Hayate Gekko turned his head and gave a slight nod. He exhaled a quiet sigh,
"The chains binding that child have finally been lifted."
The four of them chatted while bounding from tree to tree, making their way back to Konoha.
Meanwhile, Shiki was focused on something else—still sensing the flow of chakra within his body.
Maybe it was because he'd become so used to unconsciously holding back his chakra, allowing only the bare minimum to flow through his meridians.
Maybe he had long since gotten used to not even thinking about using ninjutsu in battle.
Because of that, he now felt somewhat out of place. Even now, he still habitually held his chakra in check.
Noticing this, he consciously increased his chakra flow.
Back and forth like this—like a toddler learning to walk.
As the stream-like chakra flowed through his meridians, there wasn't even a hint of pain—instead, it felt strangely pleasant.
Suddenly overcome with emotion, Shiki came to a stop on a tree branch. His fingers formed various hand seals.
Many years had passed. Even though he occasionally practiced, without real combat experience, his skills had dulled.
Snake–Goat–Monkey–Boar–Horse–Tiger.
Six distinct hand seals shifted rapidly in Shiki's hands. Though somewhat clumsy, they still moved with dazzling speed.
Chakra followed Shiki's will, gathering in his throat. It had been many years since so much chakra had gathered there.
In fact, Shiki felt this moment was even more novel than when he first learned this technique—this strange sensation of something both familiar and new.
[Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!]
A torrent of fire burst from Shiki's mouth, coalescing into a blazing sphere nearly ten meters across before him.
"This kid..."
Hayate Gekko also stopped walking, watching as Shiki Uzumaki suddenly halted to perform such an odd action.
Actually, he understood,
"Shiki probably hasn't used ninjutsu in many years."
Thinking about it, a quiet sense of pity stirred in him. All those years ago, because of just a Chunin spy, a child of such talent had lost several precious years.
In Hayate's mind, it was simply an ordinary Chunin—a spy—who had caused Shiki Uzumaki's meridian damage.
Under Shiki's watching gaze, the fireball gradually vanished. He suppressed the surge of excitement rising within him.
"Although I've neglected ninjutsu for a long time," he murmured emotionally, "my chakra control has improved significantly. As the saying goes, misfortune and blessing go hand in hand."
Shiki disappeared from where he stood in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared beside Hayate Gekko.
He had opened the second gate of the Eight Gates Formation—the Healing Gate.
After opening the Healing Gate, Shiki's outward appearance remained unchanged. Unlike with the later gates, no chakra shroud formed around his body.
"So fast."
Hayate inwardly marveled. If he had considered the earlier Jutsu to be expected,
then this speed of Shiki's now genuinely astonished him.
Although Shiki's speed had already been extremely fast before, at least it hadn't reached this current level.
"Is it the Eight Gates Formation?"
Hayate Gekko said doubtfully. He knew that Shiki Uzumaki's injury was caused by excessive chakra after activating the Eight Gates Formation. He just didn't know how many of the Gates Shiki Uzumaki could open yet.
At the very least, Shiki's current speed had already far surpassed that of an average Chunin. And was even drawing closer to Hayate's own skill level. Still, the Eight Gates Formation was ultimately a forbidden technique reserved for moments of extreme power surges.
"Sensei, we should hurry up and get going. Otherwise, we might miss the Chunin Exams."
Shiki's gaze looked toward Konoha. Tomorrow would witness many earth-shaking events throughout the Ninja World.
So, did he have the strength to make a big difference despite his youth and inexperience?
Could he stop those members of the Sound Four? To be continued.
Chapter 182: The Forgotten One
P.S.: Let me quickly explain something at the start of this chapter.
Some people are confused why this time the main character went looking for Tsunade but Orochimaru and Naruto didn't appear.
The timelines don't line up here. In the original story, when Naruto went looking for Tsunade, the Chunin Exams were over and the Third Hokage had already passed away. He went with Jiraiya to ask Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage and learned the Rasengan along the way.
This takes place around one month before the official Chunin Exam finals begin. At this point, Naruto had only recently met Jiraiya, learned the Summoning Technique, and was being taught by Jiraiya how to awaken his Nine-Tails chakra.
Okay, that's about two hundred words of explanation. No extra charge!
The main text:
"Hyuga Ao is dead."
A ninja reviewing old documents in Konoha looked stunned by what he was reading.
After all, although Genin were relatively weak in strength, Konoha would never assign dangerous missions to Genin—only tasks like dealing with bandits.
And even then, such missions would always be given to highly experienced Genin.
As for someone like Hyuga Ao, a newly graduated Academy student, he should at most be handling simple errands like retrieving lost items, just like Naruto and his classmates.
But now, the report clearly stated that the twelve-year-old Genin, Hyuga Ao, had died.
Even though he belonged to the Hyuga clan—the strongest in Konoha—he still died in such an ordinary manner.
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