Chapter 209: Three Rounds of Exams
After listening to Danzō's words and seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's fleeting expression, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane exchanged a glance, both feeling a sense of helplessness. Although they were also advisors, they were still far too lacking compared to Danzō Shimura. The tacit understanding between Danzō and Hiruzen Sarutobi was something they did not possess.
Koharu Utatane had no choice but to ask, "Hiruzen, what does Danzō mean? Who in the village can gain the trust of the Akatsuki Organization?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up his smoking pipe, took a few puffs, and then said, "It's Jiraiya. Towards the end of the Second Great Ninja War, he took three disciples in the Land of Rain. Later, Jiraiya was recalled by me to participate in the Land of Whirlpools battle. After being injured, Jiraiya went to the Land of Rain again to recuperate."
"Among his three disciples, there is one who possesses the Rinnegan."
Koharu Utatane was first overjoyed, then her brow furrowed. She naturally knew Jiraiya's personality well. Not just Jiraiya, none of the Sannin had a normal temperament. If the Sannin had been obedient, how could Konoha have fallen into its current predicament?
"Let's put this aside for now. Homura, make a list. Have Minato Namikaze take them to reinforce the Uchiha clan. End the war with Kirigakure quickly." Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't have any good solutions either and could only shelve the matter of the Akatsuki Organization for the time being.
...
Iwagakure, Ninja Academy.
Ishiro hid behind a tree, using "Mind's Eye" to perceive the scenes unfolding in several classrooms.
This theory exam was something Ishiro had devised based on the Chūnin Exams from the original story. It could also be considered the first time in the ninja world that a theory component had been added to the Chūnin Exams.
At this moment, the examinees were displaying their respective special skills, engaging in all sorts of elaborate cheating.
Ishiro's "Mind's Eye" and sensory ninjutsu essentially both detected chakra fluctuations. They probably weren't strong at observing many fine operations.
Two people were standing beside Ishiro. Of these two, one had a completely white left eye, with veins bulging at the corner of the eye – this was an Anbu member who had a Byakugan transplanted.
The other person's right eye was blood-red, with three tomoe spinning rapidly inside – this was an Anbu member who had a Sharingan transplanted.
The Anbu member with the transplanted Byakugan was very relaxed, carefully observing the activity in the examination hall.
However, the Anbu member with the transplanted Sharingan was struggling greatly. Ishiro could easily sense his chakra being consumed at a rapid pace through "Mind's Eye." Besides the extremely rapid chakra consumption, his physical condition was also poor.
After observing with the Sharingan for less than a minute, he couldn't hold on any longer. Ishiro quickly called over the medical ninjas on standby nearby and had them remove the Sharingan.
Ishiro looked at the Anbu ninja who had been tormented half to death by the Sharingan in just a short minute, obtained no intelligence at all, and was now being carried away by medical ninjas, and shook his head. The Sharingan was too unfriendly to non-Uchiha clan members.
Ishiro guessed that only when someone like Obito sincerely gave their Sharingan to a companion would the companion not experience such severe side effects when using those eyes, which carried the original owner's immense goodwill.
The Sharingan used by the Anbu member just now was one Ishiro had taken from the corpse of an Uchiha he had killed in the Land of Rain. Let alone goodwill, it was good enough if it didn't carry malice.
The Byakugan was still more agreeable. Ishiro looked at the remaining Anbu member beside him. This was the ninja most skilled in ninjutsu that Ishiro had selected from the Anbu.
Codename: Koku. Elite Jōnin, possessing four chakra natures: Wind, Lightning, Fire, and Earth. He knew even more ninjutsu than Ishiro.
Ever since Ishiro had learned some new uses for Lightning Release from the Kumogakure Genin, Yanagihara, that day, he had thought of the myth from the original story about Kakashi using the Sharingan to copy a thousand ninjutsu. That was what led to today's scene.
Ishiro still remembered the incredulous expressions on Ōnoki and the others when he proposed using the Sharingan and Byakugan to copy the ninjutsu of the students participating in this joint Chūnin Exam.
That expression seemed to say, "You can play it like this?" Then Ōnoki, according to Ishiro's request, selected this ninjutsu-type Elite Jōnin from the Anbu: Koku.
"Senior Koku, have you found anything?" Ishiro asked when he saw Koku engrossed in observation, while he himself, relying on "Mind's Eye" and sensory ninjutsu, had discovered nothing.
Koku gave Ishiro a "white-eyed" glance with his Byakugan and said, "They're all just small cheating tricks. How could it be so easy to find something significant? Let's wait for tomorrow's field survival test."
Ishiro also knew he had been too hasty. He then said, "Tomorrow, let's follow behind the Kumogakure ninjas first. Help me observe Kumogakure's Lightning Release ninjutsu, especially that Yanagihara's ninjutsu."
Ishiro was no saint. His most direct purpose in coming up with the idea of using the Byakugan to try and peek at other ninja villages' ninjutsu was to complete his own main quest.
Helping the village enrich its ninjutsu library and other such benefits were merely incidental.
Koku nodded and said, "No problem. However, this is just a field survival test, after all. Kumogakure probably won't use too many ninjutsu."
"Please rest assured on this point, Senior Koku. I have already arranged for many of our participating ninjas to provoke those Kumogakure ninjas."
"Especially those squads that have mastered Lightning attribute transformation; there will be Iwagakure squads of similar strength who will seek them out," Ishiro said with complete confidence.
This was true. Ishiro had conveniently probed Kumogakure earlier and knew the strength of their various squads.
Koku was taken aback upon hearing this, then said, "Is this okay?"
Ishiro smiled, "Senior Koku, rest assured. Lord Tsuchikage also agreed to this matter."
