Mayuri Kurotsuchi Card Game, starting from Naruto

Chapter 9 Test

A clearing in the forest of Konoha Village.

Lu Nie stood under a tree, his feelings a bit complicated. At that moment, he was still thinking about Orochimaru's visit to his parents two days ago, saying he wanted to take him as his disciple.

As one of the Legendary Sannin and a future Hokage candidate, and with the permission of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, Orochimaru's ability to personally visit Nara Shikayoshi and his wife to make a request already demonstrates his high regard for Shikayoshi.

This kind of relationship is not like that of a teacher assigned to a group after graduating from the ninja academy, but a more advanced one, a close disciple who can truly pass on the mantle of master and apprentice, and be regarded as the successor of the mantle.

After all, your mentor is just your superior; how much he's willing to teach you, including ninjutsu, depends entirely on his willingness. Those with a strong master-disciple bond usually don't hold back; they pass on their most treasured knowledge.

The most obvious example is the future Team 7, where Kakashi was the mentor of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura Haruno, but the only one who could truly be considered to have inherited his ninjutsu mantle was Sasuke.

Similarly, such a thorough and solemn visit indicates that the visit is highly valued, but it also means that there is little room for maneuver, unless one wants to offend Orochimaru.

So whether Shikanobu was willing or not, from the moment Orochimaru came to visit, he had already become Orochimaru's disciple. There was nothing Nara Shikakichi could do about it.

Today is the day we agreed to meet after he became Orochimaru's disciple.

call!

A gust of wind suddenly rushed by, and then a girl who looked to be eight or nine years old, wearing a genin headband and a fishnet outfit, leaped down from the tree branch above Lu Nie and landed lightly beside him, as Lu Nie looked up.

"A brat from the Nara clan?" The newcomer stood up, raised an eyebrow as he looked at Shikane's attire, which had a strong Nara clan style.

"You've arrived, that's good."

Before Lu Nie could reply, a familiar, husky, and magnetic voice suddenly rang out near them, as if someone had been waiting there for a long time and had suddenly spoken, startling Lu Nie and the girl.

"Orochimaru-sensei!"

"Orochimaru-sensei!"

Two childish voices rang out simultaneously. Compared to Lu Nie's somewhat listless voice, the girl's shouts were much more energetic and expressed an irrepressible, fervent adoration.

This made Lu Nie involuntarily move a little further away from her.

At this moment, he had already figured out who this seemingly naive girl was.

Mitarashi Red Bean!

Orochimaru's only surviving disciple when he defected from Konoha.

The reason it is said to be the only survivor is because even Shikano could not be certain whether Anko was indeed Orochimaru's only disciple after Nawaki.

Although I don't recall her having any particularly noteworthy achievements, she did receive Orochimaru's dedicated instruction and possessed some talent. If she were too stupid and lacked talent, Orochimaru wouldn't have valued and taught her, nor would he have passed on the Ryuchi Cave contract.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Orochimaru, and I'm your future instructor. I enjoy exploring and learning all the ninjutsu in this world, and I hate people who lack talent and those who are hopelessly stupid." Orochimaru led the two to an open space nearby, stood face to face with them about five or six meters apart, and made his request.

"Me first! Me first! My name is Mitarashi Anko, I'm just ten years old and about to graduate from Konoha Academy! I hope to become a powerful ninja like Orochimaru-sama! Hate, well, there's no one I hate right now." Mitarashi Anko raised her hand first, shouting before Shikagure could react.

"Nara Shikagure, six years old this year. Still attending Konoha Academy. I like to do research that I enjoy. I hate troublesome things that are unrelated to research." Seeing Orochimaru's gaze turn to him, Shikagure also gave a brief self-introduction.

"Before I begin to teach you, I need to test you. You may attack me together using any means at your disposal, with the determination to kill me. Hold nothing back. I need to know your current strength and capabilities."

Orochimaru licked his lips, and a bell fell from his raised finger. He drew a circle around himself with his foot. "See this bell? If any one of you can snatch it from me, you'll pass this test. Of course, to be fair, I'll stand still in this circle."

