Ninja Pot Shadow

Shikaku carefully observed the expressions of his two old companions. Seeing that they were both calm, he said, "I also refused. We don't want to maintain the traditions of the ninja clan. We just need a slightly harsher environment to train our children. With our abilities, it's not difficult for us to obtain a comfortable life. Our generation can resist all kinds of temptations, but what about the next generation? Surrounded by money, living in luxury, and pursuing an extravagant life, there may be no more ninja clans after three generations."

Haiyi and Dingzuo didn't think that far ahead, but they both nodded in agreement.

Ninja clans and villages are capable of acquiring wealth, but the reason they confine themselves to the small circle of completing tasks and earning commissions is because they are worried that their descendants will be corrupted by money.

Born into a life of luxury, without the spirit of hard work and perseverance, how many people would be willing to learn ninjutsu, train in taijutsu, or hone their skills in the harsh cold and scorching heat?

Ninjutsu, and the ninjas who master it, are the foundation of a ninja clan. If all the younger members go off to enjoy life and no one wants to be a ninja, then the profession of ninja will automatically disappear.

Dingza thought for a moment: "Even if we refuse, there's no guarantee that other ninja clans won't be tempted."

Shikaku and Inoichi both fell silent; this was the most worrying thing.

On one hand, there is the temptation of money, and on the other hand, there is a relatively poor life. How many people can resist it?

"So what are our choices?" Haiyi asked.

Shikaku said in a consultative tone, "I believe that maintaining the status quo is the best option for the family at this time."

"So you mean you'll continue to support the Third Hokage?"

"You could say that."

……

Kakashi led a group of ANBU ninjas out of the village to track down Danzo, and he did not return even as the Chunin Exams approached.

Naruto, having Jiraiya's guidance, didn't dwell on the Wind Release ninjutsu. Sasuke could train on his own without any problem, but Sakura was in a more complicated situation.

She's already been eliminated by Hinata, so she's not worried about the exam.

But her two teammates from Class 7 were both training, and she didn't know anything, which made things rather awkward.

She wanted to invite Sasuke out for a trip, but Sasuke was so engrossed in Chidori that he completely ignored her.

Ino, Tenten, and Hinata—these female ninjas are all training hard, and Sakura really can't find a reason to slack off.

Left with no other choice, she had to resort to her magic weapon once again and write a letter to the legendary "First Hokage".

The letters she had sent before seemed to have vanished without a trace, but with only one day left before the Chunin Exams, the "First Hokage" finally replied.

The other party immediately asked for 100,000 taels!

Goodness, Xiaoying checked her wallet and bankbook three times. All the rewards she had earned from the missions over this period amounted to a little over 100,000 taels.

This "First Hokage" is truly amazing! He actually guessed his own bank account balance; no wonder he's called the God of Shinobi!

The tree-climbing skills she learned last time made her quite famous with Sasuke, and Sakura has a certain level of trust in the "First Hokage".

No questions asked, send the money!

After transferring the money, that afternoon she received a seemingly extremely complex ninjutsu, which Ino called the "Salted Fish Revival Technique."

This technique wasn't taught by Tsunade; it's a completely beginner-level medical ninjutsu. Many people at the Konoha hospital know it, so teaching it to Sakura now is no problem at all.

Sakura's talent in this area is absolutely top-notch. After realizing that this was a medical ninjutsu technique, she felt that it was very suitable for her, and the image of her healing Sasuke's injuries had already appeared in her mind.

A day passed quickly.

Konoha Village received many visitors, most of whom were dignitaries from various countries who came to watch the Chunin Exams.

Ino first went to the hospital to visit Gekko Hayate. This guy had been injured too many times during his missions and his body was severely depleted. Now he was on the verge of death again and had been hospitalized for a month without regaining consciousness. However, he looked much better than before.

Ino sighed inwardly. Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao had given all their savings to Konoha Hospital. It seemed that the mountain flower shop would lose another major customer in the future.

"Go for it! I have faith in you. The Chunin Exams are no challenge for you at all," Yugao Uzuki encouraged her.

This purple-haired girl really didn't think any genin could defeat Ino; her encouragement was more of a polite gesture. Ino, on the other hand, was quite nervous because today was going to be busier than she had imagined.

Chapter 152 The Competition Begins

Many powerful figures and wealthy merchants arrived at Konoha Village by oxcart.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire declined the invitation, citing illness, but his three subordinate officials and elders all attended.

With everyone's attention focused on the first match, Ino faced off against Temari. Not wanting to be late, she arrived at the stadium early to make her final preparations.

