"Last but not least, we have Morino Ibiki. All these thirty-two genins will move to the final stage of the Chunin Exams. Congratulations to those who have passed. You will be fighting in front of the village in one week so prepare well." Taki said as he left the platform.
As he did, murmurs spread as the genins had different reactions to the results. Most of the reactions were that of disappointment as only around thirty per cent of the genins participating moved to the next phase.
Fortunately, all three genins of Team 15 were in this group. Renjiro ranked the highest at the 15th rank, just one spot shy of the bottom half.
Hiro and Aiko ranked 20th and 24th respectively. It was clear a majority of the results were determined by the results from the first phase since besides working in teams, it was also about survival. Team 15 did survive, but they were still one of the last teams to arrive at the tower.
'Fifteen isn't really a bad number. At least it's above average, so that's a plus.' Renjiro thought as he approached Hiro. "20th? Hiro, you sure are lucky. But I'm not sure someone who wants to be a clan head should be scoring that."
Hiro's brows furrowed. He was aware of what Renjiro was trying to do.
"I still qualified despite coming in close to last at the first phase," Hiro smirked as he continued,
"Besides, if I had better teammates, then we would have cleared the forest earlier."
Hiro was as sharp as he was talented. With someone like Renjiro in his team, it was hard to notice. He was a capable shinobi for his age, but Renjiro's sharp tongue was a challenge he never overcame.
"All I'm hearing is excuses. You were alone during your fights, but you still lost one of them."
"You don't know who I faced in my last fight. He is a monster and is the-"
"Renjiro, just let Hiro be. We all had a mountain to climb, but we still qualified. What matters is how we will perform in the next phase and become chunins." Aiko interrupted with an attempt to make peace between the two.
"Alright," Renjiro conceded. "Have you guys seen Riku-sensei?"
Both genins shook their head and just as they were proceeding to look for their sensei, the man in question appeared in front of them.
"Congratulations, you guys have performed better during this phase than you did during the first."
When team 15 told their Sensei about the events that transpired in the forest of death, he simply laughed at them. He told them if that was the reason they didn't become chunins, then they would have to make it up to him through more training.
It was not a threat, but it also wasn't the major reason why the three genins worked hard during the three-day break to at least win a majority of their fights.
"Thank you, Sensei. It was because of you that we could qualify for the last stage," Aiko said.
"Yeah, we have faced worse in training that made this easier," Hiro added.
"Sensei, do you know what the final stage will entail? We only know that we will be fighting in front of the village." Renjiro inquired.
With the changes already made, many had speculated that there would be similar changes to the final stage. Having an inkling of what will happen would really help.
"Of course, I know what will happen."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"And?" Renjiro finally asked seeing Riku not adding anything besides affirming their speculations.
"You just have to wait and see. Telling you about it now would mean that I don't have faith in you guys passing."
'In what way are those two things related?' Renjiro thought in frustration. It was a sentiment shared by all of them.
"Before I forget," Riku said as a serious atmosphere fell on him, "If you guys need any guidance during this coming week, I will be free so you guys can come to my house. It might be the last time I get to guide you guys as genins, so feel free to come."
The genins all agreed to do so and left for their homes. They had one week before the conclusion of the exam, and they had to make good use of it.
"I should definitely focus on my ninjutsu for this one week as it would be more impactful in the short term," Renjiro muttered as he took a detour to the clan library.
'What chakra natures should I focus on? I need defensive jutsu, so Earth should be one of them. I also need to have some variety in my offensive capabilities. Stoking up on Wind and Fire jutsus should help.'
After making up his mind, Renjiro headed to the Wind and Earth sections and selected a couple of jutsus. He didn't need to go to the fire section because he had spent a day at the clan training grounds memorizing people's jutsu.
He had the Sharingan, so Renjiro thought that the best way to know how suitable a jutsu was by seeing someone else perform it. Through this exercise, he had memorized a lot of Fire-style Jutsus, what was left was getting down to learn them.
'These Eight should be enough to keep me busy for a whole week.'
The Jutsus that Renjiro picked were; Violent Wind, Blade of Wind and Wind Wave. Headhunter and Earthwall were the two jutsus he chose of Earth nature. He couldn't choose more with the risk of not mastering them by the end of the week.
Out of the memorized jutsus, Renjiro decided to learn Fire Wave, Flame Whirlwind and Pheonix sage flower nail crimson. The last one being a personal favourite.
The Flame and Wind wave jutsus were chosen solely for the fact that Renjiro could use them at the same time. The Flame Wave would give the Wind Wave more destructive capabilities, while the latter would amplify the former. The Synergy was just too good.
Flame Whirlwind was more of a control skill that would help when facing more than one opponent. It was a clear upgrade of both the fireball and its greater variant.
The Last Fire jutsu was one he wanted to learn besides the Rasengan. Pheonix sage flower nail crimson was one of Itachi's signature jutsus.
The jutsu allowed the user to exhale fire to moving shurikens to increase their destructive potential by making them capable of inflicting severe burns upon direct contact with either the intended victim or any other object caught within their trajectories.
Due to the chakra-based nature of the flames that surround them, the shuriken will continue to burn after impact, regardless of the flammability of the object that they ultimately collide with.
This was one of the most versatile jutsu in Renjiro's arsenal now. The Headhunter jutsu could allow him to move underground which would help with evasion. It was similar to what the Hozuki brother did to escape the collapse of their base during one of Team 15's missions.
The Violent wind was a tricky but effective Jutsu, that allowed the user to form wind around them by releasing wind nature chakra to the environment.
The Earth wall was pretty much self-explanatory as it was a good defensive jutsu. It was not that Renjiro did not trust his evasion speed but their missions were of different natures.
You never knew when you would be tasked with protecting a high-risk target. Having such a jutsu would come in handy. The fact that the density of the wall depended on the chakra used was just a cherry on top.
'I should probably learn the wind one first.'
Renjiro unfurled the scrolls containing information on the Wind Wave and started performing the required hand signs. He followed the instructions to the latter, but the result concerned him.
'Something is definitely wrong!'
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