Chapter 77: Chapter 76: No Chunin Exams for Team Shikuro
It has been a week since Ken returned to the village after the mission in the Land of Rice Fields. Shikuro had decided that they would be doing some D-rank missions for some time to complete their mission quota while they trained.
So Ken was at the Sarutobi training ground currently. He has been forbidden from training Ice release till he has mostly mastered Lava Release. He was not even allowed to learn lightning release till then.
His sensei and grandpa wanted him to not chew too much, whatever that meant.
So he was contemplating what he could learn besides the different Lava forms.
Lava Golem jutsu was out of his reach for now. Firstly, He would have to create the jutsu on his own since he did not have a jutsu scroll for it. That means creating the hand signs for the Jutsu also.
Ken knew that a Lava Golem jutsu would likely be an S-rank jutsu and he does not have enough chakra to practice that jutsu right now. A lava dragon jutsu would also face the same problems. While he could think about several lava-style jutsus with shape transformations, they would be useless in a battle.
He wanted something that would help him in battle. He could not think of anything that he could do with the amount of chakra he had right now. So he decided to focus on other things.
Although this year's chunin exams were far off, they were not going to participate in it anyway since it would be held in Iwa.
According to Hiruzen, Onoki surely would try to get rid of them to prevent them from becoming stronger so they were not going there to participate.
Surprisingly for both Hiruzen and Shikuro, Ken did not complain about not being able to participate in the Chunin exams not even one bit.
When asked about that Ken looked at them as if they were idiots "I can easily become Chunin but then I would have more attention on me which would mean assassination attempts. While I am strong, I am not strong enough to become a Chunin yet. Besides, I am just six years old, so I have a lot of time to become Chunin. I would also be able to focus more on my training if there is not much attention on me."
Both of them were stunned to hear these words from him, Hiruzen even called for one of the best iryõ nin in the village to check whether Ken had a fever or not. Not before checking if he was under a genjutsu or not.
Ken was not that disheartened to participate in the Chunib exams. Even if the chunin exams were to be held in Konoha, he was not going to participate in them.
He had too much to learn and too many things to train in. Besides he knew if he progressed too much in too little time, many people would target him.
Danzo might fear that if he continued to grow in strength at this rate, he might become a threat to him for the Hokage seat.
Orochimaru might want him as research material.
Obito and Zetsu might want to get rid of him if they thought that Ken was a threat to their plans. That's why he was in no rush to rise up in ranks for now.
'Hmm, I wonder who would be participating with me in Chunin exams from other villages. Kiri does not have the kekkei genkai hunt going on yet. So maybe a Yuki. Hozuki Mangetsu could be another one. He is quite a genius according to Sensei. Deidara, Onoki's disciple is another one around my age. There is no one noteworthy in Canon from Kumo or Suna who is around my age. Well, anyways let's get to work.' Ken thought about the future participants of the Chunin exams before focusing on training.
If only he knew that he would meet someone very troublesome during his Chunin exams.
Ken went to his grandpa's library to take some scrolls. They were scrolls for the Earth Clone jutsu, How to become a Sensor Ninja for Beginners, and some fuinjutsu scrolls.
Ken let his clones learn Earth clone jutsu. While he himself focused on the Sensory scroll. As for Fuinjutsu, he has already been training to improve his calligraphy skills and especially his handwriting for the past two years. He had already practiced making storage seals.
Now it was time to learn the more advanced stuff. Hiruzen had already arranged for a Fuinjutsu master to train him in fuinjutsu who is just one rank below a fuinjutsu grandmaster, the pinnacle rank a fuinjutsu user can achieve.
Ken has learned the earth sensory jutsu called the seismic senses before. But he found the jutsu to be very impractical. He could only sense the things on land or underground. He was going to combine it with some wind sensory jutsu so that he could sense things that are on tree tops or are flying. But again it would be an inefficient sensory method.
Hiruzen did not want Ken to focus on it but Ken was now a shinobi and thus adult enough to make his own decisions to let him go. Ken was ignored when he asked if he is an adult then why should not he train in ice style.
Anyways back to sensory.
So Ken was going to use the normal route to become a sensor.
Shinobi become sensor nin after they manage to create a chakra field around them.
Shinobi who are born with this chakra field are called Natural Chakra sensors. They have a higher sensory range and less chakra consumption than others.
Ken was not a natural sensor so he had none of the above advantages. Originally Ken was reluctant to learn this type of sensory ninjutsu since his range would never be bigger than a natural sensor nin.
'Shikuro sensei said that most sensor nin have to use hand signs or close their eyes for sensing except the Hyugas. But it is possible to do so without hand signs or closing the eyes. Thus, such shinobi could maintain the chakra field at all times even while moving. Shikuro himself could do it. But it makes sense if everyone could keep a chakra field active around them then they could have a 360-degree view which would make byakugan useless.' Ken mused as he read the scroll and tried to make a chakra field around him.
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