"Left Dragon God."
Akiko said as he unleashed an upward spin kick that transformed into a wind dragon, covering his whole body around the base of its body.
The dragon then moved towards a few target marks that Akiko had put on nearby trees and started to destroy one after the other another before every target mark was destroyed.
It was powerful and fast, obliterating everything it came into contact with.
The dragon then disappeared as Akiko reappeared.
"That should be perfect. Right, Azami?" He asked a girl wearing a jumpsuit who was sitting on a log near him.
"Grandpa's move is still much stronger but in terms of technique and execution, you are already half there." She replied.
"But I think you should not trust my words and try to decide for yourself. After all, we can't let the only person who can still perform the leaf dragon god die due to misjudgment and overconfidence." She replied.
"What do you mean the only one. You also know it too. And Master Chen might not be dead yet. It's just that we can't find him anymore. Who knows he might be on a vacation." Akiko replied to her.
"Yeah right. He has gone missing for a few weeks in the past before but I have never seen him disappear for months without a word."
"And for the technique itself, I am still not old enough to use it. I know how to perform it but I don't think my body can handle the technique without breaking any of my bones." She said as her face turned a bit sad for a while.
Akiko knew that he might have overstepped his boundaries and immediately stopped talking.
It was awkward but it was at least better than stepping on another land mine.
"Are you still training with your clones right now?" She asked.
Akiko nodded.
"I heard that the fifth Hokage had a meeting with the Kazekage for the next Chunin exam. I can't slack off at a time like this." Akiko replied.
"But you are already pretty strong. Stronger than some Chunins that I knew." Azami said to him.
"But that might not be enough. I heard that the genius from Hyuga is capable of taking down even some jonins and he still has not passed the exam yet." Akiko said.
"Then I will see you later. I need to go back and take a nap and rest my body." Akiko said.
It has been one year and ten months since Akiko started his training with Chen.
During the period Akiko made tons of progress in his taijutsu skills and he also made a lot of progress in his Ninjutsu skills too.
A few months ago he was able to master Chen's secret technique Leaf Dragon god but not long after that Chen disappeared without a word.
Both he and his granddaughter knew where the old man went.
The only thing they knew was that, before he left, the old man had left a flower on the grave of his former student.
*****
The next day.
Akiko arrived at the training ground where he saw a man sitting under the shade of a tree.
"You are here." He was Santa. A jonin from the Yamanaka household who was responsible for training Akiko.
Akiko sought Chen to train him in Taijutsu because Santa was not specialised in it but for his Ninjutsu and other shinobi skills Santa was responsible for teaching him everything that he knew.
"Do you know why I called you here today?" Santa asked.
"You said you wanted to give me something," Akiko replied.
"Right. But I wanted to also test you. If you are really ready to take the upcoming Chunin exam." Santa replied.
"Here. Tie this around your arm." Santa said as he threw a piece of white clothing to Akiko.
Akiko then noticed that Santa also had red clothing that was tied around his arm.
Akiko didn't question Santa and did what he said.
"I will give you thirty minutes. During that time you are supposed to defend the piece of cloth that you just tied around your arms. While also trying to snatch the one that is tied around my arm." Santa explained.
"If you didn't get the cloth that is tied around my arm you will fail this test and I will deem that you are not ready for the next chunin exam," Santa warned him.
"I see," Akiko replied.
"I am a jonin but you should know I am not a combatant so don't expect me to go easy on you," Santa warned him.
The two of them looked at each other in the eyes.
"When are we starting?" Akiko asked.
"Now," Santa said as he immediately threw two kunai at Akiko.
Akiko countered the kunai with two shurikens.
Then he immediately created two shadow clones.
The shadow clones quickly ran away and disappeared as soon as it was created.
Of course, the clones didn't go very far away.
It's just that the two clones were still nearby, concealing their location.
One of the clones used the sensory technique to scout the area around Akiko and the other clone used sensory transmission techniques to directly transfer the information that the body that was using the sensory technique found to Akiko's main body.
Normally this kind of set-up will use a lot of focus but Akiko was constantly using his clones to train for a few years so his focus was far above most normal shinobi.
Of course, his large Chakra pool also helped as being able to create multiple shadow clones while still leaving enough Chakra for combat is also a major requirement.
Of course, this technique has a few downsides.
If his clones are discovered this set-up will be immediately ruined.
This also requires a lot of Chakra so he might have to manage his Chakra more carefully and not only that prolonged battles can cause him dizziness.
Despite its limitations, he was still able to observe movements of his surroundings and keep track of his opponents's taijutsu and ninjutsu skills much better when using this type of ability.