"My King's Power!!!"

"Fire Style!" Izuna urged. "Activate it with fire-attribute chakra to cause a small-scale explosion and flames!"

"Water Style!" Tobirama countered. "Use water-attribute to create a mist to obscure their vision, then retreat while you have the chance!"

Qingyu: "..."

He made a compromise.

Three shuriken: one infused with fire-attribute, one with water-attribute, and one with nothing at all.

Knowing a little bit of everything makes life easier!

Actually, he was just out of options, meow~

Then, he flicked the three shuriken out one by one through a small hole above the rock crevice.

The first, fire-attribute, traced a crimson arc through the air, heading straight for the source of the noise.

"Enemy attack! Dodge!"

The second, water-attribute, followed closely behind, colliding with the first.

The raging flames of the fire boy, the surging waves of the water boy!

When these two powers combined!

"BOOM!!!"

High-temperature steam exploded instantly, like a pressure cooker blowing its lid, turning a ten-meter radius into a mobile sauna in a heartbeat!

Boundless heat waves, laden with dust and dirt, sent the opponents hopping in place, white steam rising from their clothes.

"Cough, cough! What the hell is this!"

"I can't see!"

"Retreat! Retreat for now!"

Watching this familiar scene, Tobirama immediately got a feel for it; this was his cue to use Flying Thunder God and charge in!

Like a dragon!

But such a maneuver clearly didn't suit Qingyu.

Qingyu couldn't pull that off!

So, taking advantage of the chaos, Qingyu whispered, "Go!"

The three of them quickly evacuated through a backup exit on the other side of the rock crevice.

After running several hundred meters, they could still hear the exasperated cursing behind them.

At a safe spot, Qingyu stopped to catch his breath.

"That move just now..." Yamada's eyes shone. "Qingyu, how did you do it? Using Fire Style and Water Style at the same time?"

"Luck, just luck." Qingyu chuckled dryly.

In truth, he had no choice; he had two living ancestors arguing in his head.

In special times, special solutions were required!

Inside his mind, the two big shots were in a heated debate.

"Foolish!" Izuna scolded.

"Fire Style shuriken should be used alone! Create an explosion and chaos, then we charge out for a direct frontal assault!"

"Your tactics are the foolish ones!" Tobirama retorted.

"Water Style creates mist to facilitate a retreat using Silent Step; that is the optimal solution!"

"But what was the actual result? Didn't the Steam Explosion succeed?"

"That was a coincidence! If the ratio of the two chakra attributes had been slightly off, they would have canceled each other out!"

"That just means your Water Style was used incorrectly!"

"It was clearly your Fire Style—"

"You two," Qingyu interrupted them in his mind.

"The result is that we successfully escaped, right?"

Silence, the Cambridge of the night.

"So," Qingyu continued, "perhaps sometimes, Fire Style and Water Style... can be used together?"

An even longer silence.

"...An interesting idea." Tobirama spoke first.

"Attributes are mutually restrictive, but they can also be mutually generative... It requires further experimentation."

"Hmph!" Izuna turned his head away, but there was a hint of approval in his voice.

"At least you didn't mess it up this time."

Qingyu smiled.

Perhaps having these two mortal enemies living inside his head wasn't entirely a bad thing.

That is, provided he could survive their constant bickering and sabotage, and actually learn how to make fire and water coexist.

In the distance, the sounds of battle echoed from the depths of the Forest of Death.

The Chunin Exams had only just begun.

No matter how you look at it! The advantage is with...

Forget it, better not set any flags, or he might trigger a defeat CG later.

By the second night in the Forest of Death, Qingyu's squad had been forced to relocate their base three times.

The first time was because they were nearly ambushed by a Sunagakure squad.

Thanks to Tobirama, who had deduced the ambush in advance from the direction of the wind and the abnormal flight patterns of the birds.

The second time was because the tree hollow they were hiding in became the target of a herd of rampaging giant boars.

Izuna had provided an early warning by sensing the frequency of the vibrations in the ground.

The third time...

The third time was because of Qingyu himself.

Putting what he had learned into practice.

"So," inside a rock crevice, Nakamura said, looking at Qingyu with a complicated expression while applying medicine to a scrape on his arm.

"You're actually a hidden genius, aren't you?"

Qingyu, who was gnawing on a Military Ration Pill, nearly choked at the words: "Wh-what?"

We're barely getting started!

