Feng Zheng temporarily abandoned his regular after-school training and fully focused on practicing the Clone Technique.
He would only rest and Meditate after his Chakra was completely depleted.
It took him three days to successfully create his first clone.
But he was horrified by the sight! His thoughts were:
"I never thought I'd create a clone worse than Naruto's!"
A week later, he was finally able to create a more decent clone.
He continued to practice for another week, mastering the trick and being able to complete it at a faster speed.
After that, he began to learn the Transformation Technique.
The Transformation Technique would be a key skill for him.
He planned to use the Transformation Technique to disguise himself so he could train outside without attracting too much attention.
The Transformation Technique also served as training for infiltration missions.
If anyone caught him, he could use this excuse to get away.
It took him a week to correctly perform the Transformation Technique to a certain extent.
He could already transform into his classmates, but it wasn't perfect, and there were still many flaws.
And this was only in terms of appearance; he hadn't changed his scent and Chakra as described in the scroll.
He thought:
"This is truly difficult. Just getting the appearance right is already very hard, let alone replicating the scent and Chakra."
However, Feng Zheng felt that after some time, he should be able to change his scent, but perfectly replicating someone's scent would be very difficult.
Then again, if he remembered correctly, even Naruto during the Chunin Exams couldn't replicate scents, as Inuzuka Kiba could easily identify him by his smell.
So Feng Zheng thought it would be quite difficult to achieve.
Even those who passed the school exams weren't required to learn how to change their scent.
Feng Zheng thought he could solve this problem by transforming into someone from his previous life and using perfume to cover his scent.
This way, he could at least disguise himself as a stranger.
He continued his training.
However, the next morning, when he woke up to start his morning exercises, he noticed that the atmosphere in the Village seemed very tense.
Although it was still early, quite a few people were already awake.
And there were many Ninja scurrying around.
Most of these Ninja had very solemn expressions.
Feng Zheng wondered what had happened.
After classes started, he noticed that the children from several clans looked somewhat nervous.
He approached Senju Teru and asked him why they were so tense.
Senju Teru was a little surprised and asked:
"Has no one told you the news?"
Feng Zheng was really curious now. He retorted:
"No, what news?"
Senju Teru said seriously:
"Last night, Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin, betrayed Konoha and fled the Village, and is now a missing Ninja!"
Upon hearing this, Feng Zheng's expression became serious.
After a few seconds, he said earnestly:
"Yes, this is indeed bad news, and quite unexpected!"
Senju Teru agreed:
"Yes, who would have thought that a student of the Third Hokage would betray Konoha? I heard he conducted many illegal experiments and caused the deaths of many people. Who would have thought that such a respected person would betray Konoha? What a disgrace!"
Feng Zheng nodded solemnly and walked to the last bench to sit down. He thought to himself:
"Damn it, it's hard to feign surprise when you already know this is going to happen! However, things are happening similarly to how they did in naruto. The outcome of the Third Shinobi World War, the Nine-Tailed attack and Minato Namikaze's death, Itachi's death a year later, and now Orochimaru's defection."
Feng Zheng knew that the next event would likely be the Hidden Cloud Village's attempt to kidnap Hinata and the death of Hyuga Hizashi.
This move by the Hidden Cloud Village did make some sense.
After all, Minato was dead, Orochimaru had defected, and the remaining two Sannin were not in the Village.
Then again, Hiruzen Sarutobi was truly spineless for handing over Hyuga Hizashi to them.
However, Feng Zheng currently had no ability to intervene or access all military information about Konoha and Kumogakure.
Besides, even if Feng Zheng had the ability, he might ignore it, as it didn't concern him.
However, Orochimaru's departure was definitely good news.
If Feng Zheng had to choose the people he most wanted to avoid before he became stronger, then Danzo and Orochimaru would be his top choices.
With Orochimaru gone, half the danger was eliminated.
Now he just hoped not to attract the attention of Root, otherwise life would become even more troublesome.
That being said, Feng Zheng still wondered if Hiruzen let Orochimaru go, as in the naruto series, or if Orochimaru managed to escape on his own.
If it was the former, then it was a huge oversight by Hiruzen.
Just because of Hiruzen's soft-heartedness and inability to act against his own disciple, how many people died at Orochimaru's hands?
Damn it, even all the deaths caused by Kabuto's use of Impure World Reincarnation in the Fourth Shinobi World War could be attributed to Hiruzen's mistaken decision.
Thinking of this, Feng Zheng sighed.
Although Feng Zheng didn't feel uneasy and was even happy about Orochimaru's defection, almost everyone in the Ninja World was very tense.
---
Inside the Hokage Office, Hiruzen (the Third Hokage) had a grave expression.
Besides Hiruzen, Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu were also very worried. Danzo was also present.
Danzo criticized the Hokage:
"Hiruzen! You've become weak. You let someone who poses such a great threat to the Village escape."
Before Hiruzen could answer, Koharu reprimanded:
"I agree. Orochimaru knows many of Konoha's secrets. If he leaks any information to our enemy Villages, it will be a nightmare for us."
Hiruzen sighed and said:
"It's regrettable that he chose to defect, but I believe he won't do anything to harm Konoha."
Danzo scoffed:
"Yes, just like you believed he wouldn't betray Konoha. He not only escaped from your hands but also killed dozens of our Ninja who pursued him. And who knows what else he might do."
Homura tried to calm things down:
"Alright, let's debate this later. The problem now is what to do. With the number of secrets he holds, even the clan heads are very nervous."
Danzo said:
"We must label Orochimaru as a rogue Ninja, increase his bounty, and send a squad to pursue and eliminate him."
Hiruzen retorted:
"Sending a squad to pursue him would likely only lead to their deaths in vain. And we are already very short-handed right now."
Koharu questioned:
"But we can't just leave him alone, can we?"
Danzo and Homura agreed with Koharu.
Hiruzen then said:
"I will send Jiraiya to pursue him."
At the same time, he thought:
"I hope he can persuade Orochimaru to come back, to get back on track."
Danzo questioned:
"Will he also be emotional like you? I suggest sending Root Ninja with Jiraiya."
But Hiruzen didn't trust Danzo's intentions and simply dismissed it:
"They would only get in his way."
The discussion among the four old teammates continued for a while.
In the afternoon, a meeting of Konoha's top brass was held.
During the meeting, all the clan heads were very tense.
Orochimaru had worked with all of them and knew many of their clan's secrets.
If leaked to the enemy, it would be very disadvantageous to them.
Some even accused Hiruzen of being too lenient with his student.
The committee ultimately labeled Orochimaru as a missing Ninja, increased his bounty by 50%, and sent Jiraiya to apprehend Orochimaru.
The clan heads expressed doubts about whether Jiraiya would truly pursue Orochimaru, but they really had no other choice.