First Clash

The battle was already half over when Kakashi and Sasuke arrived at a recovery room.

"I'll seal the Curse Mark for you, but the actual effect... depends on your own willpower," Kakashi said, drenched in sweat as he looked down at Sasuke lying on the floor.

"Not bad, Kakashi. I didn't know you knew sealing techniques..."

A hoarse voice came from behind Kakashi.

"Orochimaru..."

Orochimaru licked his lips, gazing greedily at the fallen Sasuke, then fixed his eyes on the mask Kakashi used to cover his Sharingan.

"I never noticed you had something like that before..."

With just a single exchange of glances, Kakashi was already defeated...

"That look just now... were you trying to kill me?" Orochimaru turned to leave, leaving only a taunt echoing in the empty chamber.

"You're welcome to try..."

"I'd very much like to try, actually!" A figure blocked Orochimaru's path...

"Jimo!" Kakashi struggled to recover his body from the paralysis.

"So you're the brat who rescued Anko and shot through my heart... Too bad that giant snake didn't eat you," Orochimaru said, appearing behind Jimo like a ghost.

"What I love most is destroying Konoha's geniuses..."

The kunai pierced through where Jimo's chest should have been, but Orochimaru felt no resistance from his hand.

"Fire Release? Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive flame engulfed Orochimaru. Unlike ordinary Fire Release, Jimo's fireball was a brilliant white...

"Is that... Fireball Jutsu?" Kakashi stared at the floor, now vitrified into glass by the heat, amazed at the temperature of the flames.

"Clap, clap, clap."

Applause sounded from the side.

"Jimo, is it... you're quite good," Orochimaru said, appearing nearby with a scorched face.

"Too bad I don't have much interest in you... otherwise, you might be more worthy than Sasuke."

"Tch..." Jimo looked at that eerie face, knowing this was just one of Orochimaru's many clones.

Snake Uncle, you really are cautious...

As Orochimaru's figure vanished, Jimo walked over to Kakashi and helped him up.

"I should have informed the Third Hokage directly earlier. Your strength probably already surpasses many ordinary jonin," Kakashi said, hoisting Sasuke onto his back as they escorted him to Konoha Hospital for rest together.

Due to Orochimaru's appearance, the Anbu dispatched numerous elites for uninterrupted protection around Sasuke.

By the time the two returned to the arena, the earlier matches had already finished.

They arrived just in time for Neji's fight with Hinata. By now, Hinata was covered in injuries, and Neji showed no sign of stopping.

"He's really going all out..." Jimo said with a frown.

When Neji moved to deliver the final blow, Jimo's speed surpassed even the teachers on the field.

Neji struck Jimo square in the chest, but the impact felt hard and solid, with none of the attack penetrating into his body.

"Meddling... what a soft-hearted fool."

"Hey, hey, that's not exactly an attack you use on a fellow village comrade, is it?" Jimo formed a light orb at his fingertip and pointed it at Neji's forehead.

"Alright, you've already won. So stop now."

Behind Jimo, Hinata had long lost consciousness, collapsing into Kurenai's arms.

Neji slowly withdrew his hand, his heart filled with shock.

He had resented how Jimo was suddenly promoted to chunin, but now he understood—the gap between himself and Jimo was far from trivial.

Even other chunin on the field, hit by his palm technique, would suffer broken bones and torn muscles.

Neji returned to the spectator stands, his cold expression revealing nothing of his thoughts.

While the doctor went to fetch medicine, Jimo rushed to the medical room.

He happened to see Tenten watching over Hinata.

"You got beaten up pretty badly too..." Jimo said, approaching the bed and looking at the wounds left by wind blades on Tenten's body.

"What are you here for?" Tenten had little goodwill toward this guy who'd been specially promoted to chunin.

"Naruto asked me to check on Hinata, that's all..." Jimo took out a Senzu Bean and fed it to Hinata.

The bruises and scrapes on Hinata's body healed at a visibly rapid pace.

"Whew!" Jimo let out a sigh of relief.

"Good thing it wasn't anything serious... otherwise I couldn't have healed her either."

Seeing the change in Hinata, Tenten quickly rushed over to Jimo.

"What did you just give her? How did she recover so fast?" Tenten stared at Jimo with curiosity.

"Can't even bring yourself to call me 'senior'?" Jimo teased, a smug expression spreading across his face. "Fine, since you got beaten up so badly, I'll give you one."

Jimo pulled a Senzu Bean from his pocket and moved to shove it into Tenten's mouth.

"I'm not eating something from some unknown—Mmph!"

Tenten coughed violently, tears squeezing from her eyes, a bit of drool still at the corner of her lips.

She never expected Jimo to just stuff the bean straight into her mouth.

The Senzu Bean slid down slowly, a warm current flowing from her abdomen through her limbs and bones. The scratches on her arms healed gradually, not even leaving a scar behind.

"So... so amazing..."

"Remember, don't tell anyone I have this stuff... otherwise... I wouldn't mind crushing a cute girl's throat, you know!"

Jimo said this terrifying line with a smile... then vanished from the medical room in a puff of smoke.

Leaving Tenten frozen in place alone.

"Did he just say I was cute..."

Back at the arena, Jimo spotted Rock Lee collapsed to the side.

"Damn..."

Jimo cursed under his breath. Lee had multiple fractures all over his body, and even his muscles had varying degrees of damage.

The worst was the bone crushed by Gaara's Sand Coffin... The Senzu Bean in his hand could heal fractures, cuts, even burns. But due to system restrictions, it couldn't regenerate flesh from bone.

"Tch... troublesome..." Jimo glanced at the Dragon Ball Bracelet on his wrist. Aside from not being able to revive the dead or grant power... healing Lee's condition was certainly no problem.

The problem was the bracelet's cooldown still had nearly three months left...

Still, Jimo gave Gai-sensei a Senzu Bean, instructing him to make sure Lee ate it.

Seeing Jimo's serious expression and Kakashi's silent nod, Gai understood that the green bean in his hand was some kind of medicine, helpful for Lee's recovery.

Since Jimo had pulled him aside alone, he clearly didn't want to expose this item, which also showed how precious it was.

"Gai-sensei, if you can set Lee's bones first, then give him this, it might work better..."

"If the medical team can't do it, it'd be best to send someone to find Lady Tsunade..."