A Small Porcelain Bottle

Some things carried little conviction when explained with words alone.

Kiba Inuzuka looked utterly confused. He did not understand what was wrong with his fighting style.

Hadn't he just successfully forced Dark Shadow back? If he pushed a little harder, he might even win.

What he did not know was that Dark Shadow had not been forced back by him, but had deliberately retreated under Ye Fan's command.

It was not just Kiba Inuzuka who did not understand. Even Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame, standing nearby, could not figure out what Ye Fan meant by that.

The dust gradually settled.

Seeing the confusion in Kiba Inuzuka's eyes, Ye Fan's lips curled slightly. He did not answer. Instead, he raised an arm and snapped his fingers at the air.

Kiba Inuzuka looked completely bewildered and was about to speak when an indescribable smell suddenly crept into his nostrils.

Buzz!

Something spread through his body.

Kiba Inuzuka discovered in horror that he could no longer control his body.

A suffocating sensation, accompanied by nausea, surged into his heart like a flood.

Even—

His vision blurred at that moment, as though a thick mist had risen before him, leaving him unable to see anything.

Not only that,

The sounds he heard grew fainter and fainter.

It felt as though he were drifting away from this world.

Was he going to die?

"Kiba, what's wrong?"

Seeing her companion suddenly collapse and convulse, Hinata Hyuga cried out in alarm.

Kiba Inuzuka could not even stand, let alone keep fighting. His arms reached out, clawing wildly at the air, while his expression grew increasingly pained.

"I... I'll go get someone!"

Hinata Hyuga turned to leave, only for Ye Fan to stop her.

"Don't panic."

Ye Fan smiled lightly, then snapped his fingers again.

The next moment,

Kiba Inuzuka's complexion slowly returned to normal in an eerie fashion. The haze in his eyes cleared like clouds parting before mist, and his sealed-off ears could hear once more.

"I... what happened to me?"

Kiba Inuzuka stared blankly at the hand still raised in midair, as though he had just endured a nightmare.

Ye Fan walked over to him and explained, "That is why I forbade you from continuing to fight that way."

Kiba Inuzuka looked at Ye Fan in confusion.

He still had no idea what had happened to him just now.

"Just now, I used a little trick to let you experience the drawbacks of fighting that way," Ye Fan explained again with a smile.

Kiba Inuzuka struggled to get up, only to find that his strength seemed completely drained. His head spun, and the nauseating discomfort remained, though it had lessened somewhat.

Ye Fan reached into his clothes and took out a small porcelain bottle. Then he bent down and said to Kiba Inuzuka, "Open your mouth!"

Kiba Inuzuka obediently opened his mouth.

The next instant, he felt liquid being poured into it.

A fresh herbal fragrance instantly spread through his mouth.

Before he could properly savor what it tasted like, the liquid had already slid down his throat and into his stomach.

The effect was immediate.

Kiba Inuzuka immediately lost the nauseating feeling. His mind gradually cleared, and his strength began returning bit by bit.

"Brother Ye Fan, what did you just give me? It feels incredible."

Kiba Inuzuka stared fixedly at the small porcelain bottle in Ye Fan's hand.

"It's just a newly formulated recovery potion." Ye Fan spoke casually, then changed the subject. "Can you stand now?"

Thanks to the recovery potion, Kiba Inuzuka no longer felt so awful and slowly rose from the ground.

"Let's end today's test here. After we get back, I have a lot to say to you," Ye Fan said.

Kiba Inuzuka understood. Brother Ye Fan had something he could not conveniently say in front of the others!

He immediately nodded. He also wanted to find out how he had been struck. It seemed that what he had just experienced was not Genjutsu.

"Kiba, do you really not need to visit the infirmary?" Hinata Hyuga was still worried when she saw Kiba Inuzuka preparing to leave.

"Hinata, don't worry. With Brother Ye Fan here, why would I need the infirmary?" Kiba Inuzuka said with a smile, waving to Hinata Hyuga as he bid farewell. "I'll head back first. Anyway, thank you for today."

After Kiba Inuzuka and Ye Fan left, Shino Aburame, who had remained silent the entire time, suddenly walked over to Hinata Hyuga and asked sternly:

"Hinata, when Kiba collapsed, what did you see?"

When Kiba Inuzuka had inexplicably fallen, Hinata Hyuga had anxiously activated her Byakugan.

Hinata Hyuga looked at Shino Aburame strangely, not understanding what he wanted to ask.

Shino Aburame raised a hand and adjusted the little black sunglasses on his nose before asking directly, "Could you tell whether Kiba had been caught in Genjutsu?"

Being caught in some kind of Genjutsu could also cause nausea, dizziness, and physical weakness.

Genjutsu targeted an enemy's five senses, plunging them into illusion.

A skilled Genjutsu user could even manipulate the flow of chakra through an enemy's brain nerves at will. It was a combat method requiring extremely high intelligence and combat skill.

Shino Aburame now suspected that Ye Fan had used advanced Genjutsu at the time.

Shaking her head, Hinata Hyuga said, "I'm not sure either, but Kiba's chakra was extremely chaotic at the time."

"If Teacher Kurenai Yuhi were here..."

Shino Aburame muttered under his breath. He was becoming increasingly concerned about Ye Fan. His instincts told him that this person was far from ordinary.

Kurenai Yuhi was the leader of their Team 8. She had black curly hair and red eyes and excelled at all kinds of Genjutsu. If she had been here, she surely would have been able to tell whether Ye Fan had used Genjutsu.

"Hinata, how much do you know about Inuzuka Ye Fan?" Shino Aburame asked another question.

Hinata Hyuga did not answer immediately. She did not know much more about Ye Fan than Shino Aburame did.

"Do you think he is deliberately hiding his strength?" Shino Aburame asked again.

"I don't know about that. I think Kiba should know better," Hinata Hyuga said softly.

"I heard that Inuzuka Ye Fan will fight Neji Hyuga. He was a genius from the previous class. Even Teacher Kurenai Yuhi said that Neji Hyuga was formidable. Who do you think will win this match?"

It was obvious that Shino Aburame had privately looked into Ye Fan's situation. Otherwise, he could not possibly have known the contents of Ye Fan's make-up exam.

Hinata Hyuga shook her head again.

"By then, Inuzuka Ye Fan presumably will not be able to keep hiding his strength. His Ninja Hound may be powerful, but it probably is not Neji Hyuga's match."

Shino Aburame spoke quietly, his grave expression making it seem as though he were already imagining the scene.

"Shino, are you going to watch the fight too?" Hinata Hyuga asked, somewhat excited. "I don't know who will win, but Brother Ye Fan said he has a way to restrict the Byakugan. I think he will definitely pass the exam."

Passing the exam and defeating the opponent were two different things!

"What did you say? Restrict the Byakugan??" Shino Aburame was startled.