Chapter 144: Jonin Exams, Prelude to the Final Battle
For over two months, with weekly attacks, the puppet human army had assaulted the five great ninja villages eleven times, and Izayoi had only earned five hundred thousand points.
Moreover, these five hundred thousand points weren't entirely provided by the high-end combat power and Kekkei Genkai users of the five great ninja villages.
Over seventy thousand of those points came from Uchiha Sasuke.
Just as Izayoi had guessed, the stronger the target, the higher the drop rate after defeating them in a fair duel.
If he killed the opponent, there was a 50% probability of a drop, the gambler's moment.
The puppet human army's attacks on the five great ninja villages were all team battles.
Only the battles against the Five Kage, the Jinchuriki, and Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki were fair one-on-one duels.
The puppet humans either matched their opponents' chakra or reduced their own chakra, choosing to challenge stronger opponents to increase the drop rate.
Even if their chakra was exhausted, the Wood Clones wouldn't provide chakra; if they lost, they would just give that puppet human to the opponent.
In eleven rounds of duels, Izayoi's puppet humans had only lost to Uchiha Sasuke once, because that kid had actually learned Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation and, at the last moment, coordinated with Wood Release to catch the puppet human off guard.
However, after this trump card was revealed, Uchiha Sasuke never won again.
In ten defeats, Uchiha Sasuke dropped a total of three entries: one gold, one purple, and one blue.
The gold one was Super-Kage Talent, the purple one was Wood Release, and the blue one was Otsutsuki Bloodline.
Naruto Uzumaki lost eleven times and only dropped one purple entry, which was the Uzumaki Bloodline that Izayoi had obtained from him years ago.
Izayoi was quite helpless about this.
Unlike the geniuses Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto Uzumaki, who had spent six years at the ninja academy doing nothing for six years, had unremarkable ninjutsu talent.
Without strong control, he couldn't learn the Strength of a Hundred Seal fist of the Senju clan.
Genjutsu was even more out of the question.
Even if he were willing to patiently cultivate, wanting to improve his nin-tai-genjutsu would probably take many years.
This was why Izayoi chose to give up on him and focus on nurturing Uchiha Sasuke.
This true child of prophecy could only wait for his body to grow up and naturally start to cheat. Izayoi didn't have the patience to cultivate him anyway.
Moreover, even this bit of nurturing was no match for the other party's one instance of cheating.
After all, every time Naruto Uzumaki cheated, it was a very outrageous improvement.
After mastering Sage Mode and becoming a perfect Jinchuriki, he directly soared to the sky, becoming a Super-Kage level powerhouse.
Not counting the tens of thousands of points provided by Uchiha Sasuke, Izayoi's efforts over two months had only yielded over four hundred thousand points.
The gambler's moment had a 50% probability.
Hunting high-end combatants and owners of high-level entries without killing them, only defeating them, probably had a drop rate even less than half of 50%.
Being able to drop a high-level entry could be considered extremely lucky.
Izayoi couldn't imagine how long it would have taken him to save up so many points if he hadn't discovered the puppet human mechanism.
If he hadn't wasted points upgrading chakra control and Sage Body, with Izayoi's current points, he could completely upgrade a red entry to an unknown new level.
However, Izayoi didn't regret upgrading his Sage Body to the red level.
Although he didn't know if his Sage Body (Red) could complete the two-pole unification with Uchiha Sasuke's Sage Eyes (Red) to derive a Rinnegan at the level of the Tenseigan.
But Izayoi, who already had the Tenseigan, didn't care about these things, and his goal wasn't to become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
The reason he upgraded his Sage Body, improving Wood Release and overall strength were secondary. The most important thing was for… Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Without becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, he could only master Six Paths Sage Mode to create Truth-Seeking Orbs using Yin-Yang Release and Six Paths Sage Techniques.
Six Paths Sage Mode, Yin-Yang Release, and the ultimate seven nature transformations were the prerequisites for Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Izayoi already possessed the second of these three.
When the Tenseigan completed its final evolution, he would also obtain the third.
He was only lacking the first, and the strength to reach the Six Paths level. Then Izayoi could master this strongest ninjutsu of lower-dimensional attacks.
As long as he mastered Six Paths Sage Mode and Truth-Seeking Orbs, and combined them with the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, even if the enemy was the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, Izayoi would have a fighting chance.
"Izayoi-kun, are your goals about to be achieved?"
