Mission

"Damn it, give Sakura back!"

Ino roared and charged forward.

"Wait..." Shikamaru tried to stop her.

But it was too late.

The Skeleton Giant swatted Ino, sending her crashing into the wall, knocking her unconscious.

"Damn it..."

Sasuke looked at the Skeleton Giant's chest, where Sakura was still trapped. This made him hesitant to use Ninjutsu, fearing he might harm Sakura.

But sitting idly wasn't his style. He drew a kunai and charged, aiming for the Skeleton Giant's joints.

Predictably, he was swatted back.

Fortunately, he wasn't knocked out like Ino, but his condition wasn't much better. He felt like his entire body had fallen apart and couldn't move for a while.

"Human Bullet Tank!"

A rapidly spinning sphere shot out from a hole in front of the giant.

It was caught by the giant's left hand, then thrown back into the hole, hitting Naruto, who had just climbed out, and sending him back to the second floor.

"What do I do? What should I do?"

Shikamaru broke out in a nervous sweat. Even their strongest member couldn't budge the Skeleton Giant, and Sasuke, who could use powerful Fire Style Ninjutsu, was temporarily incapacitated. More importantly, the enemy held a hostage, which severely restricted their actions.

The strength of the Skeleton Giant they faced now was on a completely different level compared to the one they encountered last time!

Running away separately to find an opportunity was the best course of action now.

But... would it give them that chance?

Although they didn't know how fast the behemoth was, looking at its massive legs, which were at least 1.5 meters long, its speed couldn't possibly be slow.

"I really didn't want to use these things..."

Shikamaru took out a scroll covered in tadpole-like script.

This was a sealing scroll they had prepared.

They had originally planned to prepare more scrolls, but this one was made by themselves. During testing, they didn't want to rely too much on their clan's power.

Seeing Shikamaru pull out the scroll, Neji and Rock exchanged glances before charging forward.

The scroll they had spent considerable effort preparing should be powerful enough to seal the Skeleton Giant before them, but it wouldn't let them seal it so easily.

Therefore, someone needed to engage it in combat to give Shikamaru the best possible timing.

"I'm finding this thing really doesn't like me..."

Tenten threw a shuriken at the Skeleton Giant, but it didn't even leave a scratch.

These shuriken might be lethal to humans, but they seemed somewhat ineffective against non-human entities.

Neji and Rock attacked from the left and right, unleashing various techniques of Konoha Steel Fist and Hyuga Gentle Fist upon the Skeleton Giant. The giant didn't even bother to defend itself; there was no need.

Because they couldn't inflict any damage on the Skeleton Giant!

Seeing this, Shikamaru reluctantly put the scroll away.

Sasuke pushed himself up, leaning against the wall. However, his trembling body showed how difficult it was for him even to stand.

That scroll was something they had made together, and he knew that with the power the Skeleton Giant was currently displaying, it was unlikely to be sealed by that scroll alone.

This meant their test had still not been passed.

Soon, one by one, they all lost the ability to resist under the Skeleton Giant's attacks.

They also got a taste of being swallowed by shadows.

Once inside the shadow, it felt like they were in a zero-gravity environment, with no leverage, only able to fall.

Or was it falling?

Losing their vision, in a space where they couldn't distinguish up from down or left from right, they didn't even know where they were drifting.

Although their breathing wasn't affected, they still felt breathless.

This made their minds fuzzy and their bodies weak.

It was an extremely unpleasant experience!

Watching the scene of the Ninja Academy in the crystal ball, Hinata knew that once the Skeleton Giant appeared, Naruto and the others were destined to fail the test.

The heads of the various clans didn't show any disappointment regarding their children failing the test.

After all, they knew the inside story of the Ninja Academy's tests, and frankly, they didn't want their children to leave the Ninja Academy so soon.

"The teacher who created this test is inhuman! They clearly don't want us to graduate, do they!?"

The recovered students gathered together. They hadn't sustained any serious injuries.

Naruto voiced his complaint about the unfairness.

Hinata looked at her teacher and saw that the Third Hokage still had a cheerful expression, not taking Naruto's outburst to heart.

All the heads of the great clans had already left. Only the Third Hokage, Hinata, and a few ninjas protecting him remained in the room.

Those ninjas acted as if they were deaf and dumb, as if they hadn't seen or heard anything.

"Heh heh, this child is certainly energetic," the Third Hokage chuckled.

And why wouldn't he be? He'd fallen from the third floor to the second, then was slammed back onto the third floor by Choji before being sent to the second again.

There were bound to be bumps and bruises in between, but it hadn't been long, and Naruto was already full of energy again, showing no signs of fatigue.

Shikamaru: "Alright Naruto, if the teacher hears you, you'll be punished with standing again."

Naruto was very unconvinced. He knew they had prepared for this test for a whole month.

Sasuke felt the same way. He completely agreed with Naruto's words, but due to his status, he couldn't openly complain like Naruto.

Moreover, he didn't even want to speak right now.

He still hadn't recovered from that slap from the Skeleton Giant.

The others were the same. They even walked with a lack of energy, like a group of old men out for a stroll in the park.

Two days later.

The Third Hokage sat in his office, frowning as he smoked.

So many days had passed. Logically, whether Jiraiya had found Tsunade or not, he should have sent word back to the village by now.

But ever since Jiraiya left, no message had been received.

If he didn't know Jiraiya's personality, he would have thought Jiraiya had run away from the village.

"Teacher, I don't mind you smoking, but you should consider my feelings too."

Even though the smoke couldn't affect her in any way, the smell of secondhand smoke was unpleasant, and she felt she should say something.

"Sorry, Hinata."

The Third Hokage tapped the ashes out of his pipe and put it away. But his worried expression remained unchanged.

Hinata: "Teacher, if you're worried about Senior Jiraiya and Senior Tsunade, you can let me go find them. With my strength, I can bring them back quickly."

"No..." the Third Hokage refused Hinata's offer. "I have another mission for you."

"Another mission?" Hinata asked, confused.