Ninja Academy, Room 201
“Hey~”
Link walked into the , spotting Kankuro lounging in the back with his chair against the wall, Temari sitting casually with her legs propped on a desk, and Gaara sitting upright in the front row. He raised a hand and greeted them.
"Yo."
"Hi~" Temari lowered her legs and stood up, waving with a cheerful smile.
Gaara’s expression shifted slightly, though no killing i emanated from him this time. Instead, his eyes carried a curious gaze.
Kankuro, upon seeing Link, immediately tensed up.
This guy was way to. In the in Exams, he had defeated Gaara like it was nothing, and during the Konoha Crush, he had instantly ralized both him and Temari.
All his puppetry teiques had been rendered useless. He hadn’t even seen Link move before being shrunk to the size of an infant. That sense of helplessness was a nightmare he never wao relive.
He used to fear Gaara the most, but now, Lihat dubious honor.
Is he here to cause trouble because we’re in this ? If so, Kankuro could only hope he was fast enough to escape.
I really should’ve spent more time training taijutsu, he thought as he cautiously edged toward the back door.
"Hey, kid in the back," Link said, his voice cutting through the air.
Kankuro’s annoyance fred. You’re youhan me by years! Who are you calling ‘kid’?
Suppressing his irritation, he forced a smile. "What’s up?"
"Where are you sneaking off to? If it’s the restroom, wait until I’m doalking." Link shot him a gnce before tinuing, "I’m your new supervising joni me at Training Ground Seven in thirty minutes."
"Huh?!" x2
Kankuro froze in disbelief. He had been pting escape, and now this guy was going to be his instructor? They’d be spending every day together?!
I’m doomed.
Meanwhile, Temari’s thoughts drifted back to Ebizō’s advice, though she couldn’t help but internally pin: What’s the deal with making some kid our supervising jonin?
While she aowledged Link’s strength and would follow orders, the idea of calling a ten-year-old "sensei" felt... wrong. She crossed her arms and watched him leave the room, her puffed-out cheeks betraying her frustration.
Supervising jonin...
Gaara’s expression turo one of fusion. A jonin his size and youhan him?
…
Training Ground Seven – Thirty Minutes Later
"Alright, as your supervising jonin, I’m giving you a simple test," Link said, fag the three Sunagakure shinobi. He produced two small bells from his pouch.
"Your task is to use any means necessary to take these bells from me."
This feels amazing, Link thought, grinning inwardly. Being on the receiving end of such tests had been dreadful; administering one, however, was delightful.
"Any attack?" Temari asked, gripping her fan eagerly.
"Yes, any attack," Link replied, his smile widening.
Kankuro raised his hand. "As this is a test, you won’t attack us, right?"
"I’ll stand here without moving," Link promised, the grin on his face growing even brighter.
"In that case, I won’t hold back," Kankuro said, crag his knuckles and preparing to strike.
But Gaara interjected, "The test has already begun, hasn’t it?" His cautious gaze fell on the tless shadows stretg across the ground.
"Correct," Link firmed, tying the bells to his waist. "The moment I mentiohe test, it began."
Oh no...
Kankuro followed Gaara’s gaze, notig the spreading shadows. His scalp tingled as his mind raced. He trol this many shadows at once?!
Temari’s smile became strained. If each shadow was as strong as Link in taijutsu, how were three ninjutsu specialists supposed to ter them?
The shadows began rising from two-dimensional forms into three-dimensional figures. Temari’s brief relief—thinking they wouldn’t copy her teiques—quickly turo horror when she realized they were exact replicas of Link.
Oh no, not relief—terror.
"Sand Shield!"
Gaara immediately encased himself in a protective sphere of sand, leaving a Sao monitor the advang shadows.
"Uh, maybe we —" Temari began, but her hesitant words were cut off as the shadows moved.
Too fast! Kankuro thought as multiple feet simultaneously ected with his body, knog the air out of him.
"Pfft—" He coughed violently, realizing that all his puppetry tactid poison strategies had bee useless.
Temari fared even worse. Her powerful, seal-free wind teiques were no match for the relentless onsught. Despite her attempts to fight back, she was overwhelmed by a coordinated assault. Knocked into the air, she was swiftly sent crashing back down, uo muster any further resistance.
It reminded her of her fight with Narut the in Exams, but Link’s shadow es were far more durable and precise than Naruto’s chaotic attacks.
As faara, his Sand Shield shattered almost instantly uhe shadows’ relentless assault. His defenses could only momentarily slow the barrage of punches and kicks. Within seds, the seemingly untouchable jinchūriki was helplessly suspended mid-air, pummeled from all dires.
It was a brutal and one-sided defeat.
Link watched with a cheerful smile as his shadows returo him after about a miaking his time, he walked over to his battered eam.
Shadows are a god-tier teique for bullying the weak, Link thought. With dozens of es at his disposal, evee jonin specializing in ninjutsu would struggle without a strong terattack.
In rge numbers, his shadows could overwhelm nearly anyone who cked suffit power to instantly obliterate them. And as they ied his physical prowess, they could handle most threats.
I’m practically invincible now! Link mused, reveling in his own infted sense of strength.
Bleam
