Three days later, the third phase of the hunter exam ended.
You may be wondering what happened between Hisoka and Shinji's group that day.
Well, nothing special happened, he just greeted Shinji then went to a corner and starts building a pyramid with his cards then destroy them and repeat the same action again and again without getting bored.
Twenty-four applicants have passed this phase.
The twenty-four examines exited the tower one by one.
"Finally I can breath some fresh air!" Shinji breathed greedily the air he missed for the past three days.
Then he looked at the scene in front of him, especially the badge number of everyone here, memorizing everyone's number, he knows he will need it in the next phase of the exam.
"Ladies and gentlemen, congratulation on escaping the trick tower. Only the fourth phase and final phase remain." the examiner Lippo stood in front of all the applicants and said.
"Just two more…" the applicants were excited when they know they only had two more tests to become hunters.
"The fourth phase will take place over there." He pointed behind him, toward an island far away from them.
"On Zevil island!"
"Then let's proceed!" without wasting time he gave the signal to his subordinate to come.
He brought a wheeled table and on top of it a special box.
"I need all of you to draw lots." Lippo said after that.
Hearing his words the applicants were puzzled.
"Lots? For what?"
Lippo as if he was waiting for their questions smiled mischievously.
"To determine who will hunt and who will be hunted."
Then he pointed toward the box beside him and said.
"There are twenty-four numbered cards in here."
"In other words, the numbers correspond to all remaining applicant's ID numbers."
"Now I need you each to draw a card in the order by which you passed the third phase."
Shinji whispered to his friends.
"Guys, try to memorize the numbers of other applicants and you better hide your badges now."
"Why?" Gon and Leorio didn't understand the reason behind Shinji's words, but Kurapika and Killua immediately did what he said, they are smart, and they quickly guessed the reason of shinji.
"Just like how examiner Lippo said, the next game will be a hunter and prey game, our hunting targets obviously will be decided by the next draw, but we aren't only hunters, we are also the prey of others, so to avoid being discovered this early by our hunters we should hide our badge now." Shinji said in a low voice to avoid letting others hear him.
"if we were to be prey to someone like Hisoka and the latter knows our number then he will easily find us and take our numbers!" Killua understood Shinji's words and thought of the worst possibility that could happen.
"Being Hisoka's prey…" Leorio trembled from fear at this thought.
Hearing their words, the two of Gon and Leorio Immediately removed their badges quietly without attracting others' attention as they were listening to Lippo's words.
"Will the first person come forward?" Lippo pointed toward the box and said.
Shinji strode forward, he stood in front of the box and looked at the cards inside it, but he couldn't see any number on them.
'I just hope it won't be Hisoka or Illumi.' Shinji prayed in his heart to not encounter these two perverts in this test.
Then his hand reached inside and caught a card, and after that he returned to his place.
Killua also went to take his card, then Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Hisoka, Gittarackur, Hanzo, etc…
"Since everyone took his card, then go ahead and remove the sticker." Said Lippo.
Every applicant starts removing the sticker on their card, revealing a number on it, which is the number of their prey.
"That indicates your target." Lippo said affarid that some won't understand what the number means.
Hearing his words, everyone realized the situation and quickly hide their badge with their hands, except Hisoka and Gittarackur, They don't need to do this trick because their confidence is backed up by their strength.
Seeing this scene, the group of Shinji smiled, they already hide their numbers and also memorized the numbers of most of the applicants.
Looking at the number on his hands, Shinji breathed a sigh of relief.
'This prey is easy!' this is his thought after he knows who is his prey.
Putting his hand on the box, Lippo said: "this box has recolored which card each of you drew, this means you're free to dispose of the cards if you wish."
"The objective is to steal the target's ID badge." He starts explaining the rules of the game.
"Naturally you're free to use any method to get the id badges, which include killing your target."
Hearing his words the applicants became tense, while some remained indifferent.
"That sound like the fastest way." an applicant said with a confidence expression on his face.
"Listen carefully, your target's ID badge is worth three points. Your ID badge is also worth three points. All other ID badges are worth one point."
"You need six points to advance to the final phase."
"So while you are on Zevil Island, you must gather enough ID badges to total six points."
After he finished explaining the rules of the fourth phase, he took the applicants to a boat that will take them to Zevil Island.
...
"My name is Khara, I'll serve as your guide." On the boat, a beautiful orange-haired girl wearing hunter association clothes introduced herself to the applicants.
"It will take two hours for this boat to reach Zevil island."
"All twenty-four applicants remaining here are automatically qualified to take next year's hunter exam. so if you fail this year don't feel bad, please try next year…" her voice get smaller gradually as she noticed that nobody cared about her words.
