The Sound Ninja Squad

Inside the Medical Room.

Liumu closed the door, turned to look at Suiguang on the hospital bed, and smiled helplessly.

Looking back on the time they had known one another, Suiguang had always presented a cautious front.

But who could have imagined that she would use such a mutually destructive method to win this match?

"Silly girl, a loss is a loss. It's not as though you won't have another chance."

Liumu frowned at Suiguang's exposed skin. Her dust-covered body was riddled with bloody holes.

Her mangled left arm was especially bad. The poison had already begun spreading along her chakra pathways toward her heart.

Seeing this, Liumu had no time to think. He placed both hands directly on Suiguang's chest and abdomen, gradually merging the Samadhi Divine Fire into threads and sending them into her chakra pathways.

The Kikaichū relied on Guang's chakra to move. As long as he could cut off that chakra, or even absorb it, Suiguang would be out of danger for the time being.

As for the insects lodged inside her, they could only wait until Guang woke up and have her remove them.

Controlling the Samadhi Divine Fire left Liumu drenched in sweat in mere moments.

A trace of fatigue showed through his pained expression.

Closing his eyes to sense the state of Suiguang's body, Liumu only then discovered that her condition was even worse than he had anticipated.

The toxins released by the Kikaichū had already invaded the vessels around Suiguang's heart. Moreover, the two Explosive Tags used during the match had inflicted severe internal injuries on her.

Worried that Suiguang could not withstand the Samadhi Divine Fire, Liumu could only exercise the utmost control over the divine fire, keeping it away from her vital areas as much as possible.

"Right here!"

Under Liumu's control, the divine fire threaded its way through and finally locked onto every Kikaichū. However, just as he was about to absorb the chakra Guang had left on them, the Template System, which had remained silent in his mind for so long, suddenly stirred.

Ding. Toxins detected invading the host. Would you like to detoxify immediately?

Liumu: ???

Poisoned?

Liumu glanced dazedly at his hands. There were no signs of poisoning.

"Could it be..."

The Samadhi Divine Fire left behind by Taotie had long since become one with Liumu. Now that he had sent the divine fire into Suiguang's body, the system had mistakenly assumed that Liumu himself had been poisoned.

"If that really is the case..."

After a moment's thought, Liumu immediately had the system activate the Detoxification Program.

"Hmm..."

As soon as the system received Liumu's consent, a clear humming sound rang out in his mind.

Liumu felt as though a torrent had suddenly surged through his body, flowing through his palms and entirely into Suiguang.

"Ugh..."

Just then, Suiguang suddenly murmured on the hospital bed, and her pained expression eased slightly.

As Liumu controlled the divine fire to absorb the Kikaichū's chakra, the black pathways stained by poison on Suiguang's body gradually returned to normal, as though a river were flowing backward.

"Kakashi of Konoha wins this match."

In the arena, Kakashi put the short blade in his hand away behind his back and slowly stepped down from the platform.

"He's strong."

The white-haired girl from Kirigakure looked at Kakashi's retreating figure, then shifted her gaze to the Land of Crafts ninja he had defeated in the match.

The third ninja from the Land of Crafts had used a pair of Diamond Knuckle Dusters. Not only could they absorb ninjutsu, they could even release the absorbed ninjutsu again.

After testing his opponent's abilities during the match, Kakashi had chosen close combat with his short blade, just as Yugito Nii had earlier.

By repeatedly confusing his opponent with the Substitution Technique and Clone Technique, he had ultimately defeated him without incident.

"It seems we'll have to keep an eye on the Land of Crafts after this exam."

In the shadows of the venue, a yellow-haired figure concealed his appearance as he spoke to a petite girl beside him.

"This matter... leave the investigation to me."

At that moment, another hoarse, sinister voice spoke up, an icy air emanating from a pair of reddish-yellow slit pupils.

Although the Land of Crafts' ninja were not as outstanding as those of other ninja villages, the Ninja Tools they made had certainly displayed astonishing abilities during this exam.

"I think it's not just us this time. They've probably piqued every village's interest."

The yellow-haired girl smiled as she swept her gaze over the villages' Jonin present, then turned to the two beside her. "You two keep watching here. I'll go check on those two children who were carried away just now."

"Huff, huff, huff..."

An unknown amount of time passed. Liumu looked at Suiguang on the hospital bed, her complexion already back to normal, and panted heavily.

He had not expected controlling the divine fire to be so mentally exhausting.

"A smoke afterward beats being an immortal. If only I had a cigarette right now."

Muttering to himself, Liumu gave a self-mocking smile and slumped straight onto a stool nearby.

The Template System had now completely cleared the toxins from Suiguang's body. As for the Kikaichū deprived of their chakra supply and her other injuries, he could leave those to Guang once she woke up and Kumogakure's medical ninja.

With a sharp clang, someone suddenly opened the Medical Room door.

Looking bewildered, Liumu stared at the yellow-haired girl now standing before him, wearing a Sound Ninja Forehead Protector...

"You... you're... Tsunade!"

Tsunade now looked entirely like a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old child, her face full of playfulness and a Sound Ninja Forehead Protector on her forehead.

"You're that student of Jiraiya's, aren't you?"

Tsunade showed no surprise when Liumu saw through her identity.

She moved over to the hospital bed, looked at Suiguang's condition, and immediately sent a glow of chakra rippling around her hands as she began examining her body.

A moment later, Tsunade withdrew her hands and gave Liumu a meaningful look.

"Did you do this?" she demanded.

Hearing her, Liumu understood what Tsunade meant. After some thought, he finally chose to nod.

Seeing Liumu admit it, Tsunade smiled. Her hands rapidly formed Hand Seals, and a puff of white mist suddenly appeared between them. Immediately afterward, a small Katsuyu appeared at their feet.

"Go back to the exam grounds. You can leave the rest to her."

"What about you? Why did you come here?"

Liumu asked with a frown.

The Sound Ninja Squad Liumu had been searching for a few days earlier had actually been three Konoha Ninja in disguise: Tsunade, Orochimaru, and someone very likely to be Minato.

"Didn't Jiraiya ever teach you not to ask questions you shouldn't?"

Liumu: ???

Tsunade said with a cold smile, "What you see isn't necessarily the truth. Under special circumstances like these, many things are far more serious than we imagine."

Disguising themselves as Sound Ninja, and even using the Transformation Technique to enter Kumogakure-Liumu truly could not imagine what the three of them had come to do.