Shiki stared at the fish, frowning slightly as he observed it for a long time without moving a muscle. Yet the fish showed absolutely no reaction.
Could it be...a failure?
Just when Shiki thought this, movement suddenly came from under his hand.
Then, the fish slipped out from his grip and began bouncing across the table, as if celebrating its rebirth.
"It looks like I succeeded after all!" Shiki said quite contentedly. Indeed, this meant he was now capable of serving as the medical ninja in a team.
Immediately afterward, Shiki began removing fish one by one from the freezer.
Their once-frozen, stiff bodies gradually came back to life beneath his hands, wriggling like healthy fish again.
Seeing this, Shiki couldn't help but smile proudly. At the very least, his strength must've improved again, right?
He turned his attention to the glowing Scalpel taking shape in his palm. Though it carried no sense of weight, Shiki knew it possessed sharpness capable of cutting through steel.
"Sena-chan! The fish you wanted are ready. I'm heading out for training!"
Shiki called out lightly, then started packing up his things.
Suddenly, he noticed the weights beside his bed.
He also felt the current weight on his legs.
"I guess it's time to increase my weights again."
Chapter 83: Beginning of the Battle
Shiki had often marveled at Konoha Village's lush greenery, how the towering canopies blocked out bits of sweltering heat.
Though no one ever talked about protecting the environment here, planting trees had become a shared silent agreement among the villagers.
Even Shiki himself didn't easily destroy trees; if ever he accidentally damaged some plants during training, he would plant even more replacements.
With conditions this favorable for growing trees, even young saplings hardly need extra care.
Following Shiki's gaze, there stood rows of newly sprouted saplings—each personally planted by Shiki himself.
However, if one had Wood Release abilities, such tasks would probably be extremely simple.
Over on the other side, Yuuma Akimoto was chasing butterflies around, maintaining her naturally innocent personality. Shiki even wondered whether, if Yuuma actually took this year's Chunin Exams, she might just beat Sakura's record for the lowest fighting power ever seen.
In contrast, Seiji Ito continuously swung the sword in his hand, as if stopping for even a moment would cause him to lose something important.
"Everyone arrived pretty early, huh?" Hayate Gekko bounded effortlessly over several towering trees before landing gracefully in the grassy clearing.
"The sensei isn't late either. We've only just arrived ourselves," Yuuma said upon seeing Hayate's arrival, releasing the butterfly in her hand to let it fly away freely.
Hayate nodded. "Today's supposed to be wilderness survival training, but think of it more like a trial for you all. As long as you hide your presence well within this forest, you may use any tools you wish—traps, kunai, shuriken, explosive tags—and whoever manages to snatch these two bells from me will win."
Seiji Ito remained expressionless as he asked, "Two bells?"
"Two bells," he said. "I assume you both understand that one of you will definitely fail this exam."
"Huh?"
Yuuma Akimoto wore a sorrowful expression on her face. She knew she couldn't possibly compare to Shiki or Seiji.
If she failed, she'd be sent back to the Academy. She wouldn't be an independent ninja anymore—just another helpless orphan with no one to rely on.
Her face fell automatically.
Shiki noticed but didn't say anything. The truth was, he understood that whether they could grab the bells wasn't really the point at all.
The real issue was whether they would consider each other teammates and cooperate.
Although Shiki had originally intended to tell them this, he changed his mind in the end.
"After all, it wouldn't really be an exam unless they didn't see it coming."
Shiki glanced at Seiji Ito. Truthfully, he had no idea what was going through Seiji's head behind that cold facade.
Yuuma hesitantly raised her frail hand again and asked nervously, "Excuse me, Instructor Hayate, what if we accidentally hurt each other using so many ninja tools?"
Yuuma had absolutely no concept of what a Jonin really meant. Instinctively, even using sharpened Kunai alone already felt extremely dangerous.
As for things like Explosive Tags? Those were downright scary. And Hayate Gekko looked quite sickly—if anything went wrong, it'd be terrible.
Yet upon hearing this, Hayate Gekko showed no sign of feeling slighted. Instead, he placed the bells before himself and gave them a shake.
The crisp sound rang out as Hayate smiled. "If you can do it, even taking the bells by killing me is a valid option."
Yuuma's eyes widened, clearly shocked.
"Yuuma, the teacher's just putting on a show," Shiki reassured, patting Yuuma's shoulder. "Truthfully, do you really think dozens more Genin would stand a chance either?"
"Don't lack confidence in yourselves like this," Hayate said, drawing the sword from behind his back. "Well then, shall we begin?"
No one moved.
Frowning, Yuuma steeled her resolve and glared fiercely at Seiji Ito, though not advancing even a single step forward.
Seiji Ito raised his sword vertically, seemingly ready to charge at Hayate Gekko at any moment.
Standing awkwardly in place, Shiki hadn't moved either.
Hayate looked embarrassed. "Did none of you hear what I just said? Or did I suddenly go mute?"
Yuuma quietly made a series of hand seals while muttering to herself, "I don't know how to set traps or use Explosive Tags. Close combat with the instructor is my only option."
"I wield only a blade. Dodging would be meaningless," Ito replied coldly.
Then Hayate turned his gaze to Shiki.
"What about you, Shiki?"
"Me?" Shiki grinned. "Teacher, you know I'm still recovering from injuries—I can't use Ninjutsu right now. So rather than getting picked off one by one by you, the instructor, I'd prefer to fight you head-on with everything I've got!"
Shiki's gaze sharpened, and a fierce battle aura surged within him.
Now that he thought about it, this was only the second time he'd faced a Jonin head-on?
Gekko Hayate felt helpless. The cool strand of hair hanging over his forehead drooped along with his gloomy mood.
He sighed inwardly. Why did he always end up with students like these?
"Fine then! If you're really set on doing this, we'll skip all other steps and start right now!"
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