"It's fine. I'm already awake."
Meanwhile, in Konoha Hospital's special ward for the Chunin Exams, the bandaged boy slowly opened his eyes. He turned his head slightly, looked at the young nurse beside him, who had frozen at the sight of him waking up, and slowly spoke.
"Dumbass Ichiba, you're awake?"
Almost at the same time, a boy's voice rang out from the other side. Hada Ryuhiko, who had been sitting, was already on his feet and had taken a step toward the bed.
"Yeah."
Hearing this, Hada Ichiba turned his head and looked at the seven- or eight-year-old boy, who seemed unchanged and even wore a slightly disgusted expression, before replying.
"Is this Konoha Hospital?"
Then, after looking around, he asked.
"Yes."
Hada Ryuhiko answered.
"Is that so... Was I carried to the hospital?"
Hearing that, Hada Ichiba looked around the hospital, whose standards were clearly two or three levels higher than those of Kusagakure's hospital, and muttered.
Apparently, he had already figured out the situation.
I didn't expect to be injured this badly...
I just don't know where Neji Hyuga learned such a powerful Gentle Fist.
I was really almost done for.
Luckily, it didn't damage anything vital.
With that thought, Hada Ichiba felt somewhat relieved.
"Hmph! Good. Looks like you didn't hit your head hard enough to ruin your brain."
Hada Ryuhiko's words, as always, were anything but friendly.
His complexion had returned to normal too. It looked like there was no way to get any information out of him now.
However, Hada Ryuhiko's hostility this time was not simply because he found Hada Ichiba unpleasant as usual.
It was because his carefully laid plan to pry information out of Hada Ichiba was basically impossible now. Originally, he had thought that after losing so much blood, Dumbass