Another man, his face painted like a clown's, stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, a sickly smile spreading across his face.
Hyuga Akira ignored everyone and silently returned to sit in the corner. He merely swept his gaze around, and quite a few people quietly turned away when his eyes fell on them.
Only Hisoka looked at Hyuga Akira with interest.
Hyuga Akira hesitated before withdrawing his gaze. At his current level, he was no match for Hisoka.
Even on the Hokage server, this guy would rank as a Jonin. Although his abilities lacked some variety compared with ninjutsu, his outstanding combat talent meant that an ordinary Jonin might not actually be a match for him.
Besides, he had no idea what dropped on the Hunter server. He had only paid attention to the Hokage server.
Time passed.
Hyuga Akira saw a boy in green clothes, followed by two others, one in traditional ethnic clothing and one in a suit.
This group.
Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio-the main cast of the original story.
"I actually entered right at the start of the story?"
Hyuga Akira only glanced at the three of them, but unexpectedly, Gon seemed to sense it and looked over at him, giving him a brilliant smile.
"How perceptive." Hyuga Akira withdrew his gaze.
With such powerful perception, Gon could have become a sensory ninja even in the Hokage world.
But then he remembered that the main cast had another important member.
He scanned everyone again and spotted a white-haired boy.
Killua Zoldyck.
A gifted boy born into a family of assassins.
Now the main cast was complete. The greatest benefit their presence offered Hyuga Akira was that he knew what this exam would involve.
Even without that knowledge, his abilities would let him pass quickly, but it still saved him some trouble.
"Riiing!" A piercing alarm sounded overhead.
Everyone looked up. A man with a curved mustache was slowly descending.
"Registration is now officially closed."
As the man descended, quite a few people made room for him.
"The Hunter Exam officially begins now."
At his words, everyone present grew tense. Hyuga Akira stood up from the ground.
"Please come this way."
"Before we begin, I must confirm something. Because the Hunter Exam..."
The man walked forward as he explained the dangers of the Hunter Exam. Unfortunately, no one cared about his warnings.
"If you still choose to participate, please follow me."
"There are 405 applicants this time, correct?"
The man continued forward. Although he appeared to be walking normally, he moved faster and faster, until those following him gradually had to break into a run.
Poor Mr. Tonpa had been forced to withdraw outright this time. He was still lying unconscious on the ground.
"Has the test started?" Hyuga Akira followed casually near the back of the group.
He did not want to stand out too much right now. His gaze swept over the people at the back, hesitation flickering in his eyes.
These people would clearly all be eliminated in the end. Should he give them a hand?
Even as he considered it, shuriken had already appeared in his hand.
"You can't just harvest the apples like that~" A strangely lilting voice rang out. Hyuga Akira turned and saw that Hisoka had appeared beside him at some point.
He had not noticed him at all.
Zetsu?
And had he noticed my intentions?
Hyuga Akira smiled and said, "You really are hungry, eating anything and everything, Hisoka."
These people who could not keep up were only a little stronger than ordinary people. Aside from giving Hyuga Akira a little experience, they were completely useless.
A sickly smile appeared on Hisoka's face. "I'm much more interested in you than those rotten apples."
As he spoke, a playing card appeared in his hand. Hyuga Akira narrowed his eyes and immediately activated his Byakugan, seeing the energy wrapped around the card.
Why had this guy set his sights on me?
Hisoka threw the playing card straight at Hyuga Akira. Hyuga Akira raised his hand and hurled several shuriken, colliding with the card.
The sound of the playing card striking the shuriken drew the attention of the bald Hanzo within the group. He turned and saw the playing card fall to the ground.
"A ninja?"
There was actually another ninja in this Hunter Exam.
At the back of the group, Hisoka watched Hyuga Akira with interest.
There was no Nen on the shuriken, but the force imparted to them far exceeded that of an ordinary person. Yet some kind of blue energy had appeared on his opponent's body.
It looked very similar to Nen, but Hisoka sensed a fundamental difference.
An ability completely different from Nen?
Hisoka's smile grew wider.
"What exactly are you trying to do?" Hyuga Akira watched Hisoka warily. His Byakugan could see the power enveloping him, the power known as Nen Ability.
"Just a little test." Hisoka blinked. He really wanted to eat the apple before him now, but it was not time yet.
He gave up on Hyuga Akira for the moment and strode ahead instead.
Hyuga Akira narrowed his eyes and saw that quite a few people in the crowd had been drawn by the commotion between him and Hisoka.
The bald Hanzo, and Illumi, Killua's older brother, who was covered in needles.
"Now I've got trouble on my hands." Hyuga Akira looked annoyed.
By his own estimate, his strength in the Hunter World was only about equal to that of experienced Hunters.
He was not yet at the level of a master.
After the long tunnel, quite a few people had been eliminated because they could not keep up with the group.
