After Taruī finished delivering the information and dismissed them, Uchiha Kazuhiko and the others dispersed to prepare for the next day's matches.
That evening, after finishing his training, Uchiha Kazuhiko felt hungry. He took some money and headed to the Cloud Village's food street for a meal.
Due to the Chunin Exams, a large number of spectators had gathered in the Cloud Village, making every restaurant extremely crowded during meal times.
Uchiha Kazuhiko searched for a long time before finally finding a ramen shop with an empty seat in a remote side alley.
"Boss, one large bowl of tonkotsu ramen."
After agonizing over the various ramen choices, Uchiha Kazuhiko settled on the tonkotsu ramen, which looked relatively more appetizing, and asked the owner to prepare his food quickly.
"Here you go, customer, your large bowl of tonkotsu ramen." The friendly owner placed a steaming bowl of ramen in front of Uchiha Kazuhiko, accepted the payment with a smile, and said, "Thank you for your patronage. Please enjoy your meal."
"Let's eat." Uchiha Kazuhiko put his hands together briefly before starting to taste the aromatic ramen.
"Hmm... the flavor is acceptable, but it doesn't have the chewiness of Ichiraku Ramen. It seems the owner's control over the cooking time is still lacking,"
Uchiha Kazuhiko thought to himself after a few bites, mentally comparing it to the ramen from Ichiraku in Konoha. He found that Uncle Teuchi's ramen was indeed better, though this might have been largely due to him being accustomed to Konoha's food.
After finishing the ramen, Uchiha Kazuhiko left the shop, planning to take the small Pixiu for a walk outside the Cloud Village.
Unexpectedly, shortly after leaving the village, he spotted the Sand ninja named Yomi from the exams, hurriedly leaving the Cloud Village and running towards the distant mountains and forests.
Curious, Uchiha Kazuhiko quietly followed him, intending to find out what was happening.
Not long after Uchiha Kazuhiko used his Blood Concealment Technique to follow Yomi into the forest, Yomi suddenly stopped in front of an ancient tree and said coldly, "Come out."
Uchiha Kazuhiko was surprised, thinking his Blood Concealment Technique had been exposed. Just as he was about to reveal himself, a hoarse, low chuckle came from within the ancient tree.
"Hehehe, as expected of Yomi. You could still detect my presence like this."
As the words faded, a Sand Anbu operative, nearly perfectly blended with the ancient tree, leaped down from a branch and walked slowly to stand before Yomi.
A flash of disgust appeared in Yomi's eyes before they returned to their cold state. He asked impatiently, "Well? Did the Minister agree?"
"The Minister said that if you can win first place in the Chunin Exams, the Anbu will agree to your request."
"I understand. Go back and tell the Minister I will demonstrate the value of Swift Release to him. As long as he helps our clan through this difficult time, we are willing to follow his orders from now on."
Hearing the Sand Anbu's answer, Yomi visibly relaxed, though his previously upright posture now seemed somewhat desolate and forlorn.
"Hehehe, in that case, we look forward to your performance, Yomi."
Having delivered the message, the Sand Anbu operative had completed his task. He quickly left this dangerous place, which was highly exposed to Cloud ninja surveillance.
After the Sand Anbu left, Yomi stood there silently for a long time before finally leaving the forest with a sigh.
Uchiha Kazuhiko waited for a while after Yomi had left before emerging from his hiding spot. He summoned the small Pixiu and took a walk through the forest to bond with it.
Suddenly, the playfully frolicking Pixiu stopped, a pained expression on its face.
"Little Pixiu, what's wrong?"
Uchiha Kazuhiko grew nervous and quickly picked it up to check, simultaneously using the power of the pet contract to communicate with it.
"Master, my body feels so hot... Growl..."
The Pixiu let out a pained growl, jumped out of Uchiha Kazuhiko's arms, and upon landing, had already transformed into its combat form, its limbs restlessly pawing the ground.
