Escape From Konoha

The sun shone through the light mist and shrouded the waterfall in the back mountain.

The water inside the pool is pitch black, and under the sunlight shining through the mist, it reflects a silvery, metallic luster.

The black material covering the water flow is like a dark curtain, undulating slightly, as if it has fresh vitality.

Not long after, a slender figure stood up from the dark water. The red and white miko uniform covering her body was already soaked and stuck to her delicate white skin.

The hair, the tip of the nose, and the chin were dripping with crystal clear water drops.

The dark matter in the pool seemed to be strongly stimulated by something, and began to fluctuate violently, creating layers of ripples and surging crazily towards the girl's body.

With the blessing of dark matter, the girl's face showed a very comfortable expression, as if these dark things were the most delicious tonic, which made her enjoy this ecstatic feeling of power expansion.

As the dark matter surged, one could vaguely see countless black tentacles flashing through the water that was beginning to become clear, sinking into the girl's body and disappearing.

Until the last trace of darkness disappeared from the pool, the pool became clean and crystal clear again, and calmness returned.

With her bare feet on the water, the girl's face flushed, while she panted lightly, slowly walking towards the outside of the pool.

"Wuzhi, are you okay?"

Seeing the girl in miko uniform walking out of the pool, her legs still trembling slightly and feeling a little unsteady, Haruka Hanami asked with concern.

Wu Zhi was wearing wet clothes. After walking out of the pool, he put his hand on a tree and leaned on it without falling. Hearing his friend's concern, he shook his head slightly.

"It's okay... I absorbed more chakra this time than before, so it will take some time to get used to it."

It's not that more chakra is a good thing.

How much chakra the human body can hold depends on its physical fitness.

If you have a weak constitution, absorbing chakra that exceeds the limit of the body's container is likely to cause the body to collapse directly, which is harmful to yourself.

Although her body is relatively powerful compared to her peers, it is quite difficult to control it after absorbing such a huge amount of chakra.

"what time is it now?"

Wu Zhi waited until his breathing calmed down and his body stopped shaking, and he raised his head and asked.

Her eyes are always closed, but like see-through white eyes, she can see things outside directly.

"Six-thirty, there are still two and a half hours to prepare before the game starts."

Huajianyao took out his pocket watch, took a look at it, and said to Wu Zhi.

Wu Zhi nodded slightly. Two and a half hours was enough for her to adapt to the sudden increase in chakra in her body.

"So, how's the intelligence gathering going?"

In the first half of the exorcism ceremony, Haruka Hanami served as a 'sacrifice' to be sucked by the monster. After offering most of his chakra, he withdrew from the ceremony and went outside to collect information on the genin participating in the finals.

Wu Zhi attaches great importance to the opponent who will compete in the finals today.

Because this is a great opportunity to promote your own shrine and build the reputation of your own shrine.

After all, fame means that the shrine will have more tourists, and more tourists will also mean that the shrine's income will increase.

The times are developing rapidly. Even if the shrine needs to retain many traditions, the shrine maidens of their lineage do not need to escape from the world to practice. After joining the world, they will inevitably need money in many places.

Now that the outside world has begun to keep pace with the times, it is natural for the witches to keep up with the times and practice accordingly.

Hearing Wu Zhi talk about business, Hanajian Haruka told the information he had collected:

"Your opponent in the first round is Rock Lee from Konoha. According to my investigation, he is a student of Konoha Jonin Metkai. And Metkai was once one of the students taught by Lord Ruri during his time in Konoha. , is not good at illusions and ninjutsu, and is good at physical skills. Rock Lee inherited Metkai's strengths and weaknesses."

"Only gymnastics?"

"If the information is not missing, this should be true. However, even if the opponent only knows Taijutsu, he cannot be careless. As far as I know, Konoha Jounin Metkai can use the forbidden technique Eight Gate Dungeon as his valued student. , Locke Li has most likely also learned the Eight Gates Dunjia. You should pay special attention to this."

Huajianyao said with a serious face.

Although there are huge risks in Eight Gate Dunjia, it can increase one's power exponentially in a short period of time.

You can never be too careful.

Wu Zhi nodded slightly, indicating that he understood.

Forbidden arts that involve a certain amount of risk to gain extremely powerful power do require vigilance.

She had never had the experience of fighting against the Eight Gate Armor Ninja before, but as long as it was a forbidden technique, it would not be so easy to deal with it. If you don't handle it carefully, you may fail.

Wuzhi would not put his hope in the fact that the other party had not learned the Eight Gate Dunjia.

This being the final, it is natural to evaluate the opponent in the worst possible way.

"Next is Asuka-senpai, as well as Ai and Xiang Rin. You know the strength of the three of them, especially Ai. His strength is very close to that of a Jonin. If you pass the first round, then the next The three of them are probably your competitors for promotion to the first place.”

