The Chakra Mark

"I told you, I don't know anything about the content. But a Chunin needs more than just an understanding of the ninja code. They also need to be capable in actual combat." Hizashi offered a hint, making it clear that there would definitely be a fight.

"Do you have any other questions about the exam process?" Hizashi asked once more. When no one answered, he nodded.

"Since that's settled, please come to Konoha's examination waiting room at eight in the morning seven days from now to take the written test. The exam will begin at nine. Once it's over, the examiners will announce the results. Those who pass will be taken directly to the second exam by an examiner. That is, to the preliminary round's venue." Hizashi finished explaining the exam.

"Nao, you can spend the next few days with Lord Haiya, learning swordsmanship. The preliminary round will begin immediately after you pass."

"Kurenai—no, just Kurenai. You can keep practicing Hyuga-style Taijutsu with me!"

"As for Shiyu, would you prefer to make your own arrangements?" Hizashi had no idea how to train Shiyu. Neither he nor his older brother could beat him, and the only person who might be strong enough to teach him was the Third Hokage. Swordsmanship couldn't be mastered in a short time, either.

Everyone acknowledged the instructions, then went their separate ways and returned home to prepare for the grueling exam.

A week was a very short time. Just as Hizashi had said, it wasn't nearly enough to learn the Hatake-Konoha Style Sword Technique. Shiyu didn't plan to bring his meteorite blade this time, either, since it wasn't very useful to him at the moment.

During those seven days, Shiyu first used the reward from his previous B-rank mission to have a large number of custom Kunai made to suit him better. He'd found that the Flying Thunder God Formula worked much better on Kunai than on shuriken.

Shuriken were light and had a short range, so they couldn't be thrown very far. And if the distance was too short, there was no point in using Flying Thunder God.

Shiyu filled his ninja pouch with custom Kunai, each one covered in the Flying Thunder God Formula.

Marking something with the Flying Thunder God Formula was incredibly simple. He only had to touch an object with his hand, and he could easily cover it with the formula.

Shiyu remembered that the Second's Flying Thunder God Formula was a design, while the one he'd memorized from Minato Namikaze was made of writing. So he'd made improvements to the chakra mark he used for Flying Thunder God.

Shiyu realized that whether it was writing or a design, the purpose was to help him sense spatial fluctuations more clearly. In other words, if he improved his perception of his own chakra and his understanding of spatial properties, the marks he left could be made even smaller.

The advantage of making them smaller was that he could attack an enemy before they even realized they'd been marked.

Even if they discovered the mark, there were only two ways to remove it.

"One way is for me to remove it myself. Not even Minato could remove a Flying Thunder God mark containing my chakra."

"The other is to become a Six Paths-level being and master Yin-Yang Release chakra. In the original story, only Obito Uchiha, after becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, managed to remove the Flying Thunder God mark left by his teacher, Minato Namikaze." Shiyu knew that even Madara Uchiha hadn't reached the Six Paths level in this era.

Over the course of a week, Shiyu made more than a hundred attempts. His hard work finally paid off: he could leave a Tomoe just one centimeter across on an object. Its color was so faint that it was practically invisible unless you looked closely.

The only drawback was that if the marked object was too far away from Shiyu, he still couldn't sense it.

It seems my age and body are still holding me back. My chakra and spatial power are limited, too.

Aside from Flying Thunder God, Shiyu kept up the same training he'd been doing before.

First, he continued exploiting the Shadow Clone loophole, having his clones practice Hand Seals at the same time as he did. Every seal had to be accurate, and he had to be able to form it without a moment's thought. If he only relied on copying, he'd never surpass anyone.

The more techniques Shiyu learned, the more seals he had to practice. Even with five times the practice speed every day and an absurd number of Hand Seal repetitions—over a thousand a day—it took all that effort to run through every technique he'd learned. By the end of the week, his Hand Seals had become a little faster.

Don't underestimate even the slightest improvement. In the world of ninja, gaining just 0.1 seconds could help you survive longer in a ninjutsu battle. The world of ninja was truly cruel.

Just like that, a week passed in a flash. Shiyu made a point of finding Amamiya Suisen and Xiao Xing to tell them he was taking the Chunin Exams.

"Brother, do your best! When you make it to the finals, I'll definitely come cheer you on! Suisen, you have to come too!" Xiao Xing said excitedly.

"Of course!" Amamiya Suisen nodded. A tender warmth showed in her expression as she said, "Shiyu, I know you can do it!"

"I'll take your word for it. I'm off." Shiyu smiled, then used Flying Thunder God to teleport to a spot he'd marked earlier. From there, he teleported all the way to the entrance of Konoha's Chunin examination waiting room.

The first person he saw was Kakashi Nao.

In the past week, Nao had changed quite a bit. He looked a lot sturdier. It seemed Haiya had put him through plenty of rough training to make Kakashi Hatake miserable.

Standing beside Nao was the somewhat disagreeable Kakashi. Both wore masks, one with gray hair and the other with silver, but Kakashi was taller and bigger than Nao.

The two of them stood there in silence, looking cool and acting as if they couldn't stand each other.

"Huh? Shiyu! You really came!" A familiar voice called out. Shiyu looked over and saw Obito Uchiha, wearing protective goggles. Obito still had that same innocent look about him.

Obito ran toward Shiyu, but it seemed someone tripped him. He fell flat on his face.

Shiyu saw the whole thing but didn't say anything. He understood perfectly well what had happened.

"You can trip just walking along? Honestly." Kakashi rubbed his head, looking a little exasperated.

"Ow! That really hurt!" Obito cried, clutching his slightly swollen forehead.

"Are you okay, Obito?" Rin Nohara asked anxiously from beside him.

Laughter rang out around them. The group laughing all had black hair and dark eyes, wore ninja uniforms, and bore the Uchiha Gunbai emblem.

"A dead-last and an Uchiha reject? You two sure make a good pair!" one of the older Uchiha jeered. He looked about fifteen.

"You!" Obito saw someone mocking him in front of Rin. His blood surged, and he charged forward, ready to punch the guy.