[Skill Upgrade Scroll (Gold): Can be used to upgrade skills of Gold rank or below.
After the upgrade, the scroll disappears and the skill increases by one rank.]
“What a great item!” Chen Fan’s eyes lit up.
Although upgrading skills was simple enough, it required a considerable amount of Experience Points.
Upgrading Bronze to Silver required 10,000 Experience Points.
Silver to Gold was ten times more expensive, requiring 100,000 points, while upgrading a Gold-level skill required a staggering one million Experience Points!
In other words, this upgrade scroll was equivalent to one million Experience Points!
“A Gold-level skill…
Berserk?” Chen Fan glanced at his status panel.
[Host: Chen Fan.]
[Current Skills: Feast (Mythical), Battle Roar (Silver), Mountain Breaker (Silver), Berserk (Gold), Wild Instinct (Bronze)]
[Experience Points: 17,299]
Although the Skill Upgrade Scroll could also be used on lower-level skills, anyone with common sense would know what the best choice was.
“I’ll use my Experience Points to upgrade Wild Instinct first, and then…”
Chen Fan was just about to make his move.
Suddenly, he saw Orochimaru walking over.
“Chen Fan.” Orochimaru’s voice was low.
“The Hokage has already sent invitations to the other nations, and they’ve responded.”
“The Genin participating in the exams should already be on their way…”
“Oh, really?” Chen Fan didn’t seem to care.
A mission from the Hokage?
Didn’t that just mean beating people up?
That was what he was best at!
Orochimaru, however, seemed somewhat hesitant.
Orochimaru wasn’t worried about Chen Fan being unable to pass something as simple as the Chunin Exams.
Although the Chunin Exams carried the purpose of intimidating other nations, meaning that almost all the participants would be geniuses from their respective villages, there were still differences between geniuses!
After this period of training, Chen Fan’s physical abilities had improved yet again.
It was extremely difficult to find a Genin who could match Chen Fan in raw strength!
Passing the Chunin Exams wouldn’t be difficult.
Showing enough strength to intimidate the other nations wouldn’t be difficult either.
If judged according to the standards of previous Chunin Exams, success was practically guaranteed.
However, nothing was absolute.
Take Naruto’s generation in the future, for example.
Shukaku and Gamabunta would go berserk, Orochimaru himself would secretly get involved, and the entire exam would practically descend into chaos.
Even a Jonin wouldn’t dare claim they could survive such a Chunin Exam with absolute certainty.
Not to mention that according to the Third Hokage’s requirements, Chen Fan still needed to demonstrate strength capable of overwhelming the other participants and intimidating the other nations…
“Does your Eating Release have any supporting Ninjutsu?” Orochimaru suddenly asked.
Kekkei Genkai generally came with techniques specifically suited to them, completely different from mainstream Ninjutsu.
The Shikotsumyaku, for example, had all kinds of bone techniques, while the Sharingan had its various ocular techniques.
Since the exams were about to begin, Orochimaru wanted to strengthen Chen Fan even further!
Kekkei Genkai-related Ninjutsu often possessed extraordinary power and could serve as trump cards!
“Supporting Ninjutsu…” Chen Fan thought for a moment.
Skills such as ‘Rapid Digestion’ and ‘Void Devouring’ should be able to work together with Feast.
According to the classification of the Naruto world, these could technically be considered supporting Ninjutsu for ‘Eating Release.’
The problem was that he hadn’t drawn any of them yet.
So Chen Fan instinctively wanted to say no.
At that moment, however…
“If you have any techniques like that, I can use the time before the exams begin to teach you how to apply them in combat,” Orochimaru said after thinking for a moment.
“Of course, to speed up the process, we’ll have to train through actual combat.”
Actual combat?!
Did that mean fighting Orochimaru?!
Chen Fan instantly became excited and answered without hesitation.
“I do!”
“As for that technique…”
Chen Fan scanned through his skill list before directly slamming the Skill Upgrade Scroll onto the skill: Berserk (Gold).
“One of the Ninjutsu that complements my Eating Release is called ‘Berserk’…”
…
Time passed.
Finally, the Genin participating from the various nations began arriving!
“So this is Konoha?”
A Cloud shinobi Genin swept his gaze across the area.
His murderous glare was so intimidating that the surrounding civilians instinctively stepped backward.
“What a bunch of cowards.” He snorted disdainfully.
“They occupy the most fertile land, yet this is the kind of people it produces?” Another Cloud shinobi Genin beside him also sneered.
“Who knows what they’re thinking.” Their supervising Jonin laughed coldly.
“We have intelligence on Konoha’s new generation too.
Apart from a guy named Kakashi who has shown some edge, who else is there?”
“And that Kakashi became a Chunin a long time ago!”
“Now they’re holding another Chunin Exam to intimidate the other nations after he’s already been promoted…
Aren’t they afraid of completely blowing it?”
As the son of the White Fang, Kakashi had long been famous.
Although Kakashi was extremely strong and had already begun showing his brilliance, he was already a Chunin!
This was a Chunin Exam, and only Genin could participate!
“When Kakashi was promoted, holding a Chunin Exam and letting him participate would have made sense.
But now…
What are they thinking?” The Cloud supervising Jonin spoke with disdain.
Back then, Kakashi had been extremely strong and had performed exceptionally well.
If they had held the Chunin Exams at that time and allowed Kakashi to participate, they might actually have been able to intimidate the other nations.
But now…
As the strongest major nation in the shinobi world, Konoha was the target of every other country.
They all knew one thing clearly: there wasn’t a single truly formidable talent among Konoha’s new generation!
The Third Hokage had made a completely disastrous decision!
“This can’t really be blamed on him.” Another Cloud shinobi looked relaxed.
“Konoha is under quite a bit of pressure right now.
We, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure have all been taking action against Konoha.”
“He probably had no other choice.”
“I heard the Third Hokage even brought over a team that had only just become Genin…”
“He really is grasping at straws!”
…
“Konoha…
is quite a bit more refreshing than our Land of Water.”
A Genin with a shark-like face narrowed his eyes, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.
“This kind of weather makes me so comfortable that I feel like taking a nap.”
“Indeed.
What wonderful weather.” The supervising Jonin from Kirigakure, Suikazan Fuguki, grinned.
“What a shame it’s occupied by incompetent people…”
“Samehada, it’s time to let these sheep of Konoha experience the fear of those of us who have emerged from the Blood Mist!”
Hearing this, Samehada looked at Suikazan Fuguki with a complicated expression.
After remaining silent for a moment, he nodded heavily.
…
At the same time.
Inside the Hokage’s office in Konoha.
“It’s finally about to begin…” The Third Hokage let out a long sigh.
Just as the Cloud shinobi had said, Konoha’s situation really wasn’t good.
There were very few talented members among the new generation.
At the same time, the situation in the shinobi world was worrying as well.
It was like a volcano that could erupt at any moment.
That was why he had placed all his hopes for this Chunin Exam on Chen Fan!
“Orochimaru, Chen Fan won’t have any problems, right?” The Third Hokage couldn’t help asking again.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Orochimaru’s judgment.
It was simply that this matter was far too important.
He couldn’t put his mind at ease!
However, when Orochimaru heard this, his body suddenly stiffened.
Then, almost instinctively, his hand moved toward his chest.