The Enemy's Identity

"Hiss..."

Shunren carefully took off his outer garment, revealing several bloody holes in his shoulder.

"Shunren, are... are you all right?" Kurenai asked in a panic. Born into a prestigious family, this was the first time she had ever seen such severe bleeding.

"Shunren, let me bandage you first!" Shizune was startled too, but she regularly studied pharmacology and wasn't frightened off by the blood. She quickly took out medicine and bandages and skillfully treated Shunren's wounds.

With the willpower of an adult, Shunren could still endure this degree of pain. "Don't worry," he said in a low voice. "They're just flesh wounds. My muscles and bones weren't damaged."

Shunren had done his utmost to keep the Shuriken the enemy had casually thrown from hitting anything vital. But looking at it another way, a single casual attack had left him unable to dodge, showing just how terrifyingly strong his opponent was!

The enemy had silently approached Feimu, a Chunin, and killed him in an instant. He was undoubtedly as strong as a Jonin and had also mastered assassination techniques.

In that instant, Shunren had seen the enemy's face clearly...

The enemy's true identity!

Though shocked, Shunren understood, when he considered the memories of his previous life, that it was hardly strange for those people to do something like this.

"Shunren, the one who hurt you... who was it?"

"I don't know." Shunren concealed what he knew from the two of them without hesitation, because he knew that when those people were involved, the more one knew, the more dangerous it was.

Shunren also warned them, "You can't tell anyone about what happened tonight, not even the teacher!"

"Huh? Why not?"

"Just don't!" Shunren warned them with a firmness he had never shown before. "Listen carefully. You absolutely must not tell anyone!"

"But..." Kurenai opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say more.

"Ah! It hurts!" Shunren pretended his wound was acting up and put on a pained expression, diverting the two girls' attention.

"Shunren! Hang in there. The emergency blood-replenishing medicine is a little uncomfortable as it takes effect," Shizune said, her face full of self-reproach. She had never received a formal education in Medical Ninjutsu, so being able to prepare such a medicine herself was already quite an accomplishment. Seeing Shunren in such pain, she thought her skills were lacking and that she had gotten the medicine's parameters wrong.

In truth, however, the pain in Shunren's wound had already lessened considerably. Shizune's medicine was very effective. He could clearly feel a tingling numbness in his shoulder, a reaction to the wound healing rapidly.

"All right, I need to rest for a while. Remember, you can't tell anyone what happened tonight!" After that final stern warning, Shunren sat cross-legged where he was and focused on controlling the circulation of his Chakra.

Early the next morning.

"Gather up, gather up! Get out here, you little brats!" As always, it was the booming voice of Feimu, the Konoha teacher!

"Good morning, Teacher Feimu."

Sleepy-eyed students crawled out of their tents. Most looked relaxed, seemingly not taking the survival exercise seriously at all. Only a handful of groups had taken turns standing watch throughout the night.

"Come on, can't you take this a little more seriously?!" Feimu looked ready to tear his hair out at the sight of his students' lazy behavior.

He looked every bit the habitual worrier, just like the real thing.

But no matter how closely he resembled him, it was only a resemblance.

Shunren stared at him. The Feimu before him was undoubtedly someone else in disguise. The real Feimu was already dead.

As though sensing Shunren's gaze,

"Feimu" turned around and called out, "Hey! When I came out to check on the watch last night, I thought you were taking things seriously for once. Who knew you'd still gone off to sleep in the middle of the night?" Shunren put on an embarrassed expression and scratched the back of his head. "Ah, you caught me, Teacher Feimu."

Is he testing me? Shunren thought. With so many eyes on them, the man clearly didn't dare make a move. Judging by his attitude, though, he didn't seem to have noticed that Shunren had already discovered his true identity.

A flicker of something strange passed through "Feimu's" narrowed eyes, but he quickly concealed it. Wearing a stern expression almost identical to Feimu's, he grumbled, "Your senses are pretty sharp, so try paying more attention!"

"Yes, Teacher Feimu," Shunren said "sincerely."

Kurenai and Shizune, standing nearby, noticed nothing amiss either. Shunren had kept his mouth shut about the mysterious person's attack the night before, so they had no idea that Feimu had changed.

"Feimu" secretly studied Shunren again. For some reason, he felt he couldn't see through the kid before him. Then he turned his gaze to Kurenai and Shizune. How could two little girls hide what was on their minds? As a result, "Feimu" grew even more certain that he hadn't been exposed the night before.

Then, let's proceed according to the original plan!

"Feimu" announced loudly, "Today's exercise is to patrol the national border. You'll operate in groups. Remember not to go beyond the designated area, and get a taste of how difficult your seniors' missions are!"

"Feimu" went on to spout a great deal more nonsense, reminding everyone how Feimu liked to drone on whenever he taught. They all started grumbling again.

Shunren quietly watched it all. The disguise was flawless. This group's abilities were truly enough to send a chill down one's spine!

"Shunren, are you sure you don't need to tell the teacher about your wound?" Kurenai asked with concern.

"Don't worry. Shizune's medicine worked really well. The wound has mostly healed already." As he spoke, Shunren gave his arm a small wave in front of her. It stung a little, but he smiled and endured it so they wouldn't worry.

"Really? Shizune, you're amazing. You'll definitely become an excellent medical-nin someday!" Kurenai believed Shunren without question and breathed a small sigh of relief, then gave Shizune an admiring look.

Shizune blushed slightly and said modestly, "I-it's not that impressive. I can only make some good medicine once in a while."

Shunren clenched his hand. In truth, the wound was nowhere near fully healed, but for it to have recovered this much was already a great surprise. As he had thought, Shizune had an outstanding talent for medical arts. Otherwise, she wouldn't later have caught the eye of Tsunade, one of the Sannin.

All right, first I need to find a way to deal with the danger in front of me.

Shunren shook his head, clearing the distracting thoughts from his mind and focusing. After what had happened last night, he could say with absolute certainty that something would go wrong during this exercise. But aside from knowing the enemy's identity, he knew nothing about their plans or anything else.

He had almost no information.

In other words, the only thing Shunren could do now was stay alert, remain vigilant at all times, and never relax for even a moment.