Along the way, Su Bai discovered that everyone coming and going around the Base City was a ninja. Even the people selling things at roadside stalls were ninjas, and the weakest among them were Genin. Everyone's chakra felt stronger than his!
"Roar!"
"Quiet! Stop making noise."
A tremendous roar sounded behind Su Bai. He turned and saw a man who was at least a Chunin riding a Black-Scaled Horse past them.
"A Summoning Beast?" Su Bai took another look at the Black-Scaled Horse. He knew about them.
Black-Scaled Horses were D-Class Magical Beasts, usually around ten meters long and over four meters tall. According to the information he'd found online, they were fairly docile and good at running, making them the ideal Summoning Beasts for ninjas traveling through the wilderness.
Just like in the original story, people on Blue Star had to sign a contract to make a Magical Beast their Summoning Beast. The difference was that humans made the contract scrolls here, and any Magical Beast that agreed could sign one.
There were many kinds of Summoning Beasts in the Base City, but most were D-Class Magical Beasts, and relatively docile ones at that.
After all, Magical Beasts and humans were enemies, and few powerful Magical Beasts were willing to become human Summoning Beasts.
Seeing this, Su Bai suddenly thought of a serious problem: the Summoning Beasts in this world apparently couldn't use Reverse Summoning!
Reverse Summoning was a powerful way to save your life in the original story.
Take Jiraiya, for example. He'd traveled all over the Shinobi World with the toads of Mount Myōboku. If he hadn't insisted on uncovering Pain's secret, he wouldn't have died. A quick Reverse Summoning to escape would probably have left no one able to stop him.
But Su Bai had never heard of Reverse Summoning on Blue Star. At least, he'd never seen it mentioned online.
Thinking of this, he asked Chu Yuan, "Brother Chu, have you ever heard of Reverse Summoning?"
"Reverse Summoning? What does that mean? The Summoning Beast transports the ninja to its side?"
"Exactly!"
Su Bai nodded seriously. He thought it was an important question.
Chu Yuan rubbed the scar on his neck and thought for a moment.
"I don't think so. Magical Beasts can use a few simple ninjutsu, but they can't form Hand Seals. They can only force the techniques out with their powerful bodies. They probably can't use techniques like the Summoning Technique."
"Enough about that. Brother Li and the others are here. Let's go over." After speaking, Chu Yuan pointed to a man and a woman in the distance and led them toward the pair.
The two followed behind Chu Yuan. Xia Xueqing quietly tugged on Su Bai's sleeve and whispered,
"Su Bai, you weren't the only one who thought of the advantages of Reverse Summoning. My father once researched it with some powerful Jonin, but they didn't get anywhere."
"Even your father got nowhere? Then I guess it really doesn't exist here."
Xia Hong's identity was no secret. He was one of the strongest people in all of Yang City. If even he had found nothing, then this "bug" of an ability didn't exist on Blue Star.
That's right. In Su Bai's eyes, Reverse Summoning was a bug!
The technique was just too powerful. He thought that any ninja who could use Reverse Summoning would usually be able to escape danger, unless they went looking for trouble and got themselves killed.
Just imagine: if a ninja left their Summoning Beast somewhere safe, then used technology to contact it when they were in danger and have it perform Reverse Summoning, they'd be impossible to kill unless they were killed instantly. Even if they were surrounded by tens of thousands of Magical Beasts, they'd still survive.
Putting the thought aside, Su Bai followed Chu Yuan over to the man and woman.
They were Chu Yuan's teammates: Li Lei, a Fire Release ninja, and Miao Qiu, a sensory ninja.
On the way, Chu Yuan had already introduced them to Su Bai and Xia Xueqing. Li Lei was a Chunin and the team captain, as well as the strongest fighter on the team.
Miao Qiu was a Genin, Li Lei's wife, and a skilled sensor. Her job was to keep the entire team safe.
That had been before. Now that they had Xia Xueqing, a ninja with the Byakugan bloodline, Chu Yuan believed their team's chances of survival had increased at least tenfold!
After all, the Byakugan's range of observation—tens of kilometers—was no joke.
Chapter 51: The Power of the Byakugan
"Brother Li, Sister Miao, we're here," Chu Yuan said with a smile.
Li Lei and Miao Qiu walked over, smiling as well.
The three of them had been in the same ninja squad for years. They'd been through countless battles and had risked their lives for one another, so when Chu Yuan suggested bringing Su Bai along for training, Li Lei had agreed without a second thought.
That was because it was Chu Yuan. Li Lei wouldn't have agreed so readily if it had been someone else.
