Li on the shoulder. "You've got potential, kid."
Li then strode over to Orochimaru. "Teacher Orochimaru, this is for you."
A smile appeared at the corner of Orochimaru's lips as he accepted the scroll from Li. Yet after opening it and seeing the first line, he immediately rolled it back up and tucked it securely into his robes. "Li, aren't you afraid your clan will punish you for this?"
What Li had given Orochimaru was a copied version of Kumogakure's forbidden scroll. Like Konoha's Book of Shadows, it was a scroll containing each village's most secret forbidden techniques. Although Li knew that Orochimaru had yet to formally begin researching forbidden techniques, after suffering at the hands of the Yuki Clan in the battle at Kirigakure, Orochimaru had already begun considering how someone without a Kekkei Genkai could become stronger.
As for how Li