Naruto: Starting with Creating a Genius Persona

Shortly afterward, all the matches concluded, and the awards and promotion ceremonies were held in the center of the Sand Village Arena.

Despite the somewhat delicate atmosphere in Sunagakure, the basic etiquette was not omitted, with the Third Kazekage and the Third Hokage attending together.

When the final results of the Chunin Exams were announced and Shinichi Higashino's name was read out, he was awarded Chunin status on the spot as the champion and the one with the best overall performance. Once again, the entire audience erupted in a wave of cheers and applause.

Shinichi stepped forward and received the new vest and official certificate representing his Chunin status from the Third Hokage, who was serving as a special award presenter.

He could feel countless gazes, including those of the Jonin leading teams and participants from different ninja villages in the stands, all focused on him.

Curiosity, scrutiny, apprehension, admiration... a whole host of emotions.

He knew that from this moment on, the name "Shinichi Higashino" would no longer be limited to the category of "genius genin" in Konoha.

With two undisputed victories, especially his performance in finally breaking through the "absolute defense" and revealing himself as the developer of powerful ninjutsu, he successfully elevated his reputation and strength to a new and broader level.

Three days later, in a small town inn on the border of the Land of Wind.

The day after the Chunin Exams ended, the Konoha group began their journey home.

At this moment, Shinichi, having finished his daily routine of training, returned to his room, closed the door, and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

The fatigue from days of fierce fighting and long journey did not diminish the gleam in his eyes.

With a slight thought, his personal panel, visible only to him, quietly appeared.

Name: Shinichi Higashino

[Class: Chunin (New) / Swordsman]

[Talents: (List omitted, key changes are as follows)]

[Number of draws: 1 (Blue)]

First, the "Genin" entry in the job category has been replaced by the new "Chunin".

This was exactly what Shinichi had expected. Winning the championship in the highly anticipated Chunin Exams and receiving personal witness and recognition from two "Kage" was an extremely efficient "official recognition" from the highest level of the ninja system of the two major ninja villages, which directly promoted the rapid advancement of his professional skills.

[Chunin: You are now a core member of the ninja force and a squad leader. Your abilities in formulating complex tactics, combining various ninjutsu, and training in chakra nature and form transformations have significantly improved. Your efficiency in guiding others in ninja skills has also slightly increased.]

The class attributes of the Ninja system do not provide direct numerical bonuses like those of the Swordsman system, but they are more like a "privilege boost" and an "efficiency amplifier".

Under the influence of the [Chunin] attribute, his future learning, training, and practical application in ninja-related fields will receive more efficient benefits.

They even possess the ability to enhance guidance, which aligns with the fact that Chunin can serve as teachers.

Another important change is that in the talent bar, [Ninjutsu Proficiency (Green)] has been quietly changed to [Ninjutsu Mastery (Blue)].

[Ninjutsu Mastery (Blue): Your understanding of ninjutsu principles and chakra manipulation have reached an exceptional level. You can perceive the intrinsic connections between different ninjutsu, easily combine and derive variations from the ninjutsu you have mastered, or choose the most effective ninjutsu to counter in the blink of an eye during combat.]

This upgrade was a direct result of the success of his finals strategy.

The powerful understanding is forged by the hammer of the shocking achievement of "breaking through the Sand Village's absolute defense" and the anvil of the astonishing act of "revealing himself as the developer of A-rank unsigned ninjutsu".

Finally, he broke through the bottleneck of low cognitive efficiency caused by the restriction of professional level, and pushed his already accumulated ninjutsu skills to the threshold of blue quality.

In contrast, while physical skills shone brightly in this exam and attracted widespread attention, they were not immediately upgraded to blue.

This was also within Shinichi's expectations. Unlike his ninjutsu knowledge, which was already close to breaking through, his profound impression of taijutsu needed more time to settle and ferment.

He sensed that this upgrade wouldn't be far off, perhaps within a month of returning to Konoha. As the details of the match spread and were discussed, the blue taijutsu attribute would naturally be added.

Finally, as expected, the panel clearly displayed: [Number of draws: 1 (blue)].

This is a precious opportunity that can only be unlocked when one is promoted to Chunin or higher. A brand new talent attribute, guaranteed to be of blue quality, is about to be in his hands.

