A technique no one else could learn

"Let me see you use it."

Tsunade looked at Qingyun expectantly. She wanted to see for herself how powerful his self-created technique was.

Seeing that Jiraiya and Orochimaru had both sobered up, Qingyun readily rose to his feet and stepped before them. He circulated his internal force, and a razor-sharp aura gathered in his hand.

Whoosh—boom!

A tremendous explosion rang in their ears. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru stared ahead, dumbstruck, as a cluster of White Flame burned through everything around it, reducing it all to nothing and threatening to spread.

"Not good! Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet! Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

Seeing the White Flame spreading rapidly, Orochimaru cried out and unleashed two water release ninjutsu in succession.

Whoosh!

A water dragon and a waterfall surged toward the White Flame.

Sizzle!

The instant the White Flame touched the water, they began consuming each other. Only when the Water Dragon Bullet and Great Waterfall Technique were completely exhausted did the White Flame finally go out.

Orochimaru stared at Qingyun in shock. Few A-rank ninjutsu could rival this technique, yet Qingyun had actually created something this powerful.

"This..."

Tsunade was secretly astonished. Even someone of Orochimaru's caliber needed to cast two ninjutsu in succession to be sure of extinguishing that White Flame. That alone showed how powerful Qingyun's technique was.

"Does this technique have any other advantages?"

Jiraiya looked at Qingyun solemnly as he asked.

Qingyun paused at the question, then said, "As long as I have enough chakra, I can keep this technique active. It only goes out when my chakra is completely exhausted."

They sucked in sharp breaths.

Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya gasped at his words. The technique would not stop as long as he kept feeding it chakra. What did that mean?

When they cast ninjutsu, the technique would gradually dissipate into the air once it left their bodies. Keeping it from fading was simply impossible.

"Could you tell me how it works? I'll trade you five A-rank Fire Release techniques and three A-rank Lightning Release techniques."

Orochimaru looked at Qingyun expectantly as he asked.

Qingyun's gaze sharpened. He studied Orochimaru's eager expression, then glanced at Tsunade.

"What are you looking at me for? It's yours. Decide for yourself."

Seeing Qingyun look at her, Tsunade rolled her eyes at him.

Qingyun nodded. "All right."

He took the blank scroll Orochimaru handed him and wrote down the training methods for the Six Meridian Divine Sword and the White Finger Sword he had just used.

Orochimaru likewise wrote down the hand seals for the eight Fire Release and Lightning Release techniques and handed them to Qingyun.

As soon as Orochimaru received Qingyun's Scroll, he eagerly began reading it.

Before long, Orochimaru formed a Finger Sword.

Whoosh!

A thumb-sized hole appeared in the trunk of a large tree.

After performing the Six Meridian Divine Sword, Orochimaru followed Qingyun's method and gathered elemental chakra inside his body, repeatedly refining and compressing it to produce a nature transformation.

Orochimaru's face immediately flushed red. Fighting through the discomfort, he forced himself to unleash the Six Meridian Divine Sword.

Boom!

Pfft!

The tremendous blast showed that Orochimaru had successfully unleashed an elemental Finger Sword. But before anyone could marvel at its power, they saw his drained expression and the trace of scarlet blood at the Horns of his mouth, startling them.

"What happened? Did you practice it wrong?"

Tsunade frowned at the sight of Orochimaru and used a Healing Technique to treat his internal injuries.

A long while later, Orochimaru let out a deep breath and stared at Qingyun in shock, his thoughts unreadable.

"Hey, say something!"

Seeing Orochimaru's dazed expression, Tsunade shouted impatiently.

Her voice snapped Orochimaru out of his stupor. "There's nothing wrong with the training method. Qingyun really does use this method to perform the elemental Finger Sword, but..."

Orochimaru stared at Qingyun in shock. "But when I tried his method just now, my meridians couldn't withstand elemental chakra that had undergone a nature transformation. The moment I circulated it, it felt like knives were slicing through them. If I weren't so strong, that single strike might have torn all my meridians apart and killed me."

They sucked in sharp breaths.

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at Qingyun as though he were a monster.

They knew Orochimaru's strength perfectly well. He was one of Konoha's elite jonin, capable of holding off even a Kage-level opponent for quite some time.

