Naruto: Countless versions of myself superimposed at the same time!

……

After dealing with this matter, Kiyohara set off for the Forest of Death.

Recently, Kiyohara rarely goes to the Third Training Ground, but prefers to come to the Death Forest instead.

Ordinary villagers dare not approach this place, and the genin regard it as the ultimate training ground for their graduation exams. But for Kiyohara, this is just a training ground where he will not be disturbed.

Sunlight streamed through layers of tree canopy onto the ground covered with decaying leaves.

Kiyohara stood in a relatively open space, surrounded by trees that had been destroyed during his last practice of "Immortal Technique: True Thousand Hands" and had since grown back.

The newly grown trunk was thinner than the surrounding ancient trees, and the bark still bore the marks of time.

Kiyohara raised his right hand, palm facing up.

A stream of water gushed from his palm, coiling around his wrist and slowly swirling.

The water had a unique texture, somewhere between liquid and solid, with a pale blue sheen on its surface.

This is his Water Release technique after fusing the Three-Tails' chakra. It is more viscous than ordinary Water Release and contains chakra density at the level of a Tailed Beast.

He gripped it with his hand in return.

The water instantly froze, transforming into a crystal-clear water blade.

The blade is long and slender with a sharp edge, refracting a rainbow of colors in the sunlight filtering through the leaves.

Kiyohara gripped the water blade and swung it horizontally into the air ahead.

The moment the water blade sliced ​​through the air, a pale white wind-attribute chakra suddenly surged from its blade.

The wind entwines with the water, and the water envelops the wind; the two streams of chakra intertwine on the blade.

A sharp buzzing sound rang out in the air, as if something had been torn apart in that instant.

A tiny ice crystal drifted off the blade.

Kiyohara stopped what he was doing, looked down at the water knife in his palm that had changed its appearance.

A thin layer of frost covered the surface of the blade.

It is... a fusion of Wind Release and Water Release.

The prototype of Ice Release!

Kiyohara's heart stirred slightly.

He had tried to synthesize a bloodline limit before.

Water Release and Wind Release combine to form Ice Release, and Fire Release and Earth Release combine to form Lava Release.

He had already memorized the formulas for combining these basic escape techniques several years ago.

But the results of the attempts were not ideal.

Kiyohara successfully developed Wood Release after obtaining Ashura's chakra.

The remaining bloodline limits, no matter how precisely he controlled the chakra ratio, or how repeatedly he adjusted the timing and method of fusion,

Two different types of chakra will always repel each other at the last moment, like magnets with opposite poles.

Over time, Kiyohara stopped focusing on this.

There are so many powerful bloodline limits in the ninja world, there's no need to focus solely on developing this one path.

He can still wait for the "will" to be written and inherit a new future.

However, after adapting to the Three-Tails' chakra, Kiyohara discovered that the Three-Tails' chakra was changing his affinity for water-style chakra.

It's not simply an increase in chakra, but a change at the cellular level.

Just as fish don't need to learn how to swim, birds don't need to learn how to fly.

Kiyohara wielded the Water Release ninjutsu with remarkable ease, as if a fish in water had wings.

In this way, he would have more energy to control another wind-style chakra.

Kiyohara raised his right hand again.

This time, he formed hand seals and simultaneously mobilized the water and wind chakra within his body.

Two streams of chakra flowed along his meridian system, converged at his chest, and then surged simultaneously into his right palm.

Water gushes from the palm, wind enters through the fingertips.

The water began to swirl under the wind, forming a whirlpool the size of a fist.

The vortex spun faster and tighter, and the chakra density at its center increased dramatically.

Then, the surface of the vortex began to turn white, and a thin layer of frost spread outward from the center, as if the process of a lake freezing in the cold winter had been compressed into just a few breaths.

Click.

A whirlwind, with a cold wind blowing sideways, hovered above Qingyuan's palm, slowly swirling.

Kiyohara looked at the cold wind ball, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Sure enough.