'This is so depressing!' her mouth twitched.
"Well, you're free to do as you like for the next two hours." After finishing her sentence she hurried away.
In a corner, the five of Shinji and his friends sat next to each other.
"Gon, Killua, since the three of us already became hunters how about we help the two of Leorio and Kurapika get their targets and then search for our prey?"
Gon and killua nodded, agreeing with Shinji's idea.
"Good, in this way we have to help them find their prey and let them hide for the next seven days. So which number you picked up, I have memorized most of the numbers." Shinji said, then he looked at Kurapika and Leorio.
Kurapika and Leorio took the card out of their pocket and showed it to the three of them.
Kurapika's prey is number 16, while Leorio's prey is number 246.
Kurapika looked at Shinji and asked: "how about it Shinji, do you know the owner of these two numbers?"
Shinji took a moment before he remembered the owners of these two numbers.
"I remember, number 16 belongs to Tonpa, while number 246 belongs to that cute girl Ponzu"
Hearing Shinji's words, the two of Leorio and Kurapika had a sigh of relief, fortunately, it is not Hisoka!
"Both of them don't seem that strong." Leorio smiled excitedly and said, he feels this next phase of the hunter exam will be as simple as drinking water for him.
"No, I think you need to be careful when you deal with them, Tonpa relying on his props and his experiences, he can easily think of countless way to kill you, while that girl Ponzu hide countless bees in her hat which isn't something you can deal with, so we mustn't give them time to use their abilities. a quick and sneak attack seems the best option."
Shinji quickly said why they shouldn't underestimate their opponent.
"Really! it seems I shouldn't underestimate anybody who reached this step." Leorio's smile froze, Shinji's words woke him up from his delusion just now, how can the applicants who managed to reach this step be simple as they seem?
"Since we know the identity of our prey it saved us a lot of time, and knowing their abilities gave us an advantage over them, as long as we think of a good plan then we can clear this level!" Kurapika said with confidence, although their opponents aren't weak, they aren't too strong either.
"By the way, Gon, Killua, Shinji who are your target?" Kurapika remembered that he didn't know the targets of the three of Shinji, Gon, and killua so he asked curiously.
Leorio also leaned forward curiously.
"My target is number 80, that girl wearing sunglasses and holding a sniper, with my strength, as long as I don't give her time to use her weapon, then I can beat her!" Shinji didn't hide it, he smiled and said casually with a confident tone.
Shinji didn't take his target seriously, he was confident in his strength to defeat her, even though her weapons had strong lethality toward him, but as long as he gave her a sap before she even uses then he will win.
He isn't ashamed to sneak attack a woman, after all his opponent isn't an ordinary woman.
"My target is number 199 if I remember correctly it belongs to one of that three Amouri brothers."
He pointed to the three Amouri brothers.
"so it's a piece of cake for you." Shinji said casually, Killua's strength is more enough for him to defeat those three brothers.
"And you Gon, who is your target?"
The four of them looked at Gon who was silent the whole time.
'It seems my butterfly effect wasn't that strong after all, is this the plot correction or an interference from the will of this world?'
Shinji already guessed the target of Gon.
Gon didn't say anything, he directly showed them his target number
Except for shen, the three of kurapika, leorio and killua were shocked.
"Damn!" Leorio cursed in a low voice.
After a moment of silence, kurapika said
"Gon, you have already won the hunter license so there is no reason for you to continue this dangerous test! You have already helped us a lot…" Kurapika looked gratefully at Gon and tried to let him stop here.
"Gon, just stop here, there is no point in fighting Hisoka, you already passed the hunter exam, leave the matter of helping leorio and Kurapika to me and Shinj." Killua also said his own opinion, if it was him, he will definitely give up, life is more important than anything else!
Gon was silent, then he looked at kurapika and others, he said: "kurapika, besides helping you I have other reasons why I should continue the hunter exam."
He paused for a while then said: "just now I realized that the way I used to become a hunter isn't what I want!"
Hearing his words, Shinji who also want to persuade gon to quit swallowed back his words.
"What do you mean, gon?" Kurapika can't understand what Gon's words refer to.
"Although I don't know what you want, I believe no matter what means you used to get the approval of the hunter association president, be it luck or something else, it doesn't matter, what matters the most is that you have already obtained the right to get the hunter license! This is a truth, so what do you want more, Gon!" Leorio scolded Gon, he can't understand why Gon want to continue risking his life.
