Nonsense. Almost twisted my ankle.
Li a straight face. Who would even want a brand-new pair of nunchucks? That hobby was way too niche—just like how Naruto Uzumaki once wrote "limited-edition ramen" on his letter to Santa.
"e to think of it, it seems like all the ninja squads are ba the vilge. Even Shikamaru and the others yesterday…"
He thought about the date for a moment and realized it was already mid-Juhe in Exams were just around the er.
Ever siarting work, his focus had been more on weekly routines rather than the exact dar date.
With the in Exams approag, it also meant the Konoha Crush pn was immi.
Link's expression grew more serious. The time he had left to grow stronger was running out. If the Konoha Crush pyed out like in the manga, the vilge would lose over half its bat strength. The Third Hokage would die, and the ever-opportunistizo would step into the spotlight.
The only silver lining was that Tsunade would return, but everything else was bad news.
At this point, the only wildcard for Konoha seemed to be Link himself.
Could he ge the vilge’s fate? Would he be willing to ge everything?
"Is that even a question?"
Link pushed himself to run harder, a faint smile f on his face.
Even if he disliked emotional ties, he had left behind a few things in Konoha that he cared about—more than he was willing to admit.
And Orochimaru… he was one of Link's personal targets.
"ime we face off, it won’t be like before. Strength, speed, rea time, chakra trol…"
"Even if you mao escape my Five-Element Seal again, this time, I’ll be aiming to take your life."
He sprinted with all his might. No sg off from now on. Starting today, all his training would be doubled. Sleep time could be reduced. If he could master the Mystical Palm Teique before the in Exams…
Unfortunately, his request to learn an A-rah Release jutsu, S of the Underworld, had beeed by the two advisors. Their reasoning? He had already been approved for several jutsu before, had no major achievements to justify more, and had even failed an A-rank mission. The reje letter came just a day after his application.
If only he could’ve gotten that teique, he’d have had the ce to see how an A-rah Release from Konoha worked.
Maintaining steady breaths, Link finished his two ps. He ignored Lee clutg the nunchucks and g tears of joy while Might Guy hugged him, yelling about youth and passion.
Instead, Li home, ged into his mediinja uniform, and headed to work.
Learning taijutsu didn’t mean he had to indulge in their quirks, after all.
…
What seemed like another day of "fishing" and reading in his office quickly ged when he was called to a meeting.
Luckily, mediinja were always busy. Most of the Jōnin in the department were either developing new medical teiques or medies. Meetings were short and effit.
The purpose of today’s meeting? With the in Exams approag, the department o dispatch a medical squad to provide emergency aid to examinees.
The First Medical Corps was chosen to hahe duty. Starting July 1st, the team would remain on standby at the venue from the first day of the exams.
After a brief annou from the division head, Kanpō, the meeting ended in uen minutes.
The sudden assig didn’t bother Link much. After a m of studying medical knowledge, he decided to skip his usual hospital duties.
With only a couple of weeks left, he o focus on preparing for the exams.
During lunch, Iris and Ami stopped by to inform him that their new squad had also decided tister for this year’s in Exams.
After eating, the three headed to the Seventh Training Ground for practice. Around 2 p.m., Team 7 arrived.
“Whew…” Link wiped his sweat and put his shirt ba.
To his surprise, all three members of Team 7 showed up. Whether Kakashi was hiding somewhere nearby was another matter entirely.
"Heh-heh!" Naruto grinned smugly, g his fists. "I’m here!"
"This guy… His body is strong." Sasuke Uchiha’s expression remained cold, but he was genuinely impressed. From the way Link and the other two trained, it was clear they weren’t just show-offs.
"Wow, those muscles… If Sasuke-kun’s body is like that underh… Ehehe." Sakura Haru a calm facade, but her imagination had already taken off.
"Sakura and… that guy only came because they heard we’re going to spar," Naruto said, deliberately avoiding eye tact with Sasuke. It almost seemed… tsundere.
Link remained calm, gesturing to the open ground. "e on, Naruto. Show me how much you’ve grown."
Even if all three of them came at him, Link wouldn’t be fazed—unless Kakashi joined in.
"Yoing to be amazed, Link!" Naruto said, stretg before f a hand seal.
"Boom!" A swarm of shadow es filled the entire clearing.
"No matter how many times I see it, that chakra pool is insane…" Sasuke thought, his Sharingan activating to observe.
"What the heck?" Iris’s eyes widened. "Is that a e jutsu?"
"Idiot, it’s the Shadow e Jutsu," Ami corrected. "And even for that, this much chakra is…"
"Alright!" The Narutos raised their fists, shouting, "Here we go!" They charged en masse.
Link cracked his knuckles and disappeared.
"Whoosh!"
"So fast!" Sasuke’s Sharingan barely caught the movement.
"I see it, but… it’s too fast! My eyes follow, but my body ’t keep up!" His fists ched tightly.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The sound of shadow es popping rang out in rapid succession.
When the smoke cleared, dozens of es had vanished. Link stood behind Naruto’s real body, holding him down with one hand.
"Looks like… I’m still a little strohan you," Link said calmly.
Until Naruto learo properly harhe ails’ chakra, his abilities were subpar.
While his chakra reserves were enormous, his trol was abysmal. He relied heavily on basic jutsu like the Transformation Teique and Multi Shadow e Jutsu. His physical abilities—strength, speed, and taijutsu—were all average fenin.
Even during their fight, Naruto had tried using the Transformation Teique for a trick, but his hand seals were painfully slow.
Li go of Naruto’s bad silently analyzed the boy. There was no pride to be taken in this victory—Naruto was, at this point, just a standard hot-blooded idiot.
Bleam
