56 Asuma's Test (5)

In a flash, Asuma deflected Shinji's wakizashi with his trench knife and landed a powerful punch right at the genin's sternum before Shinji could even react. The Rookie of the Year was sent flying away.

He then swung back and sent a flying kick at Hinata who had crossed the distance with surprising speed and stealth, attempting to send a spike of chakra through his heart with her Jyuuken. The kick soared through her open guard and landed on her side. Similar to Shinji, the Hyuuga heiress was sent flying away from the force of the kick.

Finally, Shino who had been coordinating the movements of his kikaichuu swarm also found himself being cracked in the gut with a fist from Asuma before his collar was grabbed and his body thrown away forcefully.

Where there had been a busy fight between three genins and one jounin just moments before, now remained a single elite jounin triumphant.

Shinji had not yet yielded, however. Even without the aid of his teammates, he had yet to sustain enough damage or depletion of chakra to just roll over and surrender. He had fought in more desperate straits than this before, so a mere bruise or two did nothing to curb his fighting spirit. Furthermore… he was enjoying this.

Seeing that the field was now devoid of his teammates, he could finally pull out his ninjutsu which had been previously hindered by the presence of the other genins or kikaichuu.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Shinji unleashed a torrential wave of fire at the jounin who looked at the approaching stream of flames unfazed.

"You want to compare fire with me? Hahaha!" Asuma laughed before speeding through his own set of handseals, "Katon: Goryuuka no Jutsu!"

An even bigger, thicker and hotter flood of fire burst out of the jounin's mouth before quickly forming a dragon-headed fireball that clashed in an impressive display of explosions that would make a pyromaniac drool.

The fire-dragon tore through Shinji's own fire jutsu with ease, and crashed into where Shinji had been standing. Asuma wasn't worried, however. He had already sensed Shinji moving away the moment he fired off the jutsu.

Sparks flew as Asuma's trench knife met Shinji's wakizashi. The genin had used [Flash Step] consecutively to move around the now burning field of fire and attempted a sneak attack.

The two of them exchanged blades, faster than what the other two genin who had been watching could perceive.

Shino watched them contemplatively, only now realizing the extent of the difference between himself and the Rookie of the Year. He might not look like the type, but he too held certain ambitions and goals. One of them being surpassing Shinji. It was partly demoralizing, but at the same time inspiring. If an orphan his age could reach such a level, what could Shino achieve with the full support and backing of an entire clan?

Hinata's Byakuugan eyes remained activated as she watched the fight.

'Shinji-kun… so thick…' She mused to herself under the x-ray vision of her doujutsu. This was not the first time she had observed Shinji with her Byakuugan. And it never ceased to amaze her the difference between Shinji and everyone else in her class. His chakra pathways were thicker and denser than nearly everyone their age, with the only exception being Naruto. And they grew more and more bulbous with every passing day it seemed.

Hinata had to force down her blush while admiring the boy's chakra pathway system. His biology was… odd. It wasn't something anyone else would notice unless they had been observing Shinji daily like she did. A person's chakra pathways didn't grow like he did. Not to say that they could not be developed by the average shinobi. They could, with years of training, conditioning and straining their chakra system, augment their chakra pathways.

However, Shinji's chakra pathways would grow to become thicker and his chakra denser even when he was just reading a book at the library. It was a sudden occurrence that had no business happening to a person who was leisurely reading, yet it did. There was no obvious change, the alteration being subtle enough to convince even the most astute Hyuuga that they had been mistaken if they only saw it happening once.

Hinata saw it happen dozens of times throughout her four years in the Shinobi Academy.

Even puberty could not explain the phenomena. If it had been a pressing, medical issue, she might have raised a concern to their chuunin instructors or even to the boy in question. But upon doing some research into her clan's medical texts, she understood that it wasn't something that would threaten his wellbeing. Thus Hinata didn't question the boy nor reveal this secret to anyone.

Just like she wouldn't ever tell anyone about Shinji's eyes. The red eyes of the Uchiha. The Sharingan. Hinata had seen them being used regularly when Shinji trained with the Sasuke. For some reason, he wanted it kept a secret. She didn't understand his reasoning behind it, but complied with his decision, regardless if he knew about her knowledge or not.

Not that she would even let him know that she knew in the first place. What was she going to say, 'hey Shinji-kun, I saw you use the Sharingan when I was watching you from afar with my Byakuugan'? She would look like a total crazy psycho stalker. Thus, she was content with simply watching from a distance. The knowledge that only she knew his little secret was thrilling, and Hinata was determined to keep it that way. Oh, her and Sasuke of course but he didn't count.

'One day, you will trust me enough to tell me your secret yourself. And then we will…' Hinata fantasized, her eyes glazed over and cheeks reddening in her daydreams.

Back to the genin and jounin showdown, it was quickly reaching its climax. The fight wasn't particularly brutal, but Shinji looked to be exhausted. This whole time, Asuma wasn't fighting back with the intention of ending the bout. Rather, Shinji had quickly realized the jounin was actually teaching him. Not through words of instruction, but through guiding his movements.

Asuma pointed out the holes in his technique by exploiting them, rewarded his carefully planned attacks by letting them connect, albeit blocked, and corrected his movements by landing quick kicks to an overextended leg or two.

Shinji was learning how to fight without the Sharingan. Not that Asuma knew that was the outcome of his guidance. To the jounin, he was only developing the genin's combat experience and fighting sense. Of course, he would not be able to pick up in just a day or even two. But this method of tutelage seemed promising to Shinji.

Because the genin was constantly having to correct his movements while simultaneously analyzing Asuma in order to gain an upper hand in their exchange, it was a mentally exhausting endeavour. Even with his new INT perk, it proved to require a herculean effort to focus and adapt at the same time, which explained the mental fatigue that was quickly accumulating.