"Kumogakure is different from Sunagakure. The Daimyō of the Land of Wind leans towards us. Furthermore, Sunagakure suffered considerable losses in the Third Great Ninja War and is currently in a weakened state. So Sunagakure is a potential ally, and we still need to try and win them over."
"But Kumogakure's purpose in participating in this joint Chūnin Exam is impure. We don't need to care too much about Kumogakure's thoughts. Moreover, Kumogakure, like our Iwagakure, is currently at the peak of its strength. The possibility of us allying with Kumogakure is not high."
This was a fact. Although Sunagakure had achieved good results at the beginning of the Third War, they were ultimately defeated. Furthermore, Sunagakure lost both its Third Kazekage and its Tailed Beast around the time of the Third War; it was the only ninja village to have its Kage die and lose its Tailed Beast.
Although Rasa's strength was also not bad, and they had Chiyo, that old undying one, unfortunately, one was too young and the other too old, and neither possessed the deterrent power of the Third Kazekage.
But Kumogakure was different. Not only did they have the Third Raikage and his son, two young and vigorous Kage-level figures, but recently, news had also spread in the ninja world that the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki was about to become the first perfect Jinchūriki.
Kumogakure's limelight was by no means inferior to Iwagakure's, so Kumogakure would never admit to being a notch below Iwagakure.
Koku nodded in agreement.
After continuing to sense with "Mind's Eye" for a while and still finding nothing, Ishiro couldn't help but ask again, "Senior Koku, how is this match progressing now?"
Koku glanced at Ishiro, knowing Ishiro was using sensory ninjutsu to investigate, smiled, and said, "Can you find that Sunagakure ninja in the third row, near the edge?"
"He is currently manipulating a very small centipede puppet. Can you sense that chakra thread?"
"The chakra thread he controls passes between the two proctoring teachers on his left, goes through the window, travels along the outer wall of the classroom all the way to the last row, and finally re-enters the classroom, reaching a candidate in the last row."
"Apart from the chief examiner who seemed somewhat aware, none of those Chūnin proctors discovered it, including the two right next to the chakra thread."
"This person should be the most outstanding performer in the first round."
Ishiro was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. Although the chakra threads of Sunagakure puppeteers were known for their stealth, being able to deceive so many Chūnin at such close range definitely marked him as a genius.
One had to know that the teachers were aware there were puppeteers and would definitely pay special attention to any activity related to chakra threads. Yet, not a single one detected it; this was extraordinary.
After Sasori of the Red Sand, had Sunagakure produced another puppeteer genius? He hadn't heard of it in the original story. Could it be the butterfly effect?
This was indeed the butterfly effect.
Sasori's life trajectory was different from the original story. Sasori, having been captured, did not have an easy time in Sunagakure. The village higher-ups, after learning of Sasori's talent, were initially reluctant to accept him.
Later, the two sides reached a compromise. Sasori made puppets for Sunagakure in exchange for relatively fair treatment.
And the exquisite puppets Sasori made happened to increase the strength of puppeteers, allowing more geniuses to emerge.
Furthermore, because the Third Great Ninja War started and ended early, this particular individual whom Ishiro was currently sensing had escaped the fate of dying in the Third War as in the original story.
These were all digressions. After Ishiro found this Sunagakure ninja, he began to slowly probe that fine chakra thread as Koku had described.
This greatly tested Ishiro's perception ability because the chakra thread was too fine and too well-hidden. Moreover, there were many chakra sources in the examination hall causing interference, and Ishiro's attention when probing the chakra thread was often drawn away.
The situation inside the classroom was too complex. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, Ishiro focused his attention on the outer wall Koku had mentioned.
To concentrate, Ishiro closed his eyes, disregarding his normal five senses, and focused all his mental energy on "Mind's Eye." To reduce the influence of the numerous chakra sources inside the classroom, Ishiro forced himself to ignore the situation within the classroom.
Then, in Ishiro's mind, the chaotic chakra sources in that classroom were slowly stripped away. Finally, when all chakra fluctuations had disappeared, Ishiro discovered the chakra thread clinging to the outer wall of the classroom.
Ishiro followed the chakra thread all the way into the classroom. Finally, he reached a chakra concentration zone. Ishiro's perception lingered in this area for a moment before leaving.
Because in Ishiro's senses, there was something else right beside this chakra concentration zone.
Sure enough, after leaving this chakra concentration zone, Ishiro quickly discovered a huge chakra source. The magnitude of this chakra source was countless times larger than the previous concentration zone.
Ishiro felt as if he had suddenly gone from a small stream to a boundless ocean.
Ishiro, immersed in sensing, was startled by this scene and instantly snapped out of that peculiar state.
He broke out in a cold sweat from the fright!
"Advisor Ishiro, what's wrong with you?" Before Ishiro's panic had subsided, Koku's familiar voice came from the side.
After several seconds, Ishiro finally recovered. He didn't answer Koku but carefully recalled what had just happened, then couldn't help but chuckle.
That so-called chakra concentration zone should be the spider puppet Koku had mentioned. That vast chakra source that had startled him awake should be the ninja the spider puppet was observing and helping to cheat.
The reason Ishiro had been frightened just now was that he had been too engrossed. When he was sensing the chakra thread with "Mind's Eye" earlier, he had subconsciously used the amount of chakra contained in the chakra thread as a reference to measure the subsequently sensed spider puppet and the ninja. That ratio was, of course, extremely exaggerated.
Having come to his senses, Ishiro shook his head at Koku and said, "I'm fine. I just entered a wondrous state just now."
Koku, upon hearing this, didn't dwell on it. Ishiro was not only a high-level advisor, but his strength was also above his own. If Ishiro did something he didn't understand, he couldn't very well ask too many questions.
Ishiro savored the sensation from just now again, feeling as if he had opened a new door.
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