Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu

Watching Aota and Tanaka crawl across the ground in agony, Zabuza was filled with doubt.

"How did he do that? There was clearly no contact, yet he directly robbed both of them of their ability to move. Was it genjutsu?"

The other students, meanwhile, were filled with terror. If only Aota had fallen, they could have said it was Aota's problem. But now Tanaka had fallen too, so the problem definitely did not lie with the two of them.

Was it... something Araki had done?

"Araki! What did you do to Tanaka?"

Unlike the scrawny Aota, the burly Tanaka had a few supporters in the class. At that moment, a tall, thin boy stood up and righteously questioned Araki.

"What did I do? Heh, nothing much. I just let them hear the cry of my sword!"

Araki still wore that gentle smile as he turned his gaze toward the boy who had questioned him.

"What, do you want to hear it too?"

Kishimoto's heart pounded wildly, and his fear was practically overflowing.

He's clearly smiling gently and speaking so softly. Why am I this scared?

He questioned himself inwardly, yet did not dare raise his head to look at Araki again.

"If anyone else wants to hear it, just say so. I've always been very easy to talk to!"

Araki swept his gaze over the crowd. Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Tsk!"

Araki shook his head. "If you keep this up, I'm going to get angry. I finally mastered a new move and offered you a free demonstration, yet you keep refusing. Are you trying to disrespect me?"

He moved, flashing into the middle of the crowd, then flicked the blade with a finger!

Clang!

An invisible ring of sound waves spread outward from the sword. The students around him, who had been scrambling away on hands and feet, suddenly stumbled and crashed to the ground one after another. They flailed their limbs wildly but simply could not get back up.

Araki roughly estimated the positions of those who had been hit and gained a general understanding of the effective range of Dragon Cry Flash.

"All right, I'm done here. I'll leave the rest to you!"

Having mastered Dragon Cry Flash, Araki was fully satisfied. He waved a hand at Zabuza.

"Good. I've been waiting long enough!"

Zabuza tightened his grip on the kunai and walked toward the crowd.

"What are you doing?"

"We're all in Group A! We're not enemies!"

"Help! Zabuza's gone crazy!"

With each swing of his kunai, Zabuza was soon drenched in blood, his bearing like that of a demon.

It was not as if no one had tried to fight him to the death, but just as Karatachi Yagura's investigation had shown, the overall caliber of this year's graduates was truly worrying. Even when they rushed him together, they failed to inflict much damage on Zabuza.

Since they could not beat him, they could only run. As long as they held out until sunset, the examiners would come save them.

Clinging to that belief, the examinees scattered in all directions and fled into the forest.

"You're just letting them run?"

Araki was somewhat puzzled.

Although Zabuza had the strength to kill them all, it would be useless if he could not find them.

"They can't escape!"

Zabuza answered in a hoarse voice, then chased after the fleeing crowd into the forest.

"Tsk, looks like Yagura gave Zabuza some useful things to make sure he could complete the mission."

Araki shook his head, forming a few guesses in his mind.

Training Ground No. 4 was not small. If someone truly set their mind to hiding, Zabuza alone might not necessarily be able to find them.

Karatachi Yagura must have provided some means of tracking for Zabuza to be so confident.

Even so, Araki was not the least bit envious.

Since he aspired to become a sword master, he could not act too much against his own wishes. Otherwise, when he came to understand his own sword heart, inner demons would arise.

He could use a few people who were classmates in name but strangers in truth to test Dragon Cry Flash as part of his training. That was his own wish.

But he would not force himself to do things he did not want to do for someone else's wishes or ideas.

He did not reject killing, but he rejected slaughter that held no meaning for him.

Just as beasts could hunt other animals when they were hungry, that was the cycle of nature.

Humans were the same. Eating meat when hungry was not a problem, but torturing and killing other living beings for pleasure, or merely because one was bored and wanted something to do, was wrong.

Put simply, Araki still had no sense of belonging toward Kirigakure. He was unwilling to dirty his hands for an empty slogan like "the village's future."

That was all.

Perhaps one day, when his position changed, his thinking would change as well. But right now, at this very moment, Araki felt none of it seemed real.

Kirigakure's future was still far too distant from him.

After Zabuza left, Araki did not waste any time. There was still more than half a day until sunset.

He walked over to a tall tree and began practicing the other techniques of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.

After mastering Dragon Cry Flash, Araki was a little more confident in defeating Himura Kenshin, so he began studying Himura Kenshin's other techniques.

"Twin Dragon Flash requires a scabbard. Its purpose is to overcome the weakness of iai techniques, which only have the power for a single strike. It means nothing to me; I never had that weakness in the first place.

"Dragon Hammer Flash is a powerful downward slash performed by leaping into the air. Though it's quite powerful, it leaves far too many openings for a ninja.

"Dragon Soaring Flash is similar to a powerful upward slash. I can practice that.

"Flying Dragon Flash isn't even as good as my kunai throwing. Trash technique.

"Nine-Headed Dragon Flash is very strong, though. I definitely need to master it!

"Then there's Earth Dragon Flash, which strikes the ground and uses shattered stones to attack the enemy. It's a restraining technique.

"Finally, Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki is the strongest two-stage iai technique."

After analyzing the techniques Himura Kenshin had used in their recent battles, Araki realized that aside from Dragon Cry Flash, which had taken a different path, Himura Kenshin's other techniques were actually advanced applications of iai techniques, or were created to compensate for iai techniques' shortcomings.

Thus, the only truly valuable techniques to him were three: Nine-Headed Dragon Flash, the strongest and fastest single-target attack Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, and Earth Dragon Flash.

Of course, given the environment of Kirigakure in the Land of Water, perhaps adapting it into Water Dragon Flash would be more suitable.

The screams that occasionally rang out from the forest and the repeated cries of Araki's sword echoed through Training Ground No. 4, joining the slowly setting crimson sun on the horizon to form a harmonious, beautiful picture of Kirigakure.

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