Chapter 204 Chunin Exams: The Battle of Wits in Progress
If this thing were to be used on a large scale, wouldn't it mean that if they didn't have a way to interrupt summoning jutsu, any Konoha ninja seriously injured on the battlefield could be brought back to camp for treatment via summoning jutsu? The boost to morale and combat power for ninjas on the battlefield would be unimaginable.
Onoki and A simultaneously looked at the temporary medical point on the map. The furthest distance from the edge of the exam venue was about five kilometers, meaning that the summoning bracelet's applicable range was at least five kilometers.
Right now, they naturally couldn't directly ask Uchiha Touko for one to study, so they could only hope that the genin still remaining in their village on the field would realize the strategic significance of this bracelet, study it, and thus bring back important intelligence for the village.
Fortunately, among the genin from both villages who came to Konoha for the joint Chunin Exams, there were quite a few with such insight. The future Fifth Raikage and Fourth Tsuchikage immediately began studying the bracelets after receiving them. However,
when they put on the bracelets, they felt a sharp pain on their wrists.
At this moment, Anko's voice rang in their ears.
"Don't panic, the stinging is normal. The summoning technique formula in the bracelets requires a small amount of your blood to temporarily sign a summoning contract. You can dissolve this contract yourself after the exams."
In the VIP room, Uchiha Touko watched this scene expressionlessly. Meanwhile, thirty kilometers away at the Konoha Scientific Ninja Tool Research Institute, Tohno Kakuzu collected the data transmitted back by the bracelets and handed it to a bespectacled man drinking tea in the institute's coffee shop.
"Mr. Yakushi, as instructed by the Hokage, the DNA information of all candidates participating in this Chunin Exams, excluding those from Konoha, is here."
"Thank you for your help, Mr. Tohno. Please give my regards to the Hokage." Yakushi Kabuto put down his coffee cup, accepted the documents handed to him by Tohno, nodded, and then formed a summoning jutsu seal before disappearing from the research institute.
Since Uchiha Touko was willing to expose this battlefield security weapon capable of changing a war, it wasn't just to flex his muscles. One of his purposes was to collect the DNA information of these ninjas under the pretext of signing summoning contracts.
The plan proceeded very smoothly. It could be said that the ninjas in the current ninja world have absolutely no awareness of protecting their own DNA information. When bleeding in battle, they often vomit indiscriminately. In other words, if Hidan had even a little bit of brains, his evil secret techniques alone would be enough to wipe out the entire ninja world.
Uchiha Touko himself took this issue very seriously. Although he hadn't encountered an opponent who could make him bleed in a long time, during previous ninja wars, he consciously destroyed any blood carrying his own DNA during battles, a practice he passed on to his three disciples.
Now, the ninjas from the major ninja villages who came to participate in the Chunin Exams, having been brought to Konoha by their Kage, meant that they were all key figures being groomed by their respective villages and would be the backbone of future wars. Now that the DNA of these geniuses had been collected, the question was how to utilize it. Besides Hidan, that dim-witted cult member, only Orochimaru possessed the ability to do so.
Therefore, Kabuto Yakushi appeared at the Ninja Tool Research Institute.
For Kabuto, he was probably the most loyal to Touko Uchiha within Orochimaru's entire research institute. Orochimaru had likely found a way to bypass Kotoamatsukami, and after confronting Touko, their relationship was more like that of collaborators. Touko provided Orochimaru with a stable experimental site, funding, and materials, while Orochimaru provided Touko with research results. The other bloodline geniuses Kabuto collected in Orochimaru's institute were also loyal only to Orochimaru.
Kabuto was an exception. After all, Touko had killed Danzo, who had caused him to lose everything, which, in a sense, avenged his mother's death. Therefore, although the two had never formally met, Kabuto maintained a strong loyalty to Touko.
When Kabuto returned to Orochimaru's research institute with the collected DNA, the members of the 28 teams had already been taken to their respective birth points by the examiners.
"Get ready for a big fight!" Naruto said confidently after stretching his limbs upon arriving at the spawn point.
"Idiot, let's gather supplies first!" Sasuke said coldly from the side. "Our ninja tools and rations have all been taken. Neji and I need to find a suitable weapon to unleash our full fighting power. Besides, we're not like you, able to go hungry for three days."
"Alright." Naruto had no choice but to calm down.
"There's a supply point in a tree hollow two hundred meters to the west." By this time, Neji had already used his Byakugan to scout the area within a hundred meters and pointed out the direction.
Not long after, the three of them obtained their first supply: enough rations for one person for a day, a kunai, and three shuriken.
"The supplies here might be a bit scarce. Finding a sword that can withstand your chakra might be a bit troublesome." Neji analyzed after handing the found weapons to Sasuke.
"We're currently on the edge of the assessment area, while the resource-rich areas marked on the map are all in the center of the assessment site. How about we go check them out?" Neji asked.
"Hehe, it's much faster to have someone else find them for us than to search ourselves," Sasuke laughed.
"What a coincidence, that's what I was thinking too." Neji smiled as well. After finalizing their plan, the three headed straight for the area in the center of the map.
Similar scenes unfolded inside the assessment site. After a brief search of the surrounding resources, the various teams in the forest finalized their plans. Those confident in their abilities headed straight for the resource-rich areas marked on the map, while others chose to proceed cautiously.
Shikamaru's team was one of them. They had quickly searched three wilderness areas, obtaining enough resources for the three of them to survive the first day, as well as some standard weapons.
"Shikamaru, what do we say now? Should we continue searching?" Ino asked at this moment.
"That's about enough. Let's stop and rest for a while, then check the first wave of shrinking circle information," Shikamaru said.
