BSWS CH-55 The Chunin Exams XXIII - Preliminary concludes, Training Begins

"And now, I will begin the explanation for the final round." The Hokage said.

"The final round is where each of you will show off your battle skills in front of everyone. It will be expected of you to showcase every bit of your talent and hard work in the form of the abilities and battle experiences you have gained so far."

"As such, it is decided that the final round will begin a month from now." Hokage said.

Hokage's announcement generated a wave of murmuring among 9 finalists. Hokage coughed softly to get their attention back.

"You might be wondering why the one-month gap is being given." Hokage said as he peered at them "This is done so that you all have time to prepare for the finals."

"What do you mean by that, Lord Hokage?" Shikamaru asked.

"It's simply this, in addition to announcing the results achieved in this preliminary and the names of you nine to all Daimyo, Shinobi Leaders, and various other VIP dignitaries, we also need time to prepare for the said dignitaries to arrive in Konoha."

"This is necessary as these dignitaries are the ones who will be assigning the future missions to you. Their opinion of you will be based on the ability they see in the coming final round."

"As such, you examinee will need time to prepare. This is because you are currently in an exposed state. Until the preliminary, your abilities and battle capabilities were unknown to your competitors. However, that has changed after the preliminary."

"If you keep using the same abilities and strategies in the final round, then you are guaranteed to be countered and will most probably lose the match. Your specialties and abilities may or may not work depending on the preparations made by your opponent."

"As such, this one month is being given to you is prepare yourself according to the knowledge you have gained about your competitors, and learn new tricks to counter their known abilities, so that you can display your best in the matches."

"In the spirit of fairness and equality, all of you have been granted this equal amount of time to catch up to your peers and train yourself the best you can. Also, don't forget to rest and recover so that you are at the peak of your ability when the day of the finals arrive."

"With this, the announcement for the Chunin Finals is done. You are all dismissed." Hokage announced.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sakura took the rest of the day off from training and relaxed with her family. Her parents celebrated her qualification to the finals of the Chunin Exams.

Late at night, after her parents had slept, Sakura rested on the roof of her house and watched the night sky, which was surprisingly clear today. The black sky with stars dotting it like shiny diamonds was a peaceful sight that relaxed her more than anything else.

As she relaxed, she introspected everything she had achieved till now. Time had passed so quickly. It seemed as if it was just yesterday when she had opened her eyes in this world.

Yet now, she was competing among the powerhouses of this world. She had even survived Orochimaru, the big bad snake himself.

She knew that she had pushed the world's timeline to a point from where the world might never be the same. She would soon start losing the advantage she had of knowing the future and will only be able to rely on this knowledge to the bare minimum.

As such, the only way she could make sure that she and her loved ones remained safe, was through becoming stronger.

'UTS, Start sending all the Recorded Techniques from the Preliminaries.' Sakura commanded mentally.

[List of Techniques being compiled….. Transmission commencing.]

[Transmitting Great Fireball Technique]

[Transmitting Sly Mind Technique]

[Transmitting Haze Clone Technique]

[Transmitting Puppet Arts]

[Transmitting Multi-Size Technique]

[Transmitting Multi-Shadow Clone Technique]

[Transmitting Eight Gates Technique (Partial)]

[Transmitting Gentle Fist (Partial)]

[Transmitting Beast Mimicry Arts (Partial)]

[Transmitting Tessen Arts]

[Transmitting Earth Release: Underground Fish]

[Transmitting Shadow Possession]

[Transmitting Insect Taming (Partial)]

[Transmission complete]

As soon as the transmission was completed, Sakura felt a new level of enlightenment towards Chakra in general. She now had techniques corresponding to all four of her affinities, which granted her a new perspective towards both CHakra and Her own Body.

Moreover, with Eight Gates and Gentle Fist, Her understanding of how Chakra worked inside the body became clearer. if she focused hard, she could now use Chakra Sensing to actually judge her pathways based on the flow of chakra.

Her attention then went to the fact that some of the techniques she learnt this time were only classified as a partial version. But she soon figured out the reason for that.

'Hmm, I guess some of these techniques are only partial because I have not got the complete knowledge of them or that they were not displayed completely to their full potential for me to copy or they are not suitable to be employed by me.'

'Well, with techniques like Gentle Fist and Eight Gates, even partial knowledge or application will go long way in helping me.' Sakura mused 'With the combination of knowledge obtained from these two techniques, my understanding of Chakra Pathways inside us has increased by leaps and bounds.'

Sakura then examined Beast Mimicry Arts (Partial), Shadow Possession, and Multi-Size Technique. These three broadened her horizons on the Yin and Yang Release. Sakura had finally taken her first steps in Nature Transformation for these two Releases.

'Yin and Yang' are like two sides of the same coin. They both ultimately are used to bring changes in reality, but the path they use is different.

Yin is the path of Spirituality and affects reality by directly inducing changes through Spiritual Energies. Yang however affects physical matter and affects reality by inducing change into physical matter.

'It's no wonder that the combination of these two releases produces Yin-Yang release, which holds the Ultimate Ninjutsu: Creation of All Things.' Sakura thought.

'However, at the same time, I can see that it is not going to be easy to master these two releases. Beast Mimicry Arts (Partial), Shadow Possession, and Multi-Size Technique have barely touched the boundaries of Yin and Yang release.'

'There is just so much more to these two releases that one could spend their whole lives on mastering them. But it is worth it, as they will grant me more power than all other releases combined.' Sakura thought.

Sakura knew that she could not use the Hidden Techniques of Clans of Konoha in public, or she will become the Public Enemy of all the Clans in Konoha.

However, she didn't intend to use most of the techniques she learned in the first place. They were just the base, using which she intended to build her own unique abilities.

Currently, knowledge and techniques were not her weak points. She had gathered enough of those at this point that would not be available to most Jonin. She also had only displayed the bare minimum of her abilities, so she didn't need to master any new tricks.

So currently, her focus for the coming month of preparation would simply be training. She would purely be training to improve her basics: Her Body, Her Mind, and Her mastery over Chakra.

As long as she shores up these three weaknesses, she was sure that she would prevail over the upcoming adversities. As for the pain, she would have to suffer during her training, well, as they say, the fear of death is a pretty powerful motivator.