Cards in Hand

Time flew by. Once he passed the one-year mark since crossing over, this year's Chunin Exams followed right on its heels.

This year was different from last. Several ninja villages would be taking part in a joint examination. If they wanted to wait for another event on this scale, they would have to wait until Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan.

Whenever there was a joint examination, Konoha's regular Chunin Exams in the first half of the year would be canceled, as though they were specifically saving their strength for the joint exam, hoping to perform a little better in front of outsiders.

For Naruto, who had only learned about the Chunin Exams last year and yet failed to see any of the excitement, the hardest thing to accept was that the Ninja Academy would not be giving them time off for this year's exams.

Perhaps it was for safety reasons. More outsiders would be coming to watch, idle daimyo would come join the spectacle, and there might even be spies among the ninja from other countries...

Whatever the reason, the school clearly intended to keep the students tied down at school by making them attend class.

Sasuke did not care, since he had Shadow Clones. He had even already bought tickets with Transformation Jutsu.

Naruto pulled Shikamaru and Choji along. The two initially refused, then finally agreed after much persuasion, only for their request for leave to be rejected by the teacher. They could only use the old method—skip class, then sneak into the final exam arena to watch the matches.

Faced with Sasuke, who had also slipped off to watch the matches but was not punished because his Shadow Clone was still attending school, Naruto complained that his friend was not suffering through it with them, and he was very unhappy.

Then Sasuke placated him by promising to teach them the ninjutsu he saw afterward.

There were far too many training tasks. As long as Sasuke wanted, he felt he could list them endlessly.

He was clearly just a student, with no need to face the dangers that might come with missions, yet knowing that only a few years remained before the plot began made him unbearably nervous.

Although Sasuke lived somewhat differently from the clueless little students around him, he had more or less adapted to life in the ninja world.

He had to learn as much as possible while his curiosity toward ninjutsu had not yet faded, before he began to find it boring. It was like taking the Level 4 English exam—you had to seize the chance during your freshman year! Still, the sense of accomplishment the Sharingan gave him while learning would probably delay that boredom for a very long time.

Just having a photographic memory alone was enough to explain why the Uchiha were so strong.

He used Fire Style and Earth Style frequently for farming, so their proficiency naturally far surpassed his other styles. Even Lightning Style, which he possessed by nature, fell somewhat short of Earth Style when he used ninjutsu.

A finishing move?

Did the Rasengan count?

If a technique Naruto could use all the way to the finale did not count, that would be rather unreasonable.

By secretly practicing in the bathroom while bathing, he had made some small progress over the course of a year. How long had Naruto trained for in the original story?

Burst the Water Ball, burst the rubber ball, then burst the Water Ball without breaking it. It took a little over a month altogether, and he even needed Shadow Clones to form it.

Of course, that was assuming someone had that much chakra!

After spending a year on it, he had only completed the stage of bursting the Water Ball. Still, that was understandable—he only practiced for a short while each day. At the fastest, he estimated it would take another half year; at the slowest, a year to master it.

But for now, this technique could only remain a trump card. Without enough strength to back it up, he did not dare use it casually.

Fire Style?

Fire Style could not burn people to death!

Of course, that was a joke. As long as there was enough fuel, even an alcohol lamp could burn someone to death. But ninja moved quickly, and flames took time to reach their targets. As long as the opponent actively dodged, the hit rate truly could not be high.

It was fine for clearing the field with AOE attacks—spit out an enormous stream of fire and cover the whole area. But using it in a one-on-one fight burned through chakra like crazy. It was like setting off fireworks during the New Year: the money spent vanished in an instant, just like chakra.

Lightning Style.

In terms of power,

the first things that came to mind were either 100,000 Volt or the Railgun.

Chidori? It required Hand Seals and extremely fine control. As long as he was willing to wait, Kakashi would teach it to him hand in hand someday. At his current stage, Sasuke did not care about it at all. It was decent for assassination, for stabbing one person, but on the hospital rooftop, when Naruto and Sasuke clashed Rasengan against Chidori, the difference in destructive power had been enough to make even Sasuke depressed.

