So… what exactly was going on right now?
Hyūga Akira stared at the man in front of him, sinking into deep confusion.
By all rights, this was supposed to be Hisoka's opponent. Yet somehow, the guy had ended up right in front of him instead.
Who's screwing with me?
"Damn it!" the scarred man snarled. "Fine—if it's not Hisoka, I'll deal with you first, then go settle things with that bastard later!"
…That made absolutely no sense.
If you want to find Hisoka, then go find Hisoka.
Why did "dealing with him" suddenly involve killing Akira?
Akira looked at him with a helpless expression.
But still—
He raised his hand, and the bronze blade appeared in his grip.
Since it had come to this, he might as well see how much experience this guy was worth.
When the examiner saw the bronze blade materialize, he grinned.
"So you're a Nen user too? A Conjurer type?"
Clearly, he didn't have Netero's or Hisoka's level of insight.
The man pulled two knives from his waist and tossed them into the air, then flung the blades in his hands straight at Akira while catching the falling ones. A wave of hostile Nen erupted from his body.
The twin blades spun at high speed, tearing through the air toward Akira.
Chakra surged through Akira's arm.
"Bear Palm. Firebrand."
The flame-wreathed blade slammed into one of the spinning knives, forcing it to halt—but despite the intense heat, the weapon didn't shatter.
The second knife swept in from the side. Akira twisted his body to evade as the examiner charged in, slashing with the two blades in his hands.
Akira parried once, forcing him back—yet the knife that had been knocked away began spinning again, curving back toward him.
He ducked sharply. At the same time, the first blade rejoined the attack from behind, while the examiner hurled both of his remaining knives forward.
Akira flicked his wrist, sending several shuriken flying.
The examiner sprinted left to evade, leapt onto the wall, and used the rebound to hurl himself straight at Akira.
Four spinning blades closed in from all sides. The examiner followed close behind.
Every possible escape route was sealed.
Just as the blades were about to cut him down—
Akira vanished.
The useless shuriken shattered under the rotating knives, breaking into fragments.
Akira reappeared where those shuriken had landed.
The examiner snatched two knives midair and threw them again, then caught the remaining pair as they returned.
Akira's blade flared with fire as he knocked the incoming knives aside. Freeing one hand, he thrust his palm forward.
"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"
The invisible shockwave slammed into the examiner.
BOOM!
His body smashed into the wall.
Akira seized one of the blades that had stopped spinning and glanced at the examiner sliding down the cracked surface.
The man grinned fiercely. "You're pretty good."
Akira bared his teeth in response, eyes burning.
"And you look like you'll give me a lot of experience."
This guy was stronger than any chūnin Akira had fought before.
Of course, Nen-enhanced bodies were simply superior—strength, speed, defense, all boosted across the board. Chakra could do similar things, but nowhere near as directly. A ninja could still be killed by a kunai. Nen users, on the other hand, could block bullets barehanded.
Still, ninjas had versatility.
Akira casually stashed the seized knife into his inventory, then tossed a shuriken upward and dashed forward.
The examiner's pupils shrank.
"How many abilities do you have?!"
Fire. Teleportation. Storage. Now this?
He hurled a knife at Akira while charging with the remaining one. A blade in the distance spun back into his hand.
Three knives left.
Instead of pressing forward, he focused on batting every falling shuriken away.
He hadn't forgotten—Akira could swap places with those things instantly.
But—
One of the shuriken suddenly became Akira.
The bronze blade came crashing down.
The examiner raised his knives to block.
CLANG!
The force drove him to one knee.
"You blocked that?" Akira said, genuinely surprised.
Two more spinning blades closed in on him—but he vanished again.
The examiner didn't relax. Instead, he retreated a step, catching one blade and knocking the other aside.
The deflected blade spun toward Akira.
"Just as I thought—not a Manipulator."
Akira appeared at the examiner's flank, slashing downward.
The examiner crossed his blades to block.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Akira unleashed a furious barrage, preventing him from throwing the knives again.
With Bear Palm and Firebrand layered together, Akira held a slight advantage in raw power.
The examiner was an Enhancer. Using Manipulation-type techniques across categories meant he could only draw out about forty percent of their potential. Even so, he wasn't truly controlling the blades—just letting them move freely in midair.
The spinning knife struck from behind again.
Akira used Substitution once more.
This time, what drifted down wasn't a shuriken—
It was a piece of paper.
The examiner frowned instinctively.
The spinning blade struck first.
BOOOOM!!
The explosion blasted the examiner away.
Akira appeared at a distance, half-kneeling, breathing slightly harder.
The examiner slammed into the wall again. Nen flickered around his body, but he hadn't suffered any serious injuries.
"That defense is ridiculous… even a paper bomb didn't do much," Akira muttered.
He exhaled slowly, then rushed forward, snatching another fallen knife and storing it away.
The examiner panted heavily. That explosion had drained him far more than he wanted to admit. He could only watch as Akira stole yet another weapon.
"Damn it!!"
Fury twisted his face.
He had two knives left now—no better off than the last time Hisoka had beaten him senseless.
For an entire year, he'd trained to control four blades at once, planning to reclaim his pride.
Instead, he'd been intercepted by some unknown monster.
He hurled one knife and charged with the other.
Akira knocked the spinning blade aside and clashed with him head-on.
In raw power, Akira held the edge—but the constantly returning blades forced him to split his focus.
For a brief moment—
They were evenly matched.
This was the first time since becoming a ninja that Akira had fought at full power.
Suddenly, he vanished again.
A single shuriken appeared where he'd been, instantly knocked aside by the examiner.
But this time—
Akira didn't reappear.
"Not gone," the examiner realized, snapping his head upward. "Above!"
Akira was hanging upside down from the ceiling.
The bronze blade was gone.
Both hands were filled with shuriken.
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