Kabuto

Over the next seven days, Wu Liang gathered the three of them for targeted special training.

With Wu Liang's help, Sakura successfully mastered the use of Super Strength. However, because she had only trained with Wu Liang's team for a short time, her Chakra reserves were not outstanding—she had only barely reached Chunin level. Super Strength was a burst-type technique, so Wu Liang told her never to use it carelessly unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, she would run out of Chakra after only a few moves.

As for Naruto, although Wu Liang knew the principles behind the Rasengan—and the Rasengan was a hand-sign-free, non-elemental ninjutsu—he had never trained in it himself. After all, the things he trained in were too varied and scattered, and he was already planning to give some of them up to specialize. So, he did not teach Naruto much. He merely had him combine taijutsu with the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. In the original story, Naruto had created the Naruto Barrage—though it was obviously copied. During the Chunin Exams, Rock Lee challenged Uchiha Sasuke and used the forbidden technique Hidden Lotus. Sasuke copied the Hidden Lotus with his Sharingan, then used its opening stance, Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, to create the Lion's Barrage, which he used during the exams. After Uzumaki Naruto saw Sasuke use the Lion's Barrage, he made his own adaptation, using Shadow of the Dancing Leaf as the opening stance for a taijutsu technique: the Uzumaki Naruto Barrage.

What Wu Liang was doing now was simply allowing Naruto to unlock that move ahead of time. It was still B-rank taijutsu, after all. According to the official Book of Formation, Naruto's move could develop into the ultimate technique Naruto Five Thousand Barrage. The official Book of Formation stated that this taijutsu's power could rival Little Lee's Eight Gates Formation with all Eight Gates opened.

Of course, Wu Liang did not know whether that was true. Settings were just settings. At present, Naruto could only barely perform a Thousand Barrage that counted as A-rank. After all, he had not yet unlocked the Nine-Tails cheat, and his Chakra was not limitless.

As for Sasuke, Wu Liang had him pester Kakashi relentlessly, bringing up how Obito was his elder and trying to claim connections, forcing him to teach Sasuke the A-rank Lightning Blade. The S-rank Lightning Cutter was unrealistic. Even now, Sasuke had yet to fully comprehend this A-rank Chidori. Of course, Wu Liang did not favor one over the other. He also taught Sasuke Shadow of the Dancing Leaf and helped him unlock the B-rank taijutsu Lion's Barrage. He also had Sasuke learn how to use the Sharingan from Kakashi. At the very least, Sasuke needed to become proficient with the Sharingan's unique genjutsu. However, with so little time, Sasuke only became proficient in Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique and Sharingan genjutsu. There was no time to learn anything else, so it would have to wait until next time.

As for Wu Liang himself, he spent all seven days teaching them. Only when they were training did he begin Chakra Refinement himself. His Chakra reserves were now close to Shadow Level. Of course, he had never experienced what it was like when a Shadow Level expert fully unleashed their Chakra, but he could sense that his Chakra Refinement had reached a bottleneck. If he could not break through it, no matter how much he refined his Chakra, his reserves would not increase further. If Wu Liang could break through this barrier, he believed he could step into the threshold of Shadow Level—at least in terms of Chakra reserves.

Outside the Ninja Academy classroom, a large number of ninjas had gathered in the corridor. Naturally, conflicts were unavoidable. Wu Liang had not needed to come here in the first place, since he had automatically qualified for the selection rounds. He had only come to accompany Naruto and take a look.

The moment he arrived, Wu Liang saw a deeply dejected Little Lee and Sakura clinging to Sasuke. Wu Liang and Naruto stepped forward and greeted Little Lee. "Little Lee, long time no see."

Little Lee, who had been downcast just moments before, immediately revived at full strength upon seeing Wu Liang and Naruto. He excitedly said, "Oh, oh, oh! It's A Liang and Naruto! It really has been a long time. Ever since you became genin and started taking missions, we hardly ever see you."

Naruto spoke up as well. "By the way, Little Lee, what happened to you just now? You looked pretty devastated."

Little Lee drooped his head and said dejectedly, "Sakura said I have thick eyebrows. She doesn't like me."

Naruto burst into laughter and patted Little Lee on the shoulder. "Hahaha! Look on the bright side. No girl would like that kind of look anyway."

After much effort, everyone arrived at Examination Room 301. By the time Wu Liang and the others appeared, several people from Wu Liang's class had already arrived. When Yamanaka Ino saw Sasuke, she immediately pounced at him. Fortunately, Sasuke dodged quickly, and Ino ended up sprawled on the floor.

Just as everyone was absorbed in catching up, a handsome man wearing glasses approached them. "Hey, you'd better keep it down a little. You ten are genin who just graduated from the Ninja Academy, right? You look pretty cute, but you're making such a racket. Honestly, it's not like you're going on a picnic."

Ino, who had already been upset, became dissatisfied when someone came over to lecture them. "Who are you? Why are you acting so high and mighty?"

However, the handsome man who had approached did not get angry at Ino's rudeness. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto. But more importantly, look around you first."

The group subconsciously looked around. Most of the people in the examination room were watching them, and they could not help feeling a little nervous.