"Speaking of which, even if the three of us go to those resource-rich areas, we should be able to get something and leave unscathed, right?" Ino, though she had stopped following Shikamaru's instructions, couldn't help but ask.
"These resource-rich locations will probably see very intense battles. Even if the resources are plentiful, the consumption of resources after a battle will be enormous. More importantly, we might get injured. Without a medical ninja in the team, it's not wise to join the battle too early." Shikamaru leaned against a tree, gesturing with a branch as he spoke. "The goal of this assessment is simply to become one of the remaining nine teams. There are no requirements regarding the number of eliminations, so we just need to follow the edge of the circle."
On the other side, Shino, after calmly analyzing the situation, made a similar arrangement to Shikamaru. After suppressing the restless Kiba Inuzuka, he waited patiently for the activity area to shrink for the first time.
The journey was somewhat boring. At this moment, Onoki and A in the VIP room were still pondering how to solve the problem of the teleportation bracelet if a war broke out with Konoha in the future.
At this moment, Uchiha Touko clapped his hands, and a waiter entered, bringing drinks and snacks for everyone. These were specially prepared according to the dietary habits of the place the VIPs had come from.
"Come on, you've been watching for so long, have something to eat." Uchiha Touko pushed a plate of fried chicken in front of A, reminding him.
A picked up the fried chicken, took a bite, and then showed a slightly disgusted expression, saying, "Everyone says Konoha is rich in resources, but the quality of this fried chicken is far inferior to that of our Land of Lightning." "
After all, the fried chicken of the Land of Lightning is famous throughout the entire ninja world. It's normal that our chefs in the Land of Fire can't compare." Uchiha Touko said with a forced smile, while thinking to himself,
[You're still being picky? You're not satisfied with fried chicken? One day I'll throw you into a cotton field and whip you.]
Just as everyone was eating, the monitoring footage of the forest showed the first clash between two teams.
The two sides clashing were Konoha's Haruno Sakura team and a team of Kumogakure genin.
The two teams' spawn points weren't too far apart, so they inevitably bumped into each other during the search. Although Karin had used her sensory abilities to detect the other team's movements in advance and intentionally avoided them, the other team seemed to have their own methods of tracking them down, sticking to them like glue.
"They're still chasing us," Karin said to Sakura with a frown.
"Looks like they think we're easy targets?" Sakura scoffed. Well, let's just take them out first.
"I knew it, why are we running?" Lee was overjoyed at this, stopping and preparing for battle.
"Here they come!" Karin shouted, instinctively retreating behind her two teammates and preparing her sealing technique.
Before she finished speaking, three bolts of lightning tore through the air. Lee's bandages suddenly tightened, and the first gate of the Eight Inner Gates opened instantly, enveloping his entire body in emerald green energy.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
The high-speed spinning leg wind swept away the three flying shuriken, which fell into the pine needle pile and blasted out charred craters.
"Not planning to run away anymore?" At this moment, three black ninjas wearing Cloud Village headbands emerged from the dense forest, surrounding Sakura and her companions from three directions.
"You haven't even found enough supplies to survive the first day, have you? If you fight us now, aren't you afraid you'll go hungry on the first day without any supplies?" Sakura glanced at the sound of the shuriken attack earlier. The sheer power of the shuriken attack indicated the opponent was far from a simple genin.
"Once we eliminate you, we'll have our supplies, won't we?" one of the Cloud Village ninjas blocking their path said.
"Are you so sure you can take us down?" Sakura took a deep breath. Although as a doctor, she wasn't particularly fond of fighting, she still remembered her teacher Tsunade's teachings—sometimes, defeating an enemy who could threaten your teammates is a valid medical approach.
Meanwhile, in the VIP room, the leaders of the various ninja villages perked up upon seeing this scene.
"So, some teams have already clashed? It's your Konoha and Kumogakure genin teams, huh?" Onoki looked at Uchiha Touko and A. "What do you two think about the outcome of this battle?" "
Those three idiots, Kamui, started a war without even finding enough supplies to survive the first day. It seems this idiot hasn't learned anything except Lightning Release ninjutsu and taijutsu combat skills. If it weren't for the coordination between their ninjutsu and taijutsu, I wouldn't have put them in a team. There's not even one person in the team who can analyze the situation," A said unhurriedly.
Although A said this, anyone with eyes could see the arrogance in his words. A seemed to have confirmed that this team was capable of defeating their opponents.
This was understandable. Sakura's team was indeed very deceptive. There was a little girl with dark circles under her eyes who looked listless, a cross-dresser with a melon-shaped haircut who looked not very bright, wearing a green spirit uniform, and a red-haired little girl who looked weak and had no fighting ability.
"It seems Lord Raikage is quite confident in his village's ninjas," Onoki chuckled. "What are Lord Hokage
's thoughts on this battle?" "Heh, our Konoha team might not be as formidable as the elite genin of Kumogakure. This team is just a temporary genin squad: one medical ninja, one taijutsu specialist, and one ordinary ninja skilled in sealing techniques," Uchiha Touko said calmly.
"Skilled in sealing techniques? The Uzumaki clan?" Upon hearing Uchiha Touko's words, Onoki noticed Karin's red hair. "Is this the Uzumaki clan member you brought back from the Land of Grass?"
"That's right," Uchiha Touko nodded.
The Raikage's eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this, seemingly succumbing to his old habit of coveting the bloodlines of other villages.
At this moment, the two teams began their battle.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Fang Thrust!" A Cloud Village genin's kunai, crackling with blinding arcs of electricity, pierced towards Karin, only to be stopped three inches from her nose by a suddenly appearing green figure.
The metal weights on Lee's arm collided with the kunai, sparks flying, and the next second, surging chakra scattered the surrounding fallen leaves.
Read 100+ advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!
patreon.com/Horizons685
(End of Chapter)