A New Ninjutsu

After the first battle ended, all the examinees seemed fired up. With Amayuri having set such a high bar, they had no choice but to try their best.

But there was no denying that some people in this world were born with extraordinary talent in certain areas. Amayuri was one such person. The Lightning Release that had nearly burned her opponent to charcoal in an instant was beyond what an ordinary Chunin could manage, and she hadn't even used Hand Seals.

As a ninja advanced, they could gradually free themselves from the restrictions of hand signs. They could modify or even create their own. As long as the chakra in their body followed the path required by a technique, they could still perform it. But it was like solving a math problem with equations at first, then gradually learning to do it in their head with practice. It still required considerable skill.

Amayuri had clearly streamlined her Lightning Release to a certain degree. She released a massive amount of chakra directly from the acupuncture points and meridians throughout her body, then converted it into lightning and instantly killed Hayashinaka Shigure. She had simply overwhelmed her opponent with raw power.

Quite a few ninjas like her had appeared in the original story. Jiraiya could spit out flames directly, and Kisame needed only a handful of Hand Seals to create a lake. The Second Hokage, Tobirama, had abandoned most of the Hand Seals for Water Style and fully integrated it into close-quarters combat. There was no need to mention the First, Hashirama. He could overwhelm ninety-nine percent of the Shinobi World of his time, and even Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees required only one seal from him.

One thing to note: whether it was Jiraiya, Kisame, or Hashirama, the single hand sign they used for quite a few of their ninjutsu wasn't any of the twelve standard ninja hand signs. It was a gesture similar to the Buddhist pose of pressing one's palms together.

What did this hand sign represent? On Earth, it meant bringing the ten realms of existence into one mind. The Sutra of the Ten Grounds said, "The three realms are not separate; all are made by the mind alone." Its meaning was the same as the words Tokiomi had written: "Neither coming nor going, neither death nor birth, only the center remains." In other words, all things were illusory, and only one's true heart was real. Since everything was an illusion, nothing was truly different. You were false, and so was I. It was a kind of idealist philosophy that ordinary people could neither accept nor understand.

In this world, the hand sign of pressing one's palms together also came from Buddhism, since Six Paths had once been a monk. It was impossible to determine whether Six Paths had been influenced by Buddhism and created the twelve ninja hand signs based on Buddhist mudras, or whether Buddhism had borrowed the twelve signs from Six Paths and created its own mudras. But one thing was clear: the result of using the "palms-together" sign was always the same. It triggered a ninjutsu. It activated the technique.

Many high-level ninjas discovered that when they tried to simplify advanced techniques to use fewer hand signs—or none at all—they eventually reached a point where the activation sign couldn't be reduced any further. The simplified chakra pathways and circulation also didn't match any of the twelve standard hand signs, so they used the "palms-together" sign instead.

Amayuri's Lightning Release only created high-voltage lightning. It had no substantial form or nature transformation, so it couldn't be considered an advanced Lightning Release technique. Naturally, she didn't need the "palms-together" sign. But it was still impressive. Kanna was still limited to controlling basic Water Style without hand signs. He had made some progress so far, but hadn't fully reached the next level.

After watching Amayuri's battle, Kanna felt quite satisfied. He had confirmed that, in pure hand-to-hand combat, he had reached the level of a Chunin.

However, even though the examinees fought for their lives in the battles that followed, giving it everything they had, Kanna found it somewhat dull. It was like watching Gaara fight Lee: all the tactics and clever moves Sasuke, Naruto, and the others had used earlier suddenly seemed childish by comparison.

Eventually, all the battles ended. One person had died, two were seriously injured, and two had minor injuries. Amayuri had left early, seemingly certain that she would advance to Chunin.

A ninja's strength was their greatest source of confidence, so Amayuri's attitude made sense. But when Kanna glanced at the Third Hokage, he noticed that the man didn't seem pleased.

That wasn't the Third Hokage's fault. He had hoped that starting today, the examinees would show some restraint in future tests and exams instead of behaving as they had in the past. That had been part of the exam reforms. But now Amayuri had stirred everyone up just like Zabuza, bringing out their bloodlust. The resulting casualties were no different from previous years.

The bloodthirsty atmosphere in Kirigakure had grown somewhat pathological. According to reports, fights at the Ninja Academy had increased compared to previous years. With this incident happening today, should they still go ahead with the exam reforms? If they didn't, then they could expect every class of students to be wiped out in the future. If they did, how should they deal with Amayuri? Reward her or punish her? What effect would it have on public opinion in the village?

If they didn't handle Amayuri's case properly, and the villagers were allowed to praise and spread the story among themselves, then future exams would be no different. Everyone would keep fighting until they were battered and bloody, because they saw it as an honor.

So the Third Hokage was quite displeased. Ninjas were like soldiers: they needed to obey orders. But Amayuri refused. She had insisted on showing off her strength like a proud peacock, and the rules gave him no grounds to criticize her.

That was when Kanna overheard the following exchange.

