All-Out Slaughter!

All-Out Slaughter!

"...That concludes the lesson."

Medical Ninja Bai Cao underlined the key points he had just covered on the blackboard and said, "That concludes the Medical Ninja lecture. If any of you are interested, you may apply to the hospital for further study."

"Genin Lin Ke, stay behind," he added.

The genin who had come for the class did not hesitate. Once he dismissed them, they packed up their things and left.

A few minutes later, Lin Ke was the only one left in the classroom. Bai Cao walked over to his desk and asked, "Have you thought about what we discussed last time?"

During the previous lecture, he had invited this genin to join the Medical Team—

In fact, most genin who attended these lectures eventually ended up at the hospital. They did not necessarily use Medical Ninjutsu; simply consuming chakra to heal others alongside surgery and medical techniques was enough. The genin before him was truly promising. His chakra control had already reached the standard needed to learn Medical Ninjutsu.

It was just a pity... his chakra reserves were a little lacking. But that was fine. He was only nine years old. With more training, it should not be much of a problem.

If he joined the Medical Team and familiarized himself with the environment early on, with the other Medical Ninjas guiding him, he would surely improve quickly. In the future, he would certainly become a qualified Medical Ninja.

"I'm sorry, Senior Bai Cao." Lin Ke refused with an apologetic smile.

Medical Ninjas were part of the regular establishment and did not need to leave the village for missions. It was indeed safe, and promotions were steady—but that was precisely the problem. It was too steady.

It was now Konoha Year 62. How could he afford to waste several more years? Advancing quickly and growing stronger as soon as possible was what truly mattered.

After becoming a chunin, he could apply to the village for many ninjutsu. That was the most reliable way to obtain ninjutsu for free.

Medical Ninja... Could he perhaps wait for Tsunade to return and become her apprentice, like Haruno Sakura?

That seemed like a viable path too.

Bai Cao shook his head regretfully without pressing the matter. "If you become interested in the future, come find me anytime."

"Thank you." Lin Ke thanked him gratefully. "Excuse me, Senior Bai Cao." He gave a slight bow and left the classroom.

After thinking it over, he still did not want to place his fate entirely in someone else's hands.

Still, knowing there would be no more Medical Ninja lectures left him feeling a little melancholy. Whenever a small change disrupted daily life, people always needed time to adjust.

He did not dwell on it for long. Stretching his body, he headed straight for the Training Grounds. Even after becoming a genin, his training had to continue.

The next day, Death Forest.

"Click—" The gate marked with the number 13 opened. A cool breeze drifted through, carrying a trace of refreshing forest air.

Nara Yan Shui glanced at his three subordinates and said, "Proceed according to plan."

"Yes." The three members of Fifth Squad quickly entered through the gate with Lin Ke at the lead. As their Guidance Jonin, Nara Yan Shui followed at an unhurried pace. Without letting the three notice him, he took out a notebook and wrote down observations on their performance.

Death Forest was Konoha's Forty-Fourth Training Ground. It was surrounded by forty-four locked entrances and entirely enclosed by barbed wire. The entrances lay roughly ten kilometers from the central tower. From above, it was a circular training ground with a radius of ten kilometers and a diameter of twenty.

Among all the Training Grounds, it was relatively close to Konoha's outskirts—

Konoha was surrounded by towering walls, and beyond those walls lay the Konoha Great Barrier.

Although the village seemed lax within its borders, and in the manga any villain could seemingly invade with ease, in reality, as the base of a military organization, entering or leaving was never so simple.

"Whoosh—"

After leading the way across the branches for more than twenty minutes, Lin Ke discovered a tiger pack marked as overpopulated. Not only were these tigers large, but perhaps because food was plentiful and competition for prey existed, they did not act alone. Counting them, there were more than ten tigers of varying sizes.

He made an attack gesture. His two companions, having completed their tree-climbing and water-walking training, immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to rush out, shuriken shooting from their hands.

"Pshhk—"

Neither Yuan Wei nor Xia had any obvious weakness in throwing ninja tools. The sound of shuriken piercing flesh was crisp. The tigers had only just reacted when two seemingly small figures charged in with kunai in hand.

Without mercy or hesitation, the tiger pack was swiftly slaughtered until only a few remained, fleeing in miserable panic.

The same would likely have happened if they had faced ordinary bandits. Once chakra control improved, a ninja's speed and explosive power increased tremendously. Combined with sharp ninja tools, their killing efficiency was considerable.

The three did not pursue the fleeing tigers. They were there to cull the excess wildlife, not wipe them out completely. The two pregnant tigresses had remained largely unharmed throughout.

From beginning to end, they had barely exchanged a word.

Standing on a tree trunk, Lin Ke was very satisfied with his two teammates' efficiency. They had dealt with a tiger pack without needing him to step in. After briefly identifying their direction, he gestured for them to continue and led the team onward, leaving only tiger corpses scattered across the ground.

The culled beasts could simply be left in the forest. They were part of the ecosystem's cycle as well.

He gathered chakra around his nose, his nostrils twitching as countless mixed scents flooded into them. After slightly adjusting their route, he soon found another wolf pack enjoying the fruits of its hunt.

The exact same slaughter played out again. It was not the first time, nor would it be the second.

Fifth Squad operated with great efficiency. At noon, the three found an open patch of ground and ate a bland meal of grilled meat. They then continued until past three in the afternoon. Yuan Wei and Xia had used up more than half their stamina, and they had already cleared roughly one-fifth of the excess animal packs required by the mission.

Lin Ke maintained his stamina at full capacity throughout, prepared for anything unexpected so he could step in and rescue them in time.

Even with a Guidance Jonin present, jonin would not personally enter the fray during missions. If they truly needed a jonin's help or rescue, then unless the mission had changed, it would only lower the jonin's evaluation of his subordinates.

At this rate, they could probably complete the mission in about a week.

The main difficulty was that the animals moved around. They were not stationary targets, and they roamed freely across Death Forest's vast territory. Unless one was a specialized sensory ninja, quickly locating the targets was no simple task.

In the beginning, they could kill any beast packs they encountered. Later, they would need to identify and search for them. One week was only the theoretical completion time; in reality, it would certainly be extended by another day or two.

As the sun gradually dipped westward, Lin Ke led his two teammates back. With the Guidance Jonin remaining silent, he was, in a sense, their leader.

This was what he wanted, and it was also a path he had to take to become a chunin.