Orochimaru's modification was to increase the success rate of the Cursed Seal of Earth inoculation. In terms of difficulty, it was much higher than Kitazawa's modification, so it took more time.
The Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth, in fact, had a very simple principle: it was the Cursed Seal of Earth combined with a Sealing Technique.
Any excellent Sealing Ninja could modify it into an Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth; it was just a matter of time.
Of course, whether in Konoha Village or other Ninja Villages, excellent Sealing Ninjas were very rare.
Time flowed by slowly.
After the Monthly Exam, the Genius Class resumed their daily training, and nothing special happened.
Konan had already returned to Konoha Village, but the Land of Rain was bustling with the production of silver jewelry.
Half a month later, Kitazawa was summoned by Anbu to the Hokage Office.
"There are two matters." Tsunade looked at Kitazawa as he walked over and said with a smile, "The first matter is that Orochimaru has successfully improved the Cursed Seal of Earth."
After she finished speaking, she handed him a scroll.
Kitazawa opened the scroll and began to read. He had already mastered the Cursed Seal of Earth through the system, so he could understand all the content on the scroll.
"Lord Orochimaru is indeed a genius," Kitazawa said with a sigh.
After Orochimaru returned to Konoha Village, he couldn't just call him by his name. After all, he was Tsunade's teammate, a generation older than him.
"He was always the smartest among our generation, but unfortunately, he went down the wrong path." Tsunade shook her head and said.
"The success rate of the improved Cursed Seal of Earth has increased ninefold, and more importantly, failure no longer results in death, at most severe injury."
Kitazawa closed the scroll and said, "Starting today, we can arrange for the Ninja of the Cursed Seal Unit to be inoculated with the Cursed Seal of Earth one by one."
"The second thing I need to tell you is which Ninja should be selected to join the Cursed Seal Unit." Tsunade patted a stack of documents on the table and said, "This is Anko's pre-selection list, a total of one hundred Ninja."
Kitazawa glanced at it. Although called documents, they were actually the resumes or files of one hundred Ninjas.
"You want me to choose?" Kitazawa casually flipped through a few pages and asked.
"Without you, there would be no Cursed Seal Unit." Tsunade nodded and said with a smile, "It's only right that you choose."
"I don't think we need to choose; let them all get inoculated with the Cursed Seal of Earth, and the successful Ninja can join."
Kitazawa pondered for a moment and said, "The Cursed Seal of Earth still has a significant chance of failure, so we might not even gather sixty."
"That makes sense." Tsunade heard this and instructed, "You arrange for them to go to Orochimaru at scheduled times to be inoculated with the Cursed Seal of Earth, and then come to you after succeeding."
"Alright, I'll have the Anbu notify them."
After Kitazawa finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something and asked, "Has no one in the Sealing Squad learned the Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth yet?"
After he created the Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth, he gave it to the Jonin of the Sealing Squad to learn.
If a Jonin could learn it, they could help share his workload.
"It's only been half a month, and the Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth is very difficult." Tsunade glared at him and asked, "Do you think everyone is as talented as you?"
"Indeed." Kitazawa smiled and asked again, "I've been working so hard, Teacher Tsunade, don't you have anything to show for it?"
"How... how can there be a reward before it's earned?" Tsunade averted her gaze and said, "We'll talk about it once the Cursed Seal Unit is established."
"Alright then, you owe me one." Kitazawa nodded and said, "Is there anything else? If not, I'll go arrange it now."
"No, you may go." Tsunade waved her hand and said.
Kitazawa left the Hokage Office and returned to the ANBU Base.
---
"Kitazawa." Konan, who was sitting on the sofa reading, stood up and greeted him.
She now enjoys reading the books Kitazawa gave her in her free time, learning and mastering some economic knowledge.
"Uchiha Itachi came by a moment ago." Konan walked to Kitazawa's desk, picked up a scroll, and said, "This is what he left for you."
Kitazawa had already guessed the contents of the scroll. To be honest, it was a bit later than he expected.
It seemed that Mui and Hōzuki Castle had done a good job of keeping the box of bliss a secret.
Kitazawa vaguely remembered the box of Ultimate Bliss being in some dark room.
