[You use Summoning Technique once again. Along with ripples of spatial fluctuation, one of the chains wrapped around Summoning Technique's right hand is pulled up from beneath the water. At the end of the chain appears the image of a lizard: the "Shadow-Stalking Giant Lizard" you have subdued.]
[Summoning Technique: Mm… Little white-hair, is this the first summoning beast you picked? Your standards are a little low, but it's barely passable. For the current you, this guy is still somewhat useful. I'll help you manage the contract with it and make sure it obediently follows your orders.]
[By the way, when you have time, you can look for a kind of purple berry that grows in wetland mud. It's called the "Purple Mud Fruit," and its patterns are unique, so it's easy to identify. These creatures like eating it, and it can help improve its strength a little.]
[Summoning Technique affection +4. Current affection: 8/100 (Stranger)]
Several lines of text flashed by one after another.
From the system prompt, Mikami Yuu extracted two key pieces of information.
First, this lizard had a species name: Shadow-Stalking Giant Lizard. The chameleon among the summoned beasts that the Six Paths of Pain would subdue in the future was very likely one of its kind, or might even be the same creature.
After all, at this point in time, Nagato had not yet become "Pain," and collecting summoned beasts for the Animal Path was still something that would happen much later. It was entirely possible that this lizard would run from Konoha to the vicinity of the Land of Rain and then be targeted by Pain.
Second, every contracted summoning beast would be reflected on Summoning Technique's chains. This could strengthen the contract's binding power to a certain extent, and it could also increase Summoning Technique's affection.
That was good news.
And then there was…
"Purple Mud Fruit?"
Yuu silently noted the name down.
Although Summoning Technique had not said whether this thing enhanced the lizard's ordinary attributes such as strength, speed, and stamina, or whether it strengthened its core invisibility mechanism, there was no harm in trying. He usually trained in forest training grounds anyway, so it would be convenient to look for some while he was at it.
After that,
Yuu began trying to issue orders to this Shadow-Stalking Giant Lizard.
Just as Tsunade had said, this thing's intelligence really wasn't high. It could only be considered a wild beast with a bit of intelligence. Under the influence of chakra, it had acquired some special abilities, but it was still far from reaching a level where it could communicate freely with humans. Needless to say, it couldn't speak human language like the toads or slugs.
However, it could roughly understand and carry out clear instructions issued by Yuu.
Mm, there should be some help from Summoning Technique in this.
There was no need to test much else.
The main thing was its invisibility ability.
Following Yuu's instruction,
the chakra inside the giant lizard fluctuated a few times and gradually merged into the surrounding environment. In the end, only a vague outline remained. If Yuu had not known its location in advance and deliberately sensed it, it would have been almost impossible to detect.
Even when it crawled and walked, that "outline" still remained invisible to the naked eye. It looked like an enhanced version of Jiraiya's Transparent Escape. However, like Transparent Escape, it had the flaw of being unable to conceal its chakra fluctuations, so it could not hide from sensory-type ninja.
"Mm… the invisibility effect is decent, a little better than I expected. I suggest you find someone from the Inuzuka or Aburame clan when you have time and test whether its ability can fool sensory secret techniques. There's no need to test the Byakugan or Sharingan. It definitely won't work."
Tsunade crossed her arms and spoke casually.
Yuu nodded.
The giant lizard's invisibility being unable to deceive dōjutsu was something Obito had already demonstrated in front of him. If even the Sharingan could see through it, then there was no need to think about the Byakugan, which had even stronger perception. It would definitely see it too.
As for other sensory abilities…
In the original story, Pain's chameleon was sensed while invisible by Sage Shima and was instantly killed with Water Severing Wave.
But that was not the norm, because Sage Shima herself was second only to the Great Toad Sage in Mount Myōboku and stood alongside Fukasaku as one of the Great Toad Sage's right and left arms. The fact that she could sense it did not mean ordinary sensory ninja could. So it was still necessary to test the limits of the ability.
"Since your head is so green, I'll call you 'Little Green.'"
Yuu gave the giant lizard a name.
On the other side,
seeing that Yuu was more or less done, Tsunade lost interest. After yawning, she waved her hand.
