In the 45th year of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Sand hosted the Chunin exams, and in accordance with the conventions of the Shinobi World, Konoha, as an ally, was among those invited.
In addition, some small and medium-sized ninja villages located around the countries of Wind and Fire, such as Amegakure, Kusagakure, and Hoshigakure, have also received invitations and will send their respective teams to participate.
On the day of departure, at the first light of dawn, a group of more than thirty people had already gathered outside the main gate of Konoha.
Apart from Jiraiya, who served as the leader, most of the participants were Genin who had signed up for the exam and their team leaders.
Jiraiya stood at the front of the line, clearly distracted, as if forced into his post, and listlessly began his brief address: "Ah... well, everyone, the purpose of our trip to the Village Hidden in the Sand is the Chunin exams! Remember, you represent the face of Konoha, so you must... never mind... safety first, and do what you can. The Village Hidden in the Sand is a place with lots of sand and little water, so be careful."
His words lacked any inspiring encouragement and were more like a perfunctory routine.
After speaking, he waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's go."
The group then set off on their journey to the Village Hidden in the Sand.
After traveling for three days, the group finally crossed the border of the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rivers, which lies between the lands of Wind and Fire.
Despite the monotony of the journey, Shinichi remained as diligent as ever. Whenever the team stopped to rest, he would always find a quiet corner near the camp to train without fail.
This day was no exception. After finishing his training, he wiped the sweat from his forehead as he walked back to the camp.
During the journey, he had a sudden thought and summoned his system panel, which only he could see.
Name: Shinichi Higashino
[Occupation: Genin, Swordsman]
[Talent: Omitted...]
Compared to when he first became a Genin six months ago, the changes in my talents are not significant.
Besides upgrading Friendly to Charming, the only other addition is Medical Fundamentals (White).
Looking at the panel in front of him, Shinichi frowned slightly, realizing that he was currently facing two obvious bottlenecks: First, his cognitive threshold had increased significantly. He is already a recognized genius in Konoha. Many performances that would be amazing for others are taken for granted when applied to him.
People's expectations of his excellence have been raised, resulting in a decrease in the impression score and depth of understanding that can be obtained with the same effort and results.
Second, the halo effect: Certain outstanding talents can act like a spotlight, attracting most of the attention and making it difficult for the outside world to clearly perceive and remember his other talents.
His Taijutsu shouldn't still be a white talent.
However, under the overall impression of genius, especially under the double halo of swordsmanship genius who defeated Kakashi in swordsmanship and Ninjutsu genius who independently developed A-rank Sealless Ninjutsu, his solid and outstanding achievements in Taijutsu were obscured and downplayed.
This is similar to the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
95% of the world's knowledge and legends focus on his incredible Wood Style, so much so that the fact that he was also a top master of the five chakra natures and even a master of medical Ninjutsu is overshadowed by his dazzling Wood Style and becomes little known.
"If the disguise Shadow Clones could also be..."
Shinichi had put a lot of effort into this idea, but eventually figured out the system's seemingly simple yet strict rules: Shadow Clones could help him gain recognition, but only if the outside world clearly knew that the Shadow Clone was Higashino Shinichi.
This means that he can have his Shadow Clones perform different activities with different focuses, using his original appearance and identity. For example, one could practice Taijutsu while the other could practice medicine, in order to try to diversify his focus and gain a multifaceted recognition.
However, doing so essentially just divides his time into several parts, and all the recognition will ultimately be superimposed on the single identity of Shinichi Higashino. The efficiency is slightly faster, but it can never solve the problem of halo obscuring.
He had also considered more ingenious methods: During a mission that lasted more than six months, he had his Shadow Clones change into completely different appearances and identities, using a brand new identity to specialize in building a reputation in a certain field in the village and surrounding area during the mission.
For example, create a ninja persona skilled in Genjutsu who remains calm and collected. This ninja, whom he calls Raven, acts calmly and uses exquisite methods. In the deliberately arranged encounters he has in several towns during his mission, he demonstrates remarkable skill in Genjutsu and a calm demeanor.
Based on Shinichi's previous estimates of the conditions for generating white-level talents, the level and attention shown by Raven should be sufficient to create a white-level talent for Genjutsu, and may even drive the upgrade of the Calm talent.
However, after more than six months of trying, the panel remained silent.
No matter how deep an impression Raven left on the local area, or how much praise and speculation it garnered, these recognitions were like rootless duckweed, unable to connect with him, Shinichi Higashino.
Genjutsu-related talents never appeared, and the Calm (White) talent remained unchanged.
This means that the core of the rules of cognition lies in the unity of name and reality, and cognition must be clearly directed at the real person, Shinichi Higashino.
Disguise means severing the causal chain between cognition and reality.
Therefore, his idea of using Shadow Clones to create an independent database of talents completely failed. He could not be the Genius ninja Shinichi Higashino, the Genius Genjutsu user Raven, or the Taijutsu Master Kai.
All his talents must be recognized under the unique identity of Shinichi Higashino, which is already shrouded in the halo of genius.
What should he do?
Shinichi pondered silently.
One approach is to focus on a key breakthrough and reach the pinnacle. Concentrate all resources and character development to first achieve unparalleled mastery in a specific field, reaching a level of achievement recognized throughout the Shinobi World, and then use this as a basis to challenge for higher-level talents.
However, the drawbacks of doing so are obvious: the growth of other talents will inevitably be slowed down or even stagnated, while the basic bonuses brought by these talents are crucial to him.
Moreover, even if he becomes a god-like figure in a certain field, he will probably still fall into the same predicament as the first Hokage; the world's attention will be firmly drawn to that most dazzling halo, and his other talents will still be difficult to gain enough recognition to support the upgrade of his talent.
Another approach is to pursue multiple fronts simultaneously, seeking a balance. However, this requires a more sophisticated plan and longer-term management, and given the current limited time and raised cognitive thresholds, efficiency becomes an issue.
"When I become Hokage, the first thing I'll do is set up a propaganda department, then buy up all the major newspapers and radio stations in the Shinobi World, and even have a special column about my deeds in textbooks of various countries."
Shinichi thought viciously, and not only that, he had planned even more meticulously.
For example, he would change their promotional focus every few years. In recent years, they've emphasized his physical strength and extraordinary power; a few years later, they would highlight his medical skills; and a few years after that, they would stress his strategic planning and tactics to create a three-dimensional impression of him as an all-around super genius across the Shinobi World.
A bizarre image even flashed through his mind for a moment: in the classroom of the future, the teacher pointed to the textbook.
"Class, today we're going to learn a new lesson, the Hokage knocks the moon down with a pebble..."
"... The Hokage bent down, picked up a pebble from the flower bed, and looked at the sky, saying, damn the Otsutsuki, then he threw the pebble upwards with all his might, and soon the moon in the sky suddenly burst into a dazzling light before falling..."
"Waaaaah, the Hokage is so great!"
"I can never repay the Hokage's kindness..."
In the brightly lit classroom, a group of little kids raised their hands high, jumped around, and had tears in their eyes.
Attention, the classroom lights are not on at this time!
Damn it!
Shinichi shuddered and quickly banished the increasingly outrageous image from his mind.