The group slowly came to a halt as well.
Beyond the tunnel lay a forest shrouded in mist.
"Swindlers' Swamp, commonly known as the nest of swindlers."
Chapter 67: The Hunter Exam is underway
"This is the only route to the second exam site."
Amid the cawing of crows, the examiner's voice slowly rang out.
"This wetland is home to many rare birds and beasts found nowhere else. Most of them primarily feed on human flesh..."
The gate behind them slowly closed. Quite a few people who had collapsed from exhaustion watched helplessly as it shut, also marking their failure in the exam.
"Once you fall into a trap, death is the only outcome. Please be sure to stay close to me."
Quite a few people questioned this. If they knew perfectly well that something was a trap, how could they willingly walk into it?
Just as everyone was puzzling over this, a voice suddenly rang out.
"He's lying! That guy is lying." A man carrying a sack emerged from behind the nearby wall. There was also an unconscious person inside the sack.
"That guy is impersonating me! He's not the examiner. I'm the real Hunter Exam examiner."
Everyone looked between the two in uncertainty. For a moment, many could not tell which was genuine.
While everyone was still uncertain, two shuriken flew out. A shuriken pierced straight through the newly arrived man's forehead.
[Experience 34]
The examiner tilted his head slightly to dodge the shuriken. The flying shuriken struck the distant ground, gouging out a large crater.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" The shirtless Leorio glared furiously at Hyuga Akira. "At least listen to his evidence!"
Hyuga Akira shrugged and said, "If he's an examiner, he must be reasonably strong. How could he fail to dodge even my shuriken? Also, please hurry up. I don't want to waste time here."
Everyone turned their eyes to the examiner.
The examiner glanced at the crater in the ground. Wasn't that a little too much power for a shuriken?
"Although there was a reason for what you did, next time I will disqualify you."
He strongly suspected that this applicant was not here to test him, but to kill him.
Hyuga Akira waved dismissively. "Just hurry up and lead the way."
He had no interest in standing here listening to their questions and doubts.
Beside him, Hisoka kept shifting playing cards in his hand. "Someone beat me to it."
The examiner continued running forward. This time, Hyuga Akira changed his strategy and followed closely behind him.
The group began moving once more.
Hyuga Akira glanced behind him and saw quite a few people vanish into the mist, including members of the main cast. Hisoka had also deliberately slowed down, disappearing from the crowd of his own accord to play some examiner game.
The group kept moving. This stretch took less time than the tunnel, but the level of danger was nothing like what they had faced inside it.
By the time they reached their destination, they had already lost more than half their number.
The main cast came running out of the thick fog under Hisoka's lead.
The examiner fired a shot into the sky, drawing everyone's attention.
"Congratulations. Everyone here has passed the first round of the Hunter Exam. I hope you can all pass the second test smoothly as well. Let me wish you good luck in advance."
Having finished speaking, the first-round examiner turned and left.
The gate behind everyone slowly opened, revealing two figures inside, one fat and one thin.
The second round involved cooking. Although many people had objections, the exam continued at the examiners' insistence.
The dish chosen by the tall, fat man was simple: roast suckling pig.
However, the wild boars needed as ingredients were not easy to hunt.
Hyuga Akira struck a wild boar with his palm, sending it flying. It landed on the ground and passed out.
[Experience 45]
"Even a wild boar gives more experience than an ordinary person." Hyuga Akira glanced over and saw that nothing had dropped from the boar.
After roasting the boars, they delivered them to the fat examiner, who ate them directly.
His stomach was like a bottomless pit. He ate everyone's roast boars and passed them all.
But once the female examiner took over, things became troublesome.
The task was to make sushi, but no one could satisfy the female examiner. Hyuga Akira simply gave up, with no intention of making anything.
In the end, everyone failed. Only after Netero, the chairman of the Hunter Association, intervened did the exam restart with the task of obtaining a certain hard-to-get ingredient.
The female examiner led everyone to a canyon.
Hisoka walked up beside Hyuga Akira and asked with interest, "You seem to have known beforehand that things would turn out this way."
Illumi, covered in needles, also walked over to the two of them.
"What business is it of yours?" He watched the female examiner demonstrate how to retrieve Spider Eggs from the canyon.
Once she finished her demonstration, he went straight into the canyon, hanging sideways on the cliff as he walked down.
"That guy can walk on cliffs!" Gon watched in amazement as Hyuga Akira walked along the cliff as though on level ground, easily reaching the spider threads to collect Spider Eggs.
"That's cheating, isn't it?" someone could not help exclaiming as they watched Hyuga Akira in astonishment.
"Ho ho." Netero, the chairman of the Hunter Association, also watched Hyuga Akira with great interest. Using Gyo to concentrate Nen in his eyes, he saw the chakra wrapped around Hyuga Akira's feet.
Before you continue