Gon wasn't affected by their words in the slightest, he continued his words:
"My father must have passed all the hunter exam phases relying on his ability and strength, not on luck like what I did…I want to be like my father, I want to prove to him that I'm worthy of my hunter license!"
"So…I must overcome all the difficulties and become a real hunter!" Gon said with a firm tone.
The other four were silent, they didn't say anything more, their time with gon let them understand that if he made a decision then nobody can stop him, so they can only wish him good luck.
…
"Dear applicants, The ship reached Zevil island, please be ready to disembark." The voice of the guide fell into the ears of everyone.
One by one stood from their place looking at the island that appeared in front of them.
"Is this zevil island, The place where the fourth phase of the hunter exam is going to be held!"
Loerio looked solemnly at the island.
Looking at the lush forest on the island, kurapika said: "such a good environment there must be definitely a lot of beasts living in it, so we mustn't drop down our defense, we must guard against the island itself!"
"Don't be nervous, guys just follow the plan I told you, after we finish the business of leorio and kurapika we can start acting alone!"
Shinji was afraid that they will forget his plan so he insisted on it again.
"Don't worry I'll make sure they won't run away!" Killua smiled and assured shinji.
"The applicants are asked to disembark according to their order of finishing the third phase with two-minute intervals between each one, the duration of this exam will be one week."
"Now please applicant Shinji Kuroda, you can go ashore."
Hearing his name, Shinji stepped out of the boat, and walked toward the forest, using the trees as a cover, Shinji stopped waiting for the prey to pass by.
His plan is simple, each one of them will hide in advance and block a certain path, once ponzu or tonpa passes by they will attack them and take their badge.
After two minutes.
"I'll go." It was killua's turn, he puts his hands in his pockets and walked slowly in a direction different from the one Shinji took.
Then gon, followed by kurapika and finally leorio.
All of them hide in five different directions, no matter which way tonpa and ponzu took, they will definitely encounter one of them.
After the five of Shinji group landed, it was the turn of Hisoka.
When Hisoka steeped on the island, he already sensed the gaze of the five shinji on him.
He didn't feel any negative intent in those looks so he ruled out the possibility they were ambushing him.
'How cute, my five little apples learned to help each other.' Hisoka liked his lips, he 'randomly' choose a direction, which happened to be the place where Shinji is hidden.
Shinji who saw Hisoka coming toward him wasn't nervous but was amazed by Hisoka keen perception.
'Did he use En?' Shinji was curious.
When Hisoka walked by the tree Shinji hiding on top of it, he stopped for a moment: "your hiding skill is so bad, little kitten" he chuckled and then continued his way.
Shinji didn't feel mocked by Hisoka's words, what he said is correct, and his hiding skill are really garbage.
So what is the point of getting angry at something which is true?
Then the other applicant also landed.
After waiting for a while, the five of them saw Tonpa on the shore.
Like other applicants, tonpa choose a random direction and plunged into the forest.
Shinji looked in the direction that tonpa took and mourned for him.
'That should be where killua is hiding, I'm afraid tonpa won't know how even he lost his badge.'
KIllua like a poisonous snake, waited until tonpa faced him with his back and directly struck his nack rendering him unconscious instantaneously.
"Sorry, uncle but you can only blame your bad luck for choosing this path." He put the badge in his pocket and returned to his spot quickly, as for the unconscious tonpa, killua didn't worry he will be dead, at least he won't wake up before five or six hours.
Then they repeated the same trick, they waited until ponzu appeared, this time it was Gon whose path she took.
Ponzu stood no chance in front of gon, he didn't beat her, he just stood her badge before she can react and then run away, after all, he doesn't want to be entangled by her bees.
And like these their first goal was achieved easily.
"Now our first mission is done, kurapika, leorio, you must hide very well in this weak, after we get our targets we will meet again!"
The five of them gathered together to discuss their next plan.
"Well thank you guys, I and leorio decided to stay together for the next seven days."
"Good, then let's meet after seven days!" Shinji smiled at the four of them and said.
The five of them put their palm on top of each other as a sign of agreement.
Then each one went on his way.
…
Shinji paid attention to the direction Siper choose, he just need to follow her trail or simply rely on his leopard sense of smell to track her.
He chooses the easiest way, which is to follow the smell.
He immediately transformed into his full leopard form and sniffed the ground and the air until he caught the girlish body scent of Siper.
He runs on his four legs following the scent in the air.
After a while, Shinji suddenly stopped.
'The scent is getting stronger, so she must be somewhere in this area!'
He walked quietly without making any noise, he didn't walk too much until he saw the back of a girl hiding behind the bushes holding a sniper in her hands and aiming at something.
