Chapter 26: Ten Thousand Snakes
"It is already so late. Are you not going home to rest?"
Kenichi Amamiya looked helplessly at the little tail following close behind him. Why did this kid like sticking to him so much?
"Senior brother, sensei has not really been talking to me lately. Is he angry with me?"
Mitarashi Anko lowered her head, fiddling with her fingers, her expression full of gloom.
Kenichi scratched his hair. He knew exactly what his teacher meant. Orochimaru had already said Anko was not suitable to leave Konoha with them.
In other words, sensei had made other plans for his junior. He wanted her to slowly drift away from him and live a proper life in the village, instead of being dragged into the darkness with him.
Kenichi understood this, but it was not something he could tell Anko. So he could only choose a different angle.
"Of course not. Sensei has just been very busy recently. Even I do not see him very often."
Kenichi chuckled and reached out to ruffle Anko's hair. This girl was more perceptive than she looked.
"Then… does that mean I also will not be able to see you, senior brother?" Anko asked, startled, staring at him with wide eyes.
Kenichi nodded.
When you want to comfort someone, the most effective way is to stand beside them emotionally first, to let them know you are in the same situation. That way, your comfort feels real instead of empty.
That was something Kenichi had learned in his previous life.
"Sensei is so busy. There were even rumors in the village before that he could become the Fourth Hokage," Anko muttered. Her mood seemed to recover a bit as she started rambling about other topics.
Kenichi listened quietly. On the way, he casually bought two skewers of three colored dumplings and handed one to her.
As he looked at the dango in his hand, his thoughts drifted to Itachi and Shisui again.
You had to admit, the Uchiha clan produced an absurd number of geniuses. Mangekyou Sharingan was truly a terrifying power.
At least, in the current ninja world, it was. Even later on, Mangekyou would still count as a very important trump card in battles.
"Oh, right, senior brother."
Anko suddenly remembered something and quickly tugged at Kenichi's sleeve.
"What is it?" Kenichi looked at her, puzzled.
"There is a ninjutsu sensei taught me before that I still do not really understand. Can you teach me, senior brother?"
She looked up at him with pleading eyes.
Kenichi scratched his head and could not bring himself to refuse.
Anyway, teacher had told him to act carefully lately. Teaching his junior some ninjutsu was actually a pretty good way to disguise his own movements.
So Kenichi brought Anko to the training ground for a short practice session.
With his strength having risen sharply recently, it was much easier for him to guide her. His explanations were clear, and his demonstrations were precise.
However, the training did not last long. A jagged streak of lightning tore across the night sky, followed by deafening thunder that made the ground tremble.
"It is thundering."
Kenichi raised his head and watched the sky thoughtfully. He remembered that Sasuke would one day create a technique called Lightning Release Kirin, a devastating ninjutsu that used natural lightning.
The problem was, it required the Sharingan to accurately grasp the path of the lightning.
It was an extremely difficult lightning style technique that borrowed the power of nature itself.
Kenichi mentally checked the progress of his research on the three tomoe Sharingan. It was currently at 23 percent. Not exactly slow, but still far from done.
Without Sharingan support, he had no intention of rushing into research on a technique that insane.
After sending Anko home, he walked back at an easy pace, then flopped onto his bed and went to sleep.
The next morning, Kenichi had barely gotten up when his teacher suddenly dragged him away.
"Kenichi, do you know about summoning beasts?" Orochimaru asked calmly as they walked.
Kenichi blinked, then nodded. Of course he knew.
In the Naruto world, the most famous summoning beasts were probably the toads of Mount Myoboku, simply because they appeared so often with the protagonist.
Then there was Manda, Orochimaru's own summon. Kenichi, however, had no interest in that particular giant snake. Manda's personality was just…
After that, you had the slugs, salamanders, ninja dogs, crows, and all kinds of other summoning beasts.
In terms of overall power, the creatures from the three great holy lands naturally stood at the top.
"Teacher, are you going to have me sign a contract for a summoning beast?" Kenichi asked, a little confused.
Summoning beasts were indeed very useful. It was just that anything related to Ryuchi Cave usually came with a lot of conditions.
"No. What you need to do now is focus on sharpening your ninjutsu," Orochimaru said, shaking his head.
As a disciple raised by Hiruzen Sarutobi, he understood very clearly what was required to grow from genin to jonin.
Chunin was a somewhat awkward rank, caught between low and high. But that did not mean it was meaningless. You still needed to polish your foundation. With a solid base, reaching jonin in the future would feel natural.
In the end, whether someone was jonin or chunin was just a title. Strength was what mattered.
Even among genin, there were monsters who, once they went all out, could defeat elite jonin or even Kage.
"You are my disciple. I would be ashamed to admit it if you were weaker than an elite jonin," Orochimaru said with a small smile.
His expectations for Kenichi were sky high. Once, he had thought this disciple would barely be able to survive by clinging to him.
He had not expected Kenichi's strength to grow so rapidly. That change genuinely pleased him.
"Hehe, I will do my best. So, teacher, what did you mean earlier?" Kenichi scratched his head and could not help but ask again.
"Ah. I was thinking about whether summoning beasts can develop cancer," Orochimaru said with a faint smile. In the depths of his golden eyes, a hint of madness flickered.
Kenichi's lips twitched. Cancer in summoning beasts, huh. That was a heavy question.
In his previous world, he would have agreed instantly. Animals were animals; of course they could get cancer.
But this was Naruto. The stronger summoning beasts here had bodies far superior to normal ninja. Whether they could get cancer at all was already uncertain.
And if the summoned creature had Sage Mode chakra layered into its body, there were even more variables to consider.
"Teacher, we will need an experiment to find out. Are you planning to summon Manda?" Kenichi rubbed his hands together, eyes lighting up with curiosity.
"Do not mention that one," Orochimaru's face darkened at once.
Manda was getting more and more arrogant. If it were not for the White Snake Sage behind him, Orochimaru would have taught that snake a lesson long ago.
Kenichi coughed twice in agreement. He had only seen Orochimaru summon Manda once during the war. Outside of battle, he had never called on it. Manda's temper really was terrible.
"It seems my summoned beast needs a thorough physical examination," Orochimaru murmured under his breath.
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