Just as Izayoi was looking forward to the future, Hinata's soft voice suddenly came from above his head.
Looking up, he saw Hinata hugging his neck from behind, providing him with an oppai pillow in the hot spring, asking softly.
Izayoi retracted the personal panel that only he could see, leaned against Hinata's embrace, and smiled, "Yes, Hinata, do you want to know why I'm doing this?"
"Is it convenient to say?" Hinata first tilted her head cutely, then gently wiped the sweat from Izayoi's face with a handkerchief, and smiled gently, "If it's not convenient, Izayoi-kun doesn't have to tell me. I believe in you."
Hearing this, Izayoi's gaze towards Hinata was full of tenderness.
The word 'trust' was not just empty talk.
Hinata had been doing this all along for the past two months.
If Izayoi didn't speak, she wouldn't ask.
It wasn't until Izayoi hadn't attacked Konoha for the past two weeks, and the mumbling just now, that Hinata finally couldn't help but ask.
Unlike Jiraiya, who could warn Tsunade with a stern face for the sake of the village, saying he would kill her if she ever betrayed Konoha.
And unlike other brainwashed individuals with the Will of Fire, Hinata stood firmly on Izayoi's side between the village and Izayoi without any hesitation.
She hadn't even revealed a word to her little cotton-padded jacket Hanabi, her best friends, or her father.
She didn't ask, didn't speak, only used actions to prove her feelings.
This was Hinata's love for Izayoi.
Izayoi naturally felt this emotion.
And only Hinata could allow Izayoi to let down all his guard during the Tenseigan's gestation period.
"Thank you for your trust, Hinata."
Izayoi didn't explain but instead turned around and embraced Hinata, who was only wearing a bath towel, pulling her closer by the back of her head, and then leaning back, splashing a spray of water. Two figures sank into the blue-green pool water, leaving only a bath towel floating on the surface.
…
October 25th, Year 61 of Konoha, the newly built Hokage Building.
"This is your Jonin exam mission."
Only Izayoi and Tsunade were in the Hokage's office.
Tsunade threw a scroll sealed with the word 'Confidential' to Izayoi, who was wearing a green flak jacket today and had his forehead protector on his forehead, a rare sight. She said, "Within ten days, you must complete the mission inside the scroll without revealing your identity." Izayoi caught the flying scroll, puzzled. "Jonin exams don't have an exam like the Chunin exams?"
"Yes, but that's the exam for Special Jonin."
Tsunade didn't hide anything as she explained to Izayoi, "Although there are three ranks for Jonin: Special Jonin, Jonin, and Elite Jonin. In reality, there are only two types of Jonin. One is the Special Jonin, who are exceptionally promoted due to their unique talents, and the other is the all-round developed Jonin, who stand at the pinnacle of the ninja corps with their outstanding wisdom, benevolence, and courage, and are the backbone of the five great ninja villages."
"As for Elite Jonin, there's no such rank at all. It's just a title of respect and a reflection of prestige. Every Elite Jonin is a top-tier Jonin, far surpassing other Jonin in terms of overall strength, mission records, and even the number of enemies killed."
"These ninjas are all famous powerhouses in the ninja world and are also called Kage candidates. Or rather, the so-called Five Kage are just the cream of the crop among the Elite Jonin."
"Special Jonin need to take an exam. Their opponents are ninjas within the village who possess similar talents. The winner is exceptionally promoted, and the loser is eliminated."
"Jonin don't need an exam; they need to prove their all-round abilities."
"In terms of strength, Jonin must master two or more nature transformations to be qualified to learn and master advanced ninjutsu and compound ninjutsu."
"In terms of wisdom, Jonin must have a calm mind and sufficient knowledge and experience to overcome all difficulties, complete missions without causing trouble for the nation, the village, or the clients, rather than acting rashly and disregarding the consequences."
"Only such elites can become leaders of the ninja corps."
Tsunade pointed to the scroll in Izayoi's hand and continued, "You have already proven your strength to the village and the ninja world. So this mission is to test your ninja abilities."
"I see."
Izayoi looked at the word 'Confidential' on the seal of the scroll in his hand, understanding Tsunade's intention that he shouldn't reveal his identity.
Ninjas with super-standard combat power could break all conventions and do whatever they wanted.
However, only four such ninjas had appeared in the past thousand years.
Even the pinnacle of the Five Kage was no match for a large ninja village.
Jonin were the existence just below Elite Jonin.
Such ninjas were both strong and weak.