'Fuck don't tell me she's about to shoot illumi!'
Shinji's nerves were tense, he doesn't want to see a beautiful woman getting killed brutally in front of his eyes, he believes that fate wants him to save her by letting her become his prey in this game, so he must prevent her from seeking death!
He transformed into his hybrid form, at a speed that can't be seen by the naked eye he appeared behind her, then…
*bang*
With a knife hand, he stroked her neck hard.
"Ahh!" Siper moaned in pain, before losing her consciousness she heard a voice behind her.
"Sorry beauty, to save your life I can only use this violent means, I hope you won't hate me."
"…" Siper wished to take her sniper and explode this damned man's head with bullets.
Shinji directly took her badge, then put the unconscious siper on his shoulder ready to leave this right and wrong area, and stay as far as possible from the pervert illumi.
"I'll leave you on the coast at least there is the hunter association staff there to protect you until you wake up."
Shinji muttered as he turned ready to go back, but before he took the first step, his leopard hair stands erect…
*swish*
The sound of an object piercing through the air came into his ear, without looking back Shinji used all his might to jump sideways.
*bang*
The tree that was directly in front of Shinji was pierced by a sharp nail as if it was attacked by a sniper bullet.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Shinji's heart stopped for a second, if he wasn't in his hybrid leopard form which increased his speed and improved his senses then quickly jumped to the side, I'm afraid he will suffer the same fate of the tree in front of him.
He isn't afraid of death, he is afraid of turning into a puppet in the hand of illumi, the secret of immortality mustn't be revealed!
Shinji heard the faint voice of footsteps behind him, he turned his head and saw a tall man wearing a dark green shirt and pants, with a face full of needles, he walked toward Shinji at a slow pace, and with every step he took, Shinji's heart will stop beating for a second, this sense of oppression Shinji only felt in Hisoka, even when he meets netero he wasn't this nervous, not because netero is weak, but netero control over his aura reached a high level that it made him look like an ordinary old man, while illumi in front of him didn't do anything, but shinji can feel the cold gaze of the other party falling on his body, scanning him from inside out.
Shinji felt that the one standing in front of him isn't a human being at all, but just a killing machine without any emotions.
Illumi Zoldyck who is disguised as Gittarackur stood a few meters from Shinji without doing anything, he looked at the half leopard half-human form of shinji, then looked at the unconscious woman on his shoulder, he glanced at the sniper on the ground and immediately understood everything.
The reason why he shot previously a nail in this direction was that he felt someone looking at him with killing intent.
Then he came to verify if the person is dead, but it seems the person who was targeting him was solved by this leopard man.
'Is he the one Hisoka told me on the Milsy Wetlands?'
During the first phase of the hunter exam, Hisoka told him that he meets an interesting green apple who is probably a leopard warcraft, the reason why Hisoka told him this is to avoid killing him accidentally.
'Well, it seems I can't kill him or else Hisoka will become angry.'
Illumi decided to give Hisoka a face and spare Shinji.
His mouth opened and said in a hoarse voice: "you can leave."
Shinji who was tense was relieved when he heard these words, he understood why Illumi didn't attack him, as the most attractive green apple on Hisoka's farm, he will receive limited time protection from the owner of the farm until he matures and become a rip apple.
'I didn't expect being a prey of Hisoka will have this kind of advantage.'
Shinji who didn't want to stay next to this killing machine was ready to run as far as possible.
"Wait."
The hoarse voice came again making Shinji stop his actions all of sudden.
Illumi pointed at Siper on Shinji's shoulder and said: "she wanted to kill me, she must stay."
His tone was calm and firm not accepting any refute, the iron rule of professional assassins is to never leave any hidden danger, always eradicate the roots.
And Siper obviously tried to kill him, of course, he won't spare her, after all, if he wasn't strong he would be dead by now.
Shinji's pupils shrank into needles, he calmed down his mood and thought of something then said: "but after all, she didn't shoot you right?"
Shinji hopes that illumi will reason with him, or else he won't be able to save siper from illumi.
The opponent's strength and speed are thousands of times stronger than his, he stands no chance, not to mention protecting someone, he can't even protect his life.
Now Shinji starts hesitating, should I get out of this situation and let Siper receive her fate like in the canon? After all, he had no relationship with her, why he must protect her? Why he must put himself in danger for an unknown woman?
Illumi shook his head and said calmly: "her killing intent already showed her determination to kill me, if you didn't intervene just know she would have already fired the bullet, so it doesn't change the fact she tried to kill me."