"Alright, the summoning contract is complete. Figure out the rest by yourself. I'm going back to sleep."
"Oh, right…"
Tsunade seemed to remember something and suddenly paused. She turned to Yuu, her gaze sharp.
"One more thing… Don't learn from that guy Jiraiya and use invisibility to peep at girls. If you dare do that, don't blame me for beating you up!"
As she spoke, Tsunade waved her fist.
"…Got it."
Yuu was speechless.
If he wanted to peep at the women's bath, would he need to go through all that trouble like Jiraiya? He could just use Transformation Technique and walk in openly. Wouldn't that be better? He wouldn't even be discovered…
After reminding him of that,
Tsunade finally turned and strode away. Soon, she disappeared along the path leading toward the Senju compound.
After watching her leave, Yuu turned back and patted the giant lizard's cold, rough foreclaw.
"Go find something to eat in the nearby forest and recover properly. When I need you, I'll summon you."
"Grr…"
Little Green nodded, then turned and left.
With the summoning contract in place, if Yuu wanted to summon this creature again, he would no longer be restricted to summoning beings within a few kilometers like when he cast Summoning Technique without a target. In theory, as long as the two sides were not separated by an absurd distance, he could summon it anytime, anywhere as needed.
"Next…"
"Since I'm already here, I might as well practice Transparent Escape too."
Yuu closed his eyes and rested for a moment, then began practicing this divine peeping technique from Jiraiya.
…
For the next three days,
life was peaceful.
Yuu trained his ninjutsu step by step, focusing especially on the newly acquired Water Dragon Bullet: Tobirama Version.
This thing was a skin, so there was no entry barrier. After Yuu gave the scroll to Water Wave as a gift, its affection instantly rose by a large step and reached above 90, only a few steps away from max.
However, Water Wave's special event still had not triggered. Yuu was not sure whether this was because he had not encountered the right keyword, or because this technique simply did not have a special event mechanism. It would be easy to verify. He just needed to wait a few days and see whether its affection got stuck. There was no need to rush.
During these days, Obito, Rin, and members of other teams like Asuma and Might Guy were also making last-minute preparations.
Especially Obito.
Because in the second exam, he had been controlled by Yūhi Shinku's genjutsu and failed to break free for quite a while. That record was really somewhat embarrassing. Minato specially invited Uchiha Fugaku over, and the two jōnin joined forces, spending a full day giving Obito special genjutsu training.
The specific method was to take turns throwing various ordinary genjutsu and Sharingan genjutsu at Obito, guiding him in identifying and breaking them. Some of those genjutsu even carried a bit of torture or horror flavor.
After several rounds of special training, Obito's eyes became bloodshot, and the stimulation he received was not small. There were faint signs that he might awaken the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Fortunately, he did not successfully awaken it in the end.
Otherwise, the pressure might have shifted to Yuu…
Aside from that,
Yuu did not forget to spare some time to help expand the family business.
Mm, this was about the commercial negotiations for Konoha Raw Cola.
With Hiruzen Sarutobi's verbal promise, the legality of the Konoha Raw Cola trademark was finally settled.
Under the temptation of a thirty percent profit share, Tsunade was quite invested in this business. She actively helped Mikami Tajima build connections, arranging meetings between him and the Fire Country nobles and wealthy merchants who had come to Konoha during this period. She even personally appeared several times to discuss cooperation matters.
These people were either related to Tsunade in some way, or had once been her creditors or patients. They attended the meetings out of respect for her, and were then conquered one after another by Raw Cola.
Mm… after all, this was the first carbonated drink in the Land of Fire.
Although there might be cases where the taste did not suit everyone, for most people in the ninja world, Raw Cola's flavor was extremely innovative. First-time tasters could easily be amazed. Several merchants with sharp business instincts immediately saw the opportunity and proposed cooperation.
The request to buy the formula was immediately rejected by Mikami Tajima.
After all, this was Raw Cola's core selling point. Once leaked, the business would be ruined.
So these merchants turned to competing for agency rights in other regions of the Land of Fire.
Mikami Tajima and Yuu were not very clear about their backgrounds and affiliations, making it hard to decide for a while. But Tsunade, who had been through many ups and downs over the years, was very familiar with these matters. She quickly selected two merchants with strong ability and good reputation, then signed contracts with them.