Weak compared to the Five Kage and Elite Jonin, but qualified to carry out S-rank missions, and even Super-S-rank confidential missions.
Therefore, the assessment of such ninjas couldn't be like the Chunin exams and Special Jonin exams, where opponents were selected for them from within the village.
Opponents who were their own people couldn't go all out and couldn't prove themselves.
The examination venue and opponents had to be from enemy ninja villages.
Understanding everything, Izayoi couldn't help but nod. "I understand, Hokage-sama."
"Hmm, go and get your departure permit."
Tsunade first waved her hand, then, as if remembering something, quickly reminded, "Oh right, keep this scroll safe and don't mention it to anyone, including Hinata. That's the rule."
"Yes."
Izayoi nodded in response and then left the Hokage's office.
After obtaining his departure permit, Izayoi went home to pack his things, then left a note for Hinata and chose a normal way to leave Konoha.
This confidential mission, as long as it didn't involve blowing up the moon or taking down Akatsuki single-handedly without revealing his Tenseigan, was no difficulty for Izayoi. It was just a formality and a trip.
Carrying out the mission alone gave Izayoi an alibi and allowed him to ignore Tsunade's urgent summons,正好可以本体出手 (it just so happened that his main body could take action).
Thus, Izayoi was about to teleport away to make final preparations before the war, finding a suitable time to sound the start of the final battle.
"Hmm?"
Just then, a piece of information suddenly flooded into Izayoi's mind.
Digesting the real-time information transmitted by his Wood Clone, Izayoi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly, thinking to himself, "Not a secret code, but a meeting in the Kamui dimension. What are they up to now?"
Little did he know that the theme of this meeting was precisely Izayoi.
"The Wood Release ninja from Konoha has left the village. Judging by his appearance, it seems he's going out on a mission, and a solo mission at that," White Zetsu said.
"Has he finally left? It seems the five great ninja villages have resumed operations."
"Leader, are you going to act immediately?"
"Not in a hurry, let's make preparations in advance," Nagato analyzed calmly. "We're not sure how far Otsutsuki Toneri's Tenseigan can observe us from, but my chakra is too obvious. As long as his eyes can see chakra, he'll definitely find my location soon."
"Once my main body leaves, he'll definitely look for an opportunity to seize the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
"According to the way he attacked the five great ninja villages, the puppet human army is likely to airdrop into Amegakure. Before taking action, we must evacuate the villagers to a safe place."
Nagato looked at Black and White Zetsu and instructed, "Zetsu, I'll create a Wood Clone later. Let's see how long it can deceive him. You use the secret code scroll to notify Konan and have her secretly cooperate with my Wood Clone."
After speaking, Nagato turned to Obito Uchiha and asked, "Can your Wood Clone use Kamui?"
"It can." Obito Uchiha nodded.
"Very good. Then your main body will stay behind in Amegakure and send a clone to find everyone. Once something happens, transfer them to the Kamui dimension, and then use your main body as the teleportation seal array," Nagato fully utilized his 'Summoning Master' entry.
Even Obito Uchiha, the owner of Kamui, had a surprised look under his mask.
Kamui could be used like this?
It was almost like the Flying Thunder God Technique!
But on the surface, he nodded. "I understand."
"Let's start acting. Have your clone send me over."
Nagato stood up and used the Wood Clone Technique, creating a Wood Clone with massive chakra, and then used the Wood Transformation Technique, rapidly changing the appearance of his main body.
Seeing Nagato's appearance, White Zetsu couldn't help but smile playfully. "It's time to let that guy experience our feelings."
Nagato's current appearance was none other than… Otsutsuki Toneri!
…
"There's a problem!"
When Nagato's Wood Clone returned to Amegakure from the Kamui dimension.
The Wood Clone responsible for monitoring Nagato immediately noticed something was wrong and transmitted this information to the main body in real time.
"This isn't the main body. Where did his main body go?"
Izayoi, who hadn't teleported away but was flying through a forest, thought to himself.
At the same time, he also felt this was a good opportunity and was about to issue an order to have his Wood Clone catch Amegakure off guard.
However, before the order could be transmitted in real time, Izayoi seemed to sense something. His flying figure suddenly stopped on the treetop of a large tree. He raised his head, looking at the blue and golden sky, staring at the black shadow slowly falling down, the corner of his mouth twitching imperceptibly.
Good fellow… using my own methods against me, huh!
(End of this chapter)
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