Shinichi's gaze fell on the line "[Number of draws: 1 (blue)]", a blue entry, each of which could bring about a qualitative change.

But he did not rush to extract it immediately.

He planned to return to Konoha first, and then, as always, solemnly bathe and change his clothes, and perform a seemingly devout "prayer" that he knew was actually useless but full of personal ritual before drawing the item, in order to receive this important "gift".

Although it doesn't really serve any purpose, the sense of ritual is still important.

After closing the panel, Shinichi walked to the window and pushed open the wooden window.

The night sky over the border town was clear, with sparse but bright stars, and the distant mountain ranges could be vaguely seen in the direction of the Land of Fire.

However, his thoughts drifted to the more distant future. Combining fragments of memories from his past life with what he had seen and heard in this life, he had a rough but vague outline of the storm that was about to sweep through the ninja world.

Next year, as tensions between the various ninja villages continue to escalate, a silent "arms race" will intensify.

Each ninja village will desperately expand its military strength, and batches of ninja academy students will be rushed to graduate early and fill the ever-growing ninja army.

Just as Sunagakure was gearing up for a major battle, Sasori of the Red Sand, who had long been dissatisfied with the higher-ups, took a look:

You old man, you played so badly last season that my parents were ruined, and you still have the nerve to plan for the new season?

So this ruthless man, who believed "art is eternal," simply cleaned out his own ranks and eliminated the Third Kazekage.

When the Third Kazekage went missing, Sunagakure initially tried to cover it up and search for him, but as time went on, the news inevitably leaked out like a sieve after such a big "Kage" was gone.

Upon hearing this from the distant Hidden Cloud Village...

What? The Kazekage, the leader of Sunagakure, is gone?

I'll go see what's going on.

Then, the Third Raikage, known for his physical toughness and agility, and whose behavior patterns were sometimes rather "abstract," probably felt that just listening to reports wasn't enough.

He personally led an elite squad and staged an "extreme infiltration," passing through more than a dozen small countries and swaggering into the territory of the Wind Kingdom under the watchful eyes of the Fire and Earth Kingdoms.

When they arrived at the place, wow, it was all sand and stones, incredibly poor.

Perhaps they felt there wasn't much to gain in this place, or perhaps the Third Raikage himself finally cooled down from his hot-blooded state and realized that his journey across more than a dozen countries, from the northeast to the southwest of the continent, was indeed a bit too abstract.

Meanwhile, the Sand Village, thanks to Rasa's efforts in displaying Magnet Release, temporarily united and prepared for a decisive battle.

The Third Raikage, upon seeing this, realized that he was outnumbered and that a direct confrontation wouldn't be worthwhile. Besides, this place was the middle of nowhere, so there was no point in taking it, and there was no chance of governing it.

Therefore, he had no choice but to lead his men on a "victorious retreat".

After the match, adhering to the Mahayana philosophy of winning, both sides declared each other's victories to be overwhelming and decisive.

An internal crisis gave rise to a new leader. With his Magnet Release ability and his performance during the crisis, Rasa successfully rose to power and became the Fourth Kazekage.

When a new official takes office, he always faces a few thorny issues: First, the previous Kazekage has mysteriously disappeared, and he has to give the whole village an explanation.

Secondly, in order to find people and prepare for the battle, we have almost emptied our savings. The arrow is on the bowstring, and we have no choice but to release it.

Third, having just taken office, he urgently needed to establish prestige and consolidate power.

After much deliberation, Rasa slapped his thigh – Alright, we can't abandon the old traditions. Let's put this big, round black pot on our old neighbor and good ally, Konoha!

Therefore, Sunagakure launched a surprise attack on Konoha and declared war on Konoha.

When the Cloud Village saw the Sand Village's posture:

Alright then, if you attack Konoha, then I'll attack Konoha too!

Iwagakure and Kirigakure, watching from the sidelines, thought, "How could I miss out on this excitement?"

Since you're all here, I have to join in too, otherwise it would make our village seem like it has no presence.

You should know that when the five great ninja villages stand here, the whole world is at our feet.

Thus, the Third Shinobi World War, which affected the entire shinobi world, broke out in full force amidst this seemingly absurd but actually a chain reaction of years of accumulated conflicts and calculations of interests.

Thinking of this, Shinichi shook his head, dispelling the slightly sarcastic metaphors in his mind, and his eyes became calm and sharp again.

