Chapter 210: Peeking
However, before Ishiro could investigate again, Koku said, "The exam is over."
Ishiro peeked out from behind the large tree and saw that, indeed, the examinees were successively leaving the classrooms that had been used as exam halls.
Ishiro saw Ogura Saki and her two companions among them. The three were gathered together, discussing something as they walked outwards with the flow of people.
The next exam would start soon, so Ishiro didn't pay much attention to them, instead saying to Koku, "Senior Koku, let's go to the second exam site first."
Koku nodded and left the place with Ishiro. Leaving at the same time were the four Anbu squads protecting the Byakugan.
Arriving at the second exam site, a wilderness survival area, Ishiro had the Anbu spread out, while he himself stayed with Koku.
After the two found a pile of rocks to hide behind, Ishiro told Koku about his earlier sensation.
Koku was somewhat surprised and said, "Advisor Ishiro, you can sense chakra threads from such a distance? Can you also sense the chakra flow within a ninja's body?"
"In the Byakugan's vision, chakra threads are much finer than the chakra flow within a ninja's body. Chakra flow doesn't require the Byakugan's deliberate attention, but chakra threads need to be carefully sought out by the Byakugan."
And since Ishiro could sense chakra threads through a large tree, theoretically, he should also be able to sense the chakra fluctuations within a ninja's body.
Ishiro paused for a moment. Having just discovered this new ability, he hadn't thought in that direction yet. Then, Ishiro subconsciously looked at Koku.
Koku understood his meaning and nodded.
Ishiro closed his eyes again, cast aside his five senses, and began to probe Koku beside him.
At first, it wasn't smooth. Although the Mind's Eye focused on spiritual energy, it could also sense life forms. Koku's chakra was enveloped by his physical body, making it very difficult for Ishiro to sense.
But soon, Ishiro thought of a way. He ignored the physical body and instead forced his Mind's Eye perception through layers of barriers into Koku's body.
After an unknown amount of time, Ishiro truly detected the chakra flow inside Koku's body.
Only, by this time, Ishiro's perception was already very faint, and he hadn't obtained any intelligence.
Feeling that continuing this way wouldn't be effective, Ishiro stopped his Mind's Eye perception.
After opening his eyes and taking a moment to recover, Ishiro thought for a bit and then said to Koku, "Senior Koku, direct sensing isn't working. Could you activate your Byakugan? I want to examine the Byakugan first."
Koku nodded, then formed hand seals and activated his Byakugan.
Ishiro closed his eyes again, focusing his Mind's Eye perception on Koku's Byakugan. After a short while, Ishiro had isolated other sensations and, following the Byakugan, entered the chakra flow within and around Koku's left eye.
Ishiro frowned. Although his Mind's Eye could sense chakra flow, Ishiro had always been sensing chakra flow on a very small scale and hadn't had the opportunity to observe it holistically.
In other words, trying to understand someone else's chakra flow direction and pathways through this method was simply nonsense. Helplessly, Ishiro had to give up this impractical method.
"It's not working. Although I can sense the chakra flowing, I can't detect its specific direction at all," Ishiro said to Koku.
Koku nodded, not surprised. If it were that easy, the Byakugan and Sharingan wouldn't be so legendary.
Kekkei Genkai, especially a top-tier one like the Byakugan, couldn't be matched by a single S-rank ninjutsu.
Ishiro cast aside these impractical thoughts and refocused his attention on the Lightning Release users among the Chunin Exam candidates.
"The exam should be starting soon, right?" Ishiro asked Koku. He had been immersed in sensing with his Mind's Eye and couldn't accurately judge how much time had passed.
Koku nodded and said, "It has already started."
"In that direction, a Cloud Ninja team and a Stone Ninja team are about to encounter each other. Did you arrange that?" Koku said, pointing in a certain direction.
Ishiro glanced and said, "That's right, let's go over."
By the time Ishiro arrived, the two sides had already engaged.
Due to Ishiro's arrangements, this Stone Ninja team wasn't particularly strong; they weren't even very enthusiastic about participating in the joint Chunin Exams. It was Ishiro who assigned them a mission to compete against the Cloud Ninja.
Ishiro and Koku chose a suitable distance and hid themselves. Then Ishiro used his Mind's Eye, and Koku used his Byakugan, and the two began collecting intelligence.
Because Ishiro had tasked the Stone Ninja team with forcing the Cloud Ninja to use Lightning Release as much as possible, the Stone Ninja maintained a defensive posture, luring the Cloud Ninja to attack with Lightning Release.
The Cloud Ninja indeed fell for it and soon used a Lightning Release jutsu. Unfortunately, this Lightning Release jutsu was already in the Stone Ninja's collection of ninjutsu; it was a technique that transformed lightning-natured chakra into a spear.
Ishiro and Koku observed and communicated, comparing and cross-referencing the intelligence they each gathered.
Although neither of them had learned this particular jutsu, after some analysis, they both felt they had grasped some of its rudiments.
Later, that Cloud Ninja performed it twice more, allowing Ishiro and Koku to carefully observe and analyze it two more times from the sidelines.
After three rounds, Ishiro and Koku felt that their analysis of this ninjutsu had reached their expectations, and it seemed this Cloud Ninja only knew this one move. So, the two changed positions again and went to where other Cloud Ninja were.
In this way, Ishiro and Koku went around searching for Cloud Ninja examinees to secretly learn from. Since the Byakugan was inherently a great tool for tracking, Ishiro and his companion had a smooth journey.