"ROAR!" Suddenly, the Pixiu let out another roar. A golden energy, like flames, erupted from its body, enveloping it completely.
Amidst the Pixiu's painful cries, its body began to expand like a balloon.
The dragon scales covering its body changed from their previous orange red to a noble, imposing gold-red. Its amber eyes now emitted a soul-stirring golden light.
Uchiha Kazuhiko didn't know what was happening or how to handle it. He could only watch the changes happening to the Pixiu until the golden flames finally vanished.
"ROAR!"
The Pixiu roared again, but this time, the sound held no pain only sheer exhilaration and excitement.
Uchiha Kazuhiko looked up at the nearly ten-meter-tall Pixiu and asked with concern, "Little Pixiu, are you alright?"
The Pixiu shushed back to its ordinary size, jumped onto Uchiha Kazuhiko's shoulder, and nuzzled his cheek affectionately as it explained,
"Master, I'm fine. My body just absorbed a massive amount of dragon essence from the Dragon Soul and completed the first metamorphosis of the Nine Transformations into a Dragon."
"Nine Transformations into a Dragon?" Uchiha Kazuhiko looked at the Pixiu in surprise. "You're saying you can eventually evolve into a divine dragon?"
"Of course, Master! I am the ninth son of the divine dragon. Once I complete the Nine Transformations and survive the heavenly tribulation, I can transform into a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon."
The Pixiu, having unlocked part of its inherited memories, proudly raised its head.
"Is that so? Come on, let me test your current strength."
Uchiha Kazuhiko was immensely pleased with the Pixiu's growth. It was worth using the precious Dragon Soul on it. His initial choice had clearly been the correct one.
"Alright, Master, attack me."
The Pixiu jumped off Uchiha Kazuhiko's shoulder, returned to its massive combat form, and stood there, allowing Uchiha Kazuhiko to launch an attack.
"Eight Inner Gates: Gate of Pain, Open!"
Uchiha Kazuhiko didn't hold back. He directly opened the Fourth Gate, using his full strength to deliver a powerful blow to the Pixiu's forelimb.
Thud.
His fist collided with the dragon scales, producing a dull sound. The Pixiu remained motionless, while Uchiha Kazuhiko was thrown back several steps by the recoil force from the scales.
"Incredible physical strength! Little Pixiu, with just this body alone, you can rival Kage-level fighters in this world."
Uchiha Kazuhiko looked at the Pixiu with a hint of envy. Although the Sharingan was hailed as one of the strongest Kekkei Genkai in the ninja world, the gap between it and the powerful bloodline of a divine beast like this was beyond significant.
The Pixiu shrank back to its ordinary size, jumped back onto Uchiha Kazuhiko's shoulder, and continued,
"Master, I've also awakened some innate skills related to metal, water, and earth attributes."
All things in the world are composed of the Five Elements. The cycle of generation and restriction among them directly determines the rise and fall of all things. The Pixiu's elemental affinity is complex, encompassing three of the Five Elements: Earth, Metal, and Water. Therefore, upon completing its first transformation, it awakened some low-level innate skills.
"Oh? What innate skills?" Uchiha Kazuhiko was looking forward to hear about them.
"For Earth: Earth Spike Technique, Earth Tremor. For Water: Water Shield Technique, Raging Waves. For Metal: Golden Armor Technique, Golden Arrow Technique."
As the Pixiu named each skill, it demonstrated it on a large tree in the forest. By the time it finished, most of the forest before them had been destroyed.
Such a huge commotion naturally attracted the attention of the Cloud Village, which dispatched a small team of ninja to investigate.
A shadow clone guarding the forest's periphery detected the approaching Cloud ninja and immediately dispelled itself, transmitting the information back.
"Not good, let's go!"
Upon learning this, Uchiha Kazuhiko immediately created two shadow clones to distract the Cloud ninja.
His main body used the Blood Concealment Technique to suppress its presence and quietly returned to the Cloud Village from another direction.