"Pakura is a genius ninja from Sunagakure; I'm not good enough for her."
Heiyan waved it off with a casual excuse.
Right now, all his focus was on cultivation, especially his research into Storm Release.
Women would only get in the way of his training.
"Tch, giving up so easily. You really disappoint me."
Hearing that, Tsunade gave up all hope on Heiyan's game with women.
Their work wasn't finished yet.
Heiyan and Tsunade were stuck greeting teams from smaller ninja villages like Takigakure and Kusagakure. By the time they were done, it was already afternoon.
To thank Tsunade, Heiyan invited her to an izakaya for dinner.
"This year's Chunin Exams should be exciting. Let's go together, Heiyan!"
At the dinner table, with a few drinks in her, Tsunade's cheeks flushed slightly as she eagerly proposed.
Besides, she rarely had free time recently, finally free from those annoying missions.
However, what surprised Tsunade was—
Heiyan politely declined her invitation.
Then he excused himself and left early.
"What's that kid been up to lately? Always acting so mysterious."
Tsunade mumbled to herself but didn't think much of it, instead grabbing the sake bottle and drinking until she was half-drunk.
...
The Chunin Exams serve as a major occasion for great nations to observe each other's strength.
And this year was particularly significant.
Because during this period, conflicts between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind over trade and border issues had become increasingly frequent.
The Land of Fire is rich in resources with fertile land, producing abundant minerals, timber, food crops, and fruits—making its export industry very prosperous.
In contrast, the Land of Wind struggles with meager resources and arid land, forcing it to import various goods from the Land of Fire long-term, with only limited exports such as camel milk and flowers.
As a result, the Land of Wind has always maintained a massive trade deficit toward the Land of Fire.
Furthermore, peace in the shinobi world had lasted too long, causing a gradual surplus of ninja numbers among the major nations, resulting in intense internal competition and prompting external conflict redirection.
Over the past few months, several Konoha merchant caravans were attacked by mysterious attackers near the border areas. Many people within Konoha suspected that the attackers were ninjas from Sunagakure, yet no concrete evidence could be found.
Between these two Hidden Villages, tensions had long been brewing, ready to ignite at any moment.
Under such circumstances, holding the Chunin Exams could be likened to all-out war.
No one wanted to lose, and no one could afford to lose.
Moreover, this time the Third Kazekage came in person—not merely here to lead his team for the exams, but also to conduct trade negotiations with Konoha.
It was foreseeable that if Sunagakure achieved overwhelming success in the exams, it would serve as a demonstration of power against Konoha, giving them a stronger stance at the negotiation table.
Therefore, to show off their military strength, Sunagakure sent out nearly all their elite forces, including prodigies like Rasa and Pakura.
However, Konoha was no pushover either.
The number of participants Konoha dispatched exceeded that of Sunagakure, and rumors claimed the young heir of Konoha's most powerful clan—the Hyuga clan's genius, Hiashi Hyuga—would also take part in the exams.
For many people in Konoha, his participation alone served as a huge reassurance.
Three days later.
After careful preparations spanning a period of time, the long-awaited Chunin Exams finally commenced.
This year saw an unprecedented number of participants in the Chunin Exams—200 in total: 80 from Konoha, 70 from Sunagakure, 12 from Yugakure, 18 from Kusagakure, and 20 from Takigakure.
The examination format was brutally harsh.
The first round—a written test—eliminated one-third of all competitors right away.
The second round required participants to cross the deadly forest, eliminating most remaining contenders and leaving fewer than 60 people.
Then, prior to the official matches, another preliminary selection whittled down the numbers again, cutting nearly half the remaining participants and leaving only 32 finalists.
Finally, the highlight of the Chunin Exams—the official elimination tournament—began.
Over three grueling days, the 32 surviving shinobi clashed one-on-one in a no-holds-barred knockout tournament to claim the ultimate title.
On that day, both the Third Hokage and Third Kazekage attended the grand event, while nearly ten thousand spectators flooded into the stadium.
This year's Chunin Exams became the most exciting in recent years, setting new records for attendance and ticket revenue alike.
Among all the competitors, the three top contenders who drew the most attention were Konoha's Hiashi Hyuga, along with Sunagakure's Pakura and Rasa.