Taking someone into the Wasteland Zone for training wasn't simple, especially when they were a rookie who had never even seen a Magical Beast. One mistake could put the entire team at risk.
But what Li Lei hadn't expected was that Chu Yuan had brought not only Su Bai, but also a ninja with the Byakugan bloodline. He was overjoyed!
What did it take to survive in the Wasteland Zone?
You had to spot Magical Beasts in advance and decide whether to hunt them or run. The worst thing was to be caught off guard by a Magical Beast attack and have the whole squad wiped out.
As a Chunin who often traveled through the Wasteland Zone, Li Lei had seen far too many squads wiped out by surprise attacks from Magical Beasts.
Some Magical Beasts were extremely cunning. They knew that humans had sensory ninjas, so they learned to suppress their chakra signatures and evade detection.
Then they could ambush a ninja squad and kill them in one strike!
This gave many ninjas a serious headache.
Whenever something like that happened, all the other ninjas could do was sigh and pray their own squads wouldn't be so unlucky. There was nothing else they could do.
But... that would never happen to a squad with a ninja who had the Byakugan bloodline. No matter how cunning a Magical Beast was, it couldn't escape the Byakugan's astonishing insight!
A squad with the Byakugan could spot Magical Beasts tens of kilometers away, assess their strength, and decide whether to hunt them or take another route. They held the initiative.
The Byakugan's incredible insight was exactly why so many ninjas prized it. Every ninja hoped to have a teammate with the Byakugan bloodline to improve their chances of surviving in the wilderness.
Usually, the squads with Byakugan users were powerful. Li Lei had never even dreamed that one day his own squad would have a Byakugan user!
"Haha, I'm Li Lei. Welcome to my squad, Mr. Su and Miss Xia!" Li Lei laughed and held out his hand politely.
"You're too kind, Brother Li. Just call me Su Bai."
"Exactly. Since we're teammates now, just call me Xueqing, Brother Li."
Su Bai immediately shook Li Lei's hand, and Xia Xueqing smiled.
Su Bai knew that Chu Yuan had brought him along for training because he wanted to look after him. That was a kindness, and one he would repay someday!
"Haha, then I'll take the liberty of having you call me Brother Li." Li Lei was powerfully built. His short sleeves left his arms bare, and they were covered in scars. He clearly had a lot of battle experience.
He pulled Miao Qiu over and introduced her to the two of them.
Miao Qiu was petite and spoke gently. After getting acquainted, the group climbed into Li Lei's vehicle.
It was a modified pickup truck. The cab had barely been changed and could just fit five people.
The truck bed, however, was large. There were many dried bloodstains on it, suggesting Li Lei often used it to haul Magical Beast corpses.
The pickup left the Base City and headed north along an asphalt road that was barely drivable. Tall plants and abandoned houses lined the road, a stark contrast to the bustling Base City.
"This time, we're going to a county about twenty kilometers from Yang City Base City. It's mostly home to D-Class Magical Beasts, which are perfect for our squad to hunt," Chu Yuan explained to Su Bai and Xia Xueqing.
As an experienced ninja squad, Chu Yuan and the others had already mapped out the area around Yang City Base City.
They knew exactly where the high-level and low-level Magical Beasts roamed.
Of course, there could always be unusual situations, such as a Magical Beast leaving its territory and suddenly appearing somewhere else.
But that rarely happened.
Su Bai and Xia Xueqing listened quietly. These were things they couldn't learn from books. Only someone like Chu Yuan, who often ventured into the Wasteland Zone, had this kind of experience.
The road outside the Base City was rough. Humans had abandoned the land beyond the Base City over two hundred years ago, and even the hardest roads had developed deep cracks.
The farther they ventured into the Wasteland Zone, the more collapsed buildings they saw along the road. Su Bai noticed deep claw marks on the walls of some houses, as well as gaping holes that looked as though Magical Beasts had smashed through them.
It took Li Lei nearly an hour to cover the twenty kilometers. He parked the pickup outside a pre-apocalypse shopping mall, and everyone got out at once.
"There are signs of Magical Beasts in this area. The noise from the vehicle could give us away, so we'll have to continue on foot," Li Lei said, leading the way toward the top of the mall.
A short while later, they reached the roof. All they could see in every direction were abandoned buildings and wildly overgrown plants. There was nothing else.
Chu Yuan glanced at Xia Xueqing expectantly. "Xueqing, show us the advantage of having a Byakugan teammate!"
Li Lei and Miao Qiu smiled at that, both eager to see it.
