Boring tricks

Hearing her question, Kushina replied, "He should be training in the backyard."

Uchiha Mikoto grew interested at that and said as she walked, "I'm curious how a genius like Qianye Lan trains."

Kushina reached out and gently caught her. Uchiha Mikoto asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Kushina?"

Hearing Uchiha Mikoto's question, Kushina explained, "You're going the wrong way. I'll take you there."

With that, she led Uchiha Mikoto to the backyard where Qianye Lan trained.

Qianye Lan was bare-chested, exposing his sculpted muscles.

He gripped a stone weight tightly in his left hand and performed one-armed pull-ups with weights strapped to both legs.

Just then, Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina entered the backyard and saw Qianye Lan's bare back.

Pointing at Qianye Lan's back, Uchiha Mikoto couldn't help exclaiming in surprise, "A demon back?"

Kushina looked where she pointed and saw the muscles in Qianye Lan's back contracting with each pull-up, resembling a demon's face.

Hearing the voices behind him, Qianye Lan did two more one-armed pull-ups.

He casually tossed aside the stone weight in his hand.

The stone weight hit the ground with a thunderous boom.

Qianye Lan also dropped down from the horizontal bar and removed the weights strapped to his legs.

He turned around and smiled at the two girls. "Did you need something?"

Even though Kushina had seen his physique from the front many times before, she still blushed and lowered her head at the sight.

Admiring Qianye Lan's physique, Uchiha Mikoto said, "I just wanted to see how a genius trains. I didn't expect a genius's training methods to be so simple."

Qianye Lan took out a towel and wiped the sweat from his body as he replied, "A little disappointed?"

"No." Uchiha Mikoto stepped forward and reached out to stroke Qianye Lan's muscles. "This must also be why your taijutsu far surpasses other people's."

He felt Uchiha Mikoto's small hand wandering restlessly over his body.

Qianye Lan took a step back, somewhat embarrassed.

Kushina came over too and said with some displeasure, "Mikoto, what were you doing just now?"

She looked like a little puffed-up pufferfish.

Only then did Uchiha Mikoto realize that her behavior had been impolite.

She bowed slightly and feigned composure as she said to Qianye Lan, "Sorry."

But her faintly flushed cheeks revealed that she was not calm inside.

Qianye Lan waved a hand to indicate that he didn't mind.

Then he asked, "Did you need anything else, Mikoto?"

Uchiha Mikoto shook her head. "No. Kushina, let's go to your room. I'll give you some extra tutoring."

With that, she gestured for Kushina to lead the way.

Kushina cast a reluctant glance at Qianye Lan's physique, then left with Mikoto.

Qianye Lan watched them leave until their footsteps had faded completely.

He turned, lifted a bucket of water, and poured it over himself.

As the water washed over his muscles, Qianye Lan closed his eyes and let the droplets slide from the tips of his black hair.

A week later.

At the written test venue for the Chunin Ninja Exams.

After the two of them had taken turns giving her intensive training, Kushina was now brimming with confidence about the written test.

She told Qianye Lan and Mikoto, "This time, you two just watch me show what I can do."

After saying that, she didn't forget to wave her little fist.

With a Ninja Blade on his back, Qianye Lan couldn't bear to discourage her and could only agree.

Soon, they arrived at the exam venue.

Looking in confusion at the crowd gathered together, Kushina asked, "Why are they all huddled together?"

She walked over after saying that and found two slightly older ninja blocking the way, refusing to let anyone enter.

The two ninja blocking the door said, "Give up while you can. The real Chunin Ninja Exams are nowhere near this simple."

Qianye Lan followed her over, and the corners of his mouth twitched as he looked at the two blocking the door.

Was this a Konoha tradition?

After that, he glanced at the room number and thought, Just as I expected.

At that moment, Uchiha Mikoto stepped forward and said, "End this boring trick."

Qianye Lan echoed her from beside her.

Kushina soon noticed something wrong as well. Pointing at the room number, she said disdainfully, "Can you dispel this genjutsu?"

Somewhat embarrassed and angry, one of the ninja said, "You spotted it already? So quickly."

With that, he charged toward Uchiha Mikoto like an arrow released from a bow.

Qianye Lan narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight and immediately struck.

Fist met fist, and foot met foot.

After briefly exchanging two rounds of blows with Qianye Lan, he retreated to his original position and hid his trembling hand inside his sleeve, feigning calm as he said, "This year's candidates are quite strong."

As soon as he finished speaking, he left with a Body Flicker Technique.

Without their interference, everyone also realized that this wasn't the exam venue.

They turned and left, heading toward the actual exam venue.

The two ninja also appeared upstairs.

One of them asked the ninja who had just fought Qianye Lan in confusion, "Why did you suddenly stop blocking the door, Kenta?"

He knew his longtime teammate's personality all too well.

He would never leave without making things utterly miserable for those genin.

He had even joked more than once that if Kenta ran into someone ruthless, he might get beaten to death.

Kenta gave a wry smile. "If I hadn't pulled out so quickly, I really might have gone down this time, Ito."

He held out the red, swollen fist he had hidden in his sleeve.

Ito immediately jumped in fright. Looking at Kenta's fist in surprise, he said, "Just that brief clash with that brat did this?"

Kenta didn't respond. He silently rolled up his trouser leg, revealing his bruised shin.

By now, Ito was so shocked that he could barely speak coherently. "Th-this was all that brat's doing?"

His teammate was at least as strong as he was. If he had gone up instead, he would probably have ended up in an utterly miserable state.

Kenta nodded. "Your joke nearly came true. That brat's punches and kicks really hit hard, and I feel like he wasn't even using his full strength."

Ito took out some medicinal ointment. "Put this on first. Once the exam is over, go to the hospital and have it checked."

Kenta sighed. "That's all I can do."

After quickly applying the ointment, they continued with their duties.

Meanwhile, inside the exam room, the examiner was explaining the rules.

"The rules for this exam are very simple."

"First: the exam has ten questions in total. Every candidate starts with ten points, and each wrong answer costs one point. Whether you pass depends on the total score of the three members of your team. If any member of the team scores zero, the entire team is eliminated."

"Second: if you're caught cheating during the exam, you lose two points."

Finally, the examiner looked around and asked, "Are there any other questions?"

Seeing that everyone was silent, he nodded in satisfaction.

Then he handed the papers to his assistant and gestured for him to distribute them.

Kushina was a little nervous at first, but when she turned and saw Qianye Lan, her nerves instantly settled.

Soon, the exam paper was in Kushina's hands.