State of Merging with Nature

The State of Merging with Nature gave Zhou Yang another pair of eyes. Even with his eyes shut, he could still "see" the energy of any object around him, even predict certain changes in the environment and adjust accordingly.

"Bass, the wind's picking up."

"Mm."

"Do you think he'll fall?"

"I don't know."

"No, can't you at least make a guess?"

There was no point guessing, because I've never seen it before."

"No, aren't you usually pretty talkative? Why have you become like a tube of toothpaste ever since that fight? Squeeze a little, and only a little comes out?"

"Nothing. I realized something."

"What did you realize?" Bu Yu seemed rather intrigued. This blockhead could actually draw conclusions from things?

At that moment, Bass suddenly turned to look at him. "Too much nonsense gets you killed faster."

Qianbai silently nodded in agreement.

"No, why do I feel like you're both implying something?" Bu Yu scratched his head.

"There's no implication. We're saying it outright."

"!!!"

"Enough. Stop disturbing him. The wind's about to reach him."

The three of them turned their attention back to Zhou Yang on the bamboo. He and the plank beneath his feet seemed to have grown onto the bamboo like a single bamboo leaf, swaying from side to side. No matter how the wind bent the bamboo, he did not fall.

Bu Yu truly had nothing to say now. He absolutely could not accomplish something like this at present. It required extraordinarily precise chakra control—but how could he know that Zhou Yang was not using chakra at all?

Just then, Zhou Yang suddenly opened his eyes. Then, with the agility of a nimble monkey, he climbed down the bamboo and finished with a roll onto the ground.

"Greetings, Senior Brothers!" Although Zhou Yang had clashed unpleasantly with the three before, he believed it was merely caused by their naturally arrogant personalities. They did not truly have any deep-seated hatred between them, so there was no need to become mortal enemies over one fight. Besides, he would be their boss in the future. Calling them Senior Brothers a few times to ease their relationship now was nothing, if it meant he would have helpers at hand later.

That address of Senior Brothers left the three somewhat stunned. They had not yet recovered from the shock of what they had just witnessed. Hanzo, standing nearby, reminded them. Seeing Zhou Yang take the initiative to ease their relationship, Hanzo also breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. After all, they were all his disciples, and as their teacher, he truly did not wish to see conflict arise between them.

Although Zhou Yang was the youngest, Hanzo considered him the most mature among his disciples. Every time they spoke, Hanzo subconsciously treated him as someone his own age. This performance further confirmed Zhou Yang's inner maturity. At the same time, he was glad that Zhou Yang had let the three of them off. Amegakure truly lacked talented people. Hanzo really was a good judge of character—Zhou Yang was indeed an adult wearing the skin of a five-year-old child.

Only after being reminded did the three recover from their shock, and each reacted differently. Bass was the most honest of them, but he was not stupid. After that battle, he understood that the gap in strength between himself and Zhou Yang was considerable. Besides, being beaten so badly had been his own fault. Who had told him to mock Zhou Yang beforehand? Now that Zhou Yang wanted to ease their relationship, why should he refuse? So he politely said, "We only entered under Master a little earlier than you, so there's no need to be so polite. Just call me Bass."

Qianbai spoke second, though what he said left the other two somewhat bewildered.

"I finally understand why Master accepted you as his disciple. I truly am inferior to you." By Master, he naturally meant the status of a true disciple. And by saying he was inferior to Zhou Yang, he meant not only in strength, but also in character. Under the same circumstances, he could not have been as open-minded as Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang naturally understood what Qianbai meant, so he could only answer modestly, "No, no. There are still many things I need to learn from you, Senior Brother."

Bu Yu had originally thought Zhou Yang was admitting defeat to them, which was why he had adopted such an attitude and wanted to reconcile. After all, no matter how he calculated it, Zhou Yang's side only had two people while theirs had three. Strength was on their side! Yet after seeing the reactions of his teammates, he felt that the truth seemed rather different. Had Zhou Yang beaten trauma into them? But he himself had been beaten even worse and had not been traumatized! Still, since his teammates had already shown that they agreed to reconcile, he could not oppose them. So he gave a lukewarm greeting of "Hello, Junior Brother," then said nothing more.

Seeing that all three had expressed their stance, a smile appeared on Hanzo's face. Looking at the five children, he sighed inwardly. These will all be the future pillars of Amegakure. I wonder where Zhou Yang, this future helmsman, will steer Amegakure?

"Oh, right. You're heading out on a mission?"

"Yes, Master." Qianbai respectfully handed him the mission scroll. Hanzo gave it a cursory glance before returning it to them. Then he said, "Though this man is a rogue ninja, he is also a Middle Ninja. Don't underestimate him!"

"Yes!"

"Alright, off you go."

The three then left Hanzo's residence and headed for their target.

After they had left, Hanzo said to Zhou Yang and Nan, "I'm planning to send Nan to the Ninja Academy for a period of study first. Do you want to go as well?"

After thinking it over, Zhou Yang shook his head. Most of what the Ninja Academy taught concerned chakra, while some covered the situation across the continent and some covered tactics. In his view, he either had no use for those things or already knew them, so he refused. He did not have much time to waste on this, after all. War was right before them.

Hanzo was not surprised by Zhou Yang's refusal. He had merely asked in passing, in case the boy wanted to go to the Ninja Academy for fun.

However, he added, "Although I can allow you to skip the Ninja Academy and study on your own, you still need to follow the required procedures. In other words, you must complete the graduation exam."

Great. The more he feared something, the more it came for him. Thinking of the graduation exam made Zhou Yang's scalp tingle. Konoha's graduation exam tested the Three Body Technique! If the energy within him were chakra, that would have been one thing, but it was not. And he had never seen energy used to perform ninjutsu either!

Damn, am I going to become the first village chief in history who isn't even a Lower Ninja? Zhou Yang mocked himself inwardly.

Just as he was wondering how to explain to Hanzo that he could not use the Three Body Technique, Hanzo took out a mission scroll and tossed it into his hands.

"Here. This is your mission to advance as a ninja. I specially selected it for you. This man is a fugitive from Amegakure, with strength somewhere between a Lower Ninja and a Middle Ninja. I'm not sure exactly how strong he is, since he's been missing for quite some time. Recently, our people discovered that he has reappeared in the Land of Rain, so go kill him."

Zhou Yang stared blankly at the scroll in his hand. Why was this different from what he had expected?

"You brat, what are you staring at? Don't tell me you think this mission is a little too difficult? Though that's fair. Normally, a mission like this should be taken by a three-man team of Lower Ninjas like Qianbai's. It is a bit difficult to use as your mission to become a Lower Ninja."