"Orochimaru, you haven't taken on any subordinates yet, have you?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, puffing on his pipe.
At that, Orochimaru replied flatly,
"I have no interest in dragging brats along on missions. It's just a waste of time. Asakawa Kiyosuke's talent is decent—better than that fool Jiraiya—but aside from his kekkei genkai, there's nothing that truly catches my eye."
He knew exactly what the old man was planning. No way was he going to play squad leader. Total waste of time. Better to use that time to study Kiyosuke's abilities and figure out what made them tick.
"That said," he added, shifting the topic, "I don't mind giving him guidance once in a while."
"Then we'll go with that. I want you to help him develop his potential. Jiraiya was supposed to take care of it, given his knack for Fire Release, but he's still in the Land of Rain, trying to properly train those three disciples he picked up."
Hiruzen let out a weary sigh. Three students... Jiraiya was off playing teacher in the Land of Rain. Tsunade, traumatized by her lover's death, had developed hemophobia and essentially ended her medical ninja career—she'd long since left the village. As for Orochimaru, the man spent all day holed up in his lab. The fact that he was even interested in Kiyosuke was, frankly, a rare and welcome surprise.
"Alright. Settled."
"Mm. I'll be taking these scrolls with me to do some research." Orochimaru picked up the documents on the table and walked out without a shred of reluctance.
Hiruzen puffed his pipe in thought.
"Flame transformation, fire-style jutsu without hand signs... definitely convenient."
He left the archives and reclassified Kiyosuke's file under heavy seal. Without his direct permission, no one would be allowed to access it.
The kekkei genkai wouldn't be made public just yet. First, they needed to instill the Will of Fire in him.
Hmm... maybe he'd give a lecture at the Academy tomorrow...
...
After learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu, Kiyosuke immediately began experimenting with his "Ultra—cough—Flame Bomb" technique.
He created a clone to test it.
The clone's body ignited in blazing flames, raising the heat to the max. Even if it couldn't kill the enemy outright, it'd still scorch off a layer of skin.
Compressing the energy in its body, the clone lunged at a tree, hugged the trunk tightly, and unleashed all the built-up chakra in one go.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion rocked the area. Splinters flew everywhere, and shards of debris blasted out like bullets. His real body ended up full of holes, but the flames patched them up.
"Cough... Damn, Shadow Clones are great and all, but sharing pain with them? That part sucks."
The last sensation of the clone being torn apart hit him hard. It felt like his whole body was being shredded. He'd intended to use elementalization to avoid the pain, but he didn't have enough chakra. The clone vanished, leaving behind the echo of agony—a feeling not just anyone could endure.
When the smoke finally cleared, he looked around.
The tree was now nothing but a charred stump. The surrounding area was a complete mess.
The Flame Bomb had worked—but with a Shadow Clone, it was more like a self-destruct technique.
Even without an Ultra heart, he had his own way to recreate the move.
He had to hand it to Orochimaru—his creativity was something else. Even moves Kiyosuke had never imagined himself, the guy had casually thought them up.
"Right. Time to up the power. I'm not afraid of dying anyway."
The chakra used in the clone explosion was something he had prepared himself. Theoretically, if he used the technique with his real body, the damage would be even more devastating.
He created another clone, this time feeding it half of his remaining chakra.
Clone Explosion used the clone as bait—ideal for taking an enemy down with you. The Flame Bomb, on the other hand, was a massive burst of chakra from his own body, meant to take out a powerful enemy, after which he'd regenerate using elementalization.
The upside of Clone Explosion? He didn't have to get his hands dirty himself. And it still packed a punch. The downside? Clones were fragile and couldn't always latch onto a target in time.
After all, the move required grappling the enemy.
The Flame Bomb, meanwhile, was hands-on. He'd go elemental, ignore physical attacks, and as long as there was no Water Release involved, he'd be just fine.
But there was a catch—if the target used a substitution jutsu or a clone, all that effort could go to waste. Hugging a dummy just to blow it up? That was a bad trade.
This time, his clone flared up with fire and grabbed onto a boulder the size of a small house.
Detonation!
BOOOOM!!!!
This explosion was massive. Half of Konoha probably heard it. A shockwave blasted out, hurling chunks of stone in all directions. Kiyosuke himself was blown sky-high and only stopped when he smashed into a tree.
His whole body throbbed with pain. If it weren't for his elementalization letting the debris phase through him, that blast might have killed him.
He hurried back to the blast zone and found a massive crater, twenty to thirty meters wide. Trees were snapped like twigs, and flames roared through the wreckage.
Nice—bonus magic damage!
"Yes! It worked! Hell yeah!"
This level of destruction was exactly what he wanted. Who needed flashy jutsu when you could just blow everything up?
Suddenly, several figures wearing animal masks and carrying long blades appeared around him.
"What are you doing?" one of them asked coldly, voice devoid of emotion.
"Testing a jutsu." Kiyosuke swallowed hard and raised his hands.
They were ANBU. Or maybe part of Root, that shady group founded by that bastard Danzō.
Either way, best to play it straight.
The explosion had clearly drawn attention. Something that loud in Konoha couldn't go ignored.
Soon after, another group showed up—men in green flak jackets, their arms bearing the insignia of the Konoha Police Force. They were led by a young man with spiky black hair and crimson Sharingan eyes.
"What happened here?" he asked.
It was none other than Uchiha Fugaku, captain of the Konoha Police Force.
The ANBU responded, "We're still investigating, but so far, all signs point to this kid as the cause of the explosion."
Oh crap.
He was screwed.
Even Fugaku—Sasuke's future dad—had been dragged into this.
The Konoha Police Force was mostly made up of Uchiha. They were responsible for the village's law enforcement. Naturally, a blast like that had brought them running.
"A kid? You're kidding me. No way this brat caused that much destruction." One of the Uchiha scoffed, clearly not buying it.
The ANBU replied calmly, "He's the only one here. And he already admitted to it."
"You guys in ANBU call this an investigation? Just taking some kid's word for it? Let me use my Sharingan. I'll make him spill everything."
The Uchiha's voice dripped with arrogance.
Kiyosuke took a cautious step back and said quickly,
"I'm Orochimaru-sensei's student. I was just testing a jutsu he taught me, that's all."
At this point, his best bet was to name-drop a big shot and hope it worked.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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