Gold mine
[You have killed [Level 26 Crab Summoned Beast]. You have earned 465 EXP]
[You have killed [Level 18 River Serpent]. You have earned 345 EXP]
[You have killed [Level 27 Desert Scorpion]. You have earned 480 EXP]
[You have killed [Level 20 Swamp Hag]. You have earned 370 EXP]
[You have killed [Lv. 22 Amegakure Shinobi]. You have earned 850 EXP]
[You have killed [Level 30 Ice Golem]. You have earned 580 EXP]
[You have killed [Level 24 Cave Bat]. You have earned 430 EXP]
[You have killed [Lv. 14 Amegakure Shinobi]. You have earned 120 EXP]
[...]
Any battlefield would qualify as a gold mine of experience, but with the [Fate Breaker Ring [S]], his growth rate had increased dramatically. Adding to the fact that summoned beasts were easy targets for team 146, they did not even join Koharu's team to start a carnage.
"We have 83 tokens already", Eiji said as he kept count with a grin on his face, "At this rate, the others will only have scraps"
In the past couple of hours, team 146 had crossed the path of eight shinobi teams. Those from Sunagakure were spared and protected, while the others were decimated. In this stage, the fights were meant to be deadly, and it would probably the only such one. After all, each village would not want their best assets to die, and would follow the usual structure of a tournament.
The survival stage, however, was almost impossible to monitor, especially for a village like Tanigakure which did not possess a vast amount of sensors or enough jonins to stop deaths without interfering. Since the goal was to shrink the number of participants, the examinators took a calculated risk by allowing skirmishes to the death.
What Tanigakure did not expect, however, was the edge that life on a battlefield could give to the Sunagakure genin corps shinobi. After years of experience on a battlefield, each one of them knew their strengths and weaknesses. In terms of talent, they were not better than Konoha. Actually, it was quite the contrary as they lacked special bloodlines and thousand-years-old legacies.
Yet, in the stage, the difference of battle experience showed.
Hours passed, and the tokens piled up in their storage scroll.
"Only seventeen to go, and there are still two and a half days left before the end of the trial", Kaito said, "Since there is no limit, we'd better take this chance to deal damage to the other villages. Plus, if we make big waves, it will positively impact the view of nobles like the Wind Damiyo on our village"
"Right, mister I know all", Aki said in a teasing voice
Looking down at his status page, Kaito could not help but let out a small chuckle.
[Name - Kaito | Level 31 Sunagakure Genin [11 100 / 24 000 EXP] | HP - 380 / 380
Title - Sunagakure Genin (+30% EXP and reputation from Sunagakure missions), Tanigakure Enemy (+10% EXP from Tanigakure enemies)
Attributes:
Strength - 26 → 27 (+5) | Agility - 28 → 29 (+4) | Vitality - 30 → 33 (+5) | Chakra - 56 → 69 (+5)
Chakra control: [B-rank]
Perk - Puppeteer (Increased growth rate of puppet-related skills)
Skills: Puppet Creation Mastery (B), Puppet Control Mastery (B), Poison Mastery (C), Information Gathering (D), Sunagakure Taijutsu (D), Shuriken Mastery (E), Kunai Mastery (E), Stealth (E), Sand Serpent Swordsmanship (E)
Jutsu: Mystic Palm Technique (C), Katonjutsu Fire Blast (C), Katonjutsu Rain of Fire (C), Katonjutsu Fire Shuriken (D), Fire Clone (E), Burning Hands (E), Katonjtsu Fire Bullet (E)
Hidden Art: Katon Petrifying Smoke [Emi clan] (D)
Puppets - Jinx [Shuriken Launcher N°42] (B), Sand Serpent (C), Crow (C)
Equipment - Fate Breaker [S], Sunagakure Uniform (+4 all), Sunagakure headband (+1 Chakra), Bandit Ring (+1 Strength), Yellow-steel Blade (Increased sharpness), Puppet Brigade Gloves (+5 DEF), Bandit Pendant (+1 Vitality)]
The average Lv. 30 chunin would have roughly 30 points of stats in all attributes.
However, specific training and level ups boosted Kaito's strength significantly while not affecting his growth rate. By taking things slow and focusing on skills rather than attributes while specializing on ninjutsu, he had managed to reach a terrifying level of chakra while still qualifying as a chunin in terms of pure physical stats, thus fixing the puppeteer's biggest flaw : the puppeteer himself.
Of course, he only seldomly had an opportunity to test it out in real battles, as the essence of team 146 formation was to protect him at all cost with both Aki and Eiji defending him extremely proficiently.
To be fair, the two of them were exceeding his expectations.
They were talented, but far from qualifying as geniuses. And while they were struggling a bit to keep up with his growth rate, they were full-fledged chunins in terms of battle prowess, skills and experience. In terms of potential, it was not something that should have been possible, even with Kaito's effort to make them train even when they did not want to, taking missions that challenged them to push their limits even when they could not handle it.
It was pure willpower, a will to catch up to him, a will to match his expectations and growth.
Eiji's talks about becoming Kazekage were becoming increasingly rarer, a new passion emerging. Deep inside, he knew that Kaito had the potential to become a Kazekage, and if that happened, he wanted to become a worthy sword.
Aki was different, her ambitions difficult to see through, but her mentorship with Taki's daughter definitely help her to overcome obstacles. In terms of potential, she also happened to be the most talented, daughter of a family of two chunins.
The stage of the battlefield was going unprecedently well for team 146. After all, they had not become the cornerstorn of Taki's platoon for no reason. They were assets that were individually much stronger than the average chunin, and their formation had proved times and times again to be combat-wise unmatched.
However, miles away from their position, they were not the only Sunagakure surprise of this battlefield.
Unknowingly, reputation and ethic had brought a wave of change in the Sunagakure genin corps. Years later, results were showing, and fate was being overwritten.
From a distance, the sage toad collapsed.
"This fog...A fog appeared in my vision...I cannot see anymore...The waves of fate are too turbulent..."