The referee for the preliminary rounds, Hayate Gekko, was hospitalized, so the referee for the official exam was replaced by another special Jonin, Genma Shiranui, who had served as the Fourth Hokage's bodyguard.

This special jonin was also a ninja from the same generation as Kakashi and Asuma. Compared to the brilliance of Kakashi, a genius of the same generation, these people seemed quite ordinary back then. Now, more than ten years later, they have accumulated their strength and steadily improved, becoming the backbone of the village.

Ino and Genma Shiranui were not familiar with each other and had never spoken before. With the match about to begin, there was no chance for idle chatter. She ignored the noise outside the arena and stood quietly to the side waiting.

The Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage appeared in the stands at the same time. Then, just before the stadium gates were about to close, Naruto was chased by a herd of bulls and ran a long way. One of the strong bulls even gave him a hard ramming on the buttocks.

Naruto, clutching his backside, flew more than ten meters away before landing face down in a parabolic arc, carving a furrow in the ground with his momentum. He arrived in front of the other contestants in a very disheveled state. Sasuke, feeling ashamed of his teammate, turned his head to the side, pretending not to recognize him. In the end, Shikamaru helped him up.

Genma Shiranui looked up at the platform, and the Third Hokage nodded slightly to him, indicating that they could begin.

He stood in the center of the field, with Ino on his left and Temari on his right.

The opening scene features a battle between two blonde female ninjas.

You say this competition arrangement is random? Nobody believes that.

Ino's apprenticeship to Tsunade gradually became an open secret. As the granddaughter of the First Hokage, Tsunade already held the title of Princess of Konoha. Now, with Ino's status, she could be considered a princess of Konoha as well.

Thanks to the hype from certain individuals, the first match was transformed into a battle between the Princess of Konoha and the Princess of Sunagakure.

Ino's crop top looked quite charming, and her exposed skin was as white and dazzling as porcelain in the sunlight. She also changed out of her original flat, childlike high-top open-toe sandals and put on the same black chunky heels as Tsunade and Shizune.

Temari is three years older than her, has a graceful figure, and her eyes and brows have an exotic charm; she also possesses remarkable beauty.

The two exchanged glances and immediately sensed a subtle hostility between them.

The two were very similar in many ways, including hair color, personality, appearance, physique, and background, which made their hostility even more obvious.

After Tenten shouted, "Ino, help me defeat that strongman!" the animosity between the two reached its peak.

"Hmph, wild boars from the mountains. I've killed quite a few wild boars this month. These creatures are so uncouth! They just roll around in the mud and then rub themselves against trees to get covered in resin. I wonder if your defenses are as strong as a wild boar's?" Temari's opening remarks were extremely unfriendly.

Ino immediately retorted, "Old woman from Sunagakure, you must be unwanted in your village, right? You're so pitiful, you have no advantages at all. Oh, wait, look at my mouth, I'm not good with words, but actually you do have an advantage, you're strong!"

As she spoke, she raised her middle finger, making a gesture that wasn't present here, and shook it vigorously twice. Temari... actually understood!

Sensing the intense tension between them, Genma Shiranui instinctively took two steps back and whispered, "The first match...begins!"

I'm going to tear your mouth apart!

As soon as Genma Shiranui finished speaking, Temari opened her enormous ninja fan, her gaze towards Ino extremely hostile. Before the match, Kankuro had told her to forfeit it, suggesting she could just go through the motions and be done with it. "We're here to destroy Konoha, not to actually become Chunin," he said, "why take it so seriously? Saving chakra for the big battles later is the real priority." Temari refused outright!

The words "strongman" were still echoing in her ears, making her angrier the more she thought about it. She had been holding back this anger for a month, and Ino's provocative gesture had reignited it. As soon as Genma Shiranui announced the start of the match, she used all her strength to swing her fan and charge forward.

So what if you're a strongman? Fine, I'll take you on. I'll just smash you to death with one fan right now!

The first move is the extremely powerful B-rank Wind Release ninjutsu "Great Kamaitachi"!

With a forceful swing of the ninja fan, several chakra wind blades flew out haphazardly. Two of these wind blades were positioned at a low angle, instantly carving deep trenches into the ground.

After being taught by Tsunade, Ino has abandoned the fighting style of creating two shadow clones first and then unleashing a barrage of ninjutsu.

Her current tactic is to observe, probe, and gather intelligence on the enemy before launching a counterattack.

This is considered a standard ninja response.