His bloodline fusion, coupled with the enhancement of tailed beast chakra, greatly reduced the difficulty of developing bloodline limits.

If an ordinary ninja synthesizing their bloodline limit is like rubbing two sticks together to start a fire, then his current state is like using a lighter.

Simply press the switch and the fire will ignite.

Of course, this is just the beginning.

Right now, it's just driving the cold wind.

When Kiyohara can condense into ice crystals, it means that he has mastered Ice Release!

With a wave of his hand, the Cold Wind Ball shattered in his palm, turning into countless tiny wisps of cold wind.

"It's time to speed up the remaining tailed beasts as well."

……

Yuyin Village.

The rain is still falling.

This place, perpetually shrouded in rain, is a forgotten corner of the world.

The streets were filled with ankle-deep puddles, and occasionally a figure in a black robe would hurry by, splashing up a string of muddy water.

At the highest point of the village stands a strangely shaped tower.

The tower looked as if it were made up of countless distorted faces, each with a different expression.

At the very top of the tower, Orochimaru stood by the window, gazing at the gray, misty rain outside.

Today he was wearing a dark-colored turban with a purple ribbon tied around his neck, and his long black hair was draped over his shoulders with a few strands falling in front of his chest.

He has been a defector from Konoha for some time now.

He left the sun-drenched village, leaving behind the rules and morals that bound his hands.

He is free.

But the price of his freedom was that he lost Konoha's resources.

The laboratory, funding, equipment, manpower—everything had to be started from scratch.

Like a snake driven from its den, he had to find a new place to live in this cold, rainy place.

For some time now, he has been staying in the Land of Rice Fields, planning to establish his own ninja village.

Today, he has come to the Land of Rain again.

Orochimaru realized that the Akatsuki organization might be a good target.

This mercenary organization, composed of S-rank rogue ninjas, has everything he needs: funds, intelligence, and protection.

He also has a strong interest in this organization.

He had come into contact with Akatsuki ninjas before, and now he noticed many new faces.

Footsteps came from behind me.

Pain, the Deva.

The apparent leader of the Akatsuki organization, a man with the "Rinnegan".

Orochimaru.

Pain's voice was like that of a dead man, without any inflection.

What are you looking at?

Orochimaru's lips curled up slightly, revealing a smile that was neither a smile nor a frown.

"Watching the rain."

He turned around, his golden vertical pupils gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the dim light.

"This village is really interesting. It has been raining for so many years and it rarely stops. I'm wondering, is it your magic that keeps this rain going, or is the rain itself a part of you?"

Orochimaru vaguely sensed that this rain was not simple.

He had just arrived in the Land of Rain and hadn't alerted anyone along the way, yet his trail had been discovered!

Pain did not answer the question. His gaze passed through the rain outside the window and landed on the distant, hazy horizon.

"Are you here to join Xiao?"

The Way of Pain.

Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils stared at Pain's purple eyes.

"Rinnegan".

The eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, the foremost of the three legendary eye techniques.

Orochimaru had no idea about this before he arrived.

"What can you give me if I join?"

Orochimaru asked.

He gave those eyes a greedy look.

"What you want."

Payne's answer was brief.

"Shōnen has a lot to offer. You must be short of money, Orochimaru."

Pain said calmly.

Nagato, who was controlling him from behind, knew that Orochimaru, who was doing research, was short of money.

Orochimaru was silent for a moment, then laughed.

"Sounds good."

He licked his lips.

"Then I'll join."

Payne nodded, as if he already knew the answer.

He turned around and walked towards the door.

When he reached the door, he stopped and said something without turning his head.

"Someone wants to see you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the space around Orochimaru suddenly began to distort.

The distortion wasn't caused by ninjutsu, but rather by the folds in space itself.

The light was bent, and everything was flowing in the same direction.

A vortex appeared out of thin air, and a black outline slowly emerged from the center of the vortex.

Tiger-patterned mask.

Crimson Sharingan.