At that moment, Wu Liang spoke. Watching Yakushi Kabuto, a spy nearly at jonin level, act so smug irritated him. He turned to the ninjas glaring at them and snapped, "What the hell are you looking at? Never seen Konoha ninja before? Why do you all look so hostile? What do you want? Let me make this clear: this is Konoha—not your Hidden Rain, Hidden Grass, and definitely not your Hidden Sound. Wipe those damn expressions off your faces! Fuck!"

After Wu Liang caused such a scene, those hostile ninjas clearly realized that this was Konoha. Staring so openly at another village's genin was inappropriate, so they all withdrew their gazes and stopped paying attention to Wu Liang's group.

Seeing that the ninjas from the other villages were no longer looking their way, Wu Liang said, "See? They're all cowards. As long as you act tough enough, they won't dare cause trouble in Konoha."

Everyone began to admire Wu Liang somewhat. In such an environment and atmosphere, he could still remain calm in a crisis and stand firm. That strength of character and courage alone was enough to earn their respect.

Yakushi Kabuto was also stunned for a moment. "Not bad. You juniors have some backbone. Right behind you, the people who were staring at you just now were from the Rain Ninja Village. They're quite impatient. It's obvious that everyone is anxious before the exam. Seeing that you were newcomers, they clearly wanted to make an example out of you. But they didn't expect you to be so tough, not intimidated by them at all."

Then Yakushi Kabuto sighed. "It can't be helped. Seeing newcomers like you, who can't tell what the situation is, reminds me of my former self."

Wu Liang looked at Yakushi Kabuto with a strange expression. Here it comes again. He's starting again. Go on, keep making it up.

Sakura asked seriously, "Judging from your forehead protector, are you a senior from an earlier class? Is this your second time taking the exam?"

Yakushi Kabuto pushed up his glasses at the bridge of his nose with his middle finger and smugly said, "No, it's my seventh time. Since it's held twice a year, this is my fourth year."

When Shikamaru heard that, he immediately spat in disdain. So he's trash who failed six times. What's he acting so arrogant for?

But Sakura did not see it that way and said enviously, "Then you must know a lot about the exam, right?"

Shikamaru could not resist exposing him. "After taking it so many times, you still never passed. Is the Chunin Exams really that difficult?"

After saying that, Shikamaru turned his head away and frowned. "Seriously, this is getting more and more troublesome."

Yakushi Kabuto was exposed by Shikamaru, but he did not get angry. Used to wearing a mask, he showed the same expression to everyone. "Yes, it's very difficult. Since that's the case, let me give you some information."

He then took out a stack of cards and said, "We'll use these Ninja Info Cards."

"Ninja Info Cards?"

Seeing their puzzled expressions, Yakushi Kabuto explained, "Simply put, they're cards that have information converted into markings with Chakra and then imprinted onto them."

Yakushi Kabuto placed the cards in an open space and said, "To prepare for the exam, I spent four years gathering information and made nearly two hundred of these cards." He then picked up one card and said, "They look like blank cards, but if you want to see the information on them, you need to activate them with my Chakra. Then the intelligence will appear."

Everyone watched Yakushi Kabuto hold up a blank card. After he injected Chakra into it, it turned into a piece of intelligence. They were all immediately astonished.

Sakura then said, "That looks amazing. So what information is recorded on this card?"

Yakushi Kabuto picked up the intelligence card and said, "This is information about the number of participants in this Chunin Exams and the countries they come from, as well as how many examinees each country has sent." He raised his head and looked at everyone. "Why do you think the Chunin Exams are held jointly by different countries?"

Yakushi Kabuto looked at them, but no one clearly knew the answer. Just as he was about to continue acting smug, Wu Liang said, "Probably to deepen friendship between the countries and display their respective strength. Well, deepening friendship is secondary. The real purpose is to display and confirm each country's ninja standards."

Yakushi Kabuto was somewhat surprised. "That's right. It may be bluntly put, but it's correct."

At that moment, Naruto asked, "Then why spend your time doing something so troublesome?"

Yakushi Kabuto had just been about to explain when Sasuke asked, "Do you have personal information on the people participating this time?"

Yakushi Kabuto confidently replied, "I do. Is there someone you're particularly concerned about?"

Sasuke nodded, and Yakushi Kabuto said, "The information on this year's examinees may not be completely comprehensive, but I've kept it all. That includes yours, of course. So, who do you want to ask about first?"

Sasuke coldly stated a name. "Gaara from the Sand Ninja Village."

Wu Liang was stunned when he heard that. Sasuke had been training with him all week. Had he run into Gaara at night after going home?

Yakushi Kabuto immediately smiled. "Oh, you even know his name. That makes him easier to find. Found him."

Everyone watched as Yakushi Kabuto pulled out a card. He released its seal, turning it into a character information card. "Gaara of the Sand Waterfall. Eight C-rank missions, one B-rank mission. Pretty impressive. A genin who has already performed a B-rank mission? Since he's a ninja from another country and a newcomer, there isn't much more information. However, it seems that he returned from every mission without a scratch."

After hearing that, Shikamaru said in shock, "A genin did a B-rank mission and came back without a scratch? Just who is this guy?"