Yet Qingyun could withstand the surge of nature-transformed chakra that even Orochimaru could not. Did that mean his meridians were many times tougher than Orochimaru's despite his young age?

"Qingyun, when you first created this Finger Sword, didn't you feel anything strange in your meridians?"

Jiraiya looked at Qingyun curiously as he asked.

Qingyun shook his head. "No. At first, I just wanted to incorporate Fire Release into the Six Meridian Divine Sword, but to do that, I needed to understand nature transformation.

"So I kept thinking about the properties of fire. In the end, I converted all the chakra in my body into fire-nature chakra, then circulated it inside my body along the same route as the Great Fireball Technique. I kept refining and compressing it before finally releasing it through the Six Meridian Divine Sword.

"It worked, but it was too slow. After that, I kept flushing chakra through my meridians until they could withstand the circulation of fire-nature chakra for extended periods. Only then did I stop, and afterward, I successfully performed this technique."

"This..."

Tsunade did not know what to say as she looked at Qingyun. His body was simply too strange. People had limits, and so did their meridians. Certain extreme methods could toughen the meridians, but those methods could never strengthen them enough to withstand the passage of nature-transformed chakra.

Regardless of the chakra nature involved, nature transformation took one of that element's properties to its extreme. That transformation made originally non-elemental chakra highly aggressive.

After ninja mastered nature transformation and shape transformation, the chakra they circulated inside their bodies when performing ninjutsu remained the same as always. Only just before releasing it did they incorporate those transformations into the ninjutsu outside their bodies, increasing its power.

But Qingyun? He completed that process inside his body, and could even maintain that state for extended periods. What kind of freak was he?

Their stares left Qingyun feeling a little embarrassed. He quickly averted his eyes. "So that means only I can use this method, and other people can't, right?"

"Only someone with meridians as tough as yours could learn this method of attack."

Orochimaru answered helplessly.

"All right. In that case, here."

Qingyun handed Orochimaru's Scroll back to him.

Orochimaru paused at Qingyun's expression, then shook his head. "This was a trade. You didn't deceive me, and the training method you gave me was correct. That being the case, even if I gain nothing from it, that's my own problem. It has nothing to do with the trade. There's no need for this.

"Besides, this Finger Sword is rather interesting. After studying it, I might be able to develop a few ninjutsu that don't require hand seals."

Seeing Orochimaru push the Scroll back and hearing his explanation, Qingyun thanked him and accepted it.

Qingyun was not foolish enough to turn down a benefit. He had only offered it back because he remained wary of Orochimaru and did not want him to use today's incident as an excuse to cause trouble later.

Although Nawaki was still alive and Orochimaru had not yet become consumed by his obsession with Immortality, Qingyun's instincts told him that even if Nawaki survived, Orochimaru would likely still follow the same path as in the original story.

Orochimaru's childhood experiences had set him on that course. From the moment he picked up that Haku snake scale, he had already begun walking the path to Immortality. Once he embarked on that road, stopping would not be easy.

With the matter settled, Qingyun prepared another table of food and shared drinks with Tsunade and the others. The Buddha's Smile Wine was considerably stronger than Japanese sake. Although it fell short of the distilled liquor of later generations, the difference was not great.

Those medicinal herbs not only increased internal force but also boosted the alcohol content produced by the rice, giving the Buddha's Smile Wine an alcohol content of over forty percent.

Before long, Qingyun had drunk Tsunade and Jiraiya under the table.

Orochimaru looked helplessly at his two teammates on the ground, then glanced at Qingyun, whose expression had not changed. The Horns of his mouth twitched. "Two idiots."

"I'll take them home. You clean up."

Without waiting for Qingyun to reply, Orochimaru picked up Tsunade and Jiraiya and vanished.

"Uh, Minato, you clean up. I'll take Kushina and Nawaki home."

Seeing Kushina and Nawaki looking at him, Qingyun slapped his forehead and gave Minato Namikaze his instructions.

He was not worried about Nawaki, but Kushina's identity was special. Konoha might appear peaceful, but there were bound to be spies from the other four villages inside it. It was better to be careful.