Chapter 11: Preparations before the Exam

Today was the day Kaminari was going to take his first academy exam. He didn't know what to expect from the outside; he looked calm and collected, but inside he was a little nervous.

He knew that if he wanted the shadow clone Jutsu, he had to pass this exam.

A month before the exam day, Kaminari was lying in bed thinking about ways to improve himself. 'The seal Hayami gave me is really effective, and thanks to it, my strength is progressing nicely.' He let out a yawn and made his way to the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face before going downstairs.

Hayami wasn't home because she had an errand to run, so she would be gone for the next few days. Kaminari had a perfect opportunity to practice his water bullets Jutsu, Before he headed out, he took some rubber balls and water balloons. He then quickly made his way to a training ground with a lot of trees. Thanks to the Hyuga clan practicing a lot of taijutsu, there were a lot of untouched trees, but the same couldn't be said for the wooden training dummy's.

Once he arrived at the training ground, he activated the seal and started doing his daily exercise, consisting of tree walking with his hands, shadow boxing, and a lot of running pushups and sit-ups. He only had the seal for a few weeks, but he could already draw out 2% of its maximum capacity. Training was even more difficult, but he gritted his teeth and persevered through it.

After 3 hours, he finished his training and started practicing his water bullets Jutsu, the times he practiced it, he quickly came to the realization, 'It's better to form a single bullet in my mouth; it would be easier to concentrate, and less chakra would be wasted. After I manage to master this, I can use multiple bullets' He made his way towards a tree. Once Kaminari arrived, he began weaving the handsigns for the Jutsu. Once he finished, a small bullet began forming inside his mouth before expanding a bit. After a few seconds, he unleashed the water bullet.

Once it hit the tree, it pierced a few centimeters and left a 3-centimeter-wide hole inside the tree. 'It's power is decent, but it lacks speed. I need to eliminate the handsigns completely' Kaminari looked a bit defeated, but he practiced his jutsu till his chakra was almost depleted. 'Alright, let's start this; hopefully it works. Opening a sealing scroll he got from Hayami, he took out a few water balloons and put the scroll aside.

'My molding exercise definitely helped me; hopefully I can pop this ballon' Kaminari looked very excited. He took one balloon and placed it on his palm. He closed his eyes and tried to pop it. After a few seconds, the balloon exploded and wet him. This time, he activated his kingan and tried again. He popped the balloon even quicker. Once again, he tried it with his byakugan. This time, it was a little quicker than the first time. He deactivated his dojutsu and popped the rest of the balloons with ease. Step 1 of Rasengan training, 'Rotation', was completed.

Now for the second part of rasengan training, 'Power', he needed a rubber ball and would need to destroy it with chakra. He was confident in this part for one sole reason: the Juken (gentle fist). While training with Hayami, she told him that he needed to inject chakra into his opponent's chakra pathway system. For this to be possible, he needed exceptional chakra control and power.

The ball was put in the center of his palm. He closed his eyes and envisioned himself pouring chakra into the rubber ball to explode it. He poured chakra inside the rubber ball at a slow rate, and it didn't budge. He hastened the pouring, and he ruptured the ball. A smile was etched onto his face before he remembered he needed to fully destroy it. He took another ball and tried again, this time pouring chakra at a faster pace. Two ruptures were visible on the rubber ball. He sighed before tossing the ball away and taking another one.

This time he activated his kingan and looked at the rubber ball with his golden eyes. He poured chakra into it, and after a moment that felt like an eternity, it finally exploded.

Kaminari shed tears of happiness. 'Step 2 is complete, but I should probably learn to do it without the kingan' he shrugged it off. He took a deep breath and made his way to the sealing scroll that was cast aside. He toon out a balloon without water in it and sat back down.

'Step 3: 'containment' I need to combine the last 2 steps and make sure the balloon doesn't move or pops'. Kaminari relaxed his tense muscles and said, 'I can't do step 2 on my own, so I probably can't do step 3. It won't hurt to try though'. With his kingan still activated, Kaminari tried not to pop the balloon, but as he poured chakra inside the balloon, it immediately burst.

A heavy sigh could be heard inside the training ground. 'Thats what I expected, to be honest. I need to try and master step 2 on my own.' He continued his training after a few hours and made his way back home to his room to further his lightning nature with the voltage meter.

For the rest of the month, he tried to complete step 2 of rasengan training, but he just could not do it without his golden dojutsu. He decided to give up and try again when he had shadow clones. On a positive note, though, he managed to remove two hand seals from the water bullet jutsu!

Back to the present time, Kaminari entered the academy class at 7:50 a.m.; 9 people were already seated. He took his seat at the back of the class and waited a few minutes for the rest to show up. At 7:55 a.m., everyone was seated and awaited the teacher, Kodama. While waiting, he was talking with Adachi and Noya when the bells sounded, and in walked Kodama.

"Good morning, Class. Today is the first examination. Hopefully, you've all worked hard for this. I wish everyone good luck." Kodama's voice ignited a few students' hearts with determination.