Not Bad, Not Bad

The three of them froze upon hearing Mirai's words, clearly not expecting him to speak like that in front of three upperclassmen. Was this brat insane?

"Brat, are you trying to rob us of our scrolls?"

"You're all trying to rob me of my scroll, so why can't I rob you? There's no logic in this world that says you can be robbed without robbing back."

"Isn't this the brat who was just bragging about how he would definitely pass the exam?"

"So it is you. No wonder you're so arrogant. A mere first-year brat wants to rob us third-years of our scrolls?"

"Fine! Brat, you've got guts. Let's see how you plan to take our scrolls. Everyone, attack together! Let's teach this guy who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth a lesson!"

The three of them charged at Mirai. The boy in the lead threw a punch toward Mirai's face. If this were before, Mirai might have felt the speed was incredibly fast and failed to react in time, but to him now, this speed was simply too slow. After battling a master, his experience points seemed to have increased significantly.

Mirai extended both hands, his right hand hooking the boy's wrist and his left hand locking onto the same wrist. Borrowing the boy's own momentum, he bent the arm, causing the boy's fist to strike directly into his own chest.

The sudden impact caused the boy's face to flush red, his breathing hitching as he stumbled backward from the blow.

The other two reached Mirai at the same time, launching punches from both sides. Mirai reached out and grabbed both their fists, forcing them to collide with each other.

"Ah!" Both let out cries of pain. Mirai kicked each of them in the chest, sending both flying backward.

They landed on the ground with a dull thud, expressions of pain flickering across their faces. Mirai, meanwhile, was momentarily stunned. He suddenly realized that Sleight of Hand wasn't just helpful for forming hand seals; it allowed him to make the fastest possible adjustments to incoming attacks during combat.

Perhaps the strength in his hands hadn't increased, but their dexterity had improved immensely. It was like the Nine Yang Divine Skill and the Dugu Nine Swords; it seemed he would need to properly experiment with how to utilize his hands in the future.

Seeing Mirai ignoring them to stare at his own hands, the three grew furious and shouted, "Take him down!"

Each of them pulled out several Shuriken and threw them at Mirai. Mirai stood his ground, his hands moving rapidly in front of him. In an instant, the Shuriken that had been flying toward him vanished.

Several Shuriken now sat in Mirai's hands, caught through the sheer agility of his hands. Mirai didn't feel any difficulty, though that was likely because these people hadn't channeled chakra into the Shuriken to increase their lethality; otherwise, catching them might have resulted in injury. Mirai's lips curled slightly; it seemed he should think more about how to leverage the advantage of his hands' dexterity.

Seeing the smirk on Mirai's face, the three felt mocked and snarled, "Bastard! You dare mock us? We'll make you regret this!"

One of them pulled out a Kunai and threw it at Mirai. Attached to the end was a burning piece of paper—a Paper Bomb. Mirai didn't dare take that head-on. He formed a Rat Seal and used the Body Flicker Technique to vanish from the spot.

"BOOM—!!" A deafening explosion rocked the ground, leaving a large crater where Mirai had been standing, now shrouded in smoke.

"He wasn't blown to bits, was he?"

"Probably not. It was only one Paper Bomb, at most a serious injury. It shouldn't be fatal."

"Hmph! If he's afraid of death, how could he ever become a ninja? This exam didn't forbid the use of Paper Bombs. They are ninja tools, after all. If he died, it just means he was weak."

Suddenly, a voice echoed from behind them: "Oh~~? Is that so? Thanks for providing me with such a justification."

The three jumped in fright, spinning around to see Mirai standing not far behind them, completely unscathed.

"How is that possible? You were clearly right there. How are you not injured?"

"Why ask such a question? I'm not injured because I dodged the blast radius, obviously. Aren't you third-year seniors? Why don't you even understand that?"

"Damn you! Die!" The boy threw two more Kunai, both rigged with Paper Bombs. Mirai curled his lip. This guy was truly wealthy; Paper Bombs were expensive. Wasting them like this was bad. Those ten Paper Bombs he'd bought earlier had cost him a fortune, and seeing this guy waste them made his heart ache. After all, Paper Bombs were one-time-use items.

Wait... come to think of it, he was robbing them, wasn't he? It didn't have to be just the scrolls. He could take these Paper Bombs, Shuriken, and Kunai too.

"Stop! Those things belong to me! Don't you dare waste them!" Mirai threw one of the Shuriken he had caught earlier.

"Clang—!" The Shuriken struck the Kunai with precision, stopping its trajectory.

"BOOM—!" The Paper Bomb detonated in mid-air. Mirai charged toward the group. At this point, throwing more Shuriken was pointless, so they all drew their Kunai to engage him in close-quarters combat.

"Cling, clang—!" The sound of clashing steel filled the air. Relying on his superior technique and hand dexterity, Mirai didn't lose ground even against three opponents; instead, he left them scrambling in disarray.

Their attack rhythm was completely shattered by Mirai. With a spinning kick, he struck all three in the face, knocking them unconscious. Mirai let out a breath. He had been using these guys for practice; his agile hands were indeed a massive advantage in Kunai duels. If he had wanted to, he could have slit their throats in an instant, but these guys weren't true enemies, so there was no need to go that far.

Mirai sauntered over to them and opened their ninja tool pouches. Each contained three Kunai, several Shuriken, and a few Paper Bombs. In total, there were twelve Paper Bombs.

Mirai wore a satisfied smile and nodded. "Not bad, not bad. This is almost enough to cover my food expenses for a month. Saved myself some money, heh heh."