Dragon Cry Flash

After entering the examination grounds through Entrance No. 1, the actions of these dozens of examinees roughly split into three groups.

A few had already formed teams of three to five through their exceptional eloquence and were now confidently preparing to hunt their opponents.

Others were probably very confident in their own strength, or knew how strong their opponents were. In any case, they looked utterly unconcerned as they headed alone into the jungle.

Aside from a few genuinely timid girls who did not dare fight, most of those still standing there had turned their attention to Araki and Zabuza.

In their eyes, since they were all from Group A and had no conflicts of interest, staying with two genuine big shots was certainly better than venturing alone into the jungle.

Perhaps the big shots would helpfully kill their enemies for the sake of being in the same group?

Though he did not know what they were thinking, the occasional glances they cast his way had already begun to irritate Zabuza. He took out a kunai and prepared to get to work.

"Wait!"

Araki waved to stop him.

"You're going to stop me?"

Zabuza was deeply puzzled. That was not what Araki had said before.

"Of course not."

Araki waved his hand, telling him not to falsely accuse him.

Karatachi Yagura had assigned him this mission. Araki did not believe Yagura had not sent people to watch him. If they truly regarded him as an obstruction and eliminated him, he would suffer a huge loss.

"I'm saying that since you're going to kill these people anyway, why not let me put them to some use?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've recently been developing a new sword technique and need someone to test it on!"

Araki got straight to the point.

"You want to use them? With their strength, I'm afraid..."

Zabuza hesitated.

What good technique could he develop on these weaklings? If he wanted to test a move, he should come find him!

"It's fine. It has nothing to do with their strength. The main issue is that this move is rather lethal, so it's usually hard for me to find people to practice on. This time, the opportunity just happened to come along!"

Holding his sword, Araki walked toward a rather skinny classmate with a smile on his face.

"Hello, classmate. Could I ask you to do me a favor?"

Suddenly treated so gently by Araki, the young man became excited and nodded repeatedly.

"Of course, of course!"

"Good. Thank you. Now, listen carefully."

Araki held his sword level before him, lightly clicked his teeth together, and flicked the blade with a bent finger.

Ding!

After a crisp sound, he looked at the skinny youth and asked expectantly:

"Do you feel anything?"

The youth found it utterly baffling, but he did not dare complain about Araki. He could only cautiously venture:

"Um... it sounded nice?"

Araki's face fell.

What the hell did sounding nice mean? Was he playing him a tune?

After thinking for a moment, he said, "How about this? Take two steps forward."

The youth obediently took two steps, then turned back to look at Araki.

He walked very steadily. It seems his sense of balance wasn't affected!

Araki stepped in front of him again, raised his sword, and flicked it once more.

Ding!!

This time, the sound was even sharper than before, and a fleeting look of pain crossed the youth's face.

"What about now? Try taking another two steps?"

Araki's eyes were full of anticipation.

The youth did not dare resist and could only continue forward another two steps.

Still not enough!

Seeing that the youth was still walking steadily, Araki shook his head.

And so, he followed the youth along the way, continuously flicking his sword, walking two steps, flicking the sword again, then walking again. The cycle repeated until they had gone so far they were nearly out of sight.

Watching their vague figures in the distance, Zabuza muttered to himself:

"This is that so-called new sword move? What use is that?"

Meanwhile, Araki and the other youth had nearly reached the boundary and were heading back.

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

The ringing of the sword drew closer and closer, and their figures once again came clearly into everyone's view.

It was not only Zabuza; everyone else was also extremely curious about Araki's behavior.

Araki normally had far too little contact with them, and he was so powerful and handsome that everything about him seemed mysterious to them.

Now that Araki had finally interacted with them, some were even jealous of the skinny youth who had been chosen.

"What could that weakling Aota possibly do to help Araki? It would be so much better if it were me."

Quite a few people shared that thought, staring intently at Araki and Aota as they returned.

Clang!

Shing!

Ring!

Suddenly, after another sword chime, Aota's inner ear jolted. Just as he was about to take another two steps forward, he discovered that he seemed unable to control his body. His left foot tripped over his right, and he fell directly to the ground.

This sudden change, the dazed Aota's fall, delighted Araki and sent the classmates who had been watching into laughter.

"Hahaha! Aota is such an idiot! He can even fall down while walking!"

"He's so stupid. How could we be in the same class as someone like him?"

"Stop wasting Araki's time, Aota! Hurry up and get back here!"

"Someone with that kind of performance thinks he deserves to stay by Araki's side? If it were me..."

"If it were you, what would happen?"

Araki suddenly raised his head and smiled at the tall youth who had spoken.

"Uh, if it were me... if it were me... anyway, I'd definitely be better than Aota!"

The tall youth stammered for a few moments, unable to think of a good way to promote himself. He could only compare himself to Aota.

"That works."

Araki nodded. "Aota looks like he needs to rest for a while. You can cooperate with me next."

"Really? Great!"

The tall youth cheered, hopping over to Araki's side as he asked eagerly:

"What do I need to do?"

"You only need to listen carefully, then walk forward."

Since he had already succeeded once with Aota, Araki was now brimming with confidence.

"Ah, all right."

Hearing that his task was so simple, the tall youth was slightly disappointed, but he still obediently began moving.

Ring!

A clear sword chime rang out. Though it was not loud, to the tall youth Tanaka, it sounded like thunder.

Crack!

He felt as if something inside his inner ear had shattered. There was a slight pain, and then his advancing steps refused to obey him no matter what he did. His two legs twisted awkwardly together, and just like Aota before him, he fell to the ground in embarrassment.

"This..."

Everyone who had been watching was stunned. If Aota had fallen because he was skinny and useless, then Tanaka was one of the few students with the best physical fitness in the class. Why had he suddenly become unable to walk as well?

Zabuza abruptly raised his head and looked into Araki's eyes.

So this was the new sword technique he had been talking about?

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