If I were a genius, I would have already: awakened Susanoo at 8, ridden a Wood Golem at 10, and pacified the Five Great Shinobi Nations at 12!

[System: What else? Make all your wishes at once!]

Qingyu (blushing): Well, obviously, I'd be a hardworking little pony at 12...

Izuna & Tobirama: What are you blushing for, you teapot!

"Don't play dumb," Yamada chimed in, his face filled with admiration.

"The abilities you've shown over the past two days—trap detection, route selection, tactical planning, and that Steam Explosion yesterday... this is simply not the level of an ordinary genin."

Yamada paused, then foolishly added a final blow: "And you used to fail every exam, but now you're suddenly this fierce... could it be that you're a returning king of soldiers?!"

Qingyu: Actually, I'm an urban-rebirth-medical-immortal-soldier-king; Venmo me 50, and I'll take you along to be a bodyguard for the school beauty.

[System: You're quite good at stacking armor; to avoid so many forbidden words, you must be far too familiar with them!!!]

Godly Being System, slash Old Feng for me!

Afterward, Qingyu opened his mouth, not knowing how to explain it.

Should he say: "Because I have two Warring States legends living in my head, and they teach me while they argue?"

That sounds like someone suffering from schizophrenia, unable to distinguish reality from fantasy...

This Daoist doesn't want to end up like that~

"I'm just... more cautious," Qingyu finally managed to squeeze out.

"Cautious enough to discover an ambush ten minutes in advance?" Nakamura raised an eyebrow.

"Cautious enough to judge if someone has passed by within two hours just by the orientation of a leaf? Qingyu, if you were at this level before, how could you have been at the bottom of the class in the Ninja Academy's practical exams every single year?"

This question was lethal.

Loyalty that isn't absolute is absolute disloyalty.

To possess such talent and not think of repaying Konoha?!

You must remember in Konoha:

No betrayal is too small to be forgiven!

And no sacrifice is too great to be accepted.

At least, some people are never meant to be sacrificed.

As for the Will of Fire... you know how it is...

Qingyu's brain raced, hearing two voices simultaneously:

Izuna: "Just say you suddenly had an epiphany! The potential of the Uchiha is meant to be triggered by pressure!"

Tobirama: "A more logical explanation is required; I suggest attributing it to the awakening of a special Kekkei Genkai, or..."

"Bloodline Disease," Qingyu blurted out.

Tobirama: It is not a Bloodline Disease!

Izuna: Don't yell, White-hair!

His two teammates were stunned.

"I... I have a recessive hereditary Bloodline Disease," Qingyu forced himself to continue weaving the lie.

"It usually suppresses my chakra and mental energy, making me appear like an ordinary person."

"But under high-pressure environments, such as the Chunin Exams, the symptoms temporarily subside, allowing me to unleash my true strength... probably."

This explanation was riddled with holes, but Qingyu took the opportunity to shift the blame onto the "mysterious traditions of the Uchiha clan."

Coupled with "My great Uchiha clan has its own reputation and customs, so there!", his teammates actually believed him.

The Uchiha are truly magical, aren't they!

"So that's how it is," Yamada realized with a sudden epiphany, "No wonder the Uchiha clan sent you to participate in the exams... they hope to stimulate your potential through pressure?"

"A Bloodline Disease," Nakamura patted Qingyu on the shoulder sympathetically, "That must be painful, right? I heard the Hyuga clan has similar cases..."

Yamada & Nakamura suddenly turned serious: "Then don't push yourself too hard in the future. If it hurts, just say so, and we'll carry the burden for you!"

Don't make your main branch laugh.

Of course, if you're a branch family member, pretend I didn't say anything...

Qingyu nodded with a dry laugh, feeling relieved inside; he had managed to bluff his way through for the time being.

However, the two big shots in his mind were very dissatisfied with this explanation.

"Bloodline Disease?" Izuna's voice was filled with disdain.

"How can the glory of the Uchiha be associated with a 'disease'!"

"But from a scientific perspective, this is indeed a reasonable cover." Tobirama, on the other hand, approved.

"The relationship between Kekkei Genkai and physical burden has always been a research topic, but the details you fabricated are too crude! Name of the disease? Cycle of onset? Relief mechanism? These all need to be perfected."

"Perfect what! You should have just said 'My King's Power' and been done with it!"

Or just say: "Soul-Haunting Wind and Cloud! Come, Gu!"