Hideki quickly recovered from the initial shock and formed a hand seal. "Kai!"
For a brief moment, he closed his eyes and focused on interrupting the flow of his chakra. However, when he opened them again, the scene around him remained exactly the same, nothing had changed.
He frowned and turned to Dazen and Ayume. "Just as I suspected…" he said in a grave tone. "This isn't an ordinary genjutsu. I tried breaking it by disrupting my chakra, but it had no effect."
Dazen nodded slowly, his eyes scanning every detail around them. "If I had to guess, I'd say we're dealing with a complex combination of fuuinjutsu and genjutsu."
Ayume's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Fuuinjutsu and genjutsu...? Is that even possible? I've never heard of anything like that!"
Dazen didn't answer immediately. He remained still, eyes narrowed and focused, as if trying to decipher an invisible formula floating in the air around him.
'So it really is possible to use fuuinjutsu this way... Just as I thought. The anime never really explored the full potential of these sealing techniques, just scratched the surface. But now, seeing it with my own eyes... it seems some of my theories might actually work.'
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips, subtle but noticeable.
Noticing the change in his expression, Ayume tilted her head slightly and asked, "Did you figure something out, Dazen?"
He turned to her and replied, "Not exactly. I just got a little excited… This exam seems like it'll be more challenging than I thought."
Ayume gave a small, understanding smile. "Yeah, but we can't let ourselves get distracted. The examiner said we only have two hours to find the correct room and complete the test."
At that moment, Hideki silently crouched down, placing two fingers against the floor. His eyes closed briefly, and Dazen could feel a subtle pulse of chakra being released from the point of contact, a scanning technique, subtle yet well-executed.
A few seconds passed before Hideki opened his eyes and spoke, frowning. "This is really impressive… Even with my detection technique, I can't pick up any anomalies. The examiner's chakra signature has completely vanished… even his scent is gone from the area. It's like he was never here."
Dazen was silent for a few seconds, reflecting on everything they knew so far. Then, with a serious expression, he said:
"To create an illusion this stable and far-reaching… there would need to be several seals spread out in key points throughout the building. They act like pillars to sustain the genjutsu and keep the environment trapped in the illusion. If we manage to locate one of these seals and disrupt it, even briefly, the structure might partially collapse. That should be enough to reveal the location of the real room."
Hideki nodded silently, already envisioning the strategy.
Dazen then crouched down, mimicking Hideki's previous gesture. He placed two fingers on the floor and focused. "Even when hidden, this kind of seal has to emit a minimal chakra signature to function," he said softly, almost to himself. "The output is faint, almost imperceptible, but still there."
He raised his eyes to his teammates. "Hideki and I will search in different directions for these chakra signatures. Ayume, I need you to stand guard. If anyone approaches or tries to distract us, stop them immediately."
Ayume responded promptly, "Understood. You can count on me."
Dazen and Hideki continued concentrating, scanning the area for the subtle chakra signal that might betray the seal's presence, and time passed slowly.
After a few minutes of silent searching, Hideki suddenly opened his eyes and broke the silence:
"I found something. It's close… very close."
Dazen broke his own concentration and opened his eyes as well. Upon hearing the news, he gave a faint smile, thinking to himself:
'Impressive... He's fast. When it comes to tracking, Hideki is far beyond my level.'
"Great work. Let's move toward the seal's location. But stay alert, if the examiners notice what we're doing, they might try to interfere."
Hideki and Ayume nodded subtly, and without further delay, the three of them began to move swiftly and cautiously through the illusion-warped hallways.
Before long, they arrived at the spot where Hideki had detected the chakra signature. It looked like an ordinary section of wall, with nothing visually unusual. But as Dazen approached, he reached out and touched the surface with his fingers, concentrating. For a moment, he felt a faint vibration under his skin, like the echo of a distant heartbeat.
"You were right, Hideki," he said with conviction. "There's a chakra pulse here. Faint, but steady. This is one of the seals sustaining the illusion."
Ayume stepped forward, examining the wall with suspicion. "Now what? How do we break the seal?"
Dazen frowned slightly, thinking carefully before responding with seriousness: "Breaking this seal completely would be hard… and time-consuming, considering our current level. And more importantly, this is just one of several scattered around the building. Even if we destroyed it, the others would remain active, just slightly weakened. To destabilize the whole technique, we'd need to neutralize at least a third of them… and that's beyond what we can do with the time we have."
Hideki crossed his arms, thoughtful. "So what do we do?"
Dazen looked back at the wall. "I'm not going to break it… I'm just going to disrupt the chakra flow, so Hideki can use that interval to locate the real room. The building isn't that big, you should have enough time before the seal stabilizes again."
Hideki nodded with confidence. "Got it."
Dazen placed his hand over the spot where the seal was. The wall still looked ordinary at first glance, but he knew that would soon change.
"Ready?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the seal.
"Yes," Hideki replied immediately, already crouching and preparing to scan the area with his sensory technique.
With a brief nod, Dazen focused and released an intense flow of chakra into the marked spot. The hidden seal, previously invisible, began to react. Subtle fuuinjutsu lines slowly revealed themselves on the wall's surface, like a web of silver ink spreading from his hand.
Down the corridor, Ayume remained alert. Her eyes scanned the surroundings with precision, looking for any signs of movement. That's when she noticed small distortions along the corridor's edges—almost imperceptible tremors on the walls and floor.
'It's working...' she thought, staying silent so as not to interfere.
Meanwhile, Hideki kept his fingers on the ground, eyes closed in concentration. He sent out short pulses of chakra like radar waves, trying to detect any distortion that might reveal the real room or the examiner's location. After just a few seconds, he opened his eyes.
"Got it. It's less than twenty meters from here, just around the left corner at the next hallway."
Dazen smiled slightly, satisfied with the result. The seal was already starting to resist the interference, requiring more effort to keep it unstable. But there was no need to push further.
He withdrew his hand from the wall, and the chakra flow ceased. The glowing lines began to fade, slowly concealing the seal once more.
"Good job," said Dazen. "Now let's finish this."