Hidden Risks

Thanks to his outstanding talent for disguise, it was incredibly easy for Kabuto Yakushi to blend in with a group of Genin. As a senior with plenty of Chunin Ninja Exams experience on the surface, he could easily guide a few Genin's actions. As a spy observing Sasuke at close range, he could have him take part in some fights to test the effects of the Cursed Seal while making sure he passed the exam, and even offer him a little combat advice along the way.

With the seven-person team's strength, they had become an extremely powerful force now that Orochimaru and the One-Tail Jinchuriki were no longer interfering. Aside from a little trouble caused by the genjutsu-type ninja near the end, they had a much smoother time than in the original story. In particular, after Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha had both experienced a fight similar to the one against Mizuki, their exceptional talents helped them quickly figure out how to respond. They finished the second round of the Forest of Death exam much earlier than in the original story.

And not long after, at the place where Sasuke and the Sound Ninja Trio had fought, Mizuki secretly collected some unremarkable, badly damaged, discarded rune scrolls and sealing talismans while cleaning up the battlefield. Satisfied, he wrapped up the mission.

"I hope what I found this time will help me figure some things out. It'd be best if I can resolve the hidden danger of the Cursed Seal."

Only after looking into it for the past few days did Mizuki realize that the Cursed Seal wasn't as simple as he'd once imagined. Whenever he thought about having something like that inside his body, beyond his control, a faint unease crept over him and refused to go away.

"That's it for the mission. I'm leaving first. I'll write the report. Just take care of the wounded."

After making the necessary arrangements, Mizuki headed home.

"I need to deal with these things quickly. If I leave them too long and the chakra in the seal changes, it'll be trouble."

In the center of the Forest of Death, the last group of qualified examinees arrived, and the second exam ended ahead of schedule. Leaving aside the darker, hidden aspects, the Third Hokage was explaining to the successful candidates why the Chunin Exams were held and why they were important. He then announced the third-round preliminaries, with Gekko Hayate serving as examiner and referee. Just as in the original story, after Kabuto Yakushi discovered that Orochimaru, disguised as a Jonin, was also present, he withdrew from the exam.

The changes that followed were minor. If Naruto Uzumaki's passing had owed a great deal to luck, then the rest of the matches were a stage for the strong. In face-to-face arena duels with no restrictions, those who lacked strength had little chance. The only match that changed was Sakura Haruno versus Ino Yamanaka. In the original story, Ino had held back, and the two ended up tied, disqualifying them both.

This time was different. Ino had been injured by chance in the Forest of Death and was in poor condition, while Sakura hadn't fought the Sound Ninja as she had in the original story and hadn't been hurt. She was in much better shape than Ino. In their battle of wills, Ino's body gave out first, and she lost.

In the end, the number of participants in the third round of the Chunin Exams differed from the original. Since the number was even, no one needed to fight an extra match. Dosu was brought out to face Sakura, who had unexpectedly made it into the third round. The winner would face whoever prevailed between Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga in the next round of the elimination tournament.

Night fell. Mizuki was exhausted after a busy day, especially since he still hadn't fully recovered. After submitting his mission report, he put away the chakra released when Sasuke Uchiha's Cursed Seal had flared up. He tidied the house, grabbed a quick bite, and went straight to bed. Tsubaki had been busy lately and hadn't visited for the past couple of days, so Mizuki had been living a very simple life.

Lying in bed, he quietly read through some materials on the Summoning Technique, but soon his head began to ache. Feeling a little tired, Mizuki put down the scroll and thought things over.

"The Summoning Technique... There are some serious problems with it."

The summoning arts of the Shinobi World were more accurately described as contract-based techniques. The best-known examples were the toads, snakes, and slugs summoned by the Sannin, as well as less formidable summonings such as the Third Hokage's Enma and Hatake Kakashi's Ninja Dogs. Some shinobi also raised ordinary animals into summoning beasts, though these didn't have a home like Mount Myoboku, Ryūchi Cave, or Shikkotsu Forest. Then there were temporary summons like the jellyfish Mizuki often used. Those were discarded after a single use and had little value.

People rarely paid special attention to summoning beasts as a group, treating them instead as powerful combat partners.

Of course, Mizuki didn't rule out that way of thinking. Take Jiraiya, for example. He was certainly talented, but not exceptionally gifted. When he was still weak, the toads sought him out, helped him through the most crucial stage of his growth, and even taught him Senjutsu—a technique even Orochimaru hadn't mastered. No one knew why; all that had been mentioned was the Toad Sage's prophecy and his search for the Child of Prophecy. Even Mizuki, a transmigrator, couldn't figure out the truth behind it. There probably weren't many in the entire Shinobi World who understood it.

Even so, Mizuki had noticed a few things that seemed off. Setting aside the summoning beasts' varied forms and all their unique techniques, there was one crucial point no one seemed to pay attention to: the process of making a contract and calling them forth.

As for making contracts, Mizuki had never seen it done. He had only used common, temporary summons, so he knew nothing about the contracts with powerful summoning clans. But based on what he remembered, a contract should be an exchange enforced by the power of the world. He would have to see one in person to learn what was gained and what was lost.

The other part was even more astonishing. During a summoning, the beast crossed through space to fight for its summoner. If it could win, it fought; if it couldn't, it could simply retreat. It was rare for one to be injured or killed.

The Summoning Technique and reverse summoning made it far too convenient to travel back and forth through space, even in a world with an unstable spatial structure. That was what puzzled Mizuki most. And what worried him even more was the summoner. In the vast majority of summoning techniques, the user bit their finger and used blood to summon. Most references to summoning mentioned the same phrase: "Use blood as the medium."

Before science rose to prominence in his previous life, many religions and philosophers had believed that blood was the vessel of the soul. Of course, even after thousands of years, people in his previous life had never figured out what the soul was. Blood had simply lost its mystique. But whether there was something more to it in the Shinobi World was another matter.