Chapter 11: 11 - The Chase
" Shadow clone jutsu? Hmm.. I dont mind giving you the scroll but from where did you hear about this jutsu , Nori kun?"
Orochimaru's gaze held some suspicions which made Nori flinch.
He made a blunder as Nori was anxious and forgot to come up with an excuse. Lies made up on the spit would be easily seen through by Orochimaru.
So Nori chose the remaining best option and just ignored the question altogether.
The silence made Nori feel awkward but he did not answer. Orochimaru smirked as he was slightly intrigued by his diciple's childish behaviour.
Actualy Orochimaru did not care much about the source of such information as for him Shadow Clone was just a B rank technique which he was familiar with. So he was just curious and did not mind giving its practice scroll to Nori.
After about a minute of silence Orochimaru said " Dont worry Nori kun. I'm fine with you keeping some secrets from me. After all every one has some secrets which they do not want to share. Here.."
Orochimaru searched while taking and threw a scroll towards Nori which the latter caught easily.
" Its the practice scroll for Shadow Clone and Shadow Clone Explosion technique. Just take them with you and remember to burn the scrolls after memorizing the content !"
Nori was surprised because Orochimaru agreed so easily and he even had the scroll with him.
Nori watched Orochimaru unsealing a scroll from which tens of scrolls appeared. So this must be the storage scroll where Orochimaru keeps important notes or something.
But Nori was confused by the name Shadow Clone Explosion technique. He vaguely remembered watch it in the anime but the mamoru was not clear at all.
Anyway Orochimaru seemed busy so Nori did not disturb him anymore and left after thanking him.
_____
Soon Nori arrived inside an empty training ground and sat on the ground. He took all the small scrolls from his bag and they scattered on the ground in front of him.
Nori could not help but smoke in anticipation as all of them were ninjutsu scrolls and Nori could not wait to start learning them.
He unfurled them one by one and placed them after reading their names. The total number of ninjutsu techniques seem to be 13 and except two Shadow Clone techniques, all of them were D or C rank ones.
Shadow Clone Explosion turned out to be just a simple variation of the original Shadow clone technique and was the rank was B too.
One just had to create a shadow clone with excessive amount of chakra and detonate it after searching for the right timing.
Nori was very pleased with this technique as for surprise attack, it could not be more suitable.
Earth Clone - C rank
Head hunter - D rank
Lightning Senbon - C rank
Temporary Paralysis - D rank
Great Fireball - C rank
Phoenix Fire Flower - C rank
Wind Great Breakthrough - C rank
Gale Palm - C rank
...
...
After Nori finished reading the practice methods of all the jutsu in about fifteen minutes , he burned all of the scrolls.
Nori's memory had been enhanced for some reason after coming to this world and it was further improved with the increase in spiritual energy. So he could remember the content fully after reading it two or three times at most.
After that he started reviewing the content inside his mind to decide the order in which he should practice the jutsu.
It did not take much time as in the end , he decided to learn Shadow Clone techniques first and think about other ninjutsu later.
After all Shadow Clones can practice the techniques too and then transfer their experience back to him after dispelling. It was obvious that he should master them first as training efficiency will increase by a lot.
There was no need to waste anymore time so Nori immediately stood up and slowly started forming the hand seals and moulding chakra inside his body...
_____
Time flies and more than four months passed in blink of an eye.
In this timeframe, Nori lived a busy life. His time was divided into D rank missions and training.
Sometimes he would meet his former classmates here and there but did not have time to have a proper chat with them.
Orochimaru's arrangement was that Nori was not allowed to take C rank missions yet.
His reasons were good though because Orochimaru simply wanted Nori to focus on his training.
They would spar for some time at least three times a week when Orochimaru had time and Nori gained a lot of experience and fast improvement from his pointers.
As expected , it's always better to learn from a qualified teacher !
He did not learn any more ninjutsu though because Orochimaru insisted that he should completely master the ones in his arsenal yet.
Nori also agreed with this advice because it would be a pity if he did not master them completely. Nori had four chakra affinities and his ninjutsu were based on those attributes too. So he was already having easy time when performing these jutsu.
Nori's goal was to master them so that he can use them anytime using only a single hand seal. For this to happen, the only way to get more and more familiar with the jutsu and easiest way for doing that would be practice a lot which took time.
In the end though Nori took barely one and a half month to successfully master all the Elemental jutsu in his arsenal to the point that he can now use them with just one hand seal.
Orochimaru was greatly pleased with the fast progress and praised his perseverance and talent. After all Nori was competing D rank missions too so he used even less time.
Sure enough chakra affinities gave great advantages when practicing the jutsu with the Elemental attribute of the specific affinity.
Now instead of learning new jutsu, Nori spent time on his physical training and perfecting his combat strategies.
According to Orochimaru , it would be stupid if Nori did not take advantage of his special talent for chakra suppresion. So he was told to practice his stealth, silent movements etc.
Nori did not mind as he could see the advantages too. He could hide from enemies without much fear of being discovered and he could use some time to properly analyze them. Information on the enemy's techniques, body language etc were important as the advtange they provide in combat was big.
Till now Nori only practiced various combinations inside his mind during meditation but seems like today he will have the chance to test his progress in actual combat.
Since more than three months ago, Nori had been keeping watch on Kushina in the morning and after classes using his shadow clones.
It was becoming boring but his intuition turned out to be correct. Just a few minutes ago, the shadow clone which followed Kushina back from the academy to her house in south region of Konoha, dispelled itself.
The information about Kushina's kidnapping was instantly transferred to Nori's mind.
Nori user his fastest speed to travel so he quickly arrived at her house but did not find the red hair traces.
He confirmed that there were traces of combat inside the house but did not worry much as his Clone had seen that Kushina was not injured.
It must be that she was unconscious so could not leave hints on the route. Nori at least had the idea of the direction in which the enemies should have run to so he started chasing at his full speed.
His mind was filled with questions though.
Where did Kumo gained the information of Kushina being an Uzumaki from?
How did the enemies successfully infiltrate inside Konoha easily without being detected?
This matter was too suspicious and the correct answer to those question should be that the information was leaked by some insider.
Such spy like work may be the work of Danzo. So Nori did not reject the possibility that this whole kidnapping may be a stunt of Root ninja who had disguised themselves as Kumo Shinobi. If so then what was their motive?
Nori could think about reasons but there was no point in wasting his brain cells as there was no evidence. Besides Nori would be more than happy to kill them if the enemies this time were from Root.
He did not like Danzo but he had no issues with the Root ninja themselves. Still Nori would not hesitate to kill them this time because of his simple principle.
If somebody dared to attack him or the ones he cared about, then he will have no regrets after killing them. In general Nori disliked the act of killing but he had resolve too was certainly not a pushover either!
The enemies seemed to have run quite a distance already but Nori could not see their backs even after two hours of chasing.
' Hmm.. this! '
Nori stopped abruptly and picked up red hair from the ground and could not help but be surprised! Now he could chase the enemies without worrying about losing them!
Sure enough Kushina was a very stubborn and smart girl. She did not give up in this bad situation and even thought of a method to leave a good hint behind...
Nori could not help but smile as he was feeling proud of his read haired hot blooded sister ..
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