"Asahi-kun, what do you think of forbidden jutsus and about these things in the laboratory?" Orochimaru's eyes glanced at the three experimental materials, satisfied with Asahi's work, he nodded and then asked him.
"I don't have any special prejudice against human body research. There's always a need for guinea pigs to study this kind of thing." Asahi was indifferent, and said casually, "As for forbidden jutsus, they are very powerful, but if anyone wants to study them, they have to pay a lot. There are too many people in the shinobi world who died meaninglessly in wars. If they can die for the sake of helping study forbidden jutsus, they will at least be a little bit valuable."
In front of Orochimaru, he must work hard to cater to his ideas. Now he had seen Orochimaru's secrets. If he stood up at this time to question his actions, he would end up miserably.
Asahi was ready to see through all this when he decided to follow him. Although he was unavoidably shocked when they first met, Asahi had completely calmed down at this time.
"Hehehe, Asahi-kun, it seems that choosing you as my assistant was the right decision to make." Orochimaru's face showed a satisfied smile.
"I would also like to follow people like Orochimaru-sama." He said respectfully.
Orochimaru glanced at him, and indifferently said, "It's getting late, let's go back."
"Yes!" Asahi nodded.
Walking out of the cave, the warm sunlight slightly fell on his body, but standing beside Orochimaru, the chill in his heart could not be driven away.
Leaving the laboratory, Asahi and Orochimaru returned to their respective camps, returning to their former "passer-by" status.
But just before their separation, Orochimaru gave him a scroll. The scroll recorded some of Orochimaru's experience with the nature changes of earth-attribute chakra, and some high-rank Earth-style ninjutsu.
These materials were all things that Asahi needed most at present. It seemed that Orochimaru came prepared, and had noticed Asahi's current training progress.
With this information, Asahi would definitely bring up the level of his use of Earth-style. Next, he only needed to accumulate chakra to a certain level, and accumulate some combat experience. He believed that he would soon reach a jonin's strength.
'The decision to follow Orochimaru is not bad after all.'
Thinking about his experience of this period of time. First, he learned from Tsunade and now, he got the training method of Earth- style ninjutsu from Orochimaru. These two things alone were enough to give Asahi's strength a leap.
Although he would inevitably be controlled by Orochimaru in the future, and so he must help him do some things that needed to remain unseen.
But what is the problem with that?
To get strength, he must give something.
What Asahi had to do now was to improve his medical-ninjutsu level as soon as possible, as well as his research on ninjutsu, and strive to participate in Orochimaru's experiments as much as possible, and get his experimental results.
There was one more thing that made him very vigilant.
Orochimaru seemed to know well about his training progress. This kind of thing might still be acceptable now, but as his accumulation deepens, especially as he would become more and more powerful in the future. If Orochimaru learned of his full strength, it would definitely be a misfortune.
'It seems that some things need to be done in secret.' Asahi thought.
...
The time to big battle was getting closer, especially since both, Konoha and Sunagakure have assembled a large number of ninjas in the border. In the Konoha camp alone, ten thousand ninjas have been gathered, and everyone was making their final preparations before the war.
During this period of time, Asahi also reduced the amount of his training, and usually tried to keep himself in the best state to deal with the upcoming battle.
From the scroll given by Orochimaru, he mastered [Earth Style ∙ Earth Dragon Bullet], [Earth Style ∙ Hardening Jutsu], and [Earth Style Barrier ∙ Earth Dome Prison].
One attack-type jutsu, one defensive jutsu, and one control-type jutsu.
In particular, [Earth Style Barrier ∙ Earth Dome Prison], in addition to using the earth wall to form a dungeon to trap his opponent inside, it could also absorb chakra of the ninja trapped inside, even if the opponent trapped attacked the earth wall, if they couldn't break the dome at once, the dungeon would be restored immediately.
With this ninjutsus, he could now cope with weakest jonins using other methods alongside it. As long as they get hit, they couldn't escape.
…
Konoha camp, Orochimaru camp.
The final battle against Sunagakure was about to begin. As the main person in charge of the war, Orochimaru also gathered all the jonins in the camp to discuss combat strategies.
Although all of the jonin had been convened, only Namikaze Minato and Konoha's brain Nara Shikaku could really make decisions.
"Now we and Sunagakure both are restraining each other and waiting for the other side to take the first shot, but let's continue this stalemate. Sunagakure will definitely not be able to out-sustain us." Tsunade first expressed her opinion and suggested that if the other side does not proactively provoke battle, Konoha would continue to maintain this weird period of wartime "peace".
For ninjas, mastering information was equivalent to winning. Konoha and Sunagakure, no matter which side takes the first action, the other side would immediately know, and then make the corresponding arrangements.
Fighting a war of attrition was what Konoha was best at. In this regard, Konoha had an advantage unmatched by any of the other Four Great Ninja Villages.
Orochimaru hearing this, chuckled and said indifferently, "If we continue to drag it with Sunagakure, Iwagakure and Kirigakure will definitely take advantage of our situation. These two villages have somewhat of a couple of conflicts, but compared to the giant Konoha, they can distinguish between trivial matters and real benefits and leave their past behind to deal with us."
"I also agree with Orochimaru-sama." Shikaku said, "Although Sunagakure lacks supplies, with their heritage, even if this war is dragged on for another half-a-year, there won't be too many problems for them. But if this matter between us and Sunagakure takes a long time, it will be very bad for us."
Tsunade was very dissatisfied after being refuted by two people in a row, and just lightly snorted and stopped talking.
Of course, Tsunade also knew that the current situation in the shinobi world was very unfavorable to Konoha, but she really cared about Konoha ninjas' lives, so she does not want this battle with Sunagakure to happen as much as possible.
Apologetically glancing at Tsunade, Shikaku continued, "Obviously, the high-level of Sunagakure can also think of this, so they are also happy to drag this war with us. Inoichi just got the information, Sunagakure has sent people to Iwagakure and Kirigakure, I'm afraid they have plans to join forces with these two villages."
"That being the case, then tomorrow morning, gather all ninjas and raid their camp." Orochimaru's hoarse voice said something that shocked all ninjas in the camp.
"Do we need to be so urgent?" Tsunade frowned asked.
"I also think that we are being too hasty." Shikaku said at this time, "But… it's really just that Konoha has no time to waste now. Once Sunagakure has joined forces with the other two villages, Konoha will be engaged in a three-side battle. The situation will be even more dangerous at that point."
"Shikaku, what ideas do you have?" Orochimaru asked with interest.
*****
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