[24] Newfound Talent

Chapter 24: Newfound Talent

—---

Throughout this time, the team had been training together and taking E-rank missions per the advice from Orochimaru.

They formed special hand signs, formations and other stuff to help them out in war. Also, Akio had finally progressed in something…

He stood on a training ground, purely focused as he deeply inhaled. Next, came a few hand seals and the dirt particles under his feet started to rumble. Like a magnetic force was there, the dirt started to mould together.

Slowly, it started turning into some sort of liquidated form and rose into the air, constructing something.

In a matter of seconds, a mud dragon was made, and its jaw was clasped open, shooting a few mud balls. These mudballs went straight through a tree, tearing it down with ease… this showed its destructive prowess.

Akio nodded at all of this with a pleasing smile and wondered about something.

'It took me only a few weeks compared to last time.'

The difference was immense and it showed heavily right now. Before, it took a few months to get a d rank jutsu down. Now… only a few weeks.

—---

"What?" Orochimaru frowned. "You've learnt it already."

Akio nodded at this question and added, "I think I'm eligible to take the medical exam now."

Orochimaru furrowed his brow. "So you're telling me, you've revised all these books and have learnt the jutsu as well…"

"Are you sure?"

He was a bit sceptical. This speed was extremely fast, even for someone like him.

Akio merely nodded. No one has a memory like his, where he does not need to revise information but can find it. And that's what he did, he only revised a bit but for the rest, he could just search for it. He might as well show a bit of his talent.

So just like before, Orochimaru handed him a piece of paper. This time, there were multiple of them to do.

"If you pass this then you are officially qualified to become medical-nin. Then you can learn the mystical palm technique."

Mystical palm technique. All Akio knew about it was that it contained Yang-Release. Also, it sped up the healing of cells. He wanted to learn this really badly… even more so with the future path he was going to take.

At first, he thought about it just for a measure since it could help immensely. But seeing Orochimaru and the way he uses it, Akio had a plan.

Seeing the paper, there were some questions that he was not unfamiliar with but unsure about. Although, this didn't stop him as he just went over the info and wrote down the perfect answer… He did this with every single one of them.

Orochimaru furrowed his brows at this and wondered what kind of learning ability this kid had. In just a few weeks, he learnt the C rank mudball jutsu and at the same time, revised the many books on medical ninjutsu. This was absurd.. to say the least.

He saw that he never struggled with any of the questions nor hesitated. It was a smooth flow like he knew every single one of them.

The more he knew this kid; the more he felt curiosity toward him.

An exam that normally took an hour… Akio finished in fifteen minutes. He stopped writing and handed the paper over to his Sensei.

Orochimaru looked over and was quite surprised by the answers… every single one of them — just like last time — was a textbook answer.

The different kinds of poisons, medicines and even the miscellaneous stuff were perfectly written. These books Akio revised from weren't just ordinary.

Orochimaru's teaching methods on medical ninjutsu weren't the best, but his teammate Tsunade's was. This was her way of teaching… through proper foundations first.

Learning the different kinds of herbs, concocting medicine and even using poison as a healing method.

Orochimaru now saw his potential… It could be monstrous. Maybe even capable of surpassing the slug princess herself.

When he thought of this, a certain gleam shone in his eyes, as if he had just found a diamond. He felt as though his luck was at an all-time peak right now.

Contrary to his excited thoughts, Orochimaru didn't want to get ahead of himself right now. There was still his ability to use the mystical palm technique, which was the main thing…

After seeing and reviewing all the answers, he glanced at Akio with a strange look.

He also didn't hold back praise. "It seemed as though you were telling the truth. Your answers are perfect. Every single one of them. I could not even find a single flaw…"

The more he spoke; the more this thrilling feeling welled up in his heart. This kid's mind was something else… it was in a league of its own.

Minato, the current prodigy. His learning speed was nothing compared to Akio's. Even when he was younger, he was someone like Aiko but this gifted mind… he couldn't compare to.

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with pride when he looked at this kid.

"The mystical palm technique. I'm going to show you a first-hand experience," Orochimaru said.

In a quick movement, Akio saw his hands move and a different kind of chakra flowed through his hand. He could feel it was different; it felt more gentle and precise, perfect for healing.

"This is Yang-Release. You should know this from the books but remember… how you use it all depends on you."

Akio glanced curiously at this and Orochimaru clasped the tips of his palm together — the chakra became sharper… more powerful.

"This is what you call a chakra scalpel. Perfect for incisions or if you're good enough. It can be used offensively — it is rare — but it depends on your skills," he paused. "Someone like Tsunade can easily do this but she doesn't need to since she's created her own technique."

As Orochimaru said this, Akio listened to every word and took it in. He wanted to master this technique as quickly as possible.

"Here's a book explaining the jutsu. Now, the scroll as well for you to learn. It's not like a normal jutsu, it matters on your talent and chakra ability," Orochimaru said, handing him both.

—---

A test tube full of some sort of corrosive substance is laid on a rack. Next to it was a full row of different kinds of substances.

The green liquid test tube was picked up by hand, eyeing it was a kid with black hair — Akio. Carefully, he poured this vial into a small bowl which held some sort of crushed powder.

As soon as the first bit poured, a sizzling sound echoed with steam coming out… the powder immediately dissolved, mixing in with the vial.

Next, he closed his eyes, making his pupils move inside — then opened back up again — adding in the next set of ingredients.

After he did all this, Akio waited for some time before applying the finished substance onto the tip of a kunai.

A row of shuriken was also coated with this and laid them out symmetrically. Another vial was created as well, but a different colour… this was the antidote.

The substance that he coated his kunai and shuriken with. He poured a tiny bit directly down his mouth.

A few seconds passed and slowly his face began to grow pale… then his head vein popped out slowly trailing down his neck.

He clutched his head as he winced, in pain from the poison and weakly fell down to his knees. The antidote is still in his hand. His breathing slowly began to falter; his eyelids began fluttering as he tried his best to keep them open.

And just before he was about to close his eyes, Akio desperately drank the antidote. In a matter of moments, his face grew its natural colour and he was back to normal.

"A minute more than last time," he said, writing this down on a piece of paper.

Akio was trying to build up his poison resistance and also work with poison because of his excess knowledge. He felt as though this path would be good for him to strive in.

He had been putting most of his time into these areas since they brought the most improvement. Yes, he was not neglecting other things such as chakra control, but they were put on hold for a moment just till he got the mystical palm technique down. To say the least, his progress in this had been phenomenal… more than he expected.

Akio also dabbled in other crafts such as trap making, gaining proficiency in this. He thought that with his poison-concocting skills and this, it would make a dangerous combo.

It was seen from this, how high of an advantage, having Orochimaru as a mentor was. He had a lot of free time to research, read or train and asking for advice was very helpful — his sensei's insight was enlightening.

Orochimaru wasn't as far gone as he was in the canon. Now, he was just a man who wanted to learn more jutsu and live forever. It's just that his personality hasn't been twisted because of Dan Kato's death — it got worse due to that but he doesn't know the full details.

This was what he mostly spent his time toward nowadays, just constant days in the lab like he was researching. Other than him, his other two teammates did their own thing and trained… but no one trained more than Akio — no — no one trained as efficiently as him.

'Just a little bit of time before I master this technique… and I'll be set for this war.'