Preparing to Do Something No One Could Know About!

Something huge had happened!

Of the several hundred candidates in the Second Exam, fewer than a hundred had survived in the end.

Tragic!

Too tragic!

Barely one in several had made it out alive.

The casualties had been so severe entirely because the surveillance had been destroyed, causing the Three Great Ninja Villages to lose control of the examination grounds.

If the examiners and Konoha Anbu had not acted in time, it would not have been surprising if no one had survived.

By all indications, Konoha had been deeply infiltrated.

Otherwise, there was no way the enemy could have entered the Death Forest and known where the surveillance lines were buried.

Even Konoha ninja did not know about those things.

Given such a grave leak of secrets, it was no wonder the village had been conducting sweeping internal investigations these past few days.

"And also..."

Uchiha Mei looked as though she had something she could not bring herself to say.

"Your two teammates—Yamaa Koji was stabbed through the chest while protecting you, and his heart was injured. Kakashi was seriously hurt as well!"

A voice from the doorway spoke the words Uchiha Mei could not.

Uchiha Shota!

His powerful frame filled the doorway, radiating overwhelming pressure.

"What?!"

Tang Ping had never expected something like this to happen to his two teammates.

But before he could rise, he was pressed back onto the hospital bed.

With one hand, Uchiha Shota held down Tang Ping as he tried to get up, warning him, "What you need to do now is recover first, then get a good result in the Third Exam. Everything else can wait!"

He had specifically reminded him because the abilities Tang Ping had displayed had drawn increasingly covetous eyes.

Without enough status and strength, even the Uchiha might not be able to protect him.

Unless he never left the clan grounds, he would eventually have to face these things alone.

"I... understand!"

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but in the end, Tang Ping slowly nodded.

"The Third Exam won't begin for more than half a month!" Uchiha Shota released him and left with Uchiha Mei. But when he reached the doorway, he stopped. "You... must not wrong Mei!"

Tang Ping was utterly bewildered by those final words.

He had no idea what the other man meant.

What did he mean, must not wrong Mei?

How had he wronged his own "White Thigh"? Slander—this was absolutely slander.

Tap, tap!

Just as Tang Ping refuted it in his heart, hurried footsteps rang out at the doorway.

He looked up and saw a figure rush in.

She wore a white short-sleeved dojo uniform, a black leather sash around her waist, and loose hakama pants below.

Beneath her smooth, shoulder-length hair was a delicate, charming face, her white eyes gazing worriedly toward the hospital bed.

"Tang Ping-kun, you're finally awake!"

The beautiful girl was extremely excited to see Tang Ping awake.

Hinata Cang Yue!

All one could say was that she had not let down the Hyuga Clan bloodline of a "Crown Princess."

She was not only beautiful, but rich and generous as well.

When they had first met, her bruised and swollen face and blood-stained body had made her look utterly bedraggled.

But after her injuries healed and she changed into clean clothes... well, her looks and figure were truly exceptional.

But was she really twelve?

Hinata Cang Yue was the same age as Tang Ping, yet in certain respects, she was exceptionally gifted, leaving Uchiha Mei's "airfield" far behind.

Still, people in the ninja world matured extremely early, so this rate of development was not strange.

"Why are you here...?"

Looking at her intact right leg and the lilies in her hand, Tang Ping did not understand why she had come.

"I heard you were badly injured in the Death Forest and was very worried. I've come to see you every day these past few days!"

Hinata Cang Yue slowly walked to the bedside and, with practiced ease, replaced the flowers in the vase by his bed.

Having someone change his flowers was not too bad... my ass!

Only now did Tang Ping understand what Uchiha Shota had meant by saying he must not wrong Mei.

What a monstrous injustice!

His relationship with Hinata Cang Yue was purer than a blank sheet of paper.

"Is that so? Cang Yue, do you know how Koji and Kakashi are doing?"

Tang Ping asked her for information.

Although all the injuries on his body had healed, having his Chakra drained dry and the aftereffects of the Soldier Pills left his entire body weak and numb.

No wonder Uchiha Shota had pressed him back onto the bed and told him to recover. He truly was not in any condition to move around.

"I do..."

Hinata Cang Yue gently explained the situation of the other two members of Team 3.

Tang Ping's expression grew uglier and uglier.

Kakashi was doing relatively well.

Although his injuries had been severe, Medical Ninjutsu had nearly healed him, and he had already been discharged from the hospital.

Only Yamaa Koji was different. Because his heart had been injured, even though he had narrowly survived, he would never be able to continue as a ninja.

If his heart beat too violently, his life would be endangered.

"How could this be..."

Tang Ping murmured.

He knew all too well how devastating this would be for Yamaa Koji.

As the Yamaa Clan's final hope, Koji had regarded "reviving the clan" as his dream.

"But this is what it means to be a ninja, isn't it?"

Hinata Cang Yue consoled him, her expression dim.

Because she was in the same situation.

Losing a leg meant she could no longer be a ninja. Her future would already be like that of a Caged Bird—and one with a broken leg at that.

"Yes... this is what it means to be a ninja!"

Tang Ping repeated bitterly.

That was the cruelty of being a ninja.

They could face danger at any time, and even if they were crippled or retired, there were no protections like pensions. The number of ninja who killed themselves was far from small.

The heart!

For such an immensely vital organ, the current Konoha Hospital could not possibly heal it.

If Tsunade Hime, the pinnacle of Medical Ninjutsu, took action, there might still be hope. As for anyone else, they should not think too highly of themselves.

The more Tang Ping learned about Medical Ninjutsu, the more clearly he understood its limits.

That was why he had not specialized in that path, instead using Medical Ninjutsu to pursue a "biotechnology route."

The heart!

It was the most delicate part of the human body.

Even in the world before his transmigration, no one would dare claim a one-hundred-percent cure for injuries related to it.

But this was not the world from before his transmigration. This was a ninja world with Chakra and Natural Energy.

There were even resurrection and aliens here, so a heart problem was nothing by comparison.

"Then, are you willing to resign yourself to fate?"

Tang Ping looked at the dejected girl and, as if possessed, asked the question.

Hinata Cang Yue did not answer. A faint yet blazing flame flickered in her eyes, only to vanish an instant later.

At the same time, Tang Ping realized how her legs could appear intact.

Transformation Technique!

As long as she maintained it with Chakra, she could remain normal. Once her Chakra was exhausted, she would revert to having a missing leg.

Normally, she was surely willing to keep herself in that wretched state, letting the main family take pleasure in it, because that was the only way she could suffer less harm.

But because she had come to the hospital to see him, she had used the Transformation Technique.

Before the Death Forest exam, Tang Ping definitely would not have done anything.

But now, some thoughts had arisen within him. He took her hand... and prepared to do something no one could know about.