"Kazeka, you've really managed to surprise me..."
Even as she continued fending off the three of them, Kurenai Yuhi still had time to comment on Kazeka:
"When a teammate is caught in a genjutsu, you can inject your own Chakra into their body to help them break free. That part isn't difficult.
But what's difficult is breaking free of my genjutsu right away. It seems I still underestimated you!"
"It wasn't that difficult..."
Kazeka shrugged.
"Unlike other ninjutsu, genjutsu has a distinct chakra fluctuation. So I made a point of having surgery on my body beforehand.
The instant my body detected the fluctuation of a genjutsu, it cut off my optic nerves. Once the genjutsu ended, I just stitched them back together..."
Kazeka touched the eye socket he had just finished stitching up, then turned to Kiba Inuzuka:
"What do you think, Kiba? You'd love to get this convenient ability too, right? We're going to be on the same team from now on, so I'll be happy to perform this convenient little surgery for you for free!"
"I appreciate the offer, but for now, I'd rather rely on my own strength to resist genjutsu..."
Just seeing the horrifying things Kazeka had done to himself was enough to tell Kiba that if he let Kazeka experiment on him, he would suffer a monstrous ordeal. He'd have to be out of his mind to agree.
"Right now, we should stop thinking about anything else and focus on fighting Teacher Kurenai.
Now that we've broken the genjutsu, she might use some other trick to create an opening and hide the doll!"
"Kiba, you're certainly alert. But who says I didn't take the doll with me just now?
Whether you're caught in a genjutsu or helping someone else break one, your attention is bound to slip..."
Kurenai Yuhi chuckled and pointed to an alarm clock that had appeared at some point in the branches of a distant tree.
"You have forty minutes left. Remember, finding the doll is an even tougher task than fighting me!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Kurenai Yuhi's figure slowly faded away. Clearly, this time, it had been another genjutsu.
"Two genjutsu in a row, linked together without a break. Teacher Kurenai's really frighteningly skilled..."
Kiba Inuzuka sighed, then asked, puzzled:
"But why did she leave? I thought Teacher Kurenai would keep us occupied while making us look for the doll."
"You said it yourself: Teacher Kurenai is powerful. She was only fighting us just now to test our skills..."
Kazeka narrowed his eyes and yawned.
"Now that she's finished testing our Taijutsu, there's no reason to waste any more time. We should go straight to the next test!"
"That makes sense. Kazeka, you really are a clever guy..."
Kiba Inuzuka gave Kazeka a thumbs-up, then looked at the Ninja Dog lying beside them.
"Akamaru, can you pick up the doll's scent?"
"Woof... woof!"
"Hm?"
Having grown up around Ninja Dogs, Kiba Inuzuka could understand some of what they communicated. But now he looked at Kazeka uncertainly.
"According to Akamaru, after a quick search, the same scent was found in three different places!"
"Byakugan!"
Hinata didn't hesitate. She activated her Byakugan, swept her gaze across the area, then replied:
"Ak... Akamaru's right. The teacher split the doll into three pieces and hid them in different areas!"
"What do you think?"
Kiba Inuzuka still regarded Kazeka as the team leader.
"Should we split up or go together?"
"We still have time. With so much we don't know, we should go together and check the nearest location first!"
Kazeka beckoned to them, activated his Byakugan as well, and led the way toward the closest target.
The training ground wasn't very large, and the three of them soon reached a tree.
There was a hollow in the middle of the trunk. Looking through it with his Byakugan, Kazeka could see the rabbit doll's head sitting alone inside, even through the wood.
"Other than a strange trace of Chakra lingering around it, I... I don't see any other traps for now..."
"Akamaru told me the same thing..."
Hinata and Kiba Inuzuka came to the same conclusion as Kazeka. After thinking it over briefly, Kazeka spoke:
"It looks like this is a trap that only activates when someone touches it. It's another test from Teacher Kurenai, Kiba..."
Kazeka patted Kiba Inuzuka on the shoulder.
"Can I leave this first test to you?"
"As a ninja, you sometimes have to put yourself in danger to gather information. There's nothing more to say about it..."
Kiba Inuzuka's expression grew solemn for a moment, but he quickly recovered. The next second, he thrust his hand into the hollow and grabbed the doll!
An endless sea of blood swallowed everything around him. The setting sun was like the eye of an evil god, staring at Kiba Inuzuka with boundless malice.
A ring of blood-brown dead trees surrounded him, like the walls of a prison, holding him fast.
Kiba Inuzuka stood in the center of the prison, bound to a wooden cross.
The dead trees' branches began to grow wildly, their sharp wooden thorns stabbing again and again into Kiba Inuzuka's body.
Though he knew he was trapped in a genjutsu, the intense pain still tore through his body!
"Waaaaaah!!!"
His anguished scream rang through the forest. Kazeka quickly injected Chakra into him and woke him from the genjutsu.
But everything Kiba Inuzuka had experienced in the genjutsu had nearly shattered him. His body went limp and collapsed to the ground like a noodle!
"It... it's only a test, right? Teacher Kurenai wouldn't use such a cruel technique..."
Seeing Kiba Inuzuka in such a state, Hinata couldn't help speaking with concern:
"Look at Kiba! He clearly needs to go to the hospital!"
"Wait!"
Kazeka held out an arm to stop Hinata from moving.
"He's been hurt, but it's an injury he can recover from. When we start going on missions, we'll suffer injuries far worse than this.
If we quit halfway over something this minor, then our ninja way isn't worth much..."
Kazeka's words were gentler as he addressed Hinata, but they still laid bare the brutal nature of being a ninja.
Grabbing Kiba Inuzuka by the collar, he dragged him straight to another tree where a piece of the doll was hidden.
Hearing this, Hinata quickly recovered from the shock of seeing Kiba Inuzuka's condition.
"In... In that case, Teacher Kurenai must be testing our willingness to make sacrifices. We're supposed to share the pain..."
Looking at the doll's head, which Kiba Inuzuka still clutched tightly in his hand, Hinata bit her lip and tremblingly reached toward the doll's body.
Just then, Kazeka stopped her. As she stared at him in confusion, he leaned down and whispered something in Kiba Inuzuka's ear.
At those words, Kiba Inuzuka seemed to get a sudden shot of adrenaline. He jolted back from the brink of collapse, fully revived!
"Let me do it!"
Before you continue