Chapter 19

"You got everything?" I turned around and saw Tsunade standing in the door to my room, fully equipped and prepared.

"Yeah, finished sealing the last bit of stuff just a moment ago. You think three boxes of ration bars is enough?" I answered.

She made a disgusted face before turning around and leaving. "How you can stand that taste is beyond me." I heard from the hallway. I chuckled and followed after her. Those ration bars are a mix of nutrients, minerals and vitamins. One equals the daily calorie consumption of a grown adult. They taste like fat, grain and something between shit and rotten innards. They also give me a health regeneration bonus of 100% and that are the normal ones. The Akimichi are able to make those things tasty and they give a bigger boost, they are expansive as well.

"That was a joke," I said after catching up to her. I do have a literal ton of them in my inventory, but she does not have to know that.

We used a quick Shunshin to reach the east gate and saw that my team was already there. As were another one from our graduation class. I did a quick Observation of them and dismissed any real threat they could pose.

While it was true that they were stronger than the normal Genin, they were far off from being as strong as my or Tsunade's team. Even Jiraiya had way higher stats than them. The strongest of them had a single attribute just below one hundred. Well, a Chunin is between 70 and 300 I might be able to forgive them for being weak.

"Hey guys," I greeted Ariha and Sakumo. Both said their own greeting, before going back to a conversation about their equipment. I didn't feel like taking part, so I sat down next to Tsunade, she has chosen a place to sit a little bit away from my team.

"Do you also get the impression that the other team seems to be a bit... weak," whispered Tsunade. I hummed while reading through the finer details of said teams Observation result. They had Chakra control that was somewhere in the early twenties. Also a few C-Rank Jutsu and fighting skills in the thirties.

"They are good for Genin but don't compare them to my or your team. Jiraiya should be able to beat two of them at once. Still, you don't have to be strong to win a fight, they might be good at trap making or skilled with poisons and assassinations. Some Jonin train their Genin exclusively in a single field. Like tracking, close combat, heavy Jutsu use and so on," I explained. This was one of those teams, each of them had their respected field.

They had a boy that will most likely go into the medical field during his career. He already has the skill of medical knowledge. His Chakra control is just not good enough for the useful medical Jutsu, with it being close to ten. Still, he has one Jutsu for healing scratches.

Then there was a trap maker and tracker. He had both Poison Knowledge and Poison Resistance as well as Trap Creation and a good Sneak level. I doubt that he can fight close and personal. His attributes were too low for that, as were his skills.

The last one, the girl, was a Genjutsu user. She had a few good ones, even a B-Ranked one. Her fighting style seems to use Genjutsu in combination with Kunai and Shuriken throwing. She had a good level of Throwing.

"Tell me, how would you fight them?" I asked and leaned back on a tree. From our position we had a good view of the gate and who came and went.

"Hmm, the girl is using a lot of throwing weapons. You can see that on her bulging pouches. Maybe a Hidden Mole Jutsu to get close and then a direct attack. She does not walk as if she is skilled in any Taijutsu stance.

The other two are the same, maybe trying to get close and then beat them to a pulp?"

"You always beat them to a pulp." She gave me a cheeky grin and stuck out her tongue. "But yes, it comes down to beating them to a pulp. One of them is trying to become a medic, he has the bandages and medic kit in his backpack. It pokes out on the left upper corner.

The other one is their trap maker, most likely, his backpack is filled with Ninja wire, tools and maybe poisons. The last one is more an assumption, poison makes the strong weak. And the weak can become strong. A good idea to compensate for a lack of physical skill.

The girl has not enough Chakra for heavy Jutsu use, nor the muscles for a weapon like a staff or a sword. She could be the silent and sneaky type or a Genjutsu user.

Also, none of them stands or moves as if they really know a Taijutsu style, which is not a guaranteed win if you get close, but makes things a lot easier."

"Knew it, beating them to a pulp always works!" Declared Tsunade victoriously. I bopped her head but smiled nonetheless.