Although they belong to the kingdom of ghosts, but in the finals, they are no longer comrades-in-arms, but opponents to be defeated.

"Then there are Kirigakure and Sunagakure. Among them, Kaguya Kimimaro and Sandstorm Gaara will be your strong enemies. Konoha's Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino, and Hinata Neji, among which Uchiha Sasuke may be The most troublesome one. The second one is Hyuga Neji, but his opponent in the first round is Aya, which is a pity."

Hanami Haruka expressed his opinion.

"Uzumaki Naruto..."

Wu Zhi mentioned this name.

"That guy? So far, apart from his excellent chakra, he doesn't see any other specialties. His opponent in the first round is Aburame Shino from the same village. There is a high probability that he will be eliminated by his opponent."

Hua Jianyao said.

Her judgment was not unfounded.

The parasites of the Aburame clan have the ability to absorb chakra. Ninjas with huge chakra like Naruto are the favorite hunting targets of the parasites.

As a result, Naruto's chakra advantage was unable to be used in the first round. And once this advantage is lost, in Hanami Haruka's view, Naruto, who does not know the Uzumaki clan's sealing technique, will become a living target for the parasites to establish their power.

"Not necessarily. Like Gaara Sunagakure, he has a huge chakra monster sealed in his body. These jinchūriki cannot be treated with common sense."

Moreover, during the preliminaries, Naruto also made a very unexpected move. In Kirie's view, the opponent was a greater threat than Aburame Shino.

In the same way, Gaara, who was also born as a Jinchuuriki, also transcended common sense.

Using general ideas to speculate on the upper limit that the Jinchuriki can reach would be to underestimate the terrifying power of the Jinchuriki.

For those powerful ninjas, maybe the jinchūriki are not too dangerous, but this is the chunin exam, just a battle between genin.

Once a Jinchūriki uses the power of a tailed beast, even just a little bit, the whole game may become unpredictable.

Because the tailed beast is part of the Jinchuriki, as long as it can be controlled, it is also counted as the power of the Jinchuriki itself.

"But, the two of them are about the same age as us, so they shouldn't be able to control the power of the tailed beasts in their bodies, right?"

Hanami Haruka hesitated and said.

"But it's not entirely impossible, is it?"

When Hanajian Haruka heard this, he rubbed his eyebrows. From this point of view, the difficulty of this final was too terrifying.

To successfully get first place is not an easy thing at all.

Moreover, there is not much rest time in the middle, which will test the endurance of each genin contestant and their tactical arrangements.

"Anyway, let's sort out the entire information first. There are still more than two hours before the start of the game, so there is enough time to make temporary adjustments."

Wu Zhi did not refuse Hanajian Haruka's arrangement and began to discuss the details of the information with the other party.

As for Yamazaki Hisashi who is on the same team, Hanami Haruka didn't mention a word.

For Yamazaki Hisashi, a teammate in the same team, Hanami Haruka is very clear about his opponent's abilities. In the finals where there are so many monsters, the opponent may be the only normal ninja.

It's so normal that no special treatment is needed.

◎

hostel.

Naruto woke up in a daze to the sound of knocking on the door.

"Naruto, open the door quickly, don't oversleep, don't forget that today is the day when the finals begin!"

Hearing the sound coming into the house from outside, Naruto suddenly sat up from the bed and rubbed his eyes, which were still a little sleepy.

"It's Sakura."

Naruto rubbed his eyes and yawned, got out of bed, put on his slippers, walked to the entrance of the room, and opened the door.

Sure enough, Sakura was standing outside the door, but Naruto didn't see Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Where are Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei?"

"They are having breakfast downstairs. It's already seven o'clock. You should come down quickly."

Seeing Naruto's sleepy look, Sakura was a little dissatisfied and continued: "Naruto, didn't I tell you not to stay up late last night? What if you don't perform well in the game?"

"Haha, sorry, I got a little obsessed with practicing ninjutsu last night."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, smiled awkwardly, then walked back into the house and started packing things.

Sakura walked in and looked at the scrolls scattered on the floor. Even the bed was in a mess, as if a tornado had passed through, leaving a mess on the ground, leaving Sakura speechless.

In desperation, he had to help Naruto clean up the messy room.

I really don’t know how the other person lives. He obviously lives alone, so he should be independent and take care of himself.

Sakura felt that after this Chunin Exam, it was necessary to teach Naruto how to do housework well.

Soon after, Naruto got dressed, and Sakura took out an opaque paper bag from her ninja bag and handed it to Naruto.

"Here you go, this is what you asked me to make a few days ago."

"Thank you, Sakura. However, I didn't expect it to be possible, huh?"

Naruto took the paper bag and took a look at the contents, showing surprise.

"It's okay, but due to the rush of time and incomplete data, the effect may not be as good as you think. At most, it can help you buy some time."

