Early morning, at the Ninja Academy.
After a night's rest, Shinji had shed his exhaustion and arrived at the Ninja Academy's training grounds feeling refreshed.
Since Shion now had Yamato as her guiding Jonin, Shinji no longer needed to keep urging her to train as he usually did.
He went straight to an unoccupied corner. As he warmed up, he watched his classmates training on the grounds.
Shion seemed to be practicing Hand Seals, but the way she kept scratching her head suggested it wasn't going very well.
Yakumo and Sasuke were sparring in Taijutsu.
Yakumo's Red Dragon Eye surpassed Sasuke's Three-Tomoe Sharingan in both minute observation and penetrating vision, yet Sasuke had the upper hand in their match.
It was clear that all the pressure Sasuke had been under lately hadn't been for nothing. His strength had improved noticeably.
Naruto and Kiba were also sparring, but they were fooling around more than training. They weren't as serious as Sasuke and Yakumo.
Shinji shifted his gaze to Karin.
At that moment, Karin was practicing Hand Seals under Haku's guidance.
Shinji smiled to himself.
He could tell that Karin was worried she might actually cast a jutsu, so when practicing Hand Seals, she only dared to go halfway.
A thought occurred to him. Shinji immediately closed his eyes and secretly activated Naobi, sensing Karin's Spirit Body. He confirmed that it was still growing stronger.
"The power of all creation is still gathering inside Karin. The dojutsu of her Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan might..."
Shinji sighed inwardly.
Just now, he'd even had the feeling that if Karin resisted, she could sever her Naobi link with him at any time.
That meant Karin's Dojutsu had already grown considerably stronger than his.
Shinji swept his gaze across the training grounds again and spotted Kimimaro and