As soon as Temari swung her ninja fan, she could roughly guess what her opponent's move was.

As soon as the wind blade flew out, she slammed her right foot on the ground, spun half a circle to dodge it, and used the momentum of her rotation to throw a kunai with an explosive tag attached.

Temari raised her ninja fan to block the explosive tag, then performed a backflip, using the fan's levitation properties and the smoke and dust from the exploding tag as cover, and rushed to Ino's side at great speed, preparing to launch a taijutsu attack.

"You? You're too slow!" Ino gathered chakra in her feet, raised her left leg high, and slammed it down to the side like a battle axe.

"Heavy Kick!" The enormous impact smashed a large crater in the ground, riddled with spiderweb-like cracks. Temari's plan to launch a surprise attack using high-speed movement failed, and she was instead slightly injured by the aftershocks.

The Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage in the stands nodded slightly; the move looked familiar.

"Super Strength Fist!" Ino's attacks were relentless. Temari's taijutsu was similar to hers, though her speed was inferior, but her strength was higher. Tsunade's Super Strength Fist could concentrate chakra into a single point, which effectively leveled the gap in strength between the two.

You call me a wild boar? Well, I'll show you what a wild boar I am!

Every punch and kick has immense destructive power. Temari is just throwing caution to the wind; if she doesn't want to get married, fine! I'm born with superhuman strength, how can I be inferior to you?

The two female ninjas exchanged more than ten extremely violent blows in the blink of an eye.

Ino enjoyed the match, but she also admitted that Temari was indeed much stronger than her. She could handle a few moves with her powerful punches and Painful Kicks, but it would become troublesome in the long run. This was just a warm-up match, and she didn't want to waste too much time.

"Fine, I know everything about you now. I'll take you down in three moves!" she boasted.

Then he formed the hand seals "Earth Escape: Subterranean Navigation" and burrowed underground.

Chapter 153 Signal

Temari recognized the C-rank Earth Release ninjutsu, "Earth Release: Submerged Earth." As the eldest daughter of the Fourth Kazekage and three years older than Ino and the others, Temari had extensive combat experience and was not driven by anger. She touched the ground with her right foot and jumped high into the air, causing Ino's "Heart-Slaying Technique," which was intended to pull her into the earth, to miss.

"Wind Slash!" Temari, who had jumped to a high place, swung a thin, extremely sharp blade of air more than two meters long downwards.

Ino's "submarine navigation" effect was still working; her body moved two meters sideways in the mud like a fish, dodging the wind blades. She raised her head and retaliated in kind.

"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"

Tsunade herself is not good at water-style jutsu, but she is knowledgeable and experienced. In addition, the Water Severing Wave is her great-uncle's ninjutsu, which she has seen since she was a child. Her great-uncle also told her about the many techniques and methods of using this jutsu.

In order to maintain her teacher persona, she taught Ino many water-style techniques that she herself might not even understand, in a haphazard way.

Having received indirect instruction from the Second Hokage, Ino's application of Water Release techniques improved by another ten percent.

At that moment, the water was fast and accurate, and Temari, who was in mid-air, had no way to get leverage, so she could only use her most precious ninja fan to block it.

With a clang, the Water Breaker made a metallic, crisp sound on the ninja fan, which should actually be called the Three-Star Fan.

Using the cushioning effect, Temari dodged the water shards and landed, looking at her ninja fan with heartache.

The three-star fan is inferior to Madara Uchiha's flame fan, but it is still a treasure made by the ancestors of Sunagakure using branches of the Divine Tree and a large amount of rare metals. Now, it has been cut open with a gap more than two fingers deep!

Ino was also a little surprised. She hadn't expected her opponent to use a deadly move. She had held back her Water Wave Severing technique. If her opponent couldn't block it, she would have withdrawn her attack. But to be blocked by a broken fan was something she hadn't anticipated.

Temari was both afraid and angry. She fully opened the Three-Star Fan, infused it with her own wind-attribute chakra, and unleashed a massive tornado in Ino's direction.

This attack had a wide range, so Ino stopped using low-level ninjutsu to dodge and instead used her best water-style defense, a water-style ninjutsu that Tsunade had taught her, also from the Second Hokage.

She gathered her chakra in her chest and abdomen, then clasped her hands together and exhaled the chakra towards the sky: "Water Release: Water Shock Wave!"

It was as if a huge hole had appeared out of nowhere, with an endless stream of water pouring down. The water was drawn by chakra and spun rapidly, like a water column that pierced through the heavens and the earth.