CH_2.27 (058)

CH_2.27 (058)

Takuma breathed out a shaky sigh as he hobbled out of the medical tent. Whatever Shady Guy had given him had dulled the pain, but his body felt stiff like a wooden plank. He would be as good as a standing target if he entered a fight like this. He needed to regain functional combat mobility before the fight started.

"You have been busy the last two months," Takuma said to Maruboshi, who accompanied him out. "I haven't seen you once since I've been in basic training."

"A mission took me and a team outside the village. We were posted on a trade route with reports of being targeted by bandits and thieves targeting cargo caravans. What was supposed to be a quick string of arrests turned into rooting out a cartel hiding deep inside a forest."

"That sounds exciting," Takuma said, stretching his torso.

Maruboshi shook his head. "It was not. We had to ensure not to make our presence known. If the travelers got to know that shinobi were hunting down bandits, they might take a different route to avoid any problem, which would affect the toll fee collection on the route. The patron didn't want that. We pretended to be travelers and went back and forth along the route, waiting for a bandit to target us. When we got one in the trap, we found out about the cartel growing in the forest. Then we had to plan how to root them out with the numbers we had. It took a lot of time in the jungle to find them. What was supposed to be a somewhat long C-rank mission turned into an almost B-rank mission purely on the scale of the problem we ended up dealing with."

From Maruboshi's sigh, Takuma felt he shouldn't have asked.

"How has your time as a genin been?" Maruboshi asked with a smile.

"I have been punched, kicked, slashed, stabbed, thrashed, had my bones broken, and anything else you can think of, more in these two months than in my entire life," said Takuma. "On the other hand, I learned how to tree-climb, so I guess that balances things out," he had multiple times pretended to be Spiderman in his home by scaling the walls and ceiling, friendly neighborhood vigilante style.

He appreciated Maruboshi's company. He didn't like to think about tests, presentations, and interviews on the day they were supposed to happen. His preparations would end the day before, and the day itself was for relaxing before nervousness kicked in at the last moments. This kept his mind off the fight.

"I would've never expected you to choose a Raiton(Lightning) jutsu for your first. I had pegged you to have chosen either Katon(Fire) or Futon(Wind) as your first," said Maruboshi.

"Maybe I should've gone that way. Shokku is weak," Takuma clicked his tongue. He had to use the jutsu thrice on a prone Arisu, and she could still overpower him in the ending tussle. If not for the lucky dagger, he might've not won the fight. "I visited your home when I was deciding, but you had already left," he sighed. He wished he had chosen one of the alternatives. Even then, he hadn't chosen either Katon or Futon as his second jutsu.

"Did you check your affinity before choosing your jutsu?" asked Maruboshi.

"Affinity? How do you...."

Takuma trailed off when he noticed Yoshio walk towards them. He glanced behind Yoshio and saw that the shinobi had returned for their lunches.

"Is it time?" he asked.

Yoshio nodded and walked into the medical tent.

Takuma turned to Maruboshi. "I guess this is it. Wish me luck." The time for nervousness had arrived. He felt his body temperature rise as it would always in moments of high stake.

"You have worked hard. I believe that you will win. Do you believe you will win?" asked Maruboshi.

Takuma nodded.

"That's all you need."

The tent flap was pushed apart, and Yoshio stepped out, followed by Nenro, accompanied by Ai. Their eyes met, but neither said any words and chose to observe the other.

Takuma smiled dryly. Nenro was wearing a fresh set of clothes. Except for bruises on both sides of his jaw and the black eye on the right eye, Takuma couldn't see any visible injuries. This meant that if he wanted to hit somewhere it hurt, he would need to find it through Nenro's reaction. On the other hand, Takuma was wearing the same set that had shredded, ripped, and torn all over from his fight with Arisu, readily showing the bandages underneath.

"Any of you want to forfeit before we head over?" Yoshio asked.

Both shook their heads.

They had fought to fight this particular fight.

———

.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

He dragged himself towards Takuma. The fact that the announcer hadn't interrupted meant that Takuma hadn't been declared unable to fight. He took out a kunai to end the fight with a 'fake' stab.

He had won. In a few seconds, he would've proved he was the best among his peers. And he would've established that in front of a crowd of chunin. They had bet money on every fight, and in doing that, they had seen his name, spoken his name— and they'll remember that name. If the chunin considered him valuable, they would choose him when they assembled teams for higher-ranked missions. He needed that to rise quickly in the ranks. His plans for getting selected by a jonin hadn't been successful. If that had succeeded, he wouldn't have tried so hard— but in the Genin Corps, where the mandatory service as genin was thirty months, he needed positive looks for higher-ups with power to fast-track it.

He looked down at Takuma, shaking while grabbing his shoulder with painful groans. There was no competition. Takuma had fought well, but Nenro knew from the start that as long as he survived Masaaki, he would win.

"I will treat you to lunch later," he muttered and knelt to end the fight.

Takuma stopped shaking, and the next thing Nenro knew, dirt was thrown into his face.

Nenro hurriedly squinted his eyes and started rubbing them to get the dirt out of his eyes in alarm. It was a beat later, he realized that Takuma had been pretending to be prone. He was in danger.

'I need to get away!'

But it was too late as he heard a painful roar before Takuma's hands slammed into his ears. Nenro didn't need the ringing in his ear and the urge to puke to realize that his eardrums had just ruptured. He kicked on instinct and his foot made contact.

Nenro scuttered away and stood up as he continued to rub one eye as his other hand held up a kunai. He felt exposed and scared. He couldn't see anything, and neither could he hear anything. His sense of smell didn't help him at all.

He managed to painfully open his eyes to see Takuma standing in front of him. Pain marred his face, and he looked absolutely terrible. But that wasn't Nenro's focus. His one eye was fixed on the hand seal formed by Takuma's eyes.

What was that jutsu?! How had Takuma managed to hide another jutsu till now?!

The sunny day with a clear sky suddenly turned into winter without cold as thick mist suddenly invaded the surroundings. Within seconds, Nenro went from being able to see the horizon to not seeing what was a few steps in front of him. He couldn't see in any direction. Even when he looked up, the mist was all he saw.

Was this genjutsu? He immediately tried to interrupt the mental energies to break the genjutsu, but the mist didn't disappear.

This wasn't a genjutsu.

It was then he realized why Takuma had damaged his ear rather than when he could've used that effort to stab him.

He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything. He had been trapped.

*Thwip*

Nenro felt a thud in his back, and he knew he had been hit with something. A grunt escaped him, and three more things pierced his body.

Nenro closed his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore. The fact that he could feel sharp pain despite having been given medicine that dulled the pain told how much damage had been done to his body. If only it wasn't Masaaki that he had fought.

But he couldn't give up.

He could win this. He always did.

He just needed to push through....

And those were Nenro's thoughts as he collapsed down to the ground with four kunai sticking out from his back.

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