"Shizune-sensei!" I yelped in fright as the fist in my view grew larger and larger with each passing moment.
The fear of closing my eyes while taking a hit was long gone. Shizune beat me harder whenever I tried to do so.
So knowing I could react fast enough to save myself, I only kept my eyes on the fist as it moved closer to me.
My innate ability, Key Insight allowed me to enter a state of zen whenever I wanted to. In this state, I could instinctively analyze the world around me, including my mind. This helped me point out the key items I had to focus on to understand what I was studying.
Of course, I had unintentionally activated this ability while reading Tsunade's textbooks and when Shizune showed me how to perform Jutsus which made it much easier for me to study the basics of Medical Ninjutsu.
While fighting Shizune whenever I would approach the fight with an attitude of learning instead of confrontation I'd immediately be able to study exactly how she moved around to learn from her.
But this didn't mean that my body could keep up with her moves. Especially not when her moves were often layered in a deep sense of webs that were just waiting to trap and capture me in them so that Shizune could beat the ever-living crap out of me.
*BANG*
A sharp pain emerged from my nose as tears appeared in my eyes. I was launched into the air before collapsing on the dusty floor.
I quickly got up and began to heal the broken bones in my nose and the pulverised cartilage that kept its shape.
"That was unnecessarily harsh!" I complained while healing my nose.
"Hahahaha~ It's so that you don't get cocky! Although you have an uncanny knack for seeing through my moves, I don't want you to grow overly reliant on your ability to predict! Fighting is not about playing a guessing game of trying to figure out the opponent's moves-"
"-if you always keep predicting the opponent's moves you will always lose the initiative in battle. The only way to win a fight is to use your body with the knowledge you have gained to counter the fighter! Not sit around and wait for the enemy to show a mistake!"
"But you'll just beat me up if I try to do something again!"
"Of course I will. What do you think I've been doing all this time? Playing house with Tsunade-sama? Of course, I'll be able to see through your tricks and regain the advantage! But this does not mean you wait until I make a mistake! You must try and regain the advantage in battle!"
"But-"
"No buts! It's your luck that you're fighting me and I only give you a bruise each time you try to defend against me. What will you do in a real fight where your opponent aims to kill you? You won't be alive to find their mistakes!"
Shizune explained and then perhaps seeing that she was being a little harsh on me, her gaze softened before she spoke again.
"Look, everyone might have a plan, but that's only until they're punched in the face. All plans are out for a toss once you're whacked in the head."
Those words affected me deeply as if they held some important secret.
I nodded at Shizune's words and then spoke softly.
"I'll try to do as you say."
"You better.", Shizune said wiping away the sweat on her face with a towel.
With Shizune sitting down on the ground beside me, she seemed to hesitate a bit as she tried to find the right words.
"What is it Shizune-sensei?"
"It's just…why are you a little distracted lately? Did something happen?"
"Ah…"
"I didn't think you'd notice that."
Shizune looked at me for a few seconds before *sighing* "It's alright if you don't want to tell me everyone has a few secrets."
"No. It's not like that." I quickly said and after choosing the right words I spoke calmly, "I think I won't be seeing you for a while."
"Hmm? Are you going somewhere?" Shizune asked with a frown.
I shook my head and was about to speak but as soon as I turned my head I found myself in a relatively dark room with two people standing on my right and a girl on my left.
"Da faq?"
I observed the two boys as they observed me.
And that was when I saw the knife stained with blood in the boy's hands.
'Ah! So this is what it was!!!!'
My leg moved on instinct as I kicked the boy with the knife and before the other two people could react I slipped out of my bunk bed and forced the girl into a shoulder lock that threatened to break her shoulder if she moved even a little.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! What are you doing!!!!?!????"
"Shouldn't I be asking that?" I asked the girl with a little annoyance and anger.
"I swear!! We meant no harm! We just got an item in the starter zone that could heal small wounds! So we used it to earn money by stabbing people and telling them we'd only heal them if we got all their survival points!!!" The girl immediately blabbered.
I looked at her and then at the two boys staring at me and the girl with a wary look.
"Why not just do missions and earn points?" I asked with a little confusion since there were several missions like the run till you collapsed one which anyone could do to earn points.
"We can't." the girl shook her head.
"Huh? Why?"
"Because several people gatekeep the missions. If we take a mission that they like we get beaten up once we return, when we are at our weakest. And because of that, we can't even do missions! We only wanted to earn enough survival points to get some food! I swear!!!"
I clicked my tongue as I pushed the girl away.
'What an annoying place.'
'Was this happening during Seol's time here too?'
'Or did this happen because of his death? Are people more scared to take on dangerous missions because even someone like him died? Making them want to stick to the 'safe' missions that they can clear easily?'
"Don't try and do this to me again…I don't care what you do but leave me out of it."
"Okay." The girl quickly nodded as she and the boys she was with cleared the way for me.
Several spots in my body were still bruised from the fight with Shizune but I strained myself to ignore the group that had attacked me as I walked towards the ground floor and entered a cafeteria.
After ordering food with the help of the maid behind the counter, I sat down on a chair and began healing my bruises.
'It seems that the world freezes when I travel to the other…or I just teleport back to the exact same time and place I went missing from the world I was in in the first place.'
After having a hearty meal I went to the noticeboard to check out the missions.
With no one around to see me doing missions this late in the night, I picked the mission I'd taken last time to see how much I'd improved.
[Survive on a mountainside (remaining number of attempts: 13/15)]
Avoid the fangs of a starving beast and survive for the next two hours within the mountainside!
Difficulty: Very Easy
When successful: +10 Survival Points
When unsuccessful: N/A
Cooperation not allowed
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A/N : How much has the MC improved?