The squad Yuhara could join, put nicely, would not be one of Konoha's core squads. Its members mainly came from people like Yuhara—ninjas who were not born in Konoha but had come there for various reasons. This was how Konoha accepted them.
However, from the perspective of managing a nation's military forces, there was nothing wrong with this arrangement from Konoha's standpoint.
At the same time, Konoha could not use squads made up entirely of foreign ninjas. Real Konoha-born ninjas had to be added as well. But how could ninjas who truly possessed strength, belonged to Konoha's core forces, and had a certain status and ability possibly join such a squad?
So the other source of squad members was Konoha's civilian ninjas—even exceptionally young civilian ninjas.
There was nothing wrong with this system, but in actual operation, problems tended to become much bigger.
There was no need to mention Captain Hayase. In a word, he was not a Konoha Ninja at all, but a French ninja who was tough on the outside and weak within. If he died, then he died. After learning what he had done, Konoha would not invest much effort into investigating his cause of death. What was there to investigate about someone like him?
But what about the other young people who had died because of his poor command? They were dead too.
Because he had received specific orders, Yuhara could not leave Konoha for the time being.
For the few days after the examination ended, Yuhara continued staying at the same inn as before. And unless he was imagining things, at several specific times each day, he was watched by Konoha Ninjas...
This was normal. When an entire squad was wiped out and only one person returned, a shinobi village had reason to suspect that the survivor had already become an enemy spy. Yuhara even felt that Konoha's response had been much gentler than he had expected. They had not imposed any coercive measures on him at all... Well, that meant he had thought a little too highly of himself.
Even taking the worst-case scenario, if Yuhara had really become a spy for another shinobi village, what large-scale damage could someone with his marginal status do to Konoha? That was ridiculous.
So all Konoha had to do was ensure that he did not run away.
Feeling somewhat down, Yuhara was no longer in a hurry to cultivate anything. He rested properly at the inn for three days. He spent most of the time staring blankly, a small portion sleeping, and only a very short while carefully reflecting on his previous battle. At the same time, he figured out what he needed to do next and how he should do it.
To summarize Yuhara's current abilities, it was actually very simple. Setting aside all the flashy appearances, he essentially had only two abilities: metal control and Nature Energy application.
Through that previous battle, Yuhara discovered a problem: he could not use his speed mode and strength mode simultaneously. When he used his Lightning Release high-speed mode, Nature Energy mainly flowed through his meridian system. When he used his Blood Escape strength mode, Nature Energy mainly flowed through his body's muscle tissue.
This restricted the extent to which he could display his combat power.
Yuhara evaluated himself using the standards he had established earlier, in order to roughly determine what level his current combat strength was at.
For "Ninjutsu," considering that Yuhara could already use high-level, high-offense, high-defense, wide-range Magnet Release ninjutsu, getting eight points should not be a problem.
For "Taijutsu," four points. For "Genjutsu," three points. Those did not need further explanation.
As for "Strength" and "Speed," if peak performance was counted, Yuhara could get full marks in both.
First, Yuhara was an amateur expert in electromagnetic force. Second, he possessed high-intensity energy with which to wield that power. Therefore, his absolute speed was extremely fast. The only issue lay in practical application.
To give an inappropriate example, in the previous battle, if he had competed against those four Mist enemies in a hundred-meter sprint, he would definitely have won. But if it had been an obstacle race, the situation would have been completely different... Yuhara had an agility problem, but it was not merely an agility problem. After all, he was someone who failed physical arts.
For "Hand Seals," "Chakra," and "Intelligence," he could get at most a passing score of six in the first two categories. He basically did not form hand seals, and his Chakra level was merely ordinary. As for "Intelligence," he humbly gave himself eight points. After all, he knew all kinds of information about the ninja world, and his battle intelligence would manifest itself through what amounted to cheating.
As for the remaining "Burst" and "Secret," although Yuhara's own Chakra level was mediocre, after adding Nature Energy and mastering "folding compression," his instantaneous explosive power had already far surpassed that of ordinary ninjas. However, because what he used was not orthodox Senjutsu, Yuhara gave himself a score of nine based on that imperfection.
For the final category, considering his mastery of metal control and Nature Energy application, he could also humbly take a nine.
Taken together, although Yuhara had not obtained the "+" representing invincibility in an individual category, at this stage he had scored 73 out of a possible 100. With a slight weighting adjustment, his regular combat power could be rated at 800.
If he unleashed everything without restraint, his combat power would definitely and steadily surpass one Kakashi.
Moreover, this combat assessment was a comprehensive evaluation. Yuhara's severe imbalance had made him a ninja with extremely obvious strengths and weaknesses... If only offensive power were considered, Yuhara had long since become someone who could not be summed up by the small concept of one Kakashi.
His next direction for improvement was also clear: he needed to achieve the simultaneous and balanced use of his speed mode and strength mode.
But there was no need to rush this. Yuhara was currently in a "period of psychological reconstruction," so being a little lazy was understandable... His feelings at this point were actually difficult to describe. But if he had to put it into words, it was somewhat like the complicated state of "clearly gaining nothing, yet feeling as if he has lost everything."
However, after idling in his inn room for three days, Yuhara finally began to feel bored. So he decided to go outside for a walk.
Konoha looked the same as always. After wandering aimlessly through its streets and alleys for a few rounds, Yuhara eventually sat down on a bench beside a small plaza.
The weather was clear today, and the warm sunlight poured down without obstruction, making the area around the ground pleasantly warm. Several Spirit Beasts ambled around lazily, as if they would never be able to cross the small plaza... And that was exactly what happened. After taking only a few steps, they simply flopped down on the ground and began dozing.
Were these creatures like this in every world?
Yuhara shook his head involuntarily, then revealed a knowing smile.
For some reason, his mood suddenly brightened a little.
Perhaps this world really did have such a principle...
The only thing that could heal a person's melancholy was someone else's pet.
Before you continue