Shinji doesn't want to fight illumi at the same time he doesn't want to give up Siper easily, no, he doesn't want to give up to fate, he must prove it today, and siper just happened to be a means to do that.
If siper is destined to die, then he will prove to destiny that you're wrong!
Seeing Shinji tangled expression, illumi titled his head, he is confused.
"Why do you want to protect her? I can't understand at all, is it because she is your prey? Or is it because she is a woman?"
Illumi seemed to realize something.
"You must have a crush on her right?"
Shinji's mouth twitched, he can't refute illumi's words, after all, he had some little bit of a crush on this girl, but this isn't the real reason.
"How about I give you my badge and her card as compensation and let us leave?"
Shinji proposed a solution to illumi.
Illumi was silent for a while, after weighing the gains and losses he finally nodded his head.
"Alright, but only this time."
Illumi thought that if he wanted to forcibly kill the woman, Shinji will definitely try to protect her, in case he injured Shinji, Hisoka will misunderstand him, then they conflict with each other, which is the thing he doesn't want to see at least for the time being, he still wants to maintain the relation with Hisoka a little bit longer.
Shinji breathed a sigh of relief, he directly took two badges and throw them to illumi.
Illumi easily caught them, seeing the badge with the number 406 on it, he was surprised, this is the number of his prey, he didn't expect he will get it easily like this.
Illumi hide the badges in his pocket then turned around and walked away.
Shinji also quickly left this unlucky place.
…
Returning to the coast, Shinji put the unconscious Siper on the sand while muttering in a dissatisfied tone.
"Damn it! If I was one second slower my head would have been pierced by that bastard needles."
"I even lost my badges, damn it! What a waste of time."
What made Shinji even more furious is the feeling of powerlessness and weakness he felt at that moment, his life and death were all controlled by illumi, if he wasn't targeted by Hisoka, then illumi wouldn't be so polite to let him leave alive.
Shinji looked at the unconscious siper and sighed: "sure enough, women equal troubles!"
"Now I have to get six points, which means I must hunt six peoples!"
"This an opportunity to vent my anger!"
Shinji's leopard face showed a hideous smile, he really needs to regain his confidence in his strength, the monsters like Hisoka and Illumi greatly impacted his fighting spirit, which isn't a good thing for a fighter.
Without wasting time, Shinji strode toward the jungle, the hunting game is about to begin.
after Shinji left, Siper who had already woken up but deliberately pretended to be unconscious stood up and patted the sand off her clothes, she looked in the direction in which Shinji left for a while, then she muttered: "what a strange guy, why he saved me?"
as a strong woman, Siper can't understand why Shinji would give up on his badge to save her when they don't even know each other.
can't think of the reason, Siper went to the ship ready to give up the test.
she is a smart woman, if Shinji didn't rescue her she would have been shot dead by that nail, such power and weird means like transforming into a leopard already shocked her, the hunter exam isn't for ordinary people like her!
…
Each one of the applicants is searching for his prey.
Gon whose target is Hisoka realized the only chance for him to get Hisoka's badge is to steal it once the latter is distracted by something.
So he began practicing catching moving targets with his fishing rod, and he practiced by attempting to catch a bird at the same time the latter caught the fish in the river.
After successfully mastering the trick, he went after Hisoka's trail, but little did he knows that he is also being followed.
Killua on other hands already found his targets, the amouri brothers, with his inhuman speed and strength he easily got their badges.
Kurapika and Leorio found a hidden place on a tree where they decided to stay there for the night, they don't plan to stay in the same place for the next days, they will keep moving in order to avoid being targeted.
…
Time went by, seven days passed in a blink of an eye, and the duration of the hunter exam's fourth phase ended.
"Time is up, all the applicants must gather at the coast of zevil island within one hour, any attempt to steal or exchange badges will be punished, repeat all applicants must …"
The hunter association staff used a voice magnifier to announce the end of the test.
After a few minutes, one applicant after another starts appearing at the coast of the island.
Shinji walked out of the dense forest, with a smile on his face.
Before he starts searching for his friends, he heard a loud shout.
"Shinji-Kun here!"
Following the sound, he saw Kurapika waving at him, while Gon, Killua, and Leorio were standing next to him.
Shinji walked toward them and said: "I'm relieved that everyone is safe."
The four of them smiled and talked for a while.
"Time is up, all the applicants who managed to gather six points must board the ship now."
Only nine people managed to pass the fourth phase.
Shinji, Gon, Kurapika, Killua, Leorio, Hisoka, Gitarrackur, Hanzo, Pokkle.
The destination is : the Last phase of the hunter exam!