"It doesn't matter, as long as we can buy time. After the game, I'll treat you to ramen, Sakura."

Naruto carefully placed the paper bag into the ninja bag on his lap.

"Well, forget it, it's not a big deal anyway. Now that you've packed up, let's come down quickly for breakfast. It's going to be departure time soon."

"OK."

With that said, Naruto left the room with Sakura.

In the restaurant downstairs, Sasuke and Kakashi were already enjoying breakfast. The coaching jounin and genin of the rest of Konoha's team also gathered here. When they saw Naruto and Sakura coming, they just nodded and did not come forward to communicate. They concentrated on eating the food in front of them. They all knew the time at this time. precious.

"Have you been staying up late these days, Naruto?"

Seeing the dark circles on Naruto's face, Kakashi immediately understood that Naruto would probably go to bed very late these days.

"Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei, I'm full of energy now and it won't hinder today's competition."

Naruto said without caring at all, and began to eat the hot rice balls prepared by Kakashi for him, along with milk, eggs, bread and other foods.

"I hope so. So, how is the training going with Master Jiraiya?"

Kakashi asked.

He mainly wanted to inquire about the progress of Naruto's Rasengan training.

The Rasengan is an A-level ninjutsu that is not weaker than his Thunder Release and Chidori, and it is also a type of Muji ninjutsu.

Therefore, the steps to perform the technique are simpler than Chidori.

If Naruto successfully masters the Rasengan, the benefits to the opponent are self-evident, and he may become one of the biggest dark horses in the third exam.

Otherwise, with his strength during the qualifying period, it would be difficult for Naruto to stand out in today's game.

Naruto stuffed rice balls in his mouth and said vaguely: "I only learned the first ninjutsu, and the second ninjutsu is still a little behind. The lustful sage said it's because my chakra control is insufficient. If you want to complete the second technique, you need to learn more about chakra control..."

Having said this, Naruto was a little helpless.

Although he has learned to climb trees and tread water, the chakra control required by the Rasengan is many times more difficult than the so-called climbing trees and treading water.

To concentrate and rotate a large amount of chakra in the palm of your hand in an irregular order, and compress it into a sphere as small as a fist, you can imagine how superb chakra control ability this requires.

Although Naruto overcame all the previous processes, he could not break through the last step.

Unless he makes a huge breakthrough in his own chakra control, he will not be able to successfully cast the spiral pill.

According to Jiraiya, it will take him at least a month of undivided practice to be able to do it.

"That's it, so I should have told you a long time ago, right? I have asked you to practice your chakra control frequently. Don't always think about learning some powerful ninjutsu. For ninjas, basic things are very important. Important, this will determine the upper limit of a ninja. There are prerequisites for any powerful technique."

For this kind of thing, Kakashi is helpless.

Chakra control, which can only be done consciously by oneself.

But Naruto paid too much attention to the appearance of ninjutsu, but ignored the most essential facts.

That is, any high-level ninjutsu requires superb chakra control ability as a prerequisite before it can be successfully displayed.

Because the more powerful ninjutsu, the more stability of Chakra is needed. Once Chakra is released unstable, it will hurt the performer himself.

Many forbidden techniques, or half-finished ninjutsu, are almost similar.

The unstable chakra will cause unpredictable risks to the performer himself, which is very important.

"Speaking of which, Sakura, do you have any good ideas? For example, the trick to quickly increase the control of Chakra?"

Naruto looked at Sakura.

He knew that Sakura was better than him and Sasuke in controlling chakra. Even Kakashi, a Jonin, had confirmed this many times and believed that Sakura was even better than Sasuke in controlling chakra. reached the chunin level.

This is a very high rating.

This also means that when Sakura releases ninjutsu, no trace of Chakra will be wasted, which can effectively save Chakra resources.

And his ninja, who starts to waste chakra once he uses ninjutsu, belongs to the opposite extreme.

Sakura thought for a moment and replied: "Generally speaking, if you want to improve your chakra control, you can only accumulate it slowly over time through repeated boring exercises. However, when I was learning medical ninjutsu, I occasionally thought I was too lazy, so I came up with a theoretically feasible method."

"any solution?"

Naruto's eyes lit up.

"That is to use external force to balance and stabilize one's own chakra."

"external force?"

"Yes, this external force can be a machine, or it can achieve the purpose of balancing chakra with the help of other people. The former is used by medical ninjas. Many medical devices will help medical ninjas stabilize themselves during operations. Chakra control to avoid unnecessary mistakes during surgery. I have not tried the latter, because everyone's chakra movement patterns and speeds are different, so I want to use other people to stabilize my chakra. , unless two people share a source of chakra, accidents can easily occur, causing damage to the meridians. Therefore, the latter plan is only theoretically feasible, and I do not recommend it, Naruto."