Humor aside, the cruelty of war is real, and he only had about a year left.

During this brief period of peace, we must make good use of the new privileges of the [Chunin] rank and the blue affixes we are about to acquire to raise our strength to a level sufficient to stand firm in the coming storm, and even... influence the direction of the wind.

"What should we do next?"

Shinichi fell into deep thought. After the Chunin Exams, with the new and subsequent upgrades further strengthening his abilities, he estimated that he would be roughly at the level of a full-fledged Jonin by then.

There may still be some slight differences in terms of overall experience, mission history, and handling of complex situations, but in terms of combat effectiveness alone, they are not far apart.

A year later, when the shadow of that great war truly began to fall, he was confident that he would be firmly standing at the level of a Jonin.

At that time, he was just ten years old, which was more than two years earlier than Kakashi, the genius who was almost thirteen when he was promoted to Jonin.

Furthermore, in Shinichi's opinion, when Kakashi was promoted to Jonin, his strength probably had not yet fully met the hard standards for Jonin.

After all, he suffered a great loss when fighting against the Jonin of Iwagakure. Even his family's White Fang short sword was broken, and he lost an eye. His true transformation was only completed under the intense stimulation of the Sharingan and the death of his comrades.

"A year from now, I should be able to genuinely possess the combat strength of a full-fledged Jonin, or even stronger." Shinichi silently estimated, "With this kind of strength, in the early stages of the turmoil, as long as I don't plunge headlong into the most brutal meat grinder battlefields or undertake the most dangerous missions, I should be able to protect myself."

Thinking this, Shinichi withdrew his gaze from the starry sky and decided to end the day.

But just as he turned around...

A vague pull, an inexplicable and subtle feeling, welled up from the bottom of his heart without warning.

It wasn't intense, but like a pebble thrown into a still lake, it created clear ripples.

"Um?"

He let out a soft "hmm," stopped what he was doing, and subconsciously brought up his personal panel again, his gaze falling directly on the column for "[Number of Draws: 1 (Blue)]".

At this moment, the vague feeling of sudden impulse did not dissipate, but instead became clearer and stronger, as if it was silently urging and guiding something.

The characteristics of the "auspicious omen" entry are becoming increasingly apparent.

The last time I had a similar feeling was three years ago when I was talking to Kakashi at the Konoha graveyard.

That naive guidance ultimately led him to utter words that echoed the core of the Second Hokage's dying words under the "gaze" of the Third Hokage, thus successfully entering the vision of the higher-ups and gaining far more attention and resources than ordinary ninja academy students.

So this time...

Shinichi's gaze sharpened, and he no longer hesitated.

What is the ceremony for returning to Konoha?

To hell with rituals!

Now or never.

In this border town's inn, under the starlight, is the perfect time!

He took a deep breath to calm his slightly racing heart and focused all his attention on the line of handwriting that emitted an alluring glimmer.

Extract!

It was as if a barely perceptible ripple spread through my consciousness, only to subside instantly. The "1 time (blue)" indicator on the panel returned to zero.

Immediately afterwards, at the end of the talent attribute list, a point of azure light bloomed, like a star illuminating the deep sea. Within the light, new words quickly condensed and solidified.

[Clone (Blue): You can replicate your original self, fusing with the bloodline genes of another creature to create an independent, permanent, and continuously growing clone. The clone shares consciousness and memories with the original self. The clone can inherit one class attribute and 50% of the talent attributes (rounded down) from the original self, including a maximum of one purple talent attribute. It cannot inherit talent attributes related to its own class or other classes. The specific attributes can be allocated by the original self. The original self can reallocate the inherited attributes by contacting the clone.]

[Note: The external world can also perceive the clone, but the effect is only 50% of the normal effect, and all perceptions generated will be directly fed back to the original body. Sacrificing one purple-quality attribute of the original body can upgrade this attribute to purple quality; this is the only way to upgrade.]

[The main body can actively reclaim its clones, absorbing a small portion of the clone's essence to strengthen itself. Once a clone is reclaimed, it cannot be restored; similarly, a clone cannot be restored upon its death.]

Oh?

What a wonderful...unexpected surprise!

It seems we need to adjust our plans for the future.

Shinichi's eyes flickered slightly, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn upwards.