After the announcement, a door opened, flooding the room with light.
Squinting at the sun after three days in the dark, the candidates made their way toward the exit. An examiner with thick glasses and a questionable haircut was waiting for them.
"Congratulations to all of you for making it out of the tower. Only two tests remain until the final."
The examiner waved to his assistant, who quickly brought over a nicely decorated box.
"Alright, we're going to do a lottery now," the examiner announced.
Without further explanation, he called the candidates in the order they had arrived. Hisoka went first, followed by Nicolas.
Reaching into the box, Nicolas drew a number and stepped away. Making sure no one was watching, he checked the number: 291.
'That's Hanzo, the ninja.'
In preparation for this test, Nicolas had memorized the numbers of the candidates who arrived at the bottom of the tower.
Quickly hiding the number in his pocket, he remained thoughtful. Hanzo was a powerful opponent. This survival and hunting trial on an island gave him a huge advantage as a trained ninja.
Of course, with Nen, Nicolas could win without a doubt. But he had no intention of using it just yet, even Hisoka and Illumi were only relying on their physical abilities.
'I can't take the easy way out at the first sign of difficulty. The exam has been easy so far, this is the first real challenge.'
Soon after, the candidates boarded a boat heading to the island. Nicolas chatted casually with Kurapika and Leorio, while Gon sat off to the side, deep in thought.
Knowing what was troubling Gon, Nicolas chose to leave him alone and waited until they reached the island.
"You arrived second, how was your test? Were you teamed up with Hisoka, number one?" Kurapika asked, curious.
"Haha, no, nothing like that. We just did our tests solo. There weren't many teams. You two got lucky."
"Lucky, my ass, we made it with five minutes to spare," Leorio retorted.
"That's true, but you qualified, and that's what matters. Plus, you're not injured. Even Hisoka took a hit during the test," Nicolas replied.
Kurapika glanced briefly at Hisoka, who was leaning on the ship's railing, staring at the horizon. Blood stains were visible on his shoulder.
"Indeed. I wonder who managed to wound him like that. His test must've been a lot harder than ours."
At those words, even Leorio fell silent. He was beginning to realize they were lucky to face enemies within their league.
Soon, the boat reached the island's shore. A female examiner, holding a microphone, explained that the trial would last one week. Without waiting, Hisoka vanished into the island.
Two minutes later, it was Nicolas's turn. He chose to go in the opposite direction from Hisoka.
Once in the forest, he focused on strengthening his Zetsu and hid in a tree, keeping a clear view of the boat.
A few minutes later, it was finally Hanzo's turn to disembark, unfortunately, he headed in a direction far from Nicolas.
'Smart. He probably figured that if one of the early candidates had him as a target, we'd be hiding nearby to spot him.'
Wasting no time, Nicolas moved from tree to tree, masking his presence as he went in Hanzo's direction.
Eventually, he managed to locate him, Hanzo was picking fruit from a tree.
Hiding in a bush, Nicolas calmly observed. He had already decided not to attack immediately. He wanted to watch and wait for the perfect moment.
Hanzo was one of the most capable candidates in this kind of trial. Shadowing him would be valuable: Nicolas could train his stealth skills against an expert, analyze Hanzo's methods, be it stealth, trap-setting, or combat, and eventually identify his weaknesses.
Of course, if an opportunity presented itself, Nicolas wouldn't hesitate to attack.
Keeping a distance of 50 to 100 meters, Nicolas continued tailing him, making sure never to follow the same paths and staying in Hanzo's blind spots.
When he got hungry, he made do with fruit, hunting and cooking an animal was out of the question.
Two days passed like this, until suddenly, Hanzo stopped. He jumped into a tree and hid his presence.
'Did he notice me?'
Considering breaking off the tail or preparing for a fight, Nicolas suddenly spotted a man walking the same path Hanzo had taken earlier. The man bent down, inspecting footprints on the ground. Realizing this man was the reason for Hanzo's reaction, Nicolas sighed in relief.
Soon, the man moved on, apparently not having found any tracks.
Seeing Hanzo begin to follow the man, Nicolas trailed behind, creating a double tail.
The double tail continued for about two hours. Watching Hanzo's movements, Nicolas felt he was learning a lot. Suddenly, the unaware candidate stopped in front of a large tree.
He sat down beneath it, pulling out a pile of fruit and some dried meat. Clearly, he'd prepared well for this kind of trial.
From his hiding spot, Nicolas saw Hanzo creep closer. Once he was within twenty meters, he threw a shuriken and charged.
The man reacted quickly, raising his hand to block the shuriken at the cost of his palm. But before he could get up, he was caught in a chokehold.
He struggled to break free, but Hanzo was stronger. After about twenty seconds, foam began to spill from the man's mouth, and the ninja finally released him.
Nicolas watched Hanzo search the unconscious man's pockets, eventually finding a badge. But it wasn't his target, he sighed in disappointment.
'Now!'
Just as Hanzo stood up, ready to move on, he suddenly saw a foot flying toward his face.
Unable to dodge, he raised his arms to block, but the blow still sent him flying. He rolled violently across the ground.
As he stood, blood gushed from his nose. He finally saw his attacker: a candidate who hadn't hidden his badge, number 181: Nicolas.
Not letting Hanzo recover from the surprise attack, Nicolas threw a heavy punch toward his head. Once again, Hanzo blocked it, but the force of the blow sent him flying.
This time, though, he landed on his feet, barely. He glanced at his left shoulder, clearly dislocated from the punch's force.
Drawing on his combat experience, Hanzo immediately began retreating into the forest, clutching his injured shoulder.
He knew full well that healing was the best option. Caught by surprise, he didn't know if the attacker was alone. It was too risky to continue the fight, especially since the attacker's number wasn't his target.
But Nicolas didn't give him a chance to escape, he pursued immediately, the two disappearing into the woods. It didn't take long for Nicolas to catch up with the injured ninja.
Thanks to his Zetsu, the ninja couldn't sense Nicolas's presence. Taking advantage of Hanzo's lack of information and his own physical superiority, Nicolas struck him hard on the neck, knocking him out instantly.
Standing over the unconscious ninja, Nicolas let out a long sigh.