"What if we don't manage to grab it?" Anko raised her hand, looking somewhat eager. She knew, of course, that they couldn't defeat Orochimaru, but if it was just about grabbing the bell, with her teammates' cooperation, it was still possible, right?

Thinking it over, Hongdou glanced at Nara Shikano beside her and then realized that her idea was a bit too confident.

"That means the test failed, and there will be a very severe punishment." Orochimaru's smile instantly took on an indescribable sinister and oppressive quality.

"Of course, if you can do it, I will also give you a reward." As Orochimaru spoke, a palm-sized scroll slipped from his sleeve. Under the watchful eyes of Shikanobu and Anko, Orochimaru unwrapped the scroll with hand seals.

Pong!

After a cloud of smoke cleared, a huge scroll, nearly as tall as a person, appeared in front of Orochimaru.

"This is the summoning contract scroll from Ryuchi Cave! If you can snatch the bell, or perform well enough, I will write your names on it after the test." Orochimaru's tone was full of seduction.

Red Bean's body trembled from the stimulation.

A summoning beast!

Who wouldn't want to own a powerful summoning beast?

Especially since it's Orochimaru's sacred land summoning beast, one of the Legendary Sannin!

Even without Orochimaru's further provocation, she was already filled with fighting spirit. Lu Nie took a deep breath; he vaguely felt that this reward seemed to be specifically targeted at him.

Regardless, Orochimaru's reward resonated deeply with him. Influenced by the talent card, his desire to research Ryuchi Cave, one of the three sacred sites for summoning beasts, was now ignited.

Even if it's just a magic technique, it's already worth Lu Nie giving it his all.

"It seems you're quite satisfied with this reward. Let's begin." Orochimaru tossed the scroll onto a nearby tree, signaling the start of the assessment.

The two, Shika and Nie, exchanged a glance on the field. Instead of attacking immediately, they quickly ran away from their spot, disappearing far from Orochimaru's sight.

"Are you trying to catch them off guard? Or are you trying to familiarize yourself with your partner's methods?" Orochimaru watched their actions, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes. If the two of them just charged in recklessly like fools, he would be somewhat disappointed.

"You should know the Nara clan's secret techniques, right?" Mitarashi Anko clearly knew something about the Nara clan. As soon as she stopped after getting out of Orochimaru's sight, she asked Shikagure.

Lu Nie nodded.

"That's settled then. You'll assist me with the Nara clan's secret techniques, and I'll be the main attacker. As long as you seize the right moment and coordinate well with me, we have a chance to snatch the bell if Lord Orochimaru can't dodge," Anko immediately assigned the task.

She didn't expect Lu Nie to be of any help, not because she didn't trust his talent, but because he looked too young. If Lu Nie could use his shadow magic to provide timely assistance, she might be able to succeed if she seized the opportunity.

Lu Nie didn't want to refute her point. After all, her plan didn't sound wrong.

"It's fine if you're the main attacker and I'll support, but we have absolutely no chemistry, and it'll be hard to develop any in a short time. If there were a third person, that would be great, especially if that third person were from the Mountain Clan. Using the Mountain Clan's secret techniques, we could achieve telepathic communication centered on their spiritual magic." Lu Nie first agreed with Hong Dou's request, then rejected her suggestion about seizing the right opportunity.

Experienced ninjas can achieve a certain level of teamwork even without extensive familiarity. But expecting two people who aren't even genin to cooperate well in unfamiliar situations is wishful thinking.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Hongdou's cheeks puffed up in anger.

"Since there's no tacit understanding, then we won't talk about tacit understanding," Lu Nie said calmly. "We'll break down the offensive into steps and then assign those steps."

We just need to follow the pre-programmed steps and do our own part. There's no need to worry about what our partner is doing or how we should coordinate to work together seamlessly. We just need to execute the instructions step by step.

"Will this work?" Hongdou thought about it carefully and felt that Lu Nie's words made sense, but she still had doubts: "Will this really work?"

