Survival Exercise

At the Ninja Academy, today was the day they would set out for the border to conduct a survival exercise.

Shunren had therefore put his usual early-morning practice on hold, rested up, and arrived at the school early to assemble.

The survival exercise was one of the major ways the school assessed its students, and the results would be entered in their ninja records. So no one would be late today-except a genuine idiot, of course, like Obito Uchiha.

That had nothing to do with Shunren, though. He was just an ordinary person, with no heaven-defying cheat, and all his strength came from his own hard training. All he wanted was to protect himself in these troubled times. It was best not to get involved with a sensitive figure in the main storyline like Obito.

"Hey, morning, Kurenai."

"You weren't late today, Shunren."

Over the past few days, Shunren had gone to the Yuhi Clan's Genjutsu dojo almost every day to practice Genjutsu with Kurenai, and the two had become good friends.

Kurenai Yuhi was one of Konoha's future elite Jonin, though judging by her role in the story, Kurenai could only be considered a second-rate extra. So Shunren had nothing to worry about in befriending her. Also, one thing needed to be made clear beforehand: Shunren had absolutely no improper designs on Kurenai as she was now. He was a normal man and really had no interest in little brats of her age.

With Kurenai, Shunren merely enjoyed friendly exchanges with a fellow student of Genjutsu.

The same was true for Kurenai. It was rare for her to find a friend with whom she had something in common, and beyond that, she didn't have the slightest romantic feelings for Shunren. Although the two had already spent three years as classmates in the same room, they had only formed an ordinary friendship a few days ago, so they weren't all that close.

Yet to a certain someone, their perfectly normal everyday interactions looked rather different.

As the saying went, the kind of person you were determined how you saw others.

Asuma was staring intently at Shunren and Kurenai from behind, his face livid. The two were having a perfectly normal conversation, but to him, it was intolerable.

Young people liked to compete and prove themselves, and bratty kids even more so. Ever since Shunren had "drawn" with Asuma in their last mock battle, the result had dealt a tremendous blow to the always-proud Asuma. In particular, there was the strike that had severed the Flying Swallow in his hand, and that streak of bright red left on his neck! As the Hokage's son, Asuma came from a good family and was usually held up high by everyone. For the first time in his life, death had come so close. That sword strike had nearly taken his head off!

Even now, Asuma remained haunted by that sword strike of Shunren's, and feared it.

That was something Asuma couldn't accept either. Proud as he was, how could he fear someone else's strength? And the other person was a dead last who couldn't even use Ninjutsu!

On top of that, Asuma was pursuing Kurenai. As the school's little tyrant, he had once declared at school that Kurenai was his and nobody else could touch her. Now, seeing Shunren getting close to Kurenai, Asuma felt his anger flare still higher!

"Kurenai!" Burning with anger, Asuma couldn't help stepping forward and shouting.

Kurenai frowned and turned around. Not the least bit intimidated by Asuma's imposing manner, she said coldly, "Why are you shouting so loudly?"

"Uh... well, no, that's not it." Faced with Kurenai, who was gentle on the outside but strong at heart, Asuma was completely at a loss. He immediately took his anger out on Shunren, glaring fiercely at him. "Shunren, I want to talk to Kurenai. Get lost!"

"Heh." Shunren saw through Asuma's bratty thoughts at a glance and merely found them funny, so he ignored him. But then he thought about it and remembered that Asuma and Kurenai seemed to be a couple, didn't they?

But so what?

Shunren would do everything he could to keep his distance from Obito to avoid trouble, but who was Asuma? Just an extra,

and one who died early at that. Shunren didn't mind getting involved in Asuma's affairs at all. An adult didn't stoop to a child's level, so Shunren ignored Asuma's words.

Asuma immediately flew into a rage. "Can't you understand what I'm saying?"

Shunren could calmly ignore him, but Kurenai, standing beside him, couldn't stand by any longer. She had never been one to let herself be bullied. Raising an eyebrow, she said coldly, "Asuma, what's wrong with you? I have nothing to say to you, so stop hanging around in front of me."

"Wait! Kurenai, I came to discuss something important with you. This survival exercise is taking place near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. I heard the old man say that relations between the Sand ninja and our Konoha haven't been very good lately. There's a good chance something could go wrong during this exercise, so, so I wanted to..."

Before Asuma could finish, Kurenai cut him off. "I refuse. You're always so reckless and rash. There's no way I'm teaming up with you."

Asuma hurriedly said, "But I'm No. 1 in the school! Only someone with my strength can protect you properly."

Kurenai was also a fiercely competitive person. Hearing Asuma's words, she was not pleased but angered instead. "Asuma! Are you saying that I, Kurenai Yuhi, need someone else to protect me?!"

"Ah! That's not what I meant, Kurenai!" Asuma thought, This is bad. He had accidentally stepped on one of Kurenai's land mines.

"That's enough, Asuma!" Kurenai said coldly. "I already have a partner for my team. Right, Shunren?"

"Uh, I don't think I heard about that..."

"You've heard about it now!" Kurenai glared at him, plainly saying she wouldn't let him off if he dared refuse.

Shunren shrugged. He didn't really care who he teamed up with for the survival exercise.

"You again, Shunren!" Asuma looked at Shunren through gritted teeth and clenched his fists. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to rush up and flatten him with a punch.

Shunren merely looked at him impassively. Faced with Asuma's furious glare, he didn't feel the slightest fear. He thought that Asuma really was a brat, displaying his anger so openly. Who knew where he'd thrown the ninja code? Blind rage would only expose more of his weaknesses.

Shunren could see clearly that Asuma was on the verge of erupting. In his heated state, he could rush over and fight Shunren at any moment, but Shunren could subdue him just as readily. With Asuma blinded by anger, a single glance showed he was full of openings. Shunren was confident he could strike first and knock him to the ground before he made a move.

Just as Asuma was about to lash out, Feimu's voice rang out from nearby.

"What are you doing? If you want to fight, get out! And don't bother going to today's survival exercise. You'll get a zero on the assessment!" Feimu shouted angrily.