Admiration! The Strongest Genin

After saving Sakura, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and the others worried that the situation might change, so they quickly took their leave.

Only Tenten remained, taking out the Time-Crow Fern that Neji had given her earlier.

"This is a special medicinal fern, very rare to come by, and it should be quite effective."

Tenten gave the remaining bit of the herb to Sakura.

"Thank you."

"Hiss..."

At this moment, Rock Lee, who was off to the side, also woke up.

Tenten looked at him, her head throbbing.

"Sigh, no need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank that bushy-browed guy; he was the one who..."

"Sakura!"

As soon as Rock Lee woke up, he immediately struggled to climb to his feet and headed toward them.

"Sakura, are you alright?"

He saw that Sakura's hair had been partially cut, and she looked disheveled, covered in wounds of all sizes.

"Alright, alright, I've already given Sakura the herbs, you'd better worry about yourself first!"

Tenten grumbled, pulling Rock Lee along as she prepared to leave. She suddenly felt truly exhausted; how did such a weirdo end up in their team? He wasn't even as good as Neji!

Thinking of this, she mused to herself: But it's a good thing Neji wasn't there. If he had seen that expert from earlier, Neji would probably have taken quite a blow. They both use palm techniques, so why is there such a massive gap between them?

On the other side, after Neji retreated, he didn't go far.

He found a spot to take off the Anbu uniform, removed the mask, tidied himself up, and planned to return to find them.

"This outfit is actually quite useful!"

Neji hesitated for a moment before tucking it into his pocket.

"Forget it, I won't return it to them!"

In any case, he had saved their lives; surely the Konoha Anbu weren't so strapped for cash that they would track him down over a single mask and a set of clothes, right?

After Neji reunited with Tenten, he listened as she recounted how valiant the masked youth from earlier had been.

Rock Lee chimed in here and there, while Neji just listened from behind, smiling silently.

Gradually, dusk approached. After stopping and starting throughout the long day of travel, the three of them finally arrived at the destination.

"You've worked hard. Congratulations on passing the exam!" Iruka had been waiting in the room for some time.

"Who would have thought that the center of the massive Forest of Death would actually be an intelligence station?"

Tenten, carrying her scroll, looked left and right.

Rock Lee was also eager to chat with Iruka. The moment the two of them realized they had passed the exam, all their fatigue seemed to vanish, leaving them feeling satisfied and relieved.

Neji followed behind, remaining silent.

His physical strength was slowly recovering, and his chakra was beginning to stabilize.

"Now, please head to the lounge inside and get some rest!"

The group walked into the lounge one after another.

Inside, there were two groups, totaling five people.

Two teams.

On one side were Hinata, Kiba, and Shino, and on the other were two Sand Ninja.

The Sand Ninja didn't look particularly friendly; they seemed to disdain associating with Konoha genin.

Temari sat like a big sister, her hand resting on her fan as she closed her eyes to rest.

Kankuro, meanwhile, stood with his arms crossed, looking at Neji and the others with an arrogant expression.

"You're really slow!"

He yawned and turned his head away.

"Brother Neji!" Hinata greeted him with a smile, and Neji responded with a simple smile.

"We're actually the third team?"

Tenten and Rock Lee went up to greet Kiba and Shino, beginning to exchange words.

Neji, seeing that the room connected to another vast space, followed the doorway through.

Perhaps it would be better in a quieter place; the way those Sand Ninja looked at them was truly uncomfortable.

After walking inside, Neji realized that this was actually a training ground!

The vast space was easily as large as ten classrooms combined!

"It seems this place used to be a training ground?"

Neji could not help but feel a bit curious about the history of this Forest of Death.

Inside the training ground, nearly a hundred wooden stakes stood before Neji, and the surrounding ground was pitted and scarred with various signs of past training, though all of it appeared quite ancient.

"It seems no one has been here for a long time..."

Neji walked over and struck out with a palm.

The blow landed on a wooden stake, sending dust scattering, but the layer was not thick; this suggested the area had been used not too long ago.

"It's said this was a training ground for an Anbu organization, but they relocated to a larger facility a few months ago. Rumor has it that Anbu group was quite mysterious and didn't even report directly to the Hokage... but I don't know much more than that."

Tenten walked in, speaking as she headed toward a specific area.

"Ah, that looks like the projectile training zone. I'm so curious—how would so many Anbu practice their hidden weapons?"

With her special fondness for ninja tools, Tenten finally revealed her true side as a young girl.

Having already passed the exam, she naturally wouldn't make things difficult for Neji anymore, and in all fairness, Neji had contributed significantly several times during this exam.

Neji did not reply; instead, once he confirmed his stamina was gradually recovering, he began to practice against the wooden stakes.

He naturally wouldn't act recklessly here, so Neji simply performed basic movements.

One palm, two palms—his movements were incredibly swift.

In the time it took for the dislodged dust to rise and settle, the number of palms Neji had struck was more than what could be counted on two hands.

The wooden stakes were shaped like human figures, and anyone who understood the craft would see that even with his Air Palm, Neji was systematically practicing strikes against vital acupuncture points.

Seeing Neji training, Tenten said nothing more and went off on her own to examine the various hidden weapons.

An hour passed just like that.

"Hah!"

Neji was still training, and when Tenten looked over again, her jaw nearly dropped.

"No way, Neji, how are you still practicing?"

Neji turned his head and ceased his movements.

Ding! Training session complete. Gentle Fist proficiency +779! Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms proficiency +128!

Neji chuckled, "Ah, just practicing casually. It's no trouble at all!"

Tenten tilted her head, recalling the mysterious Anbu expert they had encountered in the forest.

"I'm telling you, you must have heard me mention that masked Anbu, right? That person's palm technique was the real deal..."

As Tenten said this, she seemed hesitant to discourage Neji further.

"Sigh, you should really get some rest. If you want to successfully promote to Chunin with us, you'll need to find a way to work smarter! Just practicing blindly is useless."

As Tenten spoke, she prepared to leave.

Just then, a voice rang out, eerie and strange.

"You are wrong. This guy is very strong."

"Who!?"

Tenten broke out in a cold sweat, and even Neji was startled; he immediately looked upward.

There stood Gaara, his feet planted on the ceiling, looking down with his head tilted.

"Ahhh! You guy, when did you...?"

Tenten retreated several steps in a hurry, watching in shock as Gaara leaped down.

Gaara's gaze, however, never left Neji, who stood before the wooden stakes.

"I have been watching you for a long time. You are the strongest Genin I have encountered in Konoha so far."

Gaara's words left Neji slightly stunned.

"The, the strongest?"

Tenten furrowed her brows, looking at the short, red-haired boy carrying a Sand Gourd, completely unable to make sense of it.

"What nonsense are you spouting? That guy Neji is a total loser in Konoha!"

No sooner had Tenten finished speaking than Gaara glared at her.

The sand inside the Sand Gourd moved with incredible speed, forming a demonic claw that lunged directly toward Tenten!