"See? It still had to be me. If it were just you father and son, there's no way you'd have negotiated cooperation this quickly."
After the matter was settled, Tsunade put her hands on her hips and said somewhat smugly.
"Yes, yes."
Yuu nodded and praised her in line with her mood. "It's all thanks to Lady Tsunade. Lady Tsunade is the best, beautiful and capable."
"Hmph, at least you know how to talk."
The corner of Tsunade's mouth curved slightly. Then she restrained her smile.
"By the way, tomorrow is the final round of the Chūnin Exam, right? I'll go watch then. Remember to perform well."
"…If I perform well, is there a reward?"
Yuu asked casually.
"Of course not."
Tsunade replied as if it were obvious. "I'm not your team leader. If you want rewards, go ask Minato."
"Oh."
…
Time flashed by, and the next day arrived.
The final individual combat round of every Chūnin Exam was held publicly. The purpose was to display military power to the outside world, show the style of Konoha's new generation of ninja, and also serve as a rare village-wide entertainment event. So it attracted a great deal of attention from all sides.
Early in the morning,
the stands on both sides of Konoha's martial arena were filled with ninja from various clans who were still in the village, as well as villagers who had come to watch the excitement. By sight, there were nearly a thousand people.
In fact, this was already considered quiet. After all, Konoha was currently in wartime. Large numbers of ninja were stationed on the southwestern battlefield and the northeastern border. The ninja left in the village also needed to patrol and scout around the village. If this were peacetime, the number of spectators would probably be even greater.
Facing this scene of public attention,
Obito and Might Guy looked extremely excited. One shouted, "Sharingan is invincible!" while the other shouted loudly, "Youth will triumph!" attracting strange looks from the other candidates nearby.
Yuu and Rin sat on a bench a little farther away, calmly sipping chilled Konoha Raw Cola while looking at the match list posted on the wall.
This list had come out the evening after the second exam ended. It was obvious that it had been carefully arranged.
Obito versus Might Guy. There was nothing much to say about this. In the original timeline's Chūnin Exam, the two had also been opponents, making them something like a pair of unfortunate lovebirds.
Rin versus Kurenai. This was also normal, because there weren't many female ninja on the promotion list, so the two of them could only fight each other.
The real focus was on Yuu and Asuma. They were respectively matched against the captains of the Iwagakure and Amegakure squads.
The intention here was obvious. Konoha's higher-ups clearly wanted to use this public exam, at a time when relations among the Five Great Nations were delicate, to show the outside world—especially Iwagakure—the strength of Konoha's new generation.
"…It's about to start."
"The first match is Obito and Guy. Let's go take a look."
Yuu finished the last mouthful of cola, casually threw the bottle into a nearby trash bin, then stood and walked toward the railing.
Rin quickly followed.
The Might Guy of this time had about the same strength as in the original timeline.
But Obito's strength was far greater. Not only had he awakened the Sharingan, he had also undergone repeated special training from Minato and Uchiha Fugaku. Whether in taijutsu or Fire Release, he had made significant progress. Therefore, the original scene where he was instantly defeated by Guy's kick would obviously not happen anymore.
In fact…
at the beginning of the fight, Obito even relied on the observational power of his two-tomoe Sharingan, combined with solid Fire Release, to gain the upper hand for a while. This made Asuma, Kurenai, Genma Shiranui, and the others unable to help being surprised, and they began discussing among themselves.
"Obito… improved so quickly!"
"Forget Fire Release. I didn't expect even his taijutsu to be not much inferior to Guy's. Is this the value of the Sharingan?"
"If even Uchiha Obito is this strong, then hasn't Yuu's strength completely taken off?"
Seeing that Obito on the field had already revealed a victorious smile,
Rin softly said, "Yuu, it looks like Obito is going to win?"
"No. Obito is going to lose."
"?"
As Yuu's words fell, Might Guy on the field suddenly stopped. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and opened the Eight Gates all the way to the Fourth Gate in one breath. Then, with green steam rising from his entire body, he charged toward Obito like a ferocious beast suddenly waking up.
~~~
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