"Konan." Kitazawa gave her the list of candidate Ninjas for the Cursed Seal Unit. "Arrange for an Anbu squad to notify four people daily to go to Orochimaru."
Inoculating the Cursed Seal of Earth was very time and energy-consuming. Although four people daily seemed small, it was actually a considerable test for Orochimaru.
However, the more capable one was, the more they should work; this level was nothing.
Konan didn't ask further, took the scroll, and turned to leave.
Kitazawa opened the scroll given by Uchiha Itachi.
The content on the scroll was extremely detailed. Itachi had practically searched Hōzuki Castle thoroughly, even marking the location of the box of ultimate bliss.
No wonder it took so long.
But then again, if it were someone else, the investigation time would probably be even longer. Perhaps it would take a year or two to find the location of the box of ultimate bliss.
In this regard alone, Uchiha Itachi's ability was first among the Anbu.
Kitazawa nodded with great satisfaction.
When the time came, he would take Itachi along and let him personally witness Sasuke activating his Three-Tomoe Sharingan; that would be his repayment.
He was a member of the Uchiha Clan and Sasuke's older brother.
And if Sasuke were to activate his Three-Tomoe Sharingan at the age of eight, he would probably laugh for three days and three nights.
The reactions of Fugaku and others would probably be similar to Uchiha Itachi's.
After all, the more talented Sasuke was, the greater his chances of becoming Hokage.
This was an obsession that the Uchiha Clan had held since the founding of Konoha Village; once there was hope of it being realized, they would stop at nothing.
"Kitazawa." Less than half a minute later, Konan reappeared. "It's already arranged."
Kitazawa rubbed his temples, feeling troubled. Four people daily would require twenty-five days to inoculate all of them with the Cursed Seal of Earth.
He estimated that he would have to perform the Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth on the Ninja of the Cursed Seal Unit every day for those twenty-five days.
Fortunately, the Genius Class now had many teachers, so even if he wasn't there, there wouldn't be any problems.
"Do you need me to give you a massage?" Konan looked at him and asked in a calm tone.
Since the previous lap pillow, similar behaviors had become commonplace. In her opinion, it was also a form of transaction.
After all, she had learned a lot of knowledge through Kitazawa.
"Thank you." Kitazawa naturally wouldn't refuse.
Konan walked behind him, extended her hands, placed them on his forehead, and then gently pressed with her slender fingers.
Kitazawa felt the warm touch of her palms, his thoughts drifting to the Monthly Exam half a month later, or more accurately, the final exam.
This time, he hadn't triggered any related system missions for the final exam, so there was no need for manipulation; it would proceed normally.
The only suspense was whether Ino would actively challenge Sakura.
She had almost mastered Ninja Art: Mind Butterfly, and by December, she would definitely have it down.
However, given Ino's personality, a challenge was only a matter of time. Even if not during the final exam, it would be in December, not delayed until next year.
The only thing Kitazawa needed to do was wait.
Oh, and team assignments.
Because there were no system missions, when it came to team assignments, he didn't need to overthink anything.
Just take three students and pick up a mission at the Mission Hall.
The current focus was the Box of Ultimate Bliss. After all, it involved three system missions at once.
But before that, there was one more thing to do.
That was, many students were due for a change in their training content. For example, Kiba.
He had mastered a certain degree of Earth Release Chakra nature transformation and could try Earth Release: Earth Fang Bullet.
Simply put, Earth Release: Earth Fang Bullet was to inject Earth Release Chakra into a Fang Bullet to increase its power.
Kitazawa relaxed as he pondered.
Half an hour later, he checked the time, said goodbye to Konan, and headed to the Ninja Academy.
As soon as he arrived at the Training Ground, Shino came to greet him.
"Has your Kikaichu mutation experiment made any progress?" Kitazawa took the initiative to ask.
"Teacher Kitazawa, look." Shino extended his hand, and in his hand was a black Kikaichu.
But unlike ordinary Kikaichu, it had a pair of rather peculiar wings.
"It can accelerate by using wind." Shino Aburame paused and said, "But it's limited to Wind Release Ninjutsu that creates wind."
