Kaiji's training routine had expanded.
It now included morning training for physical conditioning with weights.
Then came Academy training, with its regular competitions or spars.
After Academy hours, he continued Shuriken throwing practice with his friends, noting it was getting much better.
After returning home, he has dedicated time to step 1 of learning Rasengan, Water Balloon popping.
Before sleeping, he do meditation.
This comprehensive schedule continued for the next month.
During this time, Kaiji, Ren, and Hiroshi continue doing Tree walking but in different ways.
Sometimes they use toes, and sometimes with hands or fingers to make tree walking harder as they already mastered tree walking.
Their Chakra Control had improved considerably, surpassing that of more than 80% of their classmates.
They now matched some of the top students who already possessed high Chakra Control.
Ren was already performing strongly in the class, consistently placing within the top 20 students.
While Hiroshi and Kaiji had also improved, they were still not within the top 40.
Kaiji, however, was able to enhance his Chakra Control even further because of his Rasengan training.
The entire training process for the Rasengan was designed to build precisely controlled chakra manipulation.
In step 1, using the water balloon, one needed to spin chakra rapidly in a focused manner.
In step 2, using the rubber ball, one needed to increase the power of the spinning chakra while maintaining that focused control.
The final step required containing a large amount of powerful, spinning chakra in a perfect sphere, without any external container.
Each step demanded greater precision and skill in molding and directing one's chakra, directly resulting in improved overall chakra control.
While constantly using a significant amount of chakra during this intense training pushed one's body's limits, it also indirectly increased Chakra Reserves a little.
Kaiji had initially been ready to dedicate most of his time until the Graduation exam solely on step one, the Water Balloon popping.
But to his surprise, he was able to complete the first step of popping the water balloon in 15 days.
In the anime, it took Naruto 3 days and one night, even with his initially poor chakra control, but because he possessed vast amounts of chakra reserves, which Kaiji obviously did not.
So, Kaiji had estimated it might take him between 1 to 2 months.
His chakra control, however, turned out to be much better than he had expected.
He immediately started the second step, using the rubber ball, however this proved to be much more difficult than the first.
It required not only precise control but also more concentrated power output.
Kaiji also once considered teaching the Rasengan to Ren and Hiroshi but ultimately decided against it.
Even though this is Sunagakure and Minato might have only recently finished creating the Rasengan.
Kaiji still couldn't risk the village's higher-ups getting gust of three Academy students independently creating an A-rank Ninjutsu.
He reasoned that Takeshi Sensei not reporting them learning Tree Walking wasn't a major issue; it wasn't a powerful or restricted exercise.
But a potent jutsu like the Rasengan, if mastered by three about-to-graduate students, would draw unnecessary attention, something Kaiji desperately wanted to avoid, at least for now.
He was currently weak. He couldn't afford anyone having special attention focused on him.
He especially worried about Sasori, who is currently present in this village.
Who knew? After dealing with the Third Kazekage, Satei, Sasori might even decide to add Kaiji to his puppet collection if Kaiji started gaining special attention for seemingly creating an A-rank Ninjutsu on his own.
Though chances are low of Sasori bothering with him but he still want to avoid him.
And then there is Rasa, who would become the next Kazekage, and whose personality and thinking process is arguably even worse.
In anime Minato made his son, Naruto, a Jinchuriki because there was no other option at that time.
But Rasa made his son a Jinchuriki even before he was born, resulting in his wife's death.
And then Rasa also expected his 4 or 5-year-old son to take full control of the Ichibi's power.
Kaiji absolutely did not want to attract unnecessary attention from either Sasori or Rasa.
Being seen as a simply talented trainee in the Academy was acceptable.
But appearing as a genius who could independently create an A-rank Ninjutsu would only create significant problems for Kaiji.
This was especially true since he wasn't like Kakashi, a genius talented from birth.
He would appear to have suddenly become a genius.
Kaiji's decision not to teach Ren and Hiroshi about the Rasengan was made after thorough consideration.
Having them learn tree Walking for chakra control wasn't going to be an issue.
But the Rasengan would be a big problem if he told them about it and someone get a gust of it.
Kaiji shook his head, letting go of these worrying thoughts for the moment.
He refocused his mind, 'Only a little less than 3 months are left for the graduation exam,' he thought.
He needed to focus only on improving and graduating as a Genin assigned to a team, not as a member of the canon fodder department, the 'Genin corps.'