The talent boost brought by Yoru's first evolution made him a genius in the truest sense.
That was also the main reason he'd been able, in just a little over a year, to successfully inject Fire Release nature transformation into the Rasengan.
When Orochimaru began teaching him the basic "extension techniques" of Earth Release, Yoru only needed three days to learn Earth Clone, Earth Substitute, Hiding like a Mole, and—most importantly—the Earth Body Flicker he wanted most.
Seeing this, Orochimaru felt satisfied with Yoru's comprehension… but he stopped teaching him further Earth Release jutsu.
A qualified teacher should tailor a training plan to the student's traits and abilities—maximizing their strengths instead of obsessively patching weaknesses.
Yoru already had the Rasengan, an extremely lethal single-target technique, and the burst-type Fire Release: Rasengan that could deal wide-area damage. He didn't lack powerful offensive options.
With Yoru's chakra reserves, learning high-level techniques that consumed massive amounts of chakra could actually push him into a dead end.
Yoru's defining strengths were speed—and the concealment of his Phantom Body Flicker.
He was a natural-born assassin.
His only real weakness was that his "normal" concealment wasn't strong enough; his chakra could still be detected by sensing techniques.
Now that he'd learned those Earth Release extensions, Yoru's concealment and infiltration ability improved noticeably.
Once he mastered them—or fused them with Phantom Body Flicker's concealment—then across the entire shinobi world, only top-tier sensing techniques, or dōjutsu users like Byakugan and "red eyes," would be able to detect him.
At that point, Yoru would be a first-rate shinobi assassin.
With that alone, he could easily become an Anbu squad captain or a tokubetsu jōnin.
That day, Orochimaru created a shadow clone and took Kushina away for sensory training.
His real body, meanwhile, took Yoru out on missions.
That was the difference between a disciple and an ordinary subordinate.
For normal genin, even after passing their jōnin instructor's test, they still had to run missions and spend a long time building rapport before they earned their instructor's approval and were taught jutsu.
Orochimaru, on the other hand, only took Yoru on missions because he temporarily had nothing left to teach him.
At the Hokage Tower, Yoru saw the Third Hokage again for the first time in years.
The last time he'd seen the "Ninja Hero" had been the first-year Will of Fire speech.
As principal of the Ninja Academy, Sarutobi Hiruzen appeared a few times every year.
And the students who interacted with him most were always the first-years—before any "seeds" had been planted.
"So you're Sa and Mio's child? Good. Just as Orochimaru said—you really are excellent," Hiruzen said warmly, studying Yoru as if it were their first real meeting.
Yoru immediately put on a "flattered" expression and bowed. "Orochimaru-sensei praises me too highly. Thank you, Hokage-sama, for recognizing me—agreeing to my early graduation, and assigning Orochimaru-sensei as my jōnin instructor."
"Heh-heh. Orochimaru wasn't assigned to you by me. He volunteered to take you, and even resigned his border post for it. That's the bond between you two—don't disappoint his expectations."
Yoru looked up, stunned, glancing at Orochimaru's smiling face. Then he pressed his lips together and said with firm resolve, "Please rest assured, Hokage-sama. I won't let Orochimaru-sensei down!"
Watching Yoru—now that he'd untied his heart knot—shift from solitary and withdrawn to someone emotional and respectful, Hiruzen felt even more satisfied with this "grand-student."
Other than being taller, Yoru was basically as adorable as Orochimaru had been as a child.
Especially since Yoru was also the one the Nine-Tails jinchūriki relied on the most.
As long as Yoru was "one of us," then the Nine-Tails jinchūriki would become the strongest trump card Hiruzen could wield—unlike Lady Mito, who had stood above him.
And if Yoru could learn Flying Thunder God, then Hiruzen would hold two ultimate trump cards in his hands—so powerful that even the great clans like Uchiha and Hyuga joining forces wouldn't be able to shake his position.
That was why Hiruzen was so eager to bring Yoru into the Hokage's line—and why he allowed Orochimaru to train him one-on-one.
He believed his proudest disciple could shape Yoru into an inheritor of the Will of Fire.
After a bit more small talk, Hiruzen assigned Yoru a mission.
A very ordinary D-rank job: helping villagers with farm work.
Since Yoru had no teammates and Orochimaru wasn't going to help, Yoru could only create two shadow clones to assist.
When the clones dispelled, Yoru—rarely—felt a wave of fatigue.
Since it was still early, Orochimaru took Yoru to do two more D-rank missions, both simple errands helping villagers with minor matters.
On the way back to the Hokage Tower, Orochimaru looked at the now dirty, dusty Yoru and asked with a smile, "Do you find these missions boring?"
"A bit," Yoru admitted, nodding.
"Then have you wondered—your strength is already so great, so why do they still send you on low-level missions like this?"
"It's to cultivate a ninja's sense of responsibility and basic execution ability—laying the foundation for taking higher-ranked missions."
Orochimaru was slightly surprised by Yoru's answer.
Looking at the boy—whose mind was as mature as his body—Orochimaru's eyes filled with approval. Outwardly, he nodded. "That's part of it. But more than that, it's to let you experience the villagers' lives firsthand—to re-learn this village founded by the First Hokage."
"You've never left Konoha. You don't know how cruel the outside world is."
"Once you go out and come back, you'll realize how wonderful Konoha is. There are no barriers between clans here. People aren't ranked by whether they come from powerful clans or ordinary ones. Everyone in the village is family."
As he spoke, Orochimaru's golden eyes seemed to shine like sunlight, and his voice turned firm. "We strive to become stronger not only for ourselves, but to protect our compatriots in the village—to guard this hard-won peace and happiness. That is… the Will of Fire."
Gojo Yoru: "…"
Good grief—so this is brainwashing.
This era's Orochimaru was way too wholesome. He was basically a different person from later.
If it were any other kid, they'd already be fired up by this speech.
But Yoru felt nothing at all—if anything, he almost wanted to laugh.
Still, afraid of giving himself away, he stared at Orochimaru with a worshipful look and nodded as if suddenly enlightened.
"I understand, Orochimaru-sensei!"
~~~
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