Everyone was talking about who among these three prodigious youths would ultimately emerge victorious.
Currently, according to betting odds released by various gambling houses in Konoha, Hiashi Hyuga led slightly ahead, followed closely by Pakura, with Rasa taking third place.
Both Pakura and Rasa had already secured spots in the finals bracket, now waiting patiently for the final showdown.
Both eagerly awaited Hiashi Hyuga defeating his opponent and securing his spot among the final four.
Hiashi Hyuga finally entered the arena.
His opponent was a ninja from Kusagakure. True to expectations, Hiashi dominated using his Gentle Fist technique, appearing certain to win.
However, at this moment, facing overwhelming disadvantage, the Kusa shinobi risked everything by employing an unknown kinjutsu!
Unfortunately, the power surged out of control—blowing him apart right then and there.
Caught directly in the blast, Hiashi faced imminent danger. In this critical moment, he performed a spectacular [Rotation] technique, turning sure defeat into safety.
But others weren't so fortunate.
The resulting shockwave tore through the audience stands, killing and wounding dozens in an instant.
Everything happened too fast—so rapidly that even the proctor failed to intervene.
This unexpected catastrophe forced an immediate halt to the exams.
The following day, deeply impacted by this tragedy, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi delivered a solemn address, mourning the deceased and promising compensation to victims' families. He also vowed to tighten the rules and beef up safety measures to make sure nothing like this ever happened again.
Subsequently, Konoha organizers hastily declared an end to the competition, releasing the promotion list shortly afterward—fewer than twenty shinobi made the cut for chunin rank.
Thus, the once-hotly anticipated Chunin Exams ended prematurely in disappointment.
Meanwhile,
At a training ground outside Konoha,
Heiyan stood alone at the center of the field, eyes tightly shut, brows furrowed—deep in contemplation.
Suddenly opening his eyes, his fingers moved with lightning speed, forming a rapid sequence of hand seals so complex they dazzled the eye.
However, if someone watched carefully, they'd notice his both hands were actually forming different seals!
The ending seal of his left hand was the "U," the Water Release seal;
The ending seal of his right hand was the "Shen," the Lightning Release seal;
As a result, two completely different types of chakra rushed through his body before converging in his throat.
Hiss!
Heiyan suddenly opened his mouth and fired a beam combining both Water and Lightning Release, blazing forth with force.
Unfortunately!
Crackle!
The beam only flew halfway when it could no longer maintain its stable form, exploding midair as the Water and Lightning Release chakra scattered everywhere.
"Failed again."
Seeing this, Heiyan sighed.
Lately, he'd been living between home and the training ground, working nonstop.
Dedicating himself entirely to developing Storm Release.
Storm Release was a ninjutsu technique formed by simultaneously using both Lightning Release and Water Release chakra, manifesting specifically in the form of a "laser."
Mastering it came with two obvious challenges:
First, being able to use both Lightning Release and Water Release techniques at once;
Second, successfully fusing them into a stable laser beam shape;
Step by step.
According to the scroll provided by Hanzo, achieving the first point required mastery of the One-Handed Seal.
Based on Heiyan's memories, many dual-natured chakra users from the original world—like Haku who wielded Ice Release and Deidara who used Explosion Release—could all perform one-handed seals.
This showed that this method was indeed feasible.
In fact, after this period of rigorous practice, Heiyan had indeed succeeded.
However, every time he attempted to take it further—to fuse the Lightning and Water chakra together—it ended in failure.
The scroll also mentioned that this second stage naturally required a long time of trial and error. Rushing it wouldn't help.
Actually,
Mastering the One-Handed Seal in such a short amount of time was already quite remarkable for Heiyan.
The hand seals used in ninjutsu were originally invented by Indra, the eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths.
His original intention was to assist ordinary ninja, so he created twelve hand signs as tools to help channel chakra.
But for powerful ninja, mastering chakra control made hand seals just a formality. If skilled enough, they could even use their feet, a single hand—or no seals at all.
After training, Heiyan had now become one of these masters.
Yet he also realized that to successfully develop Storm Release and skillfully use various Storm Release techniques, at his current pace, it might still take another two or three years.
Was there any way to speed this up?
Yes!
That was the [Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu].
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>