Kitazawa nodded.
Wind Release Ninjutsu can be roughly divided into two types. One type is like Wind Release: Gale Palm, emphasizing the speed and strength of Wind Release, stirring up gales or storms.
The other type is like Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere and Wind Release: Vacuum Waves, enhancing the cutting and attack properties of Wind Release.
At this time, the wind was not ordinary wind, but rather wind like blades or cannonballs.
"There's also another type of Kikaichu." Shino then took out another black Kikaichu.
The special thing about this Kikaichu was its body, which had a shell that looked very hard.
"I've named the first type of Kikaichu 'Wind Speed Bug,' and the second type 'Wind Riding Bug'!" Shino Aburame suppressed his excitement and said.
"You can put a temporary stop to Wind Release. Which type of Kikaichu are you planning to experiment with next?" Kitazawa asked, looking at the three lines of text that appeared before him.
With the emergence of the two Wind Release Kikaichu, Shino's system mission was also completed.
[Current Mission: Help Shino Aburame cultivate Kikaichu with Wind Release resistance.]
[Mission Reward: Increase your own Wind Release damage resistance by 10%.]
[Host has completed the mission, reward issued.]
Kitazawa now had 10% Wind Release damage resistance, Water Release damage resistance, and Fire Release damage resistance.
How should I put it? It was still useful at critical moments.
If it were an evenly matched opponent, 10% damage resistance could turn the tide of victory, although Kitazawa rarely encountered such opponents at the moment.
"Lightning Release." Shino thought for a moment and replied.
[Current Mission: Help Shino Aburame cultivate Kikaichu with Lightning Release resistance.]
[Mission Reward: Increase your own Lightning Release damage resistance by 10%.]
[Do you accept?]
It was an unsurprising mission.
"When I'm at the Academy, you can come and borrow this sword from me every day." After accepting the mission, Kitazawa took out his Thunder Sword and said.
Thunder Sword came from the reforging of Kiba and possessed the ability to attract lightning. Since it was an inherent ability, theoretically, a non-Lightning Release Ninja could also use it.
"Besides that, you can also ask Lord Third, Kakashi, and Sasuke for help," Kitazawa said with a smile, reminding him.
"Thank you, Teacher Kitazawa." Shino took Thunder Sword and began a new Kikaichu mutation experiment.
After Kitazawa watched him leave, he called Kiba over.
"Teacher Kitazawa." Kiba greeted him proactively.
"You can pause your Earth Release Chakra nature transformation practice and switch to learning Earth Release: Earth Fang Bullet," Kitazawa said straightforwardly.
"That's great!" Kiba's face immediately lit up with excitement when he heard this.
Leaving Naruto, Sasuke, and Yakumo aside for now. Just Sakura, Ino, and Tayuya, among others, had put immense pressure on him.
If he didn't improve, the gap would widen.
"I'll demonstrate it first." Kitazawa formed hand signs, gathered Chakra in his throat, and spat out an earthen projectile like a cannonball.
With a bang! The earthen projectile landed on the ground, which quickly cracked, leaving a deep crater.
Kiba's eyes lit up. With such immense power, if a Ninja were hit unprepared, they would surely be knocked unconscious.
"Thank you, Teacher Kitazawa!" Kiba said excitedly.
"Don't thank me so soon. Adding Earth Release Chakra sounds simple, but the difficulty has increased by a level." Kitazawa said with a serious expression, "To learn it, you'll have to put in twelve points of effort."
"I understand, Teacher Kitazawa." Kiba regained his composure and became very serious.
Since it was the first time teaching, Kitazawa created a Shadow Clone specifically to teach him. He himself went to Kimimaro and the others.
Kimimaro, like Jugo, had already been inoculated with the Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth.
As long as he wasn't in Cused Seal of Earth: State Two for too long, it wouldn't accelerate his Bloodline disease.
Of course, he was also receiving treatment for his Bloodline disease during his normal routine.
He would spend two days a week at Konoha Hospital, being looked after by a group of Medical Ninja, truly receiving full treatment.
Kitazawa glanced at Tayuya, who was playing the flute, then his gaze fell on Haku.
Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!
A wall of ice immediately appeared around Haku.
Kitazawa nodded. After so much study, his Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness had already reached an introductory level.
"Haku," Kitazawa called out.
Haku immediately removed the ice walls around him and came before him.
"This is the second Ice Release Ninjutsu you're going to learn." Kitazawa took out a scroll and handed it to him.
"Thank you, Teacher Kitazawa." Haku opened the scroll and began to read.
The Ice Release Ninjutsu recorded on the scroll was called Ice Release: Blasting Ice Crystal.
Its effect was to create ice crystals with Chakra, which would shatter upon hitting the target, causing damage with the ice shards like blades.
Haku's eyes showed anticipation after reading it. This was an offensive Ice Release Ninjutsu.
If he could learn it, his strength would surely increase by leaps and bounds. His dream of becoming an excellent ANBU Ninja was also getting closer.
Kitazawa formed hand signs, and just like teaching Kiba, he once again created a Shadow Clone to teach Haku.
Although he didn't know Ice Release, understanding one principle meant understanding all.
After entrusting all the students of the Genius Class to his Shadow Clones, Kitazawa left the Ninja Academy and found a secluded place to practice Wood Release.
The commotion caused by Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence was too great, and if it destroyed the Ninja Academy, it would be more trouble than it was worth.
---
The sun set.
As the bell rang, the students of the Genius Class finished their day's training and went home.
But Naruto, Sasuke, Yakumo, and Hinata, among others, gathered together.
"Teacher Kitazawa's Birthday Operation, Second Meeting, now commencing!" Kiba announced loudly.
The reason it was the second time was because the first was last year. In other words, Kitazawa had been teaching them for almost two years.
However, compared to the first Birthday Operation meeting, this second one included Kimimaro, Tayuya, Jugo, and Haku, among others.
"I didn't want to come!" Tayuya said reluctantly, "Kimimaro and Jugo wanted to come!"
Kimimaro wanted to thank Kitazawa for treating his Bloodline disease.
Jugo, on the other hand, wanted to repay Kitazawa for solving his body's hidden dangers with the Eight Trigrams Cursed Seal of Earth, so he seized this opportunity.
"Since you're here, let's all participate in the discussion," Ino said with a smile.
Having been classmates for so long, she had come to understand Tayuya's personality; she often said the opposite of what she meant, so many of her words just needed to be interpreted in reverse.
"Just like last time, we'll discuss two things." Shikamaru said seriously, "First, where to eat, and second, what gift to give."
"We've already been to the BBQ restaurant once, so I suggest we eat somewhere else," Sakura spoke up.
"I know a good izakaya." Ino thought for a moment and said, "The elders of our Ino-Shika-Cho often gather there for meals."
"That works." Choji agreed, "I've been there a few times with my dad, and everything there is delicious."
"Then it's the izakaya!" Kiba waved his hand, making the decision.
The others had no objections and all nodded.
"As for gifts, there's only one principle: everyone should avoid giving duplicate gifts." Shikamaru reminded them.
"I can't think of what to give right now." Tenten showed a troubled expression.
Neji, Sasuke, and Shino, among others, all fell into thought; they also didn't know what to give.
"Everyone, go back and think about it carefully. There's still plenty of time anyway." Shikamaru pondered for a moment and said, "After the final exams, we'll have another gathering."
Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.
---
Time slowly passed.
Soon it was December. The Genius Class's final exams were successfully completed.
Sasuke regained first place, walking with a spring in his step, looking very happy.
And Kitazawa's strength received a small boost.
[Current Mission: Complete the modification of Medical Forbidden Technique: Cellular Activation.]
[Mission Reward: Water Release: Water Severing Wave.]
[Host has completed the mission, reward issued.]
Kitazawa slowly exhaled.
After so much effort, he finally completed the modification of Medical Forbidden Technique: Cellular Activation, and Yang Release Chakra Mode was born.
In addition, he also obtained Water Release: Water Severing Wave.
Water Release: Water Severing Wave is definitely one of Senju Tobirama's most powerful Water Release Ninjutsu, capable of cutting even the Roots of the Divine Tree.