Ihe Inn

  [There’s fighting upstairs—]

  Nara Ensui gripped a kunai as he heard the otion. However, he refrained from moving and soon noticed Baki subtly blog the hallway leading upstairs.

  [A test for Link?]

  It was a btant move, ohat showed no attempt at subtlety. With the in Exams as aablished ptform for petition, why resort to such petty tricks during a mission?

  Ensui fixed his gaze on Baki. The st time they entered each other in the Land of Rivers, tensions nearly escated into a fight. If not for Baki's caution toward Link’s ueiques, Baki might have killed them all.

  Alliance or not, violence among shinobi was not unon. After all, ninja operated in the shadows, bound to their missions rather than honor. Even the in Exams, attended by allied vilges, often saw fatal outes without repercussions.

  [A cautious, traditional shinobi...]

  Ensui analyzed Baki’s behavior. Traditionalists prioritized orike kills, relying on intelligend pnning to avoid prolonged bat. They would risk sacrifices to create opportunities for decisive attacks.

  “Crash!”

  The sound of shattering gss broke his train of thought.

  [Is Ami fighting that kunoichi?]

  Ensui grew ed. He wasn’t fully aware of his team’s progress over the past months, but judging by standard growth rates, Ami would likely struggle to hold her own for long.

  With two of his team engaged, he suspected Iris downstairs wouldn’t be an exception. Even if Link exceeded expectations, limiting his teiques to ave-scale destru would make a three-on-one sario difficult.

  Unfortunately, as the team leader, Ensui couldn’t afford to abandon his post.

  …

  “Rustle!”

  After eg its kick, the shadow dissolved into sand.

  [Sand e...]

  “Crack!”

  The sand ched tightly, shattering most of the shadow’s form. Its broken pieces scattered across the ground, reverting to a two-dimensional state. A fragmented bck line raced back to Link’s feet.

  High above, the gourd-carrying boy stood on a ptform of sand, his hand outstretched toward Link.

  “Swish!”

  The scattered sand on the ground verged, surging toward Link in an attempt to ensnare him.

  In the moment, the boy’s elongated shadow, stretched by the moonlight, recoiled and transformed into a humanoid figure. It delivered a vicious kick, sending the boy tumbling from his sand ptform.

  “Crash!”

  The sand around Link trembled, then crumbled harmlessly to the ground.

  The abrupt loss of chakra was uling faara. With his fragile psyche proo violent outbursts at the sight of blood, the ued betrayal of his own shadow disrupted his focus.

  Link, meanwhile, had a tingen. If his shadow e couldn’t interrupt the sand's grip, he repared to physically break through it, use Body Flicker to escape, or even decapitate himself and reassemble elsewhere.

  With his vastly improved physique, he had plenty of options.

  To him, a ninjutsu specialist like Gaara was one of the easier oppos to handle.

  He had chosen the shadow e specifically to trol the flow of informatioing Gaara deduce he could manipute shadows—even his oppo’s—referable to exposing other teiques.

  “Gulp.”

  Link swallowed a soldier pill. The temporary loss of half his strength wasn’t debilitating, especially with his enhanced recovery speed. With proper preparation, expending a shadow e pre-fight wouldn’t impact him much.

  Below, Gaara tinued grappling with his shadow, uo return to the rooftop.

  Familiarity with their own movements often made a target’s shadow a formidable oppo. Without specialized teiques for cle dismemberment, even experienced shinobi struggled against shadows, requiring kunai or shuriken for effective damage.

  For chakra-abundant jinchūriki like Gaara, their shadows could repeatedly repair themselves, making them an eveer nuisance.

  “Thud!”

  Looking disheveled, Ami leaped bato the rooftop. Opposite her, Temari nded with her fan in hand.

  “Rustle!”

  Covered in cracks along his fad neck, Gaara reappeared via Sand Body Flicker, his expression twisted in rage as he began weaving seals.

  “Swoosh!”

  Baki materialized behind him, pg a firm hand on his shoulder.

  “Gaara,” Baki said sternly.

  Large-scale teiques were off-limits; the mert downstairs had to be protected.

  A minor skirmish between Genin and in table as long as no one died. However, unleashiructive ninjutsu within the Inn would severely tarnish Sunagakure’s reputation.

  A weakened Sunagakure could not afford to aliehe Land of Fire by harming its mert guest.

  Gaara’s chest heaved as he gred at Link. Slowly, his hands dropped, abandoning his seals.

  Though proo erratic behaviaara wasirely unhinged. Years of training had instilled enough discipline for him to hold back when uninjured.

  “Swoosh!”

  Ensui arrived, carrying an unscious Iris. After sing his unharmed subordinates, he silently turo Baki.

  The move was Sunagakure’s to make.

  Given that Kankurō hadn’t even shown himself, it was clear he had no ce against Ensui. The bance had tipped after the skirmish on the rooftop.

  Aion here would be disastrous for Sunagakure.

  Baki locked eyes with Link, who stood unscathed, and silently itted the young Konoha in’s faory. Without a word, he signaled his team to withdraw.

  Retreat was the only viable option.

  As the Sunagakure ninja departed, the blue-white chakra fmes dang across Link’s fiips—each representing one of the five elements—flickered out.

  Expressionless, he caught Iris as Ensui handed him over.

  “Are you okay?” he asked Ami.

  She nodded, but her shifted to Iris. “What about him...?”

  Link’s sensory s revealed stable chakra and vitals, firming that Iris was merely unscious. He shook his head. “He’s fine.”

  “Thud!”

  A sharp flick to the forehead jolted Iris awake.

  “Ow!” Iris groaned, clutg his head.

  Ami let out a relieved sigh.

  Bleam