Trying Wood Release, Itachi Uchiha Appears

"Hand seals are so hard!"

Orochimaru urged A Luo to see whether he could use Wood Release ninjutsu, and A Luo raised his hands with a gloomy expression.

Watching Orochimaru demonstrate one hand seal after another, he felt like his fingers might twist themselves into knots.

He did not care about anything else, but these hand seals...

"Actually, I don't think you necessarily need hand seals to use ninjutsu, right?"

A Luo raised a hand to scratch his hair. Could he cast ninjutsu without seals? After all, A Luo considered his chakra control quite decent.

"Hand seals allow for better chakra control... Try it first."

Orochimaru looked at A Luo's fingers and decided to see how things went before saying more.

A Luo was not a conventional ninja to begin with, so Orochimaru would not make him constantly follow other ninjas' training or combat methods.

"I'll try..."

A Luo thought for a moment, and suddenly had an idea for how to manifest the power of Wood Release.

Without forming any hand seals, he merely raised both hands, and several wooden spikes appeared on the ground before him.

The wooden spikes were only the size of kunai and did not have much penetrating power, but they really were wood.

"This spiral shape can break through defenses more effectively..."

Orochimaru crouched down and picked up several wooden spikes from the ground. Looking at the spiral patterns on them, he confirmed that Wood Release could indeed be used, as well as the destructive power of these spikes.

The spikes were quite hard, and their spiral patterns were interesting. Their only shortcoming was that A Luo had too little chakra.

"I'll try a simple ninjutsu with hand seals next..."

A Luo assessed the expenditure. He should still have enough chakra for a simple Wood Release ninjutsu.

For example...

"Four Pillar Prison!"

After forming the hand seals, Wood Release: Four Pillar Prison caused trees to burst from underground, forming a simple wooden cage.

"Your hand seals were a little slow, but this is your first time using it, so you did very well. The quality of this wood... is far too poor..."

Orochimaru looked at the completed Wood Release ninjutsu and praised A Luo's first experience with ninjutsu.

When he raised a hand and tapped one of Four Pillar Prison's wooden pillars, Orochimaru froze. He flicked several spiral wooden spikes in his hand at the pillar, and they pierced straight through it with ease.

Picking up the undamaged spiral wooden spikes again, Orochimaru wondered how the difference in quality could be so great.

Was it due to chakra consumption?

"This can be recycled, but that can't be taken back..."

A Luo patted Four Pillar Prison. The wood could at most shatter or dissipate, but he could transform those wooden spikes back into energy and recover them.

In other words, the normal Wood Release he could use with hand seals currently operated in roughly the same way as Yamato's.

As for the other kind of Wood Release, formed solely by condensing chakra without hand seals, perhaps it could not even be considered ninjutsu.

"Recover one and compare the consumption. See how much is lost."

Orochimaru had A Luo try again while watching closely from beside him.

"Like this..."

A Luo picked up a wooden spike and placed it in his palm. The spike swiftly dissipated, turning back into chakra and returning to him.

"Are you sure this is Wood Release and not a Shadow Clone?"

Orochimaru picked up the wooden spikes one by one and had A Luo recover them all. Then his eye twitched several times as he arrived at a more fitting possibility.

How was this Wood Release? This was simply the release and recovery of chakra.

It was similar to using Shadow Clones—he could release it, recover it, and even send it outside to train!

"But they don't possess consciousness..."

A Luo flicked his wrist, and two wooden kunai appeared before him. With a curl of his fingers, he caught them and stared at them curiously again and again.

They were made of wood. He was certain of that. They possessed none of the flexibility or thought-like existence of Shadow Clones.

But this thing...

"Kimimaro, take it outside. Find somewhere that won't frighten anyone and wait for me."

A Luo closed his eyes to sense it, then took out a kunai and handed it to Kimimaro, who was resting in the training ground as well.

If it worked as he thought, this wooden kunai would be extremely useful.

"A marker? Teleportation? Flying Thunder God?"

Orochimaru nodded and let Kimimaro go. Looking at the kunai A Luo was twirling in his hand, he suddenly thought of someone from the past.

The Flying Thunder God Technique. That boy from back then—wherever his kunai reached, that person's figure would appear.

"It may be somewhat similar, but this isn't Flying Thunder God. I'll test it later. If it can also be developed, things will be much easier in the future..."

A Luo twirled the kunai in his hand. He was certain he had not inscribed any Flying Thunder God Technique markings, and besides...

He was now certain it was not Flying Thunder God. As long as he closed his eyes and sensed it, he could detect where the other kunai was, as well as information about its surroundings.

He could even sense whether Kimimaro was running or jumping at that moment.

"Rest for a while if you're tired. You're still young, so you have plenty of time to study and develop it."

Seeing A Luo suddenly frown, Orochimaru worried that he was exhausted and wanted him to rest.

"No... Teacher Orochimaru, did you tell Itachi Uchiha where this base is?"

A Luo frowned not because he was tired, but because he sensed Kimimaro stop, along with the presence that had appeared opposite him.

Itachi Uchiha had actually come looking for Orochimaru!

"Itachi Uchiha is outside?"

Orochimaru picked A Luo up with one arm and ran out of the training ground. Whether they were going to meet Itachi Uchiha or avoid him, they needed to prepare.

"I'll go take a look. Teacher Orochimaru, are you coming?"

A Luo could hear Itachi Uchiha suppress Kimimaro with a single glance, as well as what he said afterward.

He did not want this place, where he had only just settled in, to be destroyed. Nor did he want the dutiful temporary caretaker to die outside.

"Let's go. There are all kinds of equipment I prepared here. If they're destroyed, it'll be a huge loss."

Orochimaru did not want to meet Itachi Uchiha, but when he thought of the precious disciple he had only taken in a few days ago, as well as the talented youths in this base...

At a time like this, they could not simply leave.

"I thought you couldn't bear to part with me. Turns out it's the equipment. That hurts..."

A Luo yawned. The wooden kunai in his hand changed shape, and once it looked identical to Orochimaru's Kusanagi Sword, he handed it to Orochimaru.

Then he draped himself listlessly over Orochimaru's shoulder and obediently let himself be carried outside.

"Is this a gift?"

Orochimaru gripped the wooden "Kusanagi Sword" and tested its feel. He liked this special weapon very much.

"Just hold onto it for now. When needed, it can work similarly to Flying Thunder God, but I hope we won't need it."

A Luo muttered softly, then closed his eyes to rest.

There was no need to hide the fact that his body had recovered its health, but there was still no need to reveal too much about his chakra attributes.

Now, he only had a faint trace of chakra left, which counted as a "normal" state.