Chapter 40: Second Exam Complete

"Liar!" said Hana with a smug grin as they were a distance away from the battlefield, and neither of them could sense the presence of any of the other Genin. "You used your new technique from the beginning!"

"Of course, I lied. We are Shinobi. I don't want to make my new technique public knowledge. Not only would I lose the surprise factor, but now Sunagakure would also target me if I can control Ninja Puppets without any Chakra Strings." 'Not only Sunagakure but also Sasori of the Red Sand. And I don't want to fight that guy or any other member of the Akatsuki for now,' he added mentally as he led them further towards the Tower in the Center of the forest, while carefully monitoring their surroundings with his Sensing Technique.

"Yeah, it's better that way. I still can't believe you managed to complete that in just the five months we had till the Exam," she muttered while following him with her Ninken, who were also sniffing the air for any sign of enemies.

He managed to accomplish his goal of being able to control his Ninja Puppets with only his mind, well, at least partially. The technique he created based on the notes of the Yamanaka Clan and some other insight, like the Shadow Clone technique, splits a part of his consciousness and sends it into his Puppet, allowing him to control it remotely.

Unfortunately, the technique was still limited for now. He could only control one Puppet at his current level. His spiritual strength wasn't strong enough to split his mind into more parts that he could send into Puppets. The Chakra requirements for this technique were also pretty steep, not as much as an actual Shadow Clone, but still, it was expensive.

He also calculated that there would be a limit on how many Puppets he could control at the same time with this method. For some reason, it was six, six like the Corpse Puppets of the Rinnegan and the Sage of Six Paths. Or the amount of Horcruxes Voldemort creates in Harry Potter safely. This seemed to be some kind of limitation with splitting his spiritual consciousness. And he wasn't sure whether he would be able to break that limit to create a Puppet Army like Sasori.

But his second project was more successful. After he finished his hidden Laboratory, he still carried his stuff in Seals with him, so they wouldn't get into the wrong hands, and his Laboratory had a lot of security features based on seals, with self-destruction functionalities.

He took apart the bodies he collected and studied their composition, biology, and especially the Chakra Network, while making sure to harvest as much DNA and other samples like Sharingans from them. He now had over 15 pairs of fully developed Sharingan and additionally 7 pairs with only two tomoe or less.

This research allowed him to understand how Chakra was flowing through the body and allowed him to create a central control Unit based on his knowledge of biology, engineering, and Fuinjutsu, with an artificial Chakra Network powering the different mechanical parts of his Puppets.

These Puppets were fundamentally different from any of his previous models or any Puppet of Sunagakure. As they no longer needed Chakra Strings to move but were powered by Chakra and worked like a Robot. Their greatest weakness right now is the limited Chakra reserves that he had to charge regularly, as there was Chakra stored in seals that he modified just for that purpose of acting as a power source.

Their storage capacity wasn't as good as Tsunade's or future Sakura's Strength of a Hundred Seal, but they fulfilled their purpose, as he used multiple in them to power his Puppets that could be called Robots.

These Puppets were far more robust as they could be made of stronger materials since they no longer relied on his Chakra Strings for movement. And also had some new interesting features while retaining the classical hidden weapons like Poisons, Explosives, and other different things of a normal Puppet.

In general, there were two different modes they could be controlled with. The first one was through a Chakra string connecting with the Central Control Unit, but different from a normal Puppet, it wasn't used to move it, but rather to send a Chakra Signal that controls that Puppet. It was much easier to control than normal, allowing Tekku to reach the Soft Cap of 10 every Puppet User had with these kinds of Puppets.

The second mode was through his newly developed mind technique that he calls inspired by the Rinnegan, Green Secret Technique: Puppeteering of the Six Paths. This technique can unfold the true power of the Puppet because besides fighting like a regular Puppet, the Puppet can use jutsu like a Shinobi while being controlled in that way.

So in a way, he broke through the limitation of a normal Puppet User. Right now, he could control one Puppet with the mind while 10 with his Strings. Meanwhile, that Mind Controlled Puppet can also control another 10 Puppets with Strings, bringing him to a total limit of 22 Combatants, including him, at the same time.

Once he masters his Green Secret Technique: Puppeteering of the Six Paths, allowing him to have 77 Combatants at the same time, which should help him overwhelm most Jonin Level opponents alone through sheer number.

Unfortunately, he can even now only use 21 of his Puppets as a last resort, as there was no way to support such an amount of Chakra for long. He would need weeks between every fight to Charge all these Puppets. This was one of the problems he would have to solve in the future, but his new technique revealed a big amount of new possibilities. From now on, he should focus on Quality instead of Quantity.

- Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi -

"Time elapsed in the second exam: four hours, twenty-six minutes. This is a new record for the exam held in the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, the both of them even surpassed Itachi's record. Taking also into consideration the fact that the exam is based on three-person cells, this record is astounding," said an Anbu with a white Tiger mask to the other occupants in the room.

"He is a perfect candidate for Anbu, Hiruzen. Don't let yourself be blinded by Itachi," said Danzo, as he watched the screen that showed Tekku and Hana with the one eye that wasn't bandaged.

"Tekku is only 9 years old. Anbu's are required to be 13," replied Hiruzen calmly while in his thoughts.

"Exceptions can be made. We did it before with Itachi. We don't know his actual age; it is even easier to forge the necessary paperwork," explained Danzo with a fierce look. "His rise in strength is too fast to remain a part of the regular force. And we still aren't sure about his actual loyalty. In the Anbu, we could keep an eye on him, and he would disappear for a while from the eyes of the ones that want to kill him."

"And what about the girl? Will you just break their team up?" asked the Third Hokage, still contemplating.

"Yes, she doesn't have the mentality for Anbu yet. But she could get there. Her talent in the medical field isn't bad. Both of them are likely to become Chunin this exam. The perfect opportunity to split them up, put her into the medical department for a while, where she can grow further," rationalized Danzo, gripping his walking stick tightly. "The aftermath of the Uchiha Massacre was only solved due to the hard work of the Anbu, and the force was weakened dramatically. With Hatake also leaving the force, there is a dire need for fresh talent."

"We shall see. But he won't be under your control," said Hiruzen, still a distant look in his eyes but a hard voice indicating that the discussion was over.

Danzo just had anger on his face before he wordlessly turned around and left the room.

- Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi -

AN: If you enjoyed the Chapter, please leave some Power Stones. It helps!

- Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi - Shinobi -

For 10+ more advanced Chapters visit P_a_t_r_e_o_n.com/QuillArcher

Thank you everyone for your support. It's very much appreciated!