It was the day after the 2nd round ended and Kazuki was in a training ground testing his Sharingan, Yuki was also training with Akari in a nearby ground, Ryuma was the only one resting at home.
Kazuki activated his sharingan, jumped in the air, and threw several kunai at the targets in front of him.
All of the kunai hit the targets at the center.
Kazuki landed on the ground and sighed, "It's cool and all, but how will I master this? If I remember correctly, the base Sharingan has 3 abilities. The first is better perception, which will be easy to master, the second is the copying technique, which I can try anytime I want, but I'm worried about the third one, which is Genjutsu. I'm not that good at genjutsu. I don't even know how I used it against Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi, but it was certainly powerful. Maybe I can ask someone from the Uchiha clan about it when I go back to Konoha. I guess I'll just copy some jutsu then."
Kazuki went to the training ground where Yuki and Akari were training.
They were having a spar, so he waited for them to finish and then walked up to Akari.
"Sensei, can you show me one of your jutsu?" Kazuki asked.
"Oh, so you want to copy my jutsu, huh? Okay, let's see. How about this one? Watch closely," Akari said.
Kazuki activated his Sharingan.
Akari performed a series of rapid hand signs, "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"
She slammed her palms onto the ground. Instantly, a massive patch of solid earth turned into dark mud. Kazuki analyzed the flow of the chakra in Akari's body.
"Let's see," Kazuki muttered. He mimicked the signs perfectly and allowed the chakra to flow in his body like Akari's, "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"
A normal ground turned into dark mud, just like Akari's, but compared to her lake-sized jutsu, Kazuki's version was more of a shallow puddle.
'I guess I'll have to practice them a lot, the sharingan just decreases the time required to master a jutsu rather than instantly mastering it. Kazuki thought.
"Wow, that's impressive," Akari said, crossing her arms. "But remember, copying the technique is only half the battle. You don't have mastery over it. Even if you know how to flow the chakra inside you, it'll still take effort to master it. You'll have to be smart about when you use that."
Kazuki nodded. "See you later then, you too, Yuki." Yuki waved her hand in response.
He headed back to his training spot. He wanted to try the one thing that was bothering him, genjutsu. He stared intently at a small bird perched on a nearby fence, trying to channel his chakra into his eyes to cast a simple illusion.
"Come on, just a simple sleep Genjutsu," he muttered.
The bird looked at him, tilted its head, chirped mockingly, and flew away. Kazuki groaned, deactivating his Sharingan as a sharp pang of exhaustion hit his head. "Genjutsu really isn't my thing yet. I guess I'll stick to what I'm good at for now."
The next four weeks were a blur of sweat, aching muscles, and the constant hum of chakra. Team Akari didn't waste a single second of the one month preparation period.
Kazuki became a shadow to Akari, constantly asking her to demonstrate different elemental jutsus. By the end of the third week, his arsenal had grown significantly, though he kept his new tricks hidden from anyone who might be scouting. Yuki and Ryuma pushed themselves just as hard, with Yuki refining her Taijutsu and Ryuma working on his stamina.
On the twenty-fifth day, Kazuki found himself standing across from Ryuma in the center of the training field. Both were breathing heavily, their clothes stained with dirt.
Ryuma was wielding two blades. "Don't rely too much on those eyes, Kazuki. They can only see, it's up to your body to react on time."
"I know, and that's the reason I'm sparring with you, to master these eyes and make my body compatible with them," Kazuki replied, drawing his sword.
The two clashed their swords, Ryuma was forcing Kazuki to be on the defensive.
'Damn it, he's just too fast, I can see him with my eyes but my body can't react on time.' He thought.
[A few days later]
Finally, the morning of the Chunin Exam Finals arrived.
The team walked toward the massive circular arena, the roar of the crowd already audible from blocks away.
As they entered the waiting area, Kazuki looked up at the VIP booths.
"Look," Yuki whispered, nodding toward the stands.
Seated in the primary balcony were the three Daimyo—the lords of the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Lightning—each surrounded by a small army of bodyguards. Beside them sat the imposing figure of Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage.
Onoki looked towards them, "There brats have no clue what's waiting for them, I trained the both of them so hard over the last month there's no way we can lose this exam, but still, why am I having a bad feeling about this."
[A/N- This was a setup chapter, sorry if this felt boring and short but the next few chapters are gonna be action-packed, so stay tuned.]
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