"Zzzz~ Seimei, prepare to intercept; it's coming your way," Ryosuke's voice came through the earpiece.
Seimei pressed the earpiece and replied, "Okay, I see it."
On a tree branch, Seimei watched as a giant wild boar charged forward recklessly. He threw a Kunai.
The Kunai sliced through the air like a bullet, swiftly and accurately hitting the boar's left eye. Blood dripped down the Kunai, eliciting a pained roar from the wild boar.
Roar—
I have to say, the animals in the ninja world are truly outrageous; not only are they large, but their vitality is also incredibly resilient.
Even now, despite having its eye pierced and its brain injured, the wild boar below was still lively and kicking.
"However, this is where it ends."
Muttering to himself, Seimei raised his right hand and ignited the explosive tag attached to the Kunai.
Boom—
A violent explosion erupted. A mass of crimson flames suddenly appeared, engulfing the entire wild boar.
The pain from the burning flames made the boar howl continuously as it crazily crashed into the surrounding trees, even hitting the large tree where Seimei was hiding.
Left with no choice, Seimei had to find another hiding spot.
After a few breaths, the flames gradually subsided, and the boar stopped rampaging, lying motionless on the ground.
Looking at the charred wild boar, Seimei did not approach. Instead, he pulled out another Kunai and threw it like lightning, hitting the boar's other eye.
Puchi—
The sound of the blade piercing flesh rang out. The boar suddenly jumped up, howling as it crashed through several large trees before collapsing back to the ground.
Looking at the wild boar's chest and abdomen gradually ceasing to rise and fall, Seimei coldly snorted, "Hmph! A beast is just a beast; no matter how cunning, it's still the same."
Although the boar was aware of the act of playing dead, the rising and falling of its chest easily revealed its trick.
Seimei naturally wouldn't fall for such a trap.
However, now it could be confirmed that it was dead.
Swish~ Swish~
Two figures appeared; it was Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko.
"Seimei, this is too wasteful," Ryosuke remarked, looking at the wild boar's charred head from the explosion. "Aren't you capable of using the Great Fireball Jutsu? Why use an explosive tag?"
Indeed, using an explosive tag to kill such a wild boar was quite unprofitable. Even with the mission reward, it would end up being a loss when all was accounted for.
But this way, he could save Chakra to train more.
While using Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu could also increase its Proficiency level, his current focus was not on that, so saving a bit was still worthwhile.
For Seimei, if spending a little money could allow more Chakra to be used where it was needed, then it wouldn't be a loss.
At this time, it had been a week since he had encountered Kakashi and the others.
During this week, aside from eating, sleeping, and completing missions, he had devoted all his remaining time to training.
With such hard work, the results were naturally impressive.
First of all, the Three Basic Jutsu had all been perfected, reaching lv3.
At this point, whether it was the simplest Transformation Jutsu or the most difficult Substitution Jutsu, he could complete them within a second.
What does this mean?
Many Chunin cannot perform these three Ninjutsu as proficiently as he can.
Of course, this is only to be expected.
After all, they are basic Ninjutsu with an E-rank difficulty; Chunin just need to put in some effort to master them.
Secondly, his Basic Taijutsu had also been upgraded from lv2 to lv3.
Originally, he had hoped that it could elevate his physique a bit more, just like when it upgraded from lv1 to lv2.
This way, his Chakra limit could continue to increase.
But he was disappointed.
Although Basic Taijutsu reached perfection when it upgraded from lv2 to lv3, just like the Three Basic Jutsu, it did not cause any change in his physique attribute.
However, thinking about it, if physique attributes could be so easily enhanced, there wouldn't be so many Ninjas stuck as Genin for their entire lives in the ninja world.
It's important to note that each slight improvement in physique is a transformation for a Ninja.
If a Genin could experience one or two transformations, they could at least have enough Chakra, if not become a Chunin.
Therefore, it was normal for his physique attribute not to increase when Basic Taijutsu went from lv2 to lv3; at the very least, it would require some advanced Taijutsu to achieve that.
Finally, there was the Heart Reflection Jutsu.
In seven days, its Proficiency level increased by a total of 125 points, going from lv2 (260/500) to lv2 (385/500).
Thanks to this, his Sharingan awakening progress rose from (85/100) to (87/100).
As expected, the speed did not further decrease.
Now he just needs the Heart Reflection Jutsu to upgrade to lv3; if the effect is strong, he might awaken his Sharingan before the end of the Chunin exam.
Otherwise, he would have to go to the battlefield without it.
That's right, Seimei had received news that this year's graduates would be returning to the battlefield alongside the newly promoted Chunins.
For this reason, he placed immense value on every bit of Chakra.
He even temporarily shelved the plan to learn Body Flicker Jutsu.
Next, aside from necessary expenses, he planned to use all his remaining Chakra to practice Heart Reflection Jutsu.
Without the Sharingan as a trump card, he really didn't have much sense of security.
Thoughts flashed through Seimei's mind.
He looked at Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko and said, "There are quite a few beasts in this forest, and our task is significant; wasting a few explosive tags is no big deal."
Their task this time was to drive away all the beasts within a ten-kilometer radius, with the requirement that the number of kills must be no less than one-third of the total.
With so many beasts, using conventional methods to drive them away or kill them would undoubtedly consume a lot of Chakra and prolong the task.
Seimei didn't want to waste time and energy on this, so he preferred to spend a bit more money to complete the task quickly.
Not giving Ryosuke a chance to speak again, Seimei pulled out his Kunai from the wild boar, wiped it clean, and said, "I'm heading to area two; you two hurry and drive the beasts over."
With that, he leaped away without caring about the reactions of the two.
Watching him leave, Ryosuke turned to Mizutani Shizuko and said, "Shizuko, have you noticed that Seimei has been a bit restless lately?"
"Yeah."
Mizutani Shizuko nodded in response.
In fact, she had noticed this a long time ago but hadn't mentioned it.
"Do you know why?"
Ryosuke asked curiously.
"Maybe it's because of the Chunin Exams!"
Mizutani Shizuko replied.
"Chunin Exams?"
Ryosuke looked puzzled. "What does that have to do with us? We're not participating."
Upon hearing this, Mizutani Shizuko hesitated for a moment, carefully glanced around to ensure no one was listening, and then revealed the information she had received from her Jonin father.
"I heard the village plans to send our group to the battlefield along with the newly promoted Chunin after the Chunin Exams are over."
"What?"
Ryosuke exclaimed in shock at this sudden news.
Although he hated carrying out D-rank missions with no technical content, he also understood the dangers of the battlefield and naturally didn't want to head there so soon.
"Shh!"
Mizutani Shizuko raised her right index finger, signaling for silence. "Lower your voice. My dad told me not to share this news, so please don't spread it around."
"Got it."
Ryosuke understood and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't say anything."
In truth, they were overthinking it; even if the information got out, it wouldn't matter.
This matter was already set in stone.
Although the news was only circulating among the Jonin and the major clans, it wouldn't be long before everyone knew, making secrecy unnecessary.
"Alright, Ryosuke, let's go."
After a moment of silence, it was Mizutani Shizuko who spoke up.
"Okay."
Ryosuke snapped back to reality and replied, "Let's go."
Then, the two of them headed toward Area Three together.
***
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