All Pass the Test

Xun's condition was far worse than Yashui's. Her chakra was essentially depleted, and she was covered in wounds. With internal injuries, her speed and strength could not be improved in this state, and her staff technique naturally suffered a significant decline. Xun, who was originally the strongest, had now become the truly weakest.

Hachiko, on the other hand, had retained about fifty percent of her strength thanks to Yashui's initial Crow Substitution Technique. Although she had sustained some minor scrapes while setting traps, these injuries were negligible for a ninja. Furthermore, Hachiko was naturally skilled at traps; having stayed here for so long, she might have even laid down other traps specifically targeting Xun and Yashui.

All things considered, Hachiko had already secured the outcome of the battle. It was certain that Hachiko would be one of the final victors of this fight.

Hachiko snatched the bell from the crow's beak, and the startled bird transformed into a puff of smoke, retreating back into the Hundred Bird Nest.

Now, both bells belonged to Hachiko. She kept one for herself, and it was entirely up to her discretion who would receive the remaining one.

Xun looked at Yashui, realizing that her current strength could no longer compare to Hachiko's. If she wanted to take back a bell from Hachiko, she would have to cooperate with Yashui.

Hachiko glanced at Xun, a smile curling on her lips: "I'm not targeting you; to me right now, you're just trash. The tides have turned. Back then, you wanted to kick me out, and now it's my turn to kick you out."

Listening to Hachiko's merciless words, Xun gritted her teeth and glared at her with hatred—this vile woman. She never expected that she would actually fall into the hands of someone like this.

Hachiko took a bell from her hand and dangled it in front of Xun, seemingly flaunting her victory.

Facing the confrontation between Xun and Hachiko, Yashui felt like cursing out loud. With the two of them bickering like this, weren't they afraid of being seen by Choza and failing the test? Even if they defeated Choza, the final decision on whether they could graduate still rested in his hands!

"Stop arguing." Yashui pulled two bells out of his pocket.

"How is this..." Hachiko looked at the two bells in her hand, and with a puff of smoke, they revealed themselves to be nothing more than two stones.

Yashui had long anticipated that the two might argue or even come to blows over the distribution of the bells. In such times, it was safest to keep the bells in his own hands. Thus, he had quietly used stones transformed into bells to replace the originals.

"Yashui! You liar!" Deceived by Yashui, Hachiko's anger flared instantly. This seemingly gentle young girl, when faced with a conflict of interest, had suddenly transformed into a monster more vicious than the most wicked person in the world.

Hachiko was currently the strongest of the three, and she acted without fear. Snatching the two bells from the immobile Yashui would be an effortless task.

"Take one more step, and I'll crush the bells. That way, none of us will pass the test!" Yashui threatened. They were all ninjas; even at twelve years old, they possessed the strength to crush a bell.

Holding the resources was indeed an advantage; stopped by the bells in Yashui's hands, Hachiko halted her advance. She glared at Yashui with resentment but dared not take another step forward. She was absolutely furious.

Yashui took a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and sliced each of the two bells in half. The original two bells were now four broken pieces. He gave two of them to Hachiko and Xun, kept one for himself, and tossed the final one toward Choza.

Hachiko and Xun were stunned. What was going on? Both bells had been destroyed. Didn't that mean all three of them would fail the test?