Ice Release Kekkei Genkai

Fūka smiled faintly.

"Did you notice? That I possess the special release known as Ice Release."

Feng An rolled his eyes at her.

She had used Ice Release so obviously. How could anyone fail to notice?

When she threw the Ice Shuriken, he had only been suspicious. But after seeing her Clone Jutsu, he was almost certain that she possessed a Kekkei Genkai.

An ordinary Clone Jutsu was E-rank and created only an illusion. A careful look was enough to tell real from fake.

What had shocked Feng An was that her clones had physical bodies!

And physical clones meant Chakra Nature Transformation had been added to them. They were most likely Ice Clone Jutsu.

Once Chakra of a corresponding nature was added to the basic Clone Jutsu, it produced a physical form that was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.

"One of your parents was probably an Ice Release user too, right?"

Fūka shook her head. "I've never met my parents.

My sister and I were raised by our grandmother since we were little."

Feng An nodded.

In his memories, only Haku had used Ice Release. It was also an exceptionally powerful Kekkei Genkai.

It just hadn't shown much in Fūka's usage.

She had probably thought of using Ice Shuriken only because she didn't have any regular Shuriken on hand.

Fūka asked, "What about you? What are you good at?"

After a brief moment of thought, Feng An replied, "I'm good at Fire Release and some basic Ninjutsu."

He had long decided to present himself as a Fire Release user, with his other natures serving only as support. Although people with seven Chakra natures were not unheard of, he still didn't want to attract too much attention before he was strong enough.

The three chatted idly for a while longer. Seeing that it was getting late, they went their separate ways.

Elsewhere, Hinata was soaked in sweat under Kurenai's intense training.

After finishing their own training, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame sat off to the side to rest.

Kiba complained, "What's gotten into Kurenai today? Why is she suddenly being so harsh on Hinata...?"

Shino raised a finger, and a flying insect in the distance landed on his hand.

The man and insect seemed to be communicating.

After a moment, Shino said, "The insects told me they smelled emotions of anger and resentment intertwined on Kurenai."

"What?"

Kiba shot to his feet.

"You're saying Kurenai is taking out her anger on Hinata?"

"I didn't say that."

Immersed in his own world, Kiba did not hear Shino's reply.

Damn it!

I should have noticed sooner!

Gentle and kind Kurenai would never treat Hinata like this.

He brought his clenched fists together. "I'm going to stop this inhumane devil training."

"Akamaru, let's go!"

"Beast Mimicry Ninjutsu, Beast Human Clone."

Akamaru leaped from his arms and transformed into Kiba's appearance.

"Passing Fang!"

Kiba and Akamaru instantly became two black whirlwinds as they charged toward Kurenai.

Seeing this, Kurenai leaped backward and dodged their attack.

Her brows furrowed.

"Kiba, what are you doing?"

Kiba shouted, "Give me back my gentle Kurenai!"

"Passing Fang!"

Two more black whirlwinds swept forward fiercely.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Kurenai quickly jumped back and formed hand seals.

"Illusion Technique, Fox Heart Illusion."

Those caught in this technique felt as though they were walking through a maze they could never escape, mainly to exhaust the enemy's stamina.

Soon, Kiba and Akamaru attacked an empty patch of ground, then wandered back and forth across it with blank looks on their faces.

Kurenai glanced at Kiba. "I have no idea what nonsense he's spouting."

Only then did she notice that under her intense training, Hinata seemed to be running out of stamina.

Kurenai hurriedly told her to rest.

Only after receiving Kurenai's approval did Hinata stop moving and disperse the Chakra maintaining her Byakugan.

She collapsed onto the ground, her chest rising and falling unsteadily.

"I'm sorry. I was so focused on making you train that I forgot the Byakugan puts an enormous strain on you."

Kurenai looked at Hinata guiltily.

She had been thinking of improving Hinata's strength to keep her from being bullied by Feng An, but had forgotten that the most important thing in training was gradual progress.

Hinata wiped the fragrant sweat from her forehead and shook her head with a smile.

"It's not your fault, Kurenai. The Chunin exam is coming soon, and I want to perform well too."

With Kurenai's external pressure, she was pushing herself twice as hard as she would have on her own.

Though Kurenai's sudden strictness had made her somewhat uncomfortable, she also desperately wanted to become stronger.

She did not want to hold everyone back and keep her teammates from becoming Chunin.

Hinata asked, "I haven't seen Feng An all day... Kurenai, is he still looking for teammates?"

Kurenai grew a little angry again the moment Feng An was mentioned.

But she couldn't exactly tell Hinata that Feng An had found two female teammates.

She could only stew in silence by herself.

Kurenai said irritably, "You don't need to worry about him. That brat found his teammates ages ago."

"Really? That's wonderful..."

Hinata's face showed both excitement and shyness.

The next day.

Feng An met the two sisters at their agreed meeting place.

Fūka spoke first. "What are we doing today?"

Feng An replied, "What else? Sparring, training, and getting in sync."

"No way. I'm going shopping with my sister."

Fūka wrapped an arm around Yudzuki and leaned against her shoulder.

Feng An rolled his eyes at her.

Fine by him. He couldn't be bothered with coordination either. He was practically taking an open-book exam—what was there to coordinate? It was just putting on a show.

Since they didn't want to, that worked out perfectly. He could go find his little Hinata.

"Fine, then. You two go shopping."

Feng An turned to leave.

"Wait!" Yudzuki called out.

"Hm? What is it?"

He turned back, somewhat puzzled.

Yudzuki scratched her cheek and tilted her head.

"Let's go shopping together? Th-this way, we can get to know each other better. That's also a kind of teamwork practice."

Feng An grumbled inwardly.

Do women all like shopping this much? Even teams have to shop to build coordination?

Hinata was probably practicing team coordination with Kiba and the others too.

Forget it. He wouldn't disturb them. He would treat this as a day off.

Without the slightest change in expression, he nodded calmly.

The two girls walked in front while the boy followed behind them like a bodyguard, beginning the Brave Team's "teamwork practice."

Seeing that everyone had been training hard lately, and feeling somewhat guilty over being too harsh on Hinata yesterday, Kurenai decided to take the day off.

"Let's rest today. How about going out to eat, drink, and relax?"

Kiba immediately beamed. "Kurenai, you're brilliant!"

The last time they had a break, he had barely returned home before his sister ordered him around to do chores. He hadn't rested at all.

This time was different with Kurenai leading them. Not only did he not have to do anything, he did not even have to pay.

How could he not be happy?

After Hinata nodded as well, Kurenai led the three of them to the Commercial Street they had visited last time.

Of course, Konoha basically had only one somewhat bustling Commercial Street, so they had no other choice.

As Kurenai led the three of them around.

Hinata suddenly spotted a figure ahead that looked very familiar.

Feng An?

Just as she was about to greet him, she saw Feng An walking alongside two cute girls.

Seeing them chatting and laughing together, Hinata's heart suddenly clenched with pain.