"Don't look at me like that, Orochimaru-sensei… it's kinda creepy."
Kaede shrugged helplessly under Orochimaru's intense gaze and said, "Judging by your expression, you're not thinking about turning me into a test subject, are you?"
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly. He let out a chuckle and replied, "of course not. You're my most valued student. I am quite interested in your kekkei genkai, though. unfortunately, there's no time for any detailed research at the moment."
Kaede thought for a moment and said, "After the war ends, I'll cooperate with you for some research."
Delaying things using the war as an excuse was easy enough. By the time the war actually ended, he'd likely already surpassed Kage level. With that kind of power, it wouldn't matter how he handled it.
If everything went smoothly, he wouldn't even mind helping Orochimaru with some life-extension research. After all, Orochimaru had treated him fairly well. He had learned both Cell Activation and the lightning nature transformation of chakra from him.
Speaking of which—
So far, both of his time-related abilities could only be used on himself. That had always been one of the core limitations he'd been trying to break through.
Take his Time Reversal ability, for example. Since it locked onto his own body, it exhibited a peculiar property. Put simply: if he cut his hand and flung the blood onto a wall, then used Time Reversal on the wound, the blood on the wall would vanish into thin air.
This power completely ignored spatial distance.
Kaede had even tested it by plucking a strand of hair and placing it far, far away. upon activating Time Reversal, the hair would instantly reappear on his head!
This meant that as long as he didn't want to, no one could take even a single drop of blood from him.
The only drawback was that while Time Reversal could retrieve blood from a thousand miles away, it couldn't teleport his physical body. He couldn't, for instance, revive at the spot where his blood landed, his soul-bound body always rewound in place, much like the mechanism behind Edo Tensei.
As for "splitting his soul" or "separating his body" to experiment with how Time Reversal might work in such cases… Kaede had no intention of trying anything that reckless.
If he wanted spatial movement, mastering the Flying Thunder God Technique would do the trick.
And even if Flying Thunder God was too hard and required too much talent, there were still other options, like the Sharingan or Rinnegan, both of which had space-time techniques. All it would take was the power to seize one.
"I'm honored."
Hearing Kaede's answer, Orochimaru smiled faintly.
Even he found Kaede's current abilities difficult to deal with. unless absolutely necessary, he had no desire to force things.
Fortunately, Kaede was his student. otherwise, getting access to the power of time would've been nearly impossible.
The only problem was… no one knew how long the war would last. until it ended, he wouldn't have time to dive into research anyway.
Just then—
A ninja approached and reported to Orochimaru, "Lord Orochimaru, the battlefield has been cleared. We've confirmed a total of 77 Iwa shinobi killed, including 13 Jōnin."
"I see," Orochimaru nodded slowly. "The Iwa advance force has suffered a heavy blow and their plans have been disrupted. From here, they'll either retreat temporarily or send in their main force. Go ahead and report the battlefield situation back to the village."
"Yes, sir!"
The ninja responded promptly.
As he turned to leave, his gaze briefly lingered on Kaede. There was a hint of unease in his eyes, but also a clear trace of respect.
Though Kaede was much younger, his contributions in this battle were nothing short of remarkable—glorious, even.
Nearly half of the Iwa casualties had died by Kaede's hand. He was undeniably the hero of this fight!
This was respect earned through strength.
Kaede noticed the look but didn't pay much mind. once the ninja left, he turned to Orochimaru again and said:
"Orochimaru-sensei… do you happen to have an extra Kusanagi Sword?"
It was a little embarrassing to bring up—
But White Fang was damaged.
Not completely destroyed, but about a third of it had broken.
under quadruple-speed and the Fourth Gate, combined with Chidori, the strain had proven too much for White Fang.
Different ninja swords had different properties. White Fang wasn't built for durability but rather crafted from a special material optimized for chakra flow. In terms of sheer hardness, it was actually a bit inferior to standard steel.
That was also why, in the original timeline, Kakashi had broken it. It just wasn't that tough.
In terms of raw attack power, Kaede's current full-force strikes were probably still weaker than one of Sakumo Hatake's swings with White Fang. But the issue wasn't power, it was the technique.
Sakumo used the second stage of the Hatake sword style. His attacks were shaped purely by chakra nature transformation, to the point where the form was stabilized. This not only prevented strain on the sword, it actually reinforced it.
Kaede, on the other hand, was different.
He was still using the first stage of the Hatake sword style, paired with Lightning Release: Chidori. He relied on speed to forcibly emulate the second stage's effect.
He hadn't noticed it mid-battle, but after defeating Sekkotsu, he realized a thin crack had appeared on White Fang's blade.
one more battle like that, and it would likely shatter completely.
unless he could master the second stage of the Hatake sword style beforehand, unlocking a higher realm of chakra flow, but that wasn't something easily achieved.
And in the state of the Eight Gates, it was probably even harder to use the second stage.
When it came to sheer toughness, only a divine weapon like the Kusanagi Sword could endure his power. Although the Kusanagi wasn't a short blade and didn't naturally suit the Hatake sword style, it apparently had the ability to transform, stretching and shrinking at will.
Even if it couldn't be shortened, he could always modify the sword style. It wasn't like he lacked time to train.
"..."
Orochimaru was silent for a moment, then quickly understood what Kaede meant. "I don't have a spare Kusanagi Sword right now, but I know where one is."
Kaede waited silently.
Orochimaru then opened his mouth and spat out a scroll.
He handed the scroll to Kaede and said, "It contains the approximate coordinates. The ninja in that village aren't particularly strong. With your level, you'll have no trouble handling it."
It was intel he had obtained earlier. He'd originally planned to retrieve the sword himself, but the sudden outbreak of war had dragged him to the frontlines, so he had to put it off.
Kaede took the scroll.
He was honestly tempted to ask how Orochimaru managed to keep track of all the scrolls he had in his stomach, did he sort them like garbage into categories?
But he kept the thought to himself and simply nodded as he accepted the scroll.
"Thank you, sensei."
"Hehehe, no need to be so formal."
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