People from peaceful times were always more afraid of death. Close-quarters blade combat? That was an option only when there was no other choice. If he could attack from range, why would he get in someone's face? Supporting from the sidelines and picking up battlefield leftovers was enough. Who wanted to fight?

100,000 Volt... Fine, a 100,000 Volt that could not electrocute anyone was probably all bluff. How could it really reach 100,000 volts? It was not like Pikachu, able to zap whatever it pointed at. Once the distance increased, lightning chakra scattered everywhere. If there were metal conductors near the target, the interference became terrifyingly strong. No wonder Kakashi had invented a technique like Chidori, which was released while being personally held in place.

He had learned to discharge electricity along the way. It was simple: just circulate chakra around his body. But since it did not involve Hand Seals matched to a specific technique, its power, stability, and controllability were all rather poor. Usually, it was only good for shocking fish, birds, snakes... At least it was not as much of a fire safety Hidden Danger as Fire Style.

The Railgun fired metal spheres or coins. Its power was explosive!

Yeah, right. Although Naruto later went full mecha, the early stages still featured ordinary ninja, so the scientific principles remained relatively reasonable. The Ninja Academy even had physics, chemistry, and biology textbooks—could you believe that? If not for the Sharingan, his straight-A student persona would probably have collapsed long ago.

Throwing pellets, Kunai, Shuriken, Senbon, coins... and accelerating them with Lightning Style was not something Sasuke had never tried.

First of all, after acceleration, the trajectory became uncontrollable. Being able to control chakra did not mean he could control ammunition! Even under a Puppet Master's control, a "puppet's" movement speed had limits. Launching Blade Tools still required ninjutsu or a certain degree of mechanical force.

A more realistic electromagnetic cannon had existed in his previous life.

But it needed a barrel, electrical storage, conversion into high-voltage current, and multistage acceleration before it could fire.

Otherwise, if it was like Misaka Mikoto's, with just a single acceleration in his hand... its firing power and range would not even compare to throwing it normally with force.

After many experiments, Sasuke prepared his first exclusive Blade Tool—a long staff.

A metal staff, hollow inside.

He himself was the power source. He himself was the capacitor. He himself was the switch.

The speed of thrown darts and Kunai was only somewhat faster than a ninja's movement speed. Reaching sixty meters per second by hand was already very impressive. When ninja trained, throwing speed had never been the priority; accuracy, unusual angles, and throwing techniques were what mattered.

With the staff's ballistic control and acceleration, he estimated the metal pellets could reach a launch speed of around two hundred meters per second. Though that was far faster than throwing by hand, it still could not compare to an ordinary handgun. It also had a single-shot capacity, required manual reloading, and had an accurate firing range of only a little over a hundred meters.

But what could he do? This world did not seem to have handguns yet. This was probably one of the crooked branches on the ninja world's technology tree.

He wanted to make a handgun himself, but the tools at hand were nowhere near sufficient.

The Iron Rod's outer wall was hard and thick, not easily bent or broken. It was somewhat heavy in the hand, but that was not a major issue. It was cheap and plentiful, and with Fuinjutsu, he could immediately replace one whenever it broke.

He could pretend it was his signature ninja tool. As a ninja who used a staff, when he and an opponent were locked in a clash, he could fire a surprise shot while the other party was off guard. Or he could fire one while pointing the staff at someone during a bout of posturing and pointless chatter. It made little noise, and unless the target had some special ability related to dynamic vision or exceptionally strong full-body defenses, they would likely be hit.

To conceal the equipment's actual purpose, he decided to cultivate the persona of someone who used a staff. When training in front of Rock Lee and Neji, he deliberately added staff weapon training alongside swords and blades.

After making slight modifications to the ammunition-loading tail end and attaching a specially made Kunai, the Tanto could serve as a temporary spear. Since the staff was metal as well, even if it was not rare Chakra Metal, it could still work with Lightning Style to enhance its attack effects.

A month for the staff, a year for the saber, a lifetime for the spear. Still, staff weapons did not require worrying about using an edge to injure people, making them extremely quick to learn. They were quite good for the early stages, though their concealability was not ideal for a ninja.