A few days later when Akiko decided to go to the training ground to train by himself.
But unexpectedly he saw Santa waiting for him again under the shade of a tree.
"Santa-Sensei? You are already back." Akiko asked Santa.
He nodded.
"Of course. The mission that I have to take was not a very hard mission. It was just a B-rank mission that I had to go because the village was lacking manpower." Santa replied.
"However I also received some news after coming back from the mission. It was not bad news for me. But I don't think you would particularly like this news." Santa said.
"Because of the Kazakage's death a year before, the Chunin exams have been cancelled for this year."
"The village was under a lot of pressure, although the village still has a good relationship with the sand village, and trust between Konoha and the other villages has been weakened. So the new exam cannot be organised during this time span." Santa said to Akiko.
"Now to become a Chunin you have to get promoted by the Hokage directly. The only other way is to wait until the next exams start, which might take at least a year at the bare minimum," Santa explained.
"Of course, I would still train you and try to help you become a Chunin since it was in our agreement. But now you might have to take a different path if you want to become a Chunin." Santa said to Akiko.
"If you want I can take you along with me on the missions that are ranked below B rank or less so that you can accumulate experience and become a good candidate for chunin promotion recommendation," Santa said.
Akiko didn't deny Santa's suggestions since he knew that was the best Santa could do for him.
*****
In the next few days, Akiko continued his training with Santa.
He was able to master the body flicker technique after one month.
It was a common technique that almost every ninja in the village knew and did not require a steep learning curve, so it was not very surprising that Akiko was able to learn it.
In fact, taking a whole month to learn the skill can be considered slow, since most shinobi learned it in two or three weeks.
Of course, this was because Akiko was still using his clones to learn how to control chakra much more efficiently while learning the body flicker technique.
This prevents him from fully focusing on mastering the body flicker technique.
After that, Santa decided to teach him the sensory skills.
"To be a good sensory ninja you must know how to use sensory skills," Santa stated.
"You can accomplish this by changing your chakra into what is known as the sensory mode by kneading them. To do that concentration is required."
"Change my chakra?" Akiko was confused.
"Yes. Although you could accomplish this even without using any hand signs since this will be your first time you should try to memorise the hand signs I am going to show you. If you follow all my guidance you should be able to change your chakra to sensory mode without any difficulties." Santa explained.
"I should also tell you that just like how it is almost impossible to use the body flicker technique during combat, you also can't use sensory skills when you are preoccupied with something. Like a battle or having something on your mind."
"It should be possible to use it if you are using a clone but just like how I taught you before the clone can relay the information that it got only when it is cancelled or destroyed." Santa reminded.
"I will first demonstrate to you how to use sensory skills. Try to observe the hand signs I used carefully." He then used a few hand signs and closed his eyes.
Then he put two of his palms on the ground.
After a few seconds, Santa got up again and opened his eyes.
"That is how you normally perform a sensory skill. Although there are some shinobi who can use it without the need for hand signs they are one in a million"
"And since this is a skill that allows you to sense others' chakras I can't show you how it really works. The most I can show you is how to perform it and how it is used." Santa explained.
"Those hand signs are needed if you want to use sensory skills since they can automatically transform your chakra into sensory chakra. But if you have talent in the sensory department you might be able to change your chakra into sensory mode with just one hand sign or no hand signs at all in the future."
"I will show you the hand signs again so that you can try it for yourself," Santa said as he showed Akiko the hand signs needed to use the technique again.
Unlike the Body flicker technique, Akiko was able to finish his Sensory training much faster as he seems to possess talent in that particular area.
When he successfully used it for the first time he was taken aback.
He realised that almost every living being has different types of chakra.
For example, the chakras of dogs are different from the chakras of humans.
Not only that he also realised that the chakras of people who are related to each other are somewhat similar.
He could roughly determine how strong someone was by sensing how much chakra they possess.
It was not 100% accurate since there are some people who have high chakra while still not being that strong because they lack chakra control and experience but it was better than nothing.
It could be used to track someone down especially if they possess a large amount of chakra or possess an extremely chakra signature.
It can give you a 360-degree vision while also allowing you to see chakra through solid objects.
The only weakness was that it was a utility move that cannot be used in combat otherwise it could be a game-changer.
Since it was basically the famous Byakugan of the Hyuga clan without any kind of blind spot.