The three of them used to rely on Miao Qiu's sensory abilities to venture into areas where Magical Beasts roamed and find their tracks. It was extremely dangerous, and one mistake could wipe out the whole team.
Xia Xueqing nodded with a smile, then activated her Byakugan. Its incredible insight immediately showed its worth!
"There's an Iron-Horned Sheep about six kilometers to the southeast. D-Class. There's a Black-Scaled Horse eight kilometers away. D-Class."
"There are no Magical Beasts within twenty kilometers to the northeast."
"There are no Magical Beasts within twenty kilometers to the northwest."
"The nearest Magical Beasts are to the southwest. There are five Long-Eared Rabbits within three kilometers. D-Class."
Xia Xueqing was like a precise machine, accurately reporting the locations of the Magical Beasts in every direction. Li Lei and the others couldn't help but marvel.
"The Byakugan is amazing! It's so powerful!"
"Yeah! The three of us used to spend at least three days looking for one Magical Beast. With Xueqing, we found all their locations in an instant. The Byakugan is so convenient!"
Xia Xueqing felt a little embarrassed by all the praise. "Captain, where should we go now?"
"Heh. Of course we're heading southwest. Let's get you two youngsters some experience first!"
In a good mood, Li Lei joked, and everyone nodded.
Southwest—that was where the Long-Eared Rabbits were.
And the Long-Eared Rabbit was the entrance exam for Nine Provinces Academy.
Su Bai and Xia Xueqing exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of anticipation in the other's eyes!
Chapter 52: First Battle Against a Magic Beast
Guided by Xia Xueqing, the five of them traveled about one kilometer southwest and finally spotted their quarry—the Long-Eared Rabbits!
A hundred meters ahead of them, a Magical Beast with black-and-white fur was resting beside a half-collapsed hospital. It was about five meters long and two meters tall, and looked like a domestic rabbit.
"So this is the Long-Eared Rabbit I like to eat? It's so cute!" Xia Xueqing exclaimed. She'd only ever seen Long-Eared Rabbit on the dinner table before...
Su Bai stared intently at the "giant rabbit." This was his first time seeing a Magical Beast, too.
Chu Yuan came over to the two of them and put on a serious expression.
"Since you came out here with me to train, you need to be prepared. This isn't school. If you get an answer wrong, you don't get another chance to fix it!"
"This is the Wasteland. One mistake means death, so do exactly as I say. Understood?"
"Understood!" ×2
"This rabbit has about seventy units of chakra. It can't use any ninjutsu; it just attacks with its body. I'll demonstrate first. Watch carefully."
Long-Eared Rabbits were among the weakest Magical Beasts.
Aside from their enormous bodies and chakra reserves close to a Chunin's, they couldn't use any ninjutsu. Usually, any Genin who knew some ninjutsu could handle one, as long as they overcame their fear of Magical Beasts.
Chu Yuan figured that since this was their first time in the Wasteland Zone, he should demonstrate so they'd know what to expect.
"Okay."
"Mhm! This rabbit is huge. It's kind of scary."
Su Bai and Xia Xueqing nodded as they watched Chu Yuan approach the Long-Eared Rabbit.
"Come on. Let's get a little closer so you can see more clearly." Li Lei called to them and led them to a spot about twenty meters from the Long-Eared Rabbit.
The Long-Eared Rabbit had noticed them by now. Its enormous body slowly rose as it warily watched Chu Yuan approach, as if it could tell he was dangerous.
"Sss, sss, sss!"
The Long-Eared Rabbit arched its body, which was about as big as an off-road vehicle, and made a hissing warning sound, as if telling Chu Yuan to leave its territory.
Chu Yuan didn't use ninjutsu. He wanted to show Su Bai and Xia Xueqing how the Long-Eared Rabbit attacked using Taijutsu.
"Come on, rabbit. Help me out, and I'll make it quick for you."
Chu Yuan crooked a finger at it. The Long-Eared Rabbit seemed to take this as a provocation and charged at him in a rage!
Faced with its charge, Chu Yuan calmly leaped four or five meters into the air. The Long-Eared Rabbit rushed beneath him, and when it failed to hit its target, it immediately turned around.
"Other than biting, this is the Long-Eared Rabbit's only attack. It isn't very fast. Any Genin can dodge it as long as they don't panic!" Chu Yuan shouted, giving them a live lesson.
Su Bai and Xia Xueqing stared wide-eyed. One had the Byakugan, the other the Sharingan, and both watched the Long-Eared Rabbit's attack carefully.
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