A few moments later arrived Jiraiya, he saw first my team, then Tsunade and lastly me. He came over to us and greeted Tsunade brightly, but me coldly. "Morning Tsunade-hime and her brother."

"Welp, that's my signal to check up with my team. Have fun Tsu-chan," I said with a wave at Jiraiya. Tsunade was glaring at me for leaving her alone with him, while he looked happy for the chance of being alone with Tsunade.

He wasted his chance by asking her something perverted. Tsunade punched him to a pulp and proved again that blunt force trauma, inflicted by fists, was still the best.

I stopped next to my teammates and gave Tsunade a wide grin. She was glaring at me in return and kicked Jiraiya, either out of fun or because she could. "Yo Ariha-chan and Sakumo-kun. Everything in order?"

"Yes, thanks again for giving us these sealing scrolls. They are a huge help in sorting and bringing our stuff," answered Sakumo while holding his scroll out.

"Yeah, seeing that other team without them makes you really appreciate having them," agreed Ariha. Her own scroll was tucked into a pouch on her lower back. Easy to reach and not in the way of most acrobatic moves.

"Hey guys, look over there. Some Jonin-sensei had the idea to admit his new team as well." We looked over to where Ariha has gestured and saw a group of three Genin. They were as old as us but fresh out of the Academy. Their skills and attributes were at the higher Genin spectrum, I give them that, yet they were even weaker than the team Tsunade and I have talked about.

Sakumo crossed his arms and frowned. "They look so excited, so eager to start. I don't think they have much experience." I nodded in agreement. These three don't look like much.

"Be friendly anyway, they are still comrades. And we aren't forced to interact with them," I warned nonetheless. Both nodded before we resumed to compare our equipment.

"Ah, my little students are all here, good to know. If one of you had not come I would have been forced to forbid the other two from taking part in the Chunin exam." Kagami-sensei came as silently as always and greeted us with a lame wave.

"Sensei, why are the other teams, not including Ken-kun's sisters, this weak?" Questioned Ariha the moment we began our long run to the border of Fire Country. We will cross the border into Wave before taking a ship and sailing to Water and then to Kiri.

"Ma, ma, you don't call other teams weak. They just have different specializations. I am sure their Jonin-sensei had reasons to sign them up for the exams." I looked at the two other teams again. I could accept that the team that graduated with me was ready for Chunin if a low-level team.

But the other one? Their attributes and skills were nothing special. The only outstanding, if you could call it that, was the one boy that had a Byakugan. Hmm? His title is Heir of the Hyuuga. Oh, I see, the clan is pressing for his advance in rank and are pressuring his Jonin-sensei into this.

He was the strongest of his team, sure, but that does not mean that he is ready for Chunin. All of his stats were around 60. Reflex was an exception, it was at 90. He's fast, that's a requirement for the Hyuuga preferred Taijutsu style, the Gentle Fist.

"Politics?" I asked. Kagami-sensei gave me an almost invisible nod.

"You mean that they are forced to take the exam? Probably the fault of the Hyuuga. Those idiots think they are the best with their 'all-seeing eyes'," growled Ariha with air quotes at the end. She got bopped on the head for her comment by Kagami-sensei.

"Don't be rude, if you don't like them then try to not get in their way," reprimanded Kagami-sensei her.

"Yeah, instead try and learn the next Chakra exercise I have come up with," I suggested. Just because I am now at the maximum level with Chakra Control does not mean that I have stopped inventing new training methods. I'm also looking into new ones for nature manipulation.

"Another one? What can it do this time? Blow up a whole forest?" Asked Sakumo jokingly. Kagami-sensei raised an eyebrow in question, he doesn't know about the Rasenshuriken. Yet, none of us explained.

"Nah, this one is a lot cooler. It is the next step after water walking."

Ariha huffed and nudged me when I didn't continue. "Come on, explain. You can't make us all interested and then let us hang. I want to see and learn."

I grinned widely and turned around to look at her with a wide grin. She looked at me expectantly, before frowning when I said nothing. "So?" She asked.