"Not yet, not yet, not yet!" Shinji proclaimed, doubling his efforts in taking down what he perceived as a stimulating challenge. He felt as though every cognitive muscle in his mind was firing on all cylinders, and for a moment, he fell into what he could only describe as 'the zone'.

For a single instant, Shinji felt like the world stood still as he became perfectly aware of every minutiae, every detail, every subtle signs down to the tiniest micro-movements in Asuma's muscles. It was not a novel experience; it was something he had felt before fighting against the Hidden Boss in the Rank F dungeon. A feeling of transcending his biological and mental limits and awakening the killer instinct buried deep down in every person that had laid dormant ever since the advent of humanity as a civilized society.

It was the instincts of an apex predator.

Shinji's movements blurred, pushing his [Chakra Enhancement] to the limits and with one swift strike cut into Asuma's flesh. A long but shallow gash opened up along the jounin's thigh and Shinji;s wakizashi might have opened up another one, this time somewhere much more fatal, before a sense of urgency and self-preservation overtook Asuma's rationality.

The genin exploded backwards from a full powered punch launched by the jounin, crashing right into Shinji's face. The boy's face sunk in, his skin folding inwards from the force of the blow, while a stream of blood from Shinji's nose followed after the genin as he flew back. Asuma's trench knife that was still on his hands acted like a knuckle duster that amplified the concussive force of his fist.

Shinji fell back to the ground, rolling like a rag doll before the momentum died and inertia made way for motionlessness.

Asuma panicked, rushing to the side of his genin and fearing for the boy's life. The force of that punch was enough to punch through the torso of a regular civilian, or if aimed at the head, turn the insides of the cranium into scrambled jelly.

"SHINJI!!!!" Hinata screamed, dashing towards the boy while Shino followed after – quietly but no less concerned. Even they could see the might behind that punch, what with the sound of the impact and the speed at which Shinji flew through the air limply.

Before they had arrived by his side, Shinji, still awake, took a moment to look at the sky above him and the clouds drifting by. He couldn't help the smile that graced his battered face, 'That was… so fucking fun.'

To their combined relief, the boy was still conscious and smiling even, albeit his face and nose looked crumpled up from the power of an all-out, no holds barred, 'I'm about to die' punch empowered with butt loads of chakra from an elite jounin specializing in close quarters combat.

"Damn it, my bad, Shinji. My body moved before I even knew what I was doing, I didn't mean to attack you so heavily." Asuma apologized, getting down on one knee and examining the extent of his student's injury.

Hinata burst into tears, repeatedly muttering, "I'm so glad you're okay", while wiping away her tears.

Shinji sat up, looking around at the people by him, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry about it, Asuma-sensei. I left you with no choice, I know."

Asuma reached down and pulled Shinji up to his feet, "We need to get you to the hospital."

The Rookie of the Year shrugged off his concern, "It's alright, I can treat myself." Raising a hand over his face, he first cast a diagnostic jutsu to assess the seriousness of his injury. Although the system showed no debilitating status effects, it was better to be safe than sorry.

From what he could see however, that previous punch just took a chunk out of his HP and that was it. Thankfully, his enhanced durability from his high VIT stat, the protection [Chakra Enhancement] provided, as well as his numerous passive skills that reduced damage taken absorbed much of the impact.

The jounin watched what proved to be his most promising and talented genin infusing green medical chakra into his injury with some disbelief. He had heard of Shinji's proficiency in medical ninjutsu, but to see it action right after that excellent display of the genin's combat skills… it was humbling to say the least. Asuma chuckled at the memory of how he himself was like when he was Shinji's age.

"You're one crazy kid, you know that?" The jounin commented.

Shinji smiled at the statement, knowing it be a praise rather than a critique, "Yeah well, how else were we going to succeed in the test?"

Asuma raised an eyebrow, "I already told you. You guys already passed the test as far as I was concerned."

The genin shook his head, "I couldn't accept that. Which was why I had to get this."

Shinji held up his other hand before opening the clenched fist, revealing the red silk Omamori charm that was the objective of their test in the first place.

Asuma looked down at where he had fastened the charm only to find it missing. He turned back to Shinji's victorious smirk, eyes widening as he realized, "That last exchange…"

The genin nodded, "Yep. The sword was misdirection. My real goal was the amulet."

The jounin paused for a moment, before bursting into laughter, "You were crazier than I thought, kid. You pass! All of you pass! HA HA HA!"

[Quest [Asuma's Test] Completed!]

Successfully pass the real graduation test!

Accomplish the task given by Asuma (√)

(Bonus) Complete within 1 hour (X)

(Bonus) Complete within 3 hours (√)

(Hidden) Force Asuma to not hold back (√)

(Hidden) Work together with team (√)

[Rewards:]

+10000 EXP

New Title: [Asuma's Disciple]

(Bonus) +5 Points

(Hidden) New Perk: [Natural Wind Affinity]

(Hidden) New Perk: [Teamwork Makes the Dream Work]

(Bonus) New Title: [Are You Cheating?] (X)

[You have levelled up!]

[Natural Wind Affinity]: You have acquired an affinity towards wind nature chakra.

-50% CP cost to all wind-related skills

+100% EXP gain to all wind-related skills

+100% effectiveness of all wind-related skills

+100% CP cost to all fire-related skills (Penalty negated by [Natural Fire Affinity])

-100% EXP gain to all fire-related skills (Penalty negated by [Natural Fire Affinity])

[Asuma's Disciple]: +30% EXP gain to all skills and stat growth when being taught by Sarutobi Asuma

[Teamwork Makes the Dream Work] +10% to all stats when working with Team Ten