So… what exactly was going on here?
Hyuga Arin stared at the man in front of him, falling into deep thought.
This was clearly supposed to be the opponent Hisoka ran into—yet somehow, the guy had ended up right in front of him instead.
Who was messing with him?
"Damn it! Then I'll just deal with you first and go settle accounts with that bastard Hisoka later!" the man said angrily.
You're not being reasonable at all.
If you want Hisoka, then go find Hisoka—why do you have to deal with me first?
Hyuga Arin was speechless.
Still—
He extended his hand, and a bronze blade appeared in his grip. Perfect timing—he could see just how much experience this guy would give.
Seeing the bronze blade appear in Hyuga Arin's hand, the examiner curled his lips into a grin.
"So you're a Nen user too. Conjuration type?"
He clearly didn't have Netero's or Hisoka's level of insight.
He pulled two knives from his waist and tossed them into the air, then hurled the two remaining knives straight at Hyuga Arin, reaching up to catch the falling blades at the same time.
Malicious Nen erupted from his body.
The four blades spun at high speed as they slashed toward Hyuga Arin. Chakra gathered in Hyuga Arin's hand.
"Bear Wrestling Hand—Unknown Fire!"
The flaming blade slashed heavily into one of the knives, knocking it out of rotation. However, even under the extreme heat, the blade wasn't cut through.
At the same time, another knife flew in.
Hyuga Arin twisted his body to dodge, but the blade that had been knocked away began spinning again, streaking back toward him.
Meanwhile, the examiner charged forward, the two knives in his hands slashing down at Hyuga Arin.
Hyuga Arin swung his blade, forcing him back. But the knives sent flying behind him once again spun around, returning to attack.
He bent low to dodge, only to see the other blade coming in as well—along with the two knives the examiner threw by hand.
Hyuga Arin raised his arm and flung several shuriken toward the examiner.
The examiner sprinted to the left to evade, then leapt up, planting a foot against the wall and using the rebound force to hurl himself at Hyuga Arin.
Four spinning knives closed in, the examiner charging straight at him—
Every possible dodge path was sealed.
Just as the four blades were about to strike, Hyuga Arin's figure abruptly vanished.
Only a worthless shuriken remained, instantly shredded into fragments by two passing knives.
Hyuga Arin reappeared at the spot where the shuriken had landed.
The examiner caught two knives and hurled them again, then grabbed the remaining two mid-air.
Hyuga Arin slashed, flames arcing outward, knocking the two knives away. With his free hand, he thrust forward through empty air.
"Eight Trigrams—Vacuum Palm!"
The compressed air blast slammed into the examiner. He sensed the danger instantly, crossing his arms in front of his body.
Boom!!
His body was smashed hard into the wall.
Hyuga Arin seized one of the knives that had stopped spinning and looked at the examiner sliding down the cracked wall.
The examiner grinned.
"You're pretty strong."
Hyuga Arin grinned back, eyes burning with excitement.
"And you should give me quite a lot of experience."
This guy was stronger than any chūnin Hyuga Arin had faced before.
Of course, that also had to do with Nen's enhancement to the body—it was far stronger than chakra.
Strength, speed, defense—it boosted everything.
Chakra could also enhance these aspects, but not nearly to the same degree. Ninjas could still be killed by a kunai.
Nen users, on the other hand, could catch bullets barehanded using aura alone.
However, ninja combat methods were far more diverse.
Hyuga Arin casually stuffed the captured knife into his inventory, then tossed a shuriken upward and kicked off the ground, charging straight at the examiner.
The examiner's pupils shrank.
"How many abilities do you even have?!"
Fire, teleportation—and now he could even store his knives?
He threw the blades in his hands at Hyuga Arin. One of the knives flying outside spun back into his grip.
Now he was down to just three blades.
This time, instead of charging forward, he used the knife in his hand to knock all the falling shuriken away.
He clearly remembered how Hyuga Arin had swapped places with those little things earlier.
But one of the shuriken suddenly transformed into Hyuga Arin himself—bringing the bronze blade crashing down.
The examiner raised his knife to block.
The blades collided, and the overwhelming force pressed down, driving him to one knee.
"He blocked it?" Hyuga Arin looked surprised.
Two spinning knives were already closing in on him—but his figure vanished again.
Facing the two blades flying toward him, the examiner showed no relief at all. Instead, he stepped back, grabbed one blade mid-air, and knocked the other away.
The deflected blade spun toward Hyuga Arin.
"So you're not a Manipulation type after all."
Hyuga Arin vanished again, reappearing at the examiner's side as his blade slashed down.
The examiner instantly raised both knives to block.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Hyuga Arin unleashed a furious barrage of attacks, leaving the examiner no time to throw his blades.
With Bear Wrestling Hand and Unknown Fire enhancing him, Hyuga Arin's strength was only slightly superior.
This guy was an Enhancer, forcibly using Manipulation-type abilities across categories—meaning he could only exert about forty percent of their full potential.
Even so, he wasn't fully committing to manipulation; he only needed the blades to move through the air.
One spinning knife swept in from behind Hyuga Arin.
Hyuga Arin used the Substitution Technique again—but this time, he didn't swap with a shuriken.
A slip of paper drifted down slowly.
The examiner stared at it in confusion.
The spinning blade struck first.
BOOM!!
A violent explosion blasted the examiner away.
Hyuga Arin appeared in the distance, half-kneeling on the ground, breathing slightly heavily.
The examiner crashed into the wall again. His Nen flickered violently, yet his body showed no real injuries.
"That defense really is absurd… You even tanked an explosive tag."
Hyuga Arin exhaled slowly, then stood up and rushed toward the fallen knives, grabbing one and stuffing it into his inventory.
The examiner was panting heavily now. That explosion had consumed a lot of his aura.
He could only watch helplessly as Hyuga Arin took his blade.
"Damn it!!" Rage twisted his face.
Only two knives remained in his hands now—his current strength was about the same as when Hisoka had beaten him down last time.
For an entire year, he'd trained to control four blades at once, planning to return and reclaim his pride from Hisoka.
Yet he'd been intercepted by this unknown man instead.
He threw one blade at Hyuga Arin and charged forward with the other.
Hyuga Arin knocked away the spinning blade and engaged him head-on.
In raw strength, Hyuga Arin held the advantage. But with the remaining flying blade constantly harassing him, he was forced to split his focus.
For a moment, the two were evenly matched.
This was the first time since becoming a ninja that Hyuga Arin had fought at full power.
The next instant, Hyuga Arin used Substitution again.
A shuriken appeared in his place—only to be knocked aside by the examiner.
But this time, Hyuga Arin didn't reappear.
"…He didn't vanish."
The examiner suddenly looked up.
"He's above."
Hyuga Arin was hanging upside down from the ceiling.
The bronze blade had vanished.
In both hands, he held shuriken—one after another.
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