Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 179 Joint Chunin Exams

The Fifth Hokage, Natsume, spoke eloquently: "All the content I mentioned before was taught to students from the first to the fifth year. If one can successfully advance to the sixth year—"

"You will be able to learn the fusion method of 'Bloodline Limit'."

boom-

The ceremony hall erupted in chaos. Everyone was shouting something, but no one could hear what they were saying, and they didn't even know what they were saying.

The ninjas were so excited that their minds were foggy, and they didn't know what to say, but their mouths kept opening and closing.

That's a bloodline limit!

Having a bloodline limit allows one to use exclusive ninjutsu, which is more powerful and faster than ordinary ninjutsu, and even consumes less chakra than ordinary ninjutsu.

Therefore, in the ninja world, any ninja who has mastered a bloodline limit will inevitably grow into a Jonin unless they are too young or die prematurely; there is never a case where they are stuck at the Chunin level.

Of the current five Kage, three of them have become powerful by virtue of their bloodline limit.

The Fourth Kazekage possessed the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai, the Third Tsuchikage mastered the Dust Release Kekkei Tota, and the Fifth Hokage was the most extraordinary, mastering the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, as well as many other Kekkei Genkai.

The Fourth Mizukage was the Jinchūriki of the Three-Tails, while only the Fourth Raikage trained in both Lightning Release and Taijutsu.

Among the Kage-level ninjas outside the Five Kage, the proportion who possess bloodline limits is even higher.

In many people's minds, bloodline limit is a necessary condition for becoming a Kage.

The Fifth Hokage said that the new Ninja Academy would teach bloodline limits, and no one doubted that he was exaggerating, because he was the only person in the ninja world who possessed more than five bloodline limits.

So many bloodline limits couldn't have been awakened from bloodline power; he must have fused them one by one.

Therefore, the Fifth Hokage did indeed possess the training methods for Kekkei Genkai.

Xia Zuo seemed to feel that words alone were not persuasive enough, so he beckoned a group of Uchiha ninjas to come up on stage.

"Come on, show us the results of your cultivation!"

Eight Uchiha ninjas, all under the age of 16, simultaneously opened their double-tomoe Sharingan, but this only made the atmosphere more awkward.

People looked at each other in bewilderment. It was common knowledge that the Uchiha clan possessed the Sharingan's bloodline limit, but was this the result of their training?

Even if that were the case, could an ordinary ninja awaken the Sharingan simply by training?

That's obviously impossible!

So what exactly are these Uchiha ninjas trying to demonstrate?

Uchiha En gritted his teeth and smiled. He stretched out his right hand and made a claw-like motion, and an orange fireball appeared in his hand.

The puppeteer from Sunagakure exclaimed in surprise, "Scorch Release! That's Lady Pakura's Scorch Release!"

Uchiha Enryu spread his arms wide, and streams of purple flames enveloped his body, radiating an astonishing aura, yet without radiating any heat.

But when the purple flames touched the ground, they silently made the wooden planks disappear, leaving only charred and reddish edges.

Sarutobi Asuma, sitting in the audience, was horrified and cried out in trembling voice, "Fire Release! This is Fire Release! My father spent his whole life researching Fire Release!"

Next, Uchiha Hiki demonstrated Explosion Release, Uchiha Shinichi demonstrated Lava Release, and Uchiha Kagami demonstrated Scorching Release with a burning wind tendency.

Five Uchiha clan members have already mastered two bloodline limits, which practically guarantees them the status of five Kage-level ninjas. This is truly terrifying.

The Fifth Hokage spent two years training five Uchiha with dual bloodline limits, which seemed like an experiment on his part. Now that the experiment was successful, he established a school to train more bloodline limit ninjas.

The thought of a large number of bloodline limit ninjas emerging from Konoha Village in the future filled the representatives from the four major ninja villages with dread, and they trembled all over.

Ruined!

If the Fifth Hokage's plan succeeds, even if he dies of old age, the strength of Konoha will remain unshakable.

So, is there any hope left for our village?

Or rather, is there any chance for the village to continue existing?

The representatives looked at each other and quietly huddled together.

The Sunagakure puppeteer whispered, "Should we join forces?"

The Explosion Release ninja from Iwagakure nodded slightly: "I can consider it, but I need to inform the Tsuchikage."

The Cloud Village ninja gritted their teeth and said, "If it's confirmed, the Cloud Village ninja will never back down. We, the Fifth Hokage, and 70..."

A blood feud that claimed zero lives.

The ninja from Kirigakure lowered his head: "I... I need to report to Master Yuan."

