5 Chapter 5

(1st POV)

6 days remaining, huh? This exam was quite bluntly beyond my calculation.

I need to prepare for this competition, however, what should I focus on?

The teacher said the exams focus on all our attributes and mentioned: Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, weapons skills, Academic skills, stealth and physical condition.

The fact that the 3rd Hokage sent Anbu to check on the academy, specifically to also personally report to him even when he was in his manor, shows that this exam was definitely not what it appeared to be.

Seeing the time limit, it's wise to hone what I already have than learn new techniques. With the exception of Genjutsu which I didn't learn any technique from.

I can absolutely dominate my class in Academic skills but that is not enough. I will prepare as if the exam was not covering Academy level subjects but much more advanced subjects.

I already decided which Genjutsu I will learn. The [False Surrounding Technique] and other couple Genjutsus that messes with perception.

For Taijutsu and physical physique (physical capabilities), I will continue to do as much exercises I can and use the Clan training room which holds a lot of training equipments, and will frequent the training ground I met Guy on in hope that he can give me tips occasionally (I hold no hopes or delusions about becoming his apprentice) while going through the taijutsu stances of the Yamanaka Taijutsu style while putting Guy's advices in mind.

Ninjutsu is fairly simple, I just need to bring the Transformation technique up to the bar and train the basic Academy 3 jutsus and the few Yamanaka techniques I know.

For Weapons, I will just try to train and sharpen my shuriken and kunai skills in between.

As a mental schedule appeared in my mind, I began my training. 

Time does not wait for the slothful nor the lazy.

…

Hours passed and it was evening. I finished all of my studies and training except the Taijutsu training. Though, I finished training my body and physical attributes to increase my physique.

It's the best to train in the public training ground I met Guy in. While I hold no delusions of becoming Guy's student, getting more tips from him if I met him should be possible, our previous interaction was pleasant enough and his passion in 'helping the next generation' was quite apparent.

The question was, is he there? The answer was most likely no but if I went there everyday the chances improve quite significantly.

As I began heading to the public training ground, I began looking at the surroundings while walking through the streets.

Konoha was beautiful. It had buildings that would be considered traditional and it was filled with trees and plants, it was an unpolluted beautiful village or more for a more accurate term, considering its population that surpassed 100k people, city. However, its most impressive landmark was the sculpted hokage faces.

It's a beautiful place, however, I won't ever sacrifice my life for it like some people. It's inside was very ugly, konoha massacred one of its founding clans, the Uchiha, due to their rebellion which the village itself caused by doubting and discriminating against them. It sacrificed the brother of the patriarch of the Hyuga clan due to its fear of war with Kumo, it massacred countless people and caused numerous genocide, even against its own people.

While I will fight for this village if necessary, if only due to my interests, I have no interest in sacrificing my life for this hypocritical village that claims peace after all it did and still does, I wasn't even born in here. Well, I technically did but it wasn't my first birth so it doesn't count in my book.

After I reached the training ground, I stretched my chakra senses to its limits and realised that Guy wasn't there, which was to be expected. I found myself surprisingly disappointed. Guy was  quite fun to spend time with and under his supervision my progression in Taijutsu was something to be pleased with.

Welp, it's not like I need him to train. It's time to train.

I could see the small lake and the great amount of trees that were in the center of the training ground.

I began attempting water walking; it took me around a dozen times to get the right chakra mixture but I eventually succeeded. Though when I tried to do some push ups, I immediately sank before trying again and again until I did it right.

Soon enough, I began doing more exercises and even new Jutsu applications and combinations. For example: learning how to water walk while under the effects of the Transformation Jutsu, trying to use the Substitution Jutsu with the normal illusionary Clone Technique and so on.

The basic 3 Jutsus of the academy were surprisingly useful and versatile. Especially the transformation Jutsu, the ability to change your body as you fit, no matter how restricted, is very useful.

Honestly, I am mostly gonna focus on the Transformation jutsu and the Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu together with training my physique and Taijutsu. The clone Jutsu has potential but it's in the end just illusionary, after mastering how to combine it with the Substitution Jutsu its usefulness was gonna depend on my own wit. The Mind Body Switch Jutsu was the original version of the Mind Body Disturbance which was inferior in most cases.

The Substitution Jutsu was useful but it has one function, now that I could do it without hand seals, it's improvement potential was mostly obsolete as it's just a high speed movement technique rather than a Space-Time Jutsu. My last plan for it for now was to combine it with some minor sensory Genjutsus to make the substitution more realistic.

Training Genjutsu to a high degree didn't have much of a point when my clan hidden techniques were mind manipulation.

Spreading one's self too thin would be a dumb mistake to make. It's always better to focus on a few prominent things which you see a promise in.

This exam that's gonna happen soon was definitely examining something other than who was qualified for early graduation, but it's very unlikely to be something like a recruitment test for Root as it officially closed as a punishment to Danzo after the Uchiha massacre, though it only closed officially  it can't recruit members in the 'legal' way anymore.

Who knows though? I am not omniscient, the surprise waiting for me in the exam could be much bigger or smaller than what I thought.

Author note: this chapter isn't as progressive as the other chapters, which is because it was made to elaborate more on Nao's training, skills and progression.

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