Ultimately, Ishiro and his companion observed quite a few Lightning Release ninjutsu. Although most were repetitive or already known to the Stone Ninja, there were three C-rank Lightning Release jutsu that the Stone Village had not recorded.
After a thorough analysis by the two, Ishiro believed that given a few more days, they could successfully replicate these three C-rank Lightning Release jutsu.
Finally, Ishiro and Koku went near the finish line. There, Ishiro's disciple would intercept the Cloud Ninja's seeded contestant, Yanagihara.
When Ishiro and Koku hurriedly arrived, the fight had already begun. Although Yanagihara was quite strong, his two teammates were not, and they were easily suppressed by Ogura Saki and Shinya Matsutani.
Meanwhile, Yanagihara himself was looking for an opening in Takumi's defense.
Since Ishiro hadn't appeared yet, Ogura Saki and her two teammates were still holding back in their fight.
Suddenly, Takumi, who was fighting Yanagihara, heard a few familiar animal calls. Takumi knew Ishiro had arrived and was signaling him to make his move.
So, Takumi immediately ended his previous tactic of purely dodging. Instead, he activated his full speed and attacked Yanagihara.
Once Takumi accelerated, Yanagihara immediately felt the pressure. As Ishiro had predicted, Yanagihara, being at a disadvantage, soon used that Lightning Release ninjutsu.
This time, Takumi was prepared, his goal being to make Yanagihara maintain this Lightning Release for as long as possible. Therefore, he didn't get defeated quickly like Shinya Matsutani; instead, he pressured Yanagihara into using many Lightning Release techniques.
This was highly rewarding for Ishiro and Koku, who were observing from the side. Having cooperated multiple times just now, they had gained experience in how to most efficiently learn ninjutsu by observation.
Ishiro sensed Yanagihara's mental and physical changes, while Koku sensed Yanagihara's chakra flow. Their tasks were clearly divided, and they observed while discussing and speculating.
Both were ninjutsu-type ninjas and both knew Lightning Release, so their progress was very smooth. By the time Takumi and his opponent determined a winner, Ishiro had already thoroughly understood this ninjutsu.
To their pleasant surprise, although Yanagihara followed the path of nintaijutsu, enhancing taijutsu with Lightning Release, he also knew ninjutsu. During the battle, he also used two C-rank Lightning Release ninjutsu that Ishiro and his companion didn't know.
Although each was used only once, because these two ninjutsu weren't very difficult, Ishiro and Koku felt their attempt to learn them by observation was fairly successful.
The battle between Takumi and Yanagihara still ended with Takumi's defeat. Although Yanagihara's Lightning Release hadn't reached the level of the Lightning Release Body Flicker Technique, as a taijutsu ninja himself, while he wasn't as fast as Takumi, he wasn't without the ability to fight back.
Moreover, nintaijutsu and Lightning Release increased Yanagihara's tactical options, and in the end, Yanagihara still bested Takumi by a notch.
Although Yanagihara defeated Takumi in a one-on-one, as the second round of the exam was a three-person team activity, Yanagihara's team still failed.
This was because after Takumi was defeated, Shinya Matsutani and Ogura Saki came to his rescue. But Yanagihara's two teammates had lost their ability to move and were judged by the proctors to be disqualified from the competition.
Ishiro felt quite regretful about this; he had wanted to see if Yanagihara would have any other surprising performances in the individual matches.
The second exam ended quickly. The Stone Ninja didn't arrange any preliminary matches like Konoha did, but instead directly advanced all the examinees who passed the second round, preparing them for the third round of exams one month later.
After the first two elimination rounds, two Cloud Ninja teams successfully advanced. Unfortunately, their seeded contestant, Yanagihara, was targeted by Ishiro's disciple and eliminated prematurely.
The Sand Ninja had a smoother run than the Cloud Ninja; they had four teams entering the final round. Other villages, like the Land of Rain and the Land of Rivers, each had one team advance.
As for the Grass Ninja, Waterfall Ninja, and others, they were all eliminated.
There was actually some behind-the-scenes manipulation by the proctors in this. Ōnoki was willing to give Hanzō and Nagato some face but didn't necessarily care about the Grass Ninja and Waterfall Ninja.
Naturally, the last were the Stone Ninja; six Stone Ninja teams entered the third round.
A total of 14 teams, 42 examinees, would participate in the final showdown.
This was Ishiro's suggestion: have as many matches as possible for the finals, build a larger venue, and they could also sell some tickets. Stone Village ninjas and civilians would receive a certain discount, and civilians from the Land of Earth would also enjoy a discount.
The competition would be divided into three days. The first day would have 21 matches, eliminating half. The second day would have 10 matches, eliminating 10 people. On the final day, 11 people would remain, competing in three or four rounds to determine the ultimate winner.
During this one-month period, the Stone Ninja would allocate a small training ground for the ninjas from other villages whose candidates qualified for the final round, allowing them to train.
The eliminated ninjas, however, would be led back to their villages by the proctors ahead of schedule. This included the many failed candidates from the Sand Ninja.
The Sand Ninja had sent a relatively large contingent this time. Although four teams advanced to the finals, many more were eliminated. The joint Chunin Exams were no longer relevant to these failures; they needed to return to their village as soon as possible to carry out missions.
And the Sand Ninja's large returning contingent immediately caught the attention of the Cloud Ninja's Storm Release user, Tanimoto Naoto.
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Sorry, I forgot to upload the chapters tomorrow. I will upload the two extra chapters today. Enjoy!