Test

Ten days had passed since the frontline troops returned. During these days, Shiro had been quietly training, waiting for Orochimaru's notice.

During this time, the more important matter was Tsunade leaving the village to travel. From this, Shiro roughly learned that Tsunade's plan had failed just as it had in the original story. Honestly, from a personal standpoint, Shiro supported Tsunade's idea. After all, having a medical ninja as a teammate was reassuring.

Unfortunately, that was merely Shiro's selfish way of thinking. Konoha's higher-ups had much more to consider. As for what exactly they had to consider, Shiro had no idea. He could only nitpick and play armchair critic. If they really let him handle it, Konoha might collapse within two days.

Therefore, Shiro did not pay much attention to the matter. When Tsunade left, he merely went to see her off with Minato and the others, then stopped thinking about it, because Orochimaru had told Shiro to prepare himself. Ryūchi Cave's trial was about to begin.

At the same time, this was being treated as Shiro's test for promotion to Chunin. Logically speaking, Shiro only needed to go through the formalities to become a Chunin. Whether in strength or experience, he had already met the standards and gained his squad leader's approval. There should have been no need for a test, yet the village had notified him otherwise.

It should be mentioned that there were generally three ways to be promoted to Chunin. The first was passing the Chunin Exams, the second was earning enough merit, and the third, the most common method, was gaining the approval of one's squad leader.

The overwhelming majority of ninja became Chunin through the third method. The main reason was that there were two kinds of Chunin Exams: those held within a village, and those held between villages. Yet whether inter-village or internal, neither was easy to pass. They were usually stages for geniuses to show themselves, with the most representative example being the first Chunin Exams Naruto participated in.

Only Shikamaru passed that exam and became a Chunin. The others failed. Yet not long afterward, the Konoha 12 went head-to-head with Otogakure's Jonin—and won.

Those Chunin Exams had been somewhat unusual, but that still showed how difficult the exams were. Internal Chunin Exams were generally meant to discover talents overlooked during their time at the Ninja Academy, so they were quite difficult. As for the inter-village exams, there was even less need to say anything. That was when one displayed potential to other villages, so they were only harder!

There had been quite a few cases of the second method during this period, but most of those promoted were ninja who had spent a long time as Genin and possessed decent strength. It was a natural progression. Even without the merit earned in this war, they could have been promoted before long anyway.

Thus, the third method was still the most common: being nominated by one's squad leader or submitting an application, after which the village dispatched ninja to conduct an assessment. Most who advanced this way were civilian ninja with rather ordinary talent. (Naruto might have been kept as a Genin because he was a Jinchuriki.)

Yet the village had exceptionally arranged an assessment for him, though it was practically no different from not arranging one at all.

Still, it at least showed one thing: the village higher-ups had begun paying attention to him. Shiro had drawn some attention when he handed Reinforcement Magecraft over to the village, but his talent had been right there for all to see, so after a while, their eyes had moved elsewhere.

But now, leaving everything else aside, the fact that he was a contractor of Ryūchi Cave alone made him worth cultivating.

Lost in his thoughts, Shiro arrived at the assessment site. Orochimaru was already waiting there when Shiro arrived. The Third Hokage and Kushina were also waiting nearby. Shiro had been surprised to see the Third Hokage at first, but when he noticed Kushina beside him, he understood.

"Hokage-sama, Orochimaru-senpai, sorry for keeping you waiting." After speaking, he bowed to them.

"Shiro, what about me? Minato and I came with that old man, the Third Hokage!"

"Kushina, don't speak of Hokage-sama like that." Minato first admonished Kushina, then said to Shiro, "Shiro, don't mind her. We only arrived not long ago ourselves. We'll head to the side first. Good luck!"

After saying that, he pulled Kushina into bowing to the Third Hokage and Orochimaru before stepping aside.

"Hehe, then I'll go watch from the side as well. Good luck, Shiro. You are the village's hope."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. You overpraise me."

"Then, Shiro-kun, are you ready?" Orochimaru asked after the Third Hokage had walked aside.

"Yes, Orochimaru-senpai. I'm ready!"

"Then let us begin, Shiro-kun!"

"Summoning Technique!"

Bang! A giant snake appeared amid a cloud of smoke. Cannon Fodder Snake was roughly two stories tall, but Shiro had once seen Orochimaru's much larger summoned beast, Manda, from afar. Therefore, he was not frightened now. If his opponent was a summoned beast, then no matter how strong it was, he could defeat it in one strike!

"Orochimaru-senpai, I want to confirm once more. As long as I defeat it, any method is acceptable, correct?"

"Yes, Shiro-kun. As long as you drive it back, that will be enough."

"Then this will be easy!" Shiro revealed a confident smile.

