Chapter 112 – Stealing Ninjutsu

Sand Binding Coffin!

A torrent of golden sand surged out of Gaara's gourd, swiftly wrapping around you and your team under the swirling wind. Then, Gaara extended his palm and clenched his fist.

Sand Burial!

Gaara opened with a massive jutsu—brutal and merciless.

You weren't too worried. Even if your Lava Release wasn't enough, you could always rely on the Susanoo armor granted by Uchiha Itachi. But the two deadweights with you were a different story. If they ended up leaking fluids and air everywhere, you'd lose your chance to stay in Konohagakure.

"Looks like it's time to show something real!" you muttered, forming hand seals before unleashing a huge stream of water from your mouth directly at Gaara's advancing sand.

This wasn't some powerful jutsu, but it was enough to soak into the sand and slow down its movement.

You then brought your hands together again, forming the hand seals for a Dust Release stance.

Wind Style: Wind Protection Barrier!

It wasn't actual Dust Release, but rather a wind-style barrier technique—an essential precursor to forming Dust Release itself.

As you reshaped the wind barrier into a spherical form and launched it downward, a wall of wind expanded outward, surrounding your team of three.

No matter how much chakra Gaara poured into his attacks, the wet sand couldn't gather enough force to break through your wind barrier!

You maintained the Wind Style barrier, clashing chakra with Gaara in a battle of endurance.

But against a Tailed Beast's chakra—even if it was just the One-Tail Shukaku—you knew you couldn't win in a contest of pure reserves.

You stomped hard on the ground, and a massive stone spike burst upward from beneath Gaara.

Boom!

Caught completely off-guard, Gaara—who had only ever played offense and steamrolled his opponents—was launched sky-high by the sudden impact, not even understanding what had hit him.

Though his partial Susanoo activated in time to keep him from being seriously injured, the sheer shock of the hit knocked him unconscious. He crashed into the grass nearly a hundred meters away.

Kankuro and Temari, who had been on his team, immediately gave up on dealing with you. Fearful that you were just as bloodthirsty as Gaara himself, they bolted straight in the direction he had been flung.

You called over the two Takigakure ninja who had been frozen in place in stunned silence and continued toward the center tower.

Before long, your group successfully reached the central tower and qualified for the next round of the exam.

However, after everything that had happened—the kind of ordeal even a major village's genin would find brutal—your two Takigakure teammates decided to quit. Fearing for their lives in the finals, they wisely gave up their spots in the next stage.

Thankfully, qualification for the individual tournament wasn't affected by teammates forfeiting.

You still had a spot in the finals and the right to stay in the village. The others from Takigakure, though, would have to leave Konohagakure.

...

At the same time, due to the overwhelming strength you'd displayed in your battle against Gaara, both the ANBU and Root divisions of Konoha began investigating your background.

It wasn't targeted harassment—it was standard procedure. Any ninja who stood out during the Chūnin Exams would face detailed scrutiny. Not just in Konoha, but in every major village. The exams were, after all, a carefully controlled show of strength between the great shinobi nations.

But let them dig.

You couldn't care less. With your experience in Root, a squad of Iwagakure ANBU trained personally by you backing you from the shadows, and your plans having been set in motion two years in advance…

You knew there was no way Konoha would uncover anything within just half a month. At most, they'd find records of a sudden rise in strength within Takigakure and a suspected awakening of an unknown Kekkei Genkai.

They'd never uncover anything deeper.

Your real problem, however, was something else entirely.

In the two weeks leading up to the finals, all foreign ninja were confined to a restricted zone. You were only allowed to move within the designated living quarters, three cleared-out training grounds, and one open-to-the-public commercial street.

Everything else was off-limits.

At night, ANBU patrols circled the lodging area, making sure no one tried to sneak out under the cover of darkness.

You'd once goaded some loudmouthed Sound ninja into exploring the area for you. They ended up running straight into Jiraiya by sheer dumb luck.

After that fiasco, you gave up on trying to sneak out the normal way.

But just because you couldn't leave… didn't mean a cat couldn't.

Most of the genin and their team leaders were from allied villages with standing treaties, and even those that weren't were at least not open enemies. Konoha couldn't seal the area off like a prison. Compared to the days of full lockdown during the Uchiha massacre, this was far more lenient.

During your morning warm-ups at the training grounds, you summoned Black-Cat Boss and had him blend in with the local strays to slip out.

...

As evening fell, you tucked yourself under the blanket, leaving behind a Lava Release shadow clone, and used the Reverse Summoning Technique to teleport to the outskirts of the Yamanaka Clan compound.

In truth, you'd long had your eye on the Yamanaka and Nara clans' mastery of Yin Release.

The Uchiha had also researched Yin Release extensively, but their focus was mostly on Genjutsu and the Sharingan. Because of the visual prowess of the Sharingan, they had taken a shortcut that left them lacking in direct Yin chakra application.

By contrast, the Yamanaka clan's ability to manipulate minds through Yin-based spirit projection, and the Nara clan's physical manifestation of Yin chakra through shadow jutsu, had real substance.

The once-proud Uchiha might have looked down on these techniques—but you didn't care about pride.

You only cared about Strength. And you needed to patch these holes if you wanted to rise even higher.

Using the cover of darkness and senjutsu from the ninja cat clan, you moved effortlessly through the Yamanaka grounds, using the movement techniques you'd memorized from your time in Root.

Soon, you reached their ninjutsu archive.

Watching the two drowsy guards at the door, you couldn't help but admire how Konoha still carried the demeanor of a top-tier village. Even after the flames of invasion, they remained lax and self-satisfied.

No wonder Orochimaru wanted to destroy them.

With gloves prepared ahead of time, you copied all the scrolls recording the Yamanaka clan's techniques without breaking a sweat.

Then, you used the Reverse Summoning Technique again—this time arriving on the outskirts of the Nara clan's territory.

But unlike other clans, the Nara maintained a forested buffer zone where they raised deer. The area facing the street wasn't a wall or a building—it was a sizable grove.

Black-Cat Boss had tried to sneak in once before, only to be detected by the deer before he could even reach the inner perimeter. He'd barely managed to escape before they could alert the clan.

That meant the Nara deer—while not summoned beasts—had incredibly sharp senses. Hearing, smell... even the ninja cats couldn't get past them.

Which meant it was time for Earth Style.

But as soon as you started tunneling underground, you realized the soil here was different.

Not only was it incredibly dense, but it was also laced with tough rock fragments.

For an average Earth Style user, it would be impossible to dig through...

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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