"He is already doing it Ariha-chan. Look at his legs," pointed Kagami-sensei out. Ariha looked down and saw that my legs weren't moving, yet I was moving faster than her.

"What? How are you doing that?" She asked and activated her Sharingan to look closer.

"He's using his Chakra to float slightly above the ground. He then pushes his Chakra out so that it pushes him forward. You're showing great control, like always," explained and praised Kagami-sensei.

"Yeah, if you use too little you won't move or stop floating all together. If you use too much you blast yourself forward and more often than not land on your face. But if you use the exact amount of Chakra you can push yourself forward and float on an invisible Chakra buffer." I followed my explanation with a few tricks. Doing twists and turns without moving my legs at all. I even glided a tree up and down. "The faster you go the harder it becomes to adjust to the countless bumps on the ground. That's why starting on water is easier," I said and ended my little show.

The other Jonin-sensei have watched as well and Kagami-sensei was looking at them with an expression that almost screamed, 'Yeah bitches, THAT is MY Genin', but only almost.

Ariha and Sakumo tried the technique once but were way too slow for the fast track the Jonin were demanding of us. The Genin team that really was a Genin team was wheezing and huffing already from the speed we were having.

"You can train later when we set camp. For now concentrate on your jumps," butted Kagami-sensei in after watching Ariha almost stumble over a small rock. They both stopped and began to move normally again.

Later that day Kagami-sensei made me dig a hole with my Chakra and then filled it with water for Ariha and Sakumo to train on. I myself trained my earth manipulation. I had stolen the idea from a Japanese light novel, where the main character was training his magic by forming figurines.

"What is it gonna be this time?" Asked Tsunade from my side. She has come over from the campfire and had two plates of food in her hands. One of those she gave me, the other was her own.

I put the figurine down and grabbed the plate, before answering, "You." She inspected the figure and nodded after a moment. It wasn't painted and looked brown, but you could still make out the build of her body. "I'm working on adding fine details and then paint it," I added after a few bites.

Tsunade had tried the method as well, she preferred to built furniture. Our whole house is filled with stuff she has made, from plates to tables and chairs.

"Show me when you are done, please," she requested before we silently continued to eat our food. The sound of the occasionally cursing of Ariha and Sakumo was the only thing that rung through the camp. The rest was quietly doing maintenance or reading.

The real Genin team was sleeping, dead tired from the journey. Orochimaru was reading a Jutsu scroll, Jiraiya was doing push-ups and the SJonin were inside a tent of their own, speaking about stuff.

"Thanks for the meal," I said once I had finished my food. I stood up and cleaned the plate, before putting it back into the designated scroll for our camping stuff.

Tsunade did the same and then excused herself. She went into our shared tent and went to sleep. Yeah, somehow she was able to argue that she and I can, no, had to, share a tent because we are of the same clan. Normally each Genin team shares a tent, there was no extra tent for the girl. Tsunade knew that and found an old law that states that a group of teams with two or more members of the same clan are allowed to share a clan tent.

Both Sarutobi and Kagami-sensei tried to argue that this was a law for war times. But Tsunade countered with the fact that the Chunin exams are there to mimic a small war between the villages. And from the moment we left Konoha we had started our Chunin exams. Which in turn means that we can apply this law, as we were mimicking a war. She was right, with a few twists and turns.

They then tried to argue that there were not enough tents, but Tsunade wordlessly took another one out of her scroll. It even had the Senju clan symbol. Neither Jonin could find another argument and they were not in the mood to further argue with the little Senju-princess.

In truth, I think she wanted just to not share a tent with Jiraiya and at the same time prevent Ariha from sharing one with me. Jiraiya wasn't happy when he heard that Tsunade wouldn't sleep in his tent and he didn't stop his glare for the rest of the day. Even now he was glaring at me in between his workout.

I didn't care one way or another. Jiraiya was not a threat to me. Ariha and Sakumo would have more room in their tent and I will not have to endure Sakumo's snores, Tsunade's were way cuter.