Although the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, has been overthrown, Kirigakure is now at its wit's end and can't even select a good ninja representative.

We can't just send that eye-rolling killer, Qing, just to watch a graduation ceremony, can we?

Heh, given the Fifth Hokage's personality, if Ao appears in front of him, his Byakugan is definitely doomed.

Even Qing's life is in grave danger.

Moreover, Yagura finally regained consciousness before his death, and the Hidden Mist ninjas then discovered that the Fourth Mizukage had been controlled by genjutsu for many years.

Still shaken by past experiences, Kirigakure has yet to appoint a Fifth Mizukage, leaving all matters to be decided by Genji to prevent a recurrence of the extreme situation where the Mizukage is controlled.

In short, whether or not to join forces to besiege Konoha and start the Fourth Shinobi World War is a major decision that cannot be made by the Four Represents alone.

But the four ninja representatives did not expect that, although their voices were very soft, Xia Zuo could hear them clearly.

The Fifth Hokage smiled dismissively: "Three months from now, Konoha will hold the Joint Chunin Exams. I once again sincerely invite all the major ninja villages and organizations to send their best genin to participate in the exams."

"Any genin who can break into the top 32 will be granted the rank of chunin by Konoha and the opportunity to study at the Ninja Higher Education Academy."

"ah----"

"ah?

'

"ah"

~, "Ah!!"

""

Representatives from both the large and small ninja villages were stunned. It turned out that this school wasn't just for Konoha ninjas; our ninjas could enter too?

The representatives of the four ninja villages looked at each other again, their eyes full of wariness. They moved quickly and separated without realizing it, each taking their own corner.

Joining forces to besiege Konoha is the worst possible option when forced into a corner.

The Fifth Hokage was so powerful that he could almost single-handedly destroy an entire ninja village.

Even if the four great ninja villages joined forces to fight him, the outcome would be extremely unpredictable, and many, many people would inevitably die.

Now that the Fifth Hokage has expressed his willingness to share the benefits with all the ninja villages in the ninja world, who would still be willing to risk their lives for a chance to survive?

On the contrary, they are now rivals, and the people they need to be most wary of are no longer the Konoha ninjas, but each other.

The goal of all the major ninja villages is to master bloodline limits. Even if they can only master one, it would be an immeasurable benefit to the village.

For the small ninja village, they did not aspire to obtain the training method for bloodline limits, but rather wanted to obtain ninjutsu.

If the Fifth Hokage is willing to give me a chance, then what else is there to say?

We must send the best genin. If they can get into this academy, even if they can't master the bloodline limit, they can at least learn many advanced ninjutsu.

Let's focus on perfecting our own ninjutsu system first, then we can consider bloodline limits.

Otherwise, what good is mastering a bloodline limit?

Faced with the coercion, enticement, and even outright robbery of the five great ninja villages, they had no way to protect it.

The Fifth Hokage once again commanded the ninja world to hold the joint Chunin Exams, still leaving no room for refusal.

However, this time he didn't just use coercion; he also offered the incentive of admission to the Ninja Higher Education Academy.

Because this qualification offered the opportunity to learn the training methods for bloodline limits, all four major ninja villages mobilized.

The Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure couldn't help but sigh, "It seems the Fifth Hokage has finally come to understand that not everything in the ninja world can be solved with violence."

Tsuchikage let out a long sigh: "Finally, things are changing. I hope the Fifth Hokage can eventually become the First Hokage, no—"

However, he really was pushing us to the brink, leaving us no choice but to fight him to the death.

The lazy-looking Darui stood solemnly and spiritedly beside the Fourth Raikage. Ever since the Raikage was defeated by the Fifth Hokage, he had taken Killer Bee's place here.

From that day on, he had not shown any "lazy" behavior for a long time. He followed the Raikage every day to learn the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and how to handle government affairs.

Only when the Fourth Raikage was busy with top-secret work did Darui have to train desperately to improve his strength and hone his Storm Release Kekkei Genkai.

Unfortunately, the Hidden Cloud Village felt the Fifth Hokage's power and aggressive nature most acutely, and bore the greatest pressure.

The Fourth Raikage brought Darui with him ahead of time for two reasons: firstly, Killer Bee was still unreliable, and secondly, he wanted to cultivate a successor in advance.

As intelligence gradually came together, the Fourth Raikage finally realized that he could not possibly defeat the Fifth Hokage, whose strength was comprehensive and invincible.

