"Haha, if you like her, Kakashi, go for it! I have a shinobi tale written by Lord Jiraiya. It contains his ninja way, so make sure you study it carefully!"
Watching Kakashi struggle to explain himself, Chihane finally realized that his younger brother had reached the age for romance. He decided to find him a shinobi tale by Lord Jiraiya as an introductory guide.
"Lord Jiraiya's ninja way? Why do you have a shinobi tale written by Lord Jiraiya, brother?"
Hearing that Jiraiya had written it, Kakashi paused, then asked Chihane in confusion.
"I'm Teacher Orochimaru's student, after all. It's perfectly normal for me to study Lord Jiraiya's ninja way! What's so strange about that? Make sure you study this book carefully. Don't let all the effort Lord Jiraiya put into writing it go to waste."
Chihane returned to his room, fetched a book, and handed it to Kakashi with that reminder.
Then he turned and went back to his room, leaving Kakashi standing there, staring at the title on the cover.
"The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi"
Obito, oh, Obito! Don't blame me. I don't want Kakashi spending the rest of his life with Guy.
Kakashi's reaction had made it obvious that he had feelings for Rin Nohara too. He was simply too shy to admit it. Chihane firmly believed that after reading this wondrous book, Kakashi would be unable to resist accepting Rin Nohara's feelings. He might even confront his own feelings and pursue her himself. If Kakashi had that much self-control, he wouldn't spend every day clutching Icha Icha Paradise in the future.
Orochimaru's laboratory on the outskirts of Konoha
Bzz! Bzzz! Bzzzz!
In the center of the laboratory, electricity flickered all over Chihane's body! Round patches covered his exposed skin, each connected by a wire to a huge machine. The machine shook continuously, making noise as it supplied electricity. Clearly, this was a ninja-world version of a generator.
Beside him, Orochimaru occasionally recorded sets of numbers with the brush in his hand. The densely packed figures made it clear that this experiment had been going on for a long time.
Pshh!
Orochimaru pressed a button on the generator. It shuddered a few more times before finally cutting off the electrical supply. The electricity flowing over Chihane's body was no longer as dazzling, but it still flickered stubbornly.
"This really is a miracle!"
Watching the blue electricity still flickering over Chihane's body, Orochimaru couldn't help murmuring.
"Yes, it really is a miracle!"
Feeling the lightning obey his commands as readily as his own limbs, Chihane couldn't help speaking aloud too.
He had never imagined that Orochimaru's idea would actually work.
After examining Chihane's body, Orochimaru discovered that he had a strong resistance to electricity. He proposed stimulating his cells with lightning so that his body would adapt to it, allowing him to control it.
One dared to dream, and the other dared to act. They hit it off immediately and began experimenting.
They started with the faintest electrical current. After a month of experiments, they finally made a breakthrough: Chihane could now truly control lightning. Neither of them could help feeling a little emotional.
Their next step would be to use the lightning Chihane controlled to stimulate his cells and attempt to reproduce the state of Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
"Teacher Orochimaru, can we start the cell activation experiment now?"
A month of effort had finally borne fruit. Even Chihane couldn't contain his excitement for a moment, and he urged Orochimaru to continue.
"It seems you're getting impatient, Chihane. Hehe!"
Looking at the eager Chihane, Orochimaru couldn't resist teasing him, even though he also wanted to move on to the next step as quickly as possible.
"Chihane, the next step is to gradually stimulate your body's cells with lightning. Let's start with the cells in your legs!"
"First, gently stimulate your calves with lightning. If nothing goes wrong, work your way up to your thighs. Go ahead!"
But Orochimaru was also eager to see the results of the next experiment, so he gave Chihane his instructions.
"Yes, Teacher Orochimaru!"
Chihane answered loudly, then followed Orochimaru's instructions and began controlling the lightning to gradually stimulate his calves.
Suddenly, the inevitable mishap struck. The lightning made Chihane's calves cramp, and both legs went rigid. He fell straight to the floor and began convulsing.
Seeing this, Orochimaru showed little concern. Instead, he moved closer to observe what had gone wrong, recording one number after another on paper.
Orochimaru had witnessed this scene countless times over the past month. His initial anxiety had given way to familiarity. How could anyone gain power without paying a price?
Besides, Chihane had a special constitution. No matter how badly he was electrocuted the day before, as long as he ate enough and got a night's sleep, he would be fine the next day and could soon resume the experiments.
It had tempted Orochimaru several times to try transplanting the First Hokage's cells into Chihane.
"Phew!"
After a while, Chihane finally stopped convulsing. He let out a long breath, then slowly got to his feet.
"All right, Chihane! It looks like you've reached your limit. Let's stop here for today! I'll review the data and see which steps we can improve. We'll continue tomorrow."
Once Chihane was standing again, Orochimaru stopped his work and spoke to him.
Although Chihane's body had a strong resistance to electricity, Orochimaru only had this one precious student. If something really went wrong, he would have nowhere to turn. He stopped Chihane, who still wanted to continue experimenting.
After speaking, he resumed the work he had paused.
"All right, Teacher Orochimaru. I'll head out, then."
Although Chihane wanted to master this forbidden technique quickly and make its power his own, he knew he couldn't accomplish everything at once. He said goodbye to Orochimaru and went home to teach Kakashi.
As for Kakashi, after studying the legacy of his grandmaster Jiraiya's ninja way, he could no longer contain his pounding heart or trembling hands. Just as expected, he got together with Rin Nohara.
Obito Uchiha, meanwhile, fully embraced his role as a devoted simp. If his goddess was happy, so was he! If Rin Nohara was happy, he was happy! He even began wishing the two of them well from the sidelines.
Truly, the way of the simp stretched through eternity like an endless night; one encounter with Rin had derailed his entire life. Hopefully, Obito Uchiha would move on soon! Otherwise, if he turned dark one day, that would be far too terrifying...
Konoha
The Small Woods on the Back Mountain
Smack!
Crack!
A streak of blue lightning flashed past, snapping the trees in its path. At the end of its course stood a huge gate carved with an enormous demon. It was none other than Orochimaru's Rashomon technique.
And the blue lightning crashing into the wooden gate was, of course, Chihane. After two months of effort, failing and reviewing, then failing and reviewing again, they had finally achieved a basic mastery of cell activation.
The Konoha ANBU watching the Back Mountain had long since grown accustomed to the commotion this master and student caused. At first, they had gone to investigate and nearly been killed by the shock waves. Now, they simply watched the pair spar from the sidelines as though it were perfectly normal. ╮(╯_╰)╭
Before you continue