"Tokiomi, what do you think?" The Third Hokage leaned closer and asked in a low voice.

Kanna Tokiomi knew exactly what the Third Hokage wanted to hear. After a moment's thought, he replied, "I don't think Amayuri is suited to become a Chunin. At least, not this year."

The Third Hokage's expression eased slightly. He nodded and dropped the subject.

Behind them, Kanna kept his eyes forward, pretending not to have heard the conversation between the Third Hokage and his father.

In a way, this was secret information! If everyone around them hadn't been one of their own—the Third Hokage's personal guards and the son of the Mizukage Aide—how could he have overheard it by chance?

No matter how strong Amayuri was, she wouldn't make Chunin if she didn't meet the Mizukage's requirements. This time, she definitely wouldn't be promoted. Kanna wondered what expression she'd make when she heard she had failed.

The bigger picture mattered most! They couldn't ruin a carefully planned policy for one person. If Amayuri became a Chunin, it would mean the village tacitly approved of her attitude toward the exam, and that would do more harm than good.

After the exam ended, the Mizukage gave a brief speech, and everyone dispersed. The injured were sent to the hospital to await news, while everyone else went home.

Kanna couldn't be bothered to wander around the village. He went home, tidied up, and began his daily training. Then he imagined what he would do if he had to fight Amayuri or one of the other examinees.

Some of the examinees were easy enough to handle. They were still focused on close-quarters combat and lacked practical mid- or long-range ninjutsu. Kanna wasn't worried about them. He had made good progress with the Body Flicker Technique, and he had also practiced the footwork and palm strikes of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms until they were familiar. That would be enough to deal with them.

But the other type, those who relied on ninjutsu in battle, would require him to bring out some real skills. Even so, he would still have a good chance of winning.

Then there was Amayuri. Kanna wasn't underestimating himself—she really was strong. In this Chunin exam, she was like the future Gaara, completely overpowering the ordinary examinees.

In other words, even if she faced some Special Jōnin who weren't particularly skilled in battle, she might still come out on top.

Gradually, midnight arrived, and a new day began.

"Time's up!" Hearing the clock chime, Kanna's expression sharpened. Three months had passed. Aside from the nine days it had taken to draw the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, this was his eighty-first day. It was time for another S-rank ninjutsu!

To be honest, Kanna sometimes struggled to decide whether he should draw more intermediate and low-level ninjutsu to strengthen his combat ability and build a solid foundation, or choose S-rank ninjutsu that he couldn't use much yet but could help him understand the ninja way and the truth.

But when he thought of the first two S-rank techniques, he felt as if fortune had favored him. It seemed he tended to get lucky when drawing S-rank ninjutsu.

Then he'd choose an S-rank technique again!

After issuing the command in his mind, Kanna acquired the third S-rank ninjutsu of his life. The result wasn't bad by any means, but he couldn't help feeling frustrated.

The Flying Thunder God Technique's cost was measured in uses, while Shinra Tensei's range and force could be adjusted freely. But this technique required a massive, even excessive, amount of chakra.

Water Style: Great Shark Bullet Technique! Kisame Hoshigaki's strongest offensive ninjutsu, an upgraded version of Water Style: Water Shark Bullet Technique. It used a huge amount of chakra to create a high-pressure water projectile shaped like a shark. It could absorb the chakra in an enemy's ninjutsu and grow stronger as the enemy did. As long as the amount of chakra it absorbed stayed within a certain limit, the technique could theoretically grow without limit!

So the technique had two key principles. First, it used a chakra-reversal formula developed by studying Samehada, reversing the way chakra was usually directed outward at an enemy so it could absorb the enemy's chakra. It could be thought of as a ninja version of the Northern Profound Divine Art. The second principle was the stable transformation of chakra. The user needed exceptional control to keep the Great Shark Bullet from collapsing after absorbing a massive amount of chakra.

In other words, this one technique incorporated the Yin Seal's principle of stable containment and Samehada's chakra-reversal formula, along with other common Water Style techniques such as compression. It was a top-tier Water Style technique, a ninjutsu designed to counter an entire army.

Imagine the scene where Madara Uchiha fought the Allied Shinobi Forces after his revival. If Madara had used the Great Shark Bullet Technique then, it could have absorbed the chakra from the Water Formation Wall Technique cast by a hundred Water Style ninjas working together. The Great Shark Bullet would then have grown to an incredible size before being sent back at them!

This was a ninjutsu with genuine strategic significance, but ordinary people couldn't use it at all. Only ninjas like Kisame Hoshigaki, whose chakra reserves rivaled those of a Tailed Beast, were qualified to perform it!

With Highland's help, Kanna didn't need to worry about the technical side of things. But he lacked chakra.

After his early training had gone smoothly, Kanna had once again run into a wall because of his chakra reserves.

Knock, knock, knock! Just as Kanna was wrestling with the problem, someone knocked on his door.

He opened it and froze. It was his father.

"Still awake? Good. I wanted to talk to you about something." Kanna Tokiomi glanced at the light in Kanna's room and said this.