End

"I'm coming!"

Naruto's small frame had a hard time pinning down the skeletal arm, but then Choji ran over and plopped down on the Giant Bone Sword.

The arm finally stopped moving.

With only one arm and one leg left, the Skeleton Giant struggled to crawl toward the nearest person, making clattering sounds as it moved.

"Pant, pant, pant..."

Sasuke was breathing heavily. The excessive Chakra drain had left him in poor condition.

Tenten cautiously threw several shuriken, but they did not inflict much damage on the Skeleton Giant. The shuriken struck its body with the sound of steel colliding, and they even saw sparks fly.

"That thing's way too hard!"

They had known the Skeleton Giant would probably be tough, but its hardness was still shocking.

"Stop standing around and come help!"

When they turned around, they saw that Shikamaru had already begun drawing a Sealing Jutsu.

"That's right, we can use a Sealing Jutsu!"

Sakura slapped her hands together. How had she not thought of that?

She immediately stepped forward to help.

It was not just her. Neji, Shino, Ino, and the others also stepped forward to help.

Rock Lee, however, stood there awkwardly, because he had almost—no, simply no Chakra left in his body.

"It's so huge. With our abilities, we probably can't seal it completely." Rock Lee's fighting spirit flared. "In that case, I'll tear off its left arm too!"

But he did not act immediately. Without someone to keep the severed left arm from returning to its main body, the best time for him to strike would be when they were ready.

Hinata was still sitting on the rooftop ledge, showing no intention of helping.

No matter what, this was only a test. There was no need for her to steal all the spotlight.

"Still, this test should be ending soon, right?"

Since this was only a test, there could not possibly be something that these students were unable to handle.

Once the Skeleton Giant was dealt with, this test should be over.

Besides, maintaining such an Alternate Dimension was no small drain on a Jinchuriki.

"We're ready!"

Hinata looked down. Shikamaru and the others had already prepared the Sealing Jutsu.

Then Rock roared, "Konoha Whirlwind!" The Skeleton Giant's left arm was sent flying, spinning several times through the air before landing on the rooftop floor.

Shikamaru and the others did not miss the opportunity and immediately activated the Sealing Jutsu.

Then, the Skeleton Giant, with only a single thigh hanging lonely from its body, was slowly consumed by the Sealing Jutsu.

"This should be over now, right?" Shikamaru panted. Activating the Sealing Jutsu had consumed a great deal of his Chakra.

The others were in much the same state.

Then, the light around them began to brighten.

Before anyone except Hinata could react, they were already back on the school rooftop.

Before them lay the classmates who had already fallen unconscious.

"All right, students. The test is over. You may go home now. The school will announce the results tomorrow."

Iruka came up the stairs and addressed them.

Naruto scratched his head, still unable to react. Where had the arm he had been holding gone?

"So that means we passed the test, right?"

Sasuke stepped forward and asked.

Iruka gave a mysterious smile. "You'll find out tomorrow morning."

"What about these students lying here?"

"They're only unconscious. They'll wake up after a while, so you don't need to worry."

After saying goodbye to Iruka, everyone dragged their exhausted bodies home.

As they went downstairs, they discovered that the ground was completely clean, without a single trace of blood.

If not for the nauseating stench still lingering in the air, they would have thought the severed limbs and rotten blood they had seen earlier were only hallucinations.

Thinking of that, they looked toward Hinata, who had removed the cloth strips wrapped around her hands and was flexing her fingers.

From the moment they decided to follow Hinata to the school building, had it been thirty seconds? Or a minute?

Yet when they reached the school building, they had seen severed limbs all over the ground. Even after reaching the rooftop, Hinata had been sitting leisurely on the roof.

That meant those Puppet Corpses had not hindered Hinata at all!

She had easily broken through the numerous Puppet Corpses and reached the rooftop. Most importantly, she had chosen the most violent method possible!

Was she even human?

"Are you even human?" Kiba Inuzuka blurted out bluntly.

Then Hinata walked toward him...

"No, wait, I was wrong..." But the pain he expected never came. Hinata did not hit him.

She merely undid the seal on his sense of smell, then did the same for his little white dog.

"Thanks... blegh..."

Before he could finish half a sentence, the stench that ordinary people could barely endure was amplified countless times beneath his nose, making him vomit on the spot.

This time, all he threw up was the tiny bit of acid his stomach had managed to produce.

Shikamaru: "..."

Could Hyuga be a sadist?

Seeing Kiba Inuzuka's miserable state made Shikamaru's scalp tingle. He decided that he absolutely could not provoke her in the future. He could not even tell whether Hinata had restored Kiba Inuzuka's sense of smell out of kindness...

"Hinata, want to go out and have fun this afternoon?"

Naruto, full of energy, realized that they did not have classes that afternoon and could go play!

Hinata actually wanted to go home and make herself a pair of gloves or gauntlets to protect her hands.

She had discovered that the Bizarre Creatures themselves were fine, but the Puppet Corpses controlled by them were simply too disgusting. Looking at them was already unbearable, let alone touching them with her bare hands...

"Sure."

There was no need to rush to make gloves or gauntlets, though. Besides, she did not necessarily need to make them herself. She could simply order the Hyuga clan to forge them.

Otherwise, what was the point of her status as a young lady?

"Seriously? You still have the energy to go play?"

Sakura let out a miserable cry. After vomiting so much and exhausting too much Chakra, she felt utterly weak and only wanted to go home and collapse onto her bed.

"Shikamaru, are you coming?" Naruto asked again.

Perhaps because he had always been hanging around Hinata, Naruto had not developed feelings for Sakura.

That made Hinata a little worried.

What if that idiot suddenly came to his senses one day and fell for her...

Hinata decided that if Naruto ever dared confess to her, she would beat him up and tell him she only saw him as a friend.

Yeah, Sasuke too.

After all, with her beauty capable of toppling kingdoms and cities, it would not be strange for anyone to confess to her.

Naruto had invited Shikamaru because Shikamaru had pulled him up when his legs went weak after he first ran out of the classroom.

Naruto was a very straightforward child. He wanted to thank Shikamaru.

"Uh... well..." Shikamaru hesitated.

"Choji can come too."

Choji's eyes lit up. "Will there be meat?"

Choji's answer was very much in character.

"Yes! We're having a barbecue by the river!"

"I'm in!"

Shikamaru: "..."