"You little brat! Don't get cocky! Die!" Cannon Fodder Snake let out a hiss before suddenly diving down!

Shiro did not panic. He swiftly dodged to the side, then formed hand seals with both hands.

"Eight Inner Gates: Modified, open!"

Having spent so much time with Duy, Shiro had naturally heard about the Eight Inner Gates from him long ago. However, Shiro did not intend to train in the Eight Inner Gates, because he did not possess the conviction that father and son had. In the future, at most, he would open the third gate.

However, Shiro had modified the Eight Inner Gates, making the conditions for opening the gates simpler, but also making the side effects much greater.

How great? Opening one gate carried side effects equivalent to opening four gates. That referred to the side effects.

Yet its Chakra boost was only at the level of the second gate. At the same time, the Chakra became more violent, and it could be said to provide virtually no enhancement to taijutsu.

Naturally, that would not do. So Shiro went to Kushina and asked her to help him find the Third Hokage to refine it. Of course, they only reduced the side effects to the level of the second gate while leaving everything else unchanged. It was not difficult, otherwise the Third Hokage would not have had the energy to help Shiro. Moreover, this technique only suited Shiro. The Chakra was too violent to enhance either ninjutsu or taijutsu, making it useless for other ninja.

But Shiro was different. He had Magic Circuits in his body and could overload them to a certain extent. This level of Eight Inner Gates was just right for him. Besides, Shiro could repair himself through the system, since his Magic Circuits had originally been modified by the system.

Furthermore, Shiro was not worried about revealing Duy's Eight Inner Gates, because what he had given the Third Hokage was Shiro's version of the Eight Inner Gates, one he had already altered beyond recognition.

In truth, if the Summoning Contract with Ryūchi Cave had not been somewhat important to Shiro, he would not have resorted to this. It was not that he could not win in a real fight; the odds were simply very low. Most of the Noble Phantasms Shiro could currently Project were anti-person Noble Phantasms, and he did not know any large-scale ninjutsu. Thus, creatures of this size were somewhat impossible for the current Shiro to deal with.

Shiro did not want to win this battle for Sage Art. Rather, he had seen the power that large summoned beasts could wield on the battlefield. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! So even if the cost was greater, Shiro had to win!

Kushina understood this as well. That was why, despite knowing the side effects of this technique, she had still helped Shiro find the Third Hokage. She also hoped that her little brother would grow stronger. (This was explained in the related materials, so it will not be discussed in detail here.)

On this side, after opening Eight Inner Gates: Modified, Shiro immediately poured Chakra into his Magic Circuits.

"Projection, begin!"

White light flashed from Shiro's hand, and a dagger appeared in his grasp!

Is this Shiro-kun's secret technique—his Magecraft? This thought flashed through the Third Hokage and Orochimaru's minds at the same time!

The dagger appearing in Shiro's hand was none other than Rule Breaker, which had appeared in Fate's Rin Route. It was ranked C, and its owner was the unfortunate princess of Colchis from Greek mythology, the wife of the hero Jason, the Witch of Betrayal, Medea. It was a crooked short sword.

Its name came from the English phrase "Rule Breaker." Medea had once betrayed her family and country, killing her younger brother in order to be with the hero Jason. After Jason fell in love with another, she killed the two children she had with him and left Jason. This Noble Phantasm was the manifestation of Medea's Divinity as the Witch of Betrayal.

Its ability was this: as a weapon, it was effectively useless, but it could "break the rules" of all Magecraft affecting anything pierced by its blade. Targets whose rules could be broken included contracts based on Mana, or lifeforms born through the use of Mana. It could reset them to the state before Mana had been used. In other words, Mana-based contracts became blank sheets of paper, while lifeforms born from Mana were instantly destroyed.

It was the ultimate anti-Magecraft Noble Phantasm. Noble Phantasms were the exception, however; no matter how low their rank, it had no effect on them.

This was the trump card Shiro had prepared!

Summoned beasts were actually brought forth by the caster through a contract. Therefore, Rule Breaker would work on it! It would send it back to Ryūchi Cave!

There was no suspense in the battle afterward. Eight Inner Gates: Modified not only provided Shiro with enough Chakra to Project a C-rank Noble Phantasm, but also left him some Chakra to use Reinforcement Magecraft as he charged fiercely toward Cannon Fodder Snake!

Originally, I had planned to choose between Delusional Heartbeat, Rule Breaker, and Projectile Weapon Amulet, but later I discovered that Delusional Heartbeat could not be Projected, while Projectile Weapon Amulet could easily create bugs, so I chose Rule Breaker. Lastly, thanks to Inconvenient Ant, Book Friend 20171022213613800, and Rainy Day Maple for their recommendation tickets.