"Of course it's not that easy. This is just a clever trick. With Lord Orochimaru's insight, he could see through it immediately."

So our only chance is that, on the first try, he might not expect us to choose such a shortcut. Therefore, we don't need to think of many tactics; just prepare one. Lu Nie shook his head; he himself wasn't very confident.

After discussing tactics and some simple coordination methods and hand gestures in the dense forest, the two immediately took a detour back to the test site.

Si-chen-mao-yin!

Dragonfire Technique!

From the dense forest behind Orochimaru, who was still standing in the circle, a blazing pillar of fire suddenly shot out, heading straight for Orochimaru and hitting his location directly, turning it into a sea of ​​fire.

But soon, at the top of the fire pillar, a rotating water curtain rose up and collided with the fire pillar.

In an instant, a large amount of fog began to spread in all directions.

Anko's eyes lit up instantly as she unleashed the Dragon Fire Technique. She immediately gave Shikagami a wink, created a shadow clone, and together with her main body, rushed towards Orochimaru's location.

When she launched her attack, she had already memorized exactly where the bell was hanging on Orochimaru's body, and had mentally rehearsed the steps she should take based on the location.

Lu Nie also burst out of the dense forest. Before the mist disappeared, a black shadow under his feet instantly transformed into a black rope, swinging on the ground like a vine, and swept away according to the direction he remembered.

The moment the mist dissipated and both sides regained some visibility, the shadow of Shiro successfully connected with Orochimaru's shadow. At that moment, the two Anko also seized the opportunity to appear beneath Orochimaru, one launching an attack on him while the other reached out to grab the bell hanging from his waist.

Orochimaru saw Anko's movements, but in that instant, he felt his body lose control, becoming numb and sluggish for a moment. In that instant, Anko's fingers touched the bell.

The two cooperated with astonishing synergy, both in timing and tactics. It was as if they hadn't just met, but had been a team for a long time, knowing each other inside and out.

A hint of surprise flashed in Orochimaru's eyes.

Just as Hongdou smiled and was about to pull the bell down and put it in her palm, she suddenly stumbled, and her outstretched fingers brushed past the bell on Orochimaru's body.

A snake slithered up from Anko's feet, quickly binding both Anko's legs, rendering them immobile. Meanwhile, the other Anko, who was attacking Orochimaru, had her hand grabbed by Orochimaru. With a flick of his wrist, he threw her away, and she exploded into a cloud of smoke in the air with a bang.

Lu Nie's Shadow Binding Technique wasn't enough to affect Orochimaru for too long. Therefore, what Lu Nie was referring to was that he could only create a momentary stagnation and opportunity.

Having dealt with the red bean, Orochimaru's gaze fell upon Shikane. What he saw was Shikane's fingers forming hand seals like butterflies flitting among flowers.

Orochimaru waited with great interest for Shika Nie to finish his hand seals, and then a black curtain suddenly rose from beneath his feet, obscuring him.

Shadow Coffin!

The black shadowy curtain only existed for a moment before collapsing and disappearing, revealing Orochimaru with scratched skin underneath.

"This is a very interesting technique. Why have I never seen it before in the Nara clan?" Orochimaru ignored the blood-soaked wounds on his body and stared intently at Shikano with great interest. He instinctively felt that this ninjutsu was related to Shikano.

"The bell is in my hand, Orochimaru-sensei." Shikane, whose face was pale from the exhaustion of chakra, raised his right hand, and a familiar bell in his hand jingled as it swung.

"Interesting. Is this unfamiliar ninjutsu a feint? The Shadow Binding Technique binds me, an unfamiliar shadow technique distracts me and cuts the bell's rope, and finally, a Shadow Stitching Technique takes the opportunity to steal the bell from my body." Orochimaru quickly deduced Shikane's methods.

Is even red bean part of your plan?

Orochimaru, whose gaze swept over Anko still struggling on the ground, subconsciously included her in his calculations, given his familiarity with the Nara clan. Perhaps this even reflected a degree of self-awareness.

(End of this chapter)