Sakura expressed her opinion.

Naruto looked confused and nodded in understanding. He felt like he had caught something, but it seemed like he had caught nothing.

◎

Morning, eight thirty.

The open-air hall that was temporarily requisitioned for the third final of the United Chunin Examination was in a lively atmosphere full of people.

Celebrities and nobles from all over the world, jounin representatives from ninja villages in other countries, and even tourists who came from thousands of miles away from abroad, as well as local residents and ninjas of the Kingdom of Demons, formed the entire audience for the third joint chunin exam .

These people gathered in the open-air hall and sat in the audience seats that had been prepared, waiting with excitement for the opening of the third exam.

Around the clubhouse, even though it was still daytime, a series of firecrackers and fireworks exploded in the sky, exacerbating the already lively atmosphere.

The competition venue located in the center of the hall is like the ancient Colosseum, but unlike the Colosseum, this is a battle between ninjas. Its spectacular degree and visual impact are beyond the reach of irrational beasts. presented.

Under the leadership of the examiner of the third examination, Onijima, a Jonin from the Kingdom of Demons, a total of fourteen candidates who were promoted to genin from the four forces of the Demon Kingdom, Konoha, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure came to the setting. Stand still on the huge stage in the central area.

Looking at the scene of huge crowds of people around them, being shrouded in the attention of countless people, even though they had expected it, the fourteen genin still had some expressions on their faces, unable to be immune to such a rare spectacle.

For the ninjas who are accustomed to avoiding ordinary people's battles, they can't calm down for a long time when they think about how they will show their strength on this stage and receive applause and praise from people from all over the world in the audience.

Excited, apprehensive, and insecure.

As if he could see the touched look on the faces of these genin, only two or three people could remain calm. As the examiner of this exam, Onigashima genin turned his strong body around and spoke to these participants in a calm tone. Ninja of the final said:

"As a ninja, you must remain absolutely calm at all times and don't be frightened by such a scene. If you cannot adjust your emotions in time now, you will definitely perform abnormally in the next game and be ruthlessly eliminated by your opponent. "

"I'm not nervous at all. I just feel excited when I think about fighting here next."

Feeling that he seemed to be looked down upon, Naruto couldn't help but retort.

"If that's the case, that's the best. Then, now show your face to all the audiences here openly, don't panic, and don't be shy. As you represent the face of the country and the village behind you, this is the first thing to do. .”

Under the command of Onigashima Shinobi, the candidates took a deep breath, raised their heads, let go of their faces, and showed them to the surrounding audience on this stage, so that they could see without any obstacles. .

As a Jonin, Onigashima wouldn't have that much trouble.

Although this was his first time hosting such a scene, as a jounin, his ability to withstand psychological pressure was undoubtedly very strong.

Only when I entered the venue, I felt uncomfortable for a moment, and then I felt nothing at all, and I was able to deal with it calmly.

"Speaking of which, Sir Examiner, is the playing field here specially expanded?"

Sasuke suddenly spoke softly.

He noticed that today's arena seemed different from that in the qualifiers.

Especially as a competition arena, there are two ninjas standing at the four corners, a total of eight people.

Judging from the majestic aura revealed on them, there is no doubt that they are jounin from the military of the Kingdom of Demons.

In addition, the arena underfoot is also different. Not only has the texture become harder, but the range of movement seems to have become larger.

During the preliminary round, Sasuke clearly remembered that the arena was definitely not as big as it is now.

This was not only Sasuke's doubt, the other genin also noticed this problem.

Onigashima Shinobu replied calmly: "You are quite attentive. You guessed right. The stage used in today's finals was specially enlarged. The standard size is 45*45 meters, which is larger than the stage used in the qualifiers. Nearly one-third is enough for you to worry about it."

Considering that the genin participating in the finals this time are different from those in previous years, continuing to use the preliminaries stage may not allow the candidates to show their strength.

The specially strengthened and enlarged stage allows the participating candidates to perform as much as they want on it.

Because this place is relatively far from the auditorium, even if you communicate here, as long as it is not particularly loud, the sound will not spread to the auditorium and be heard.

"Why don't you start yet?"

Gaara, who didn't like being watched very much, was a little impatient with such a scene, and his mood became extremely irritable.

Onigashima Shinobi glanced at him, and there was a faint murderous aura in the other person's body, as if he would kill someone here in the next moment.

"Don't worry, boy Sunagakure, you will have time to perform later. There is still about half an hour before the game starts. Rather than this, I advise you to filter the tactics in your mind again now. After the game starts, I won’t give you much time to think about countermeasures.”

Afterwards, Onigashima Shinobu faced the highest and most eye-catching stand in the audience, where sat senior members of the military and government departments of the Kingdom of Oni, who were heavyweight representatives among the audience.