The Fifth Hokage, Natsume, possessed too many bloodline limits: the Wood Release bloodline limit, which was good at fighting multiple opponents; the Swift Release bloodline limit, which was best for one-on-one battles; the Magnet Release bloodline limit, which could disable all ninja tools; the Lava Release bloodline limit, which had the strongest destructive power; and the Storm Release bloodline limit, which was the most precise to operate.

This is only the bloodline limit that the Fifth Hokage has shown, and for which there is clear information.

According to unreliable intelligence, Xia Zuo once let slip that he possessed ten bloodline limits.

Faced with information that was almost impossible to verify, the Fourth Raikage chose to believe it, but this only made him more desperate.

Even if you develop a super ninja tool, the Chakra Cannon, capable of shattering the moon in one hit, how can you guarantee that it will hit?

With the Fifth Hokage frequently launching attacks in the past two years, stirring up a bloody storm in the ninja world (from A's perspective), the Fourth Raikage's despair reached its peak, and he finally came up with a solution.

That means finding a way to get close to the Fifth Hokage during the battle, then holding him tightly and using yourself to hinder his movement.

Finally, the Fourth Raikage could shout "Fire at me!" and end everything amidst dazzling cannon fire.

After Kirigakure was destroyed, the Fourth Raikage made this decision.

After that, he dreamed of this scene more than once while sleeping, and each time he woke up from the dream happily shouting "Break through me!"

In the eyes of the Fourth Raikage, this was indeed something to be happy about. Being able to exchange his own life for the life of the Fifth Hokage was a huge win.

The problem is that the chakra cannon is not yet fully developed. Not only is the firing speed too slow, but its power is also insufficient to satisfy the Fourth Raikage.

The Chakra Cannon is indeed quite powerful; a single shot can blast away a small hill.

However, the Fourth Raikage believed that the crater created so far was not even as big as the Hidden Cloud Village, and it was still far from enough to kill the Fifth Hokage.

However, he did not push the Cloud Village ninja in charge of the research to the brink of death. Instead, he comforted them, saying, "Don't worry, we still have time, plenty of time."

Kumogakure certainly has time. Before Iwagakure is destroyed by the Fifth Hokage like Kirigakure, suffering heavy losses of ninja, the Fourth Raikage will not consider dying together with the Fifth Hokage.

Moreover, although the Fifth Hokage also conquered Sunagakure, he only destroyed the village's buildings and did not kill a single Sunagakure ninja.

The Fourth Raikage didn't want to die, only to have the Hidden Cloud Village pay a heavy price only to have the Hidden Stone Village or the Hidden Sand Village reap the rewards of victory.

He could only die in peace after the other three ninja villages had suffered greatly and were no longer able to compete with the Hidden Cloud Village, which had lost its Fourth Raikage.

But now the situation has changed; the Fifth Hokage is actually willing to offer benefits.

Even the Fourth Raikage, with his heart of iron, could only barely maintain a semblance of composure: "Good, that's wonderful. It's a good thing for everyone that the Fifth Hokage can understand things."

"We need to make him feel that we welcome his changes."

"Darui, this time you should represent Kumogakure to go to Konoha and express our sincerity to the Fifth Hokage. It would be best if you could also learn his [Storm Release: Hundred Style: Light Fang] and the connecting Thunderstorm Secret Technique."

Darui's eyes shone brightly: "Yes, Raikage-sama, I will do my best to win the final victory in the exam and seize the opportunity to study at the Ninja Higher Education Academy."

The Fourth Raikage looked at Tsuchikage: "It's called the Joint Chunin Exams, but it will definitely use the Konoha Village's exam format, and there will most likely be a battle phase with ninja teams."

"Tutai, what advice do you have for Darui's teammates?"

The ninja on the platform recalled all the information on the young Kumogakure ninjas and quickly gave his advice: "Ki, a genin from Kumogakure, is skilled in lightning release ninjutsu, has mastered lightning release genjutsu, and is also skilled in medical and sensory abilities, which are rare. He is a rare all-around ninja."

"Most importantly, hope's calm and collected personality makes her a great complement to Darui."

The Fourth Raikage nodded repeatedly. Darui, like him, had a volatile temper and sometimes made decisions too quickly.

Since Tsuchidae had his help to dissuade him, Darui needed a similar ninja by his side, and Hii was indeed a good choice.

He asked, "Where's the third team member?"

Tutai replied: "Samyi."

The Fourth Raikage and Darui were both taken aback. Darui hesitated before speaking, "Samui is already—a Chunin."

The Fourth Raikage understood and nodded, saying, "It's alright, she can become a genin immediately."

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