Scheming Bitch Yashui

That way, he could save Hachiko, who had nearly fallen into Xun's hands, and get Xun to cooperate with Yashui willingly. But to fool Xun, Yashui had to keep diverting some of his chakra to maintain the previous Substitution Technique. Only one Substitution Technique could be used at a time, so he couldn't use it again and had to take Choza's punch head-on.

By now, Xun was willing to cooperate. Hachiko, on the other hand, wouldn't be so easy to convince. Like Xun, Hachiko placed great importance on her status and standing as a ninja. When weighing her bond with her teammates against her identity as a ninja, she would ultimately choose the latter.

Yashui had another lie prepared for someone like Hachiko. He had his summoned crow deliver a letter to her. It read:

"Hachiko, it's Yashui. I've decided to give you my bell. I graduated early, after all. Even if I failed, at worst I'd graduate alongside the others in my year. Besides, my grandfather is the Hokage, so even if I failed, I might still be able to work with you as a ninja."

Of course, the letter was a lie, and most of what it said was false. Yashui had written it because he already knew that if they worked together, all three of them could pass. If Choza changed the requirements for passing, Yashui could still turn around and deny everything, keeping the bell for himself.

But that kind of lie was more than enough to fool Hachiko. She had grown up in Ogicho, where people of all sorts lived, including plenty of con artists. In theory, Hachiko shouldn't have been easy to trick.

But even Hachiko could be fooled when the offer was too tempting. It was just like how plenty of college students with extensive knowledge about scams still fell for them in real life. The scammers offered them something they desperately needed and wanted, making it hard to resist.

At this point, both of them were willing to work together with Yashui, thanks to his deception. All that remained was to fool Choza into thinking the three of them cared about one another and were willing to cooperate and make sacrifices for each other.

But then things changed again.

After reading the letter, Hachiko wrote back to Yashui. Her reply arrived before Xun and Yashui had even begun their fight with Choza. Yashui's crow relayed Hachiko's message to him—that was why it had been whispering into his ear.

Once he learned what Hachiko meant, Yashui also understood what she was capable of. After taking her true strength into account, he thought they might actually be able to snatch the bell from Choza.

After that came the battle between Xun, Yashui, and Choza. When it was over, Xun rescued Yashui and carried him away.

Xun had just been willing to block Choza's punch for Yashui. Even after learning that Hachiko hadn't actually been knocked unconscious by Yashui, she had stayed calm. From this, Yashui guessed that Xun would now cooperate with him without needing to be deceived.

Now everything would be easy. As long as Hachiko got the bell that belonged to Yashui, she'd cooperate with anyone.

This time, even without deceiving Choza, the three of them could trust one another on the basis of a lie!

"Over there!" Yashui directed Xun, who was carrying him as she fled.

After taking Choza's punch head-on, Xun had reached the limits of her endurance. In that state, she couldn't move very fast. And with Yashui weighing her down, she was even slower. They'd only been running for three minutes, but they were already moving at a painfully slow pace.

"Shouldn't you go on a diet?" Xun said coldly to Yashui.

After all, Yashui was a boy, and boys were usually heavier than girls. Yashui gave an embarrassed smile. "Hang in there. It'll be over soon."

Choza had already caught up with them. Don't assume that Choza would slow down just because he'd grown larger. Choza was a nimble fat man. When Choza enlarged himself, he usually didn't run, because ...