This Is a Cultivator's Shuriken Technique

The atmosphere in the Ninja Academy examination room was as oppressive as a funeral.

Iruka sat behind the podium, his brows furrowed tightly enough to crush a fly. Beside him, Mizuki wore his usual phony smile, his gloomy eyes utterly unpleasant.

"Next, Hinata Hyuga."

The Byakugan girl walked up with her head lowered, every movement rigid and proper. Though she was so shy she looked ready to combust, she at least managed a steady passing score.

"Next, Uchiha Sasuke!"

The moment that name was called, the previously lifeless examination room erupted.

"Sasuke! Look over here!"

"Ah—! Sasuke looked at me just now! I can't take it, I'm going to give birth!"

Ino and Sakura, the two ringleaders, shouted the loudest. Ino especially had her long legs pressed tightly together, both fists tucked beneath her chin. Her teenage hormones practically overflowed from her tight ninja outfit, her chest heaving violently with every scream.

Ye Tian sat in the corner, his gaze sweeping over the astonishing curve of Ino's waist and hips.

"Mm, her assets are indeed impressive," he assessed inwardly, then silently added, "Her voice is a little too loud, though. Hard on the ears."

Uchiha Sasuke onstage still wore that expression of someone who thought the entire world owed him a hundred million. He casually grabbed five shuriken and, without even looking, sent them flying with several sharp swishes.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Five bullseyes.

"Perfect score. Excellent graduation," Iruka said, finally showing a hint of a smile.

With his hands in his pockets, Sasuke returned to his seat amid the girls' screams. To Ye Tian, his smug aura was practically spilling off the screen.

"Next... Ye Tian."

Iruka's voice suddenly dropped several octaves, carrying the concern of someone worried this child might not even make it to the podium.

The entire class fell silent as death.

Ye Tian slowly rose to his feet. He had rehearsed this move for five years, every detail perfected. First, his body swayed, and his hand clutched the edge of the desk tightly, his knuckles looking pale and weak from "overexertion."

"Cough... cough, cough, cough!"

He coughed until his back bent like a shrimp, while secretly forcing out a breath of foul air with spiritual energy, instantly turning his complexion from sickly pale to nearly transparent.

He crossed those dozen-odd meters as if traversing the Himalayas.

"Is he really okay?"

"Someone should help him. I'm seriously afraid he'll stop breathing on the spot. Would they have to put his forehead protector straight into his coffin?"

Mizuki shifted his chair backward, disgust written all over his eyes, as though he were afraid of catching Ye Tian's "tuberculosis."

At last, Ye Tian shuffled up to the desk.

He tremblingly picked up a shuriken, his hand shaking as if it had vibration mode turned on.

"Ye Tian, if you're not feeling well..." Before Iruka could finish, Ye Tian weakly waved a hand.

"Teacher... I, I want to try."

He turned to look at the target, and in that instant, his gaze became unfathomably deep.

Muscular strength? Didn't exist.

A chakra burst? That would be asking for a beating.

Ye Tian's Divine Sense stirred slightly, and a faint wisp of Fire Spiritual Energy seeped from his fingertips—it was what he had just skimmed off Naruto.

"Off you go."

He gave his wrist a limp flick.

The shuriken wobbled through the air, resembling a dragonfly with broken wings. It traced a crooked S in the air and looked about to skim across the floor into a trash bin.

Sakura had already covered her eyes.

But just as the shuriken came within ten centimeters of the ground, that wisp of spiritual energy tugged sharply!

The shuriken, which had been about to crash, seemed to be lifted by an invisible hand. It eerily curved through a perfect arc and performed a tactical upward climb in midair.

Thud!

Direct hit on the bullseye.

"What the hell?"

"Th-this... the wind blew it, right?"

Before the students could react, Ye Tian repeated the same trick. Every shuriken flew out feebly, only to become seemingly fitted with a guidance system at the last moment, plunging precisely into the center of the target.

All five hit!

"Phew... cough, cough, cough!" Ye Tian immediately braced himself against the desk, panting heavily, though he sneered inwardly. Mortals, do you understand what Divine Sense guidance is? I'm not throwing shuriken—I'm launching cruise missiles.

Mizuki's smile froze. He had sensed no chakra and could only attribute it to some mysterious "throwing feel" possessed by this sickly weakling.

"Shuriken... perfect score." Iruka's face was full of shock, soon replaced by concern. "For the next ninjutsu examination, pick one."

"Then... the Clone Technique."

Ye Tian took a deep breath. Using spiritual energy to imitate chakra was delicate work. If he made it too convincing, people would grow suspicious; if he failed to make it convincing enough, it would be useless.

Since he was putting on an act, he might as well make it a vicious one.

He deliberately formed the hand seals half a beat slower, mixing a trace of a cultivator's chilly aura into the spiritual energy as he released it.

"Clone Technique!"

Poof!

The white smoke dispersed, and the temperature throughout the classroom seemed to drop several degrees in an instant.

"Ah—!!!"

Sakura, seated in the front row, let out a scream and jumped straight onto the desk beside her, both hands clamped tightly over her mouth.

A clone had appeared beside Ye Tian.

Its face was bluish-white, its lifeless eyes rolled upward, and its tongue hung from the corner of its mouth. Most absurdly, it only had an upper body.

The thing floated in midair, looking exactly like a vicious ghost that had just crawled out of a morgue.

"What kind of ghostly thing is that?!"

"A corpse is coming back to life!"

Several timid girls even crawled directly beneath their desks.

Ye Tian pretended to panic, his body swaying as a trace of blood conveniently seeped from the corner of his mouth—he had bitten his tongue just now.

"Sorry... my chakra... really can't hold up... I could only create half..."

Iruka leaped down from the podium in fright and grabbed the swaying Ye Tian, his voice trembling. "Stop talking! Stop talking! I understand! I understand everything!"

A child this sick still desperately tried to create half a body just to take the exam. What kind of will was that? What kind of Will of Fire was that?!

"Ye Tian, you passed! Quickly, here's your forehead protector. Go home and rest at once!"

Iruka hurriedly stuffed the forehead protector into Ye Tian's hand, afraid that he might "split" out the other half the next second.

Ye Tian gripped the forehead protector, his eyes filled with "tears of gratitude." "Thank you... Teacher."

He slowly made his way back. As he passed Ino, she looked at his pale face, which carried a strange sort of eerie beauty. The fear she had felt from being frightened unexpectedly transformed into an inexplicable shiver.

"Um... Ye Tian, you should... be careful in the future," Ino said softly, her gaze unconsciously sweeping over his somewhat slender yet upright back.

He might have been a little weak, but this ghostly style with a hint of taboo somehow felt pretty exciting, didn't it?

Ye Tian returned to his seat and looked at the cool metal forehead protector in his hand, the corner of his lips curving upward.

Forehead protector acquired, ninja credentials secured. Next came the time to legally "mooch energy."

He glanced at Naruto, who was about to take the stage.

"Come on, my little power bank. The happiness of the rest of my life depends on you."