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The next day, at seven in the morning.
Ryūsei had already completed his daily morning training and was now showering in the bathroom.
Meanwhile, his shadow clone was preparing breakfast.
By the time the shadow clone finished cooking, brought out the meal, and dispelled itself in a puff of white smoke, Ryūsei had just stepped out of the bathroom.
After breakfast, Ryūsei went to his room to change.
He put on a white undershirt, a black trench coat, black shinobi pants, and shinobi shoes.
Once he secured his weapon pouch and forehead protector, he returned to the bathroom to put in his red-colored contact lenses.
Fully dressed, Ryūsei left his house and headed toward the training grounds.
It was only 7:25 a.m.
When he arrived at the training grounds, he realized he was the last one to show up.
"Morning, Hinata, Shino."
"G-Good morning, Ryūsei-kun."
Ryūsei raised a hand in greeting.
Hinata responded immediately, still addressing him with respectful honorifics.
Meanwhile, Shino, who was leaning against a wooden post with his hands in his pockets, gave a slight nod. "Morning."
Ryūsei didn't mind Shino's attitude.
Others might assume Shino was just trying to act cool, but as a transmigrator, Ryūsei knew the truth—Shino was simply bad with words and a bit of a closet romantic.
Deep down, he yearned for friendship and recognition.
In Boruto, once his personality seal was broken, he completely abandoned his original aloof demeanor.
With one teammate being shy and the other socially awkward, Ryūsei wasn't sure what to talk about with them.
If Shino hadn't been there, Ryūsei might have teased Hinata a little.
But with someone who could sense things through insects nearby, any attempt to flirt would not only reduce the extremely bashful girl into a steaming, fainting mess but would also ensure that Shino recorded every bit of his embarrassing behavior for posterity.
So, Ryūsei simply leaned against a wooden post, closed his eyes, and waited for Kurenai to arrive.
Time passed minute by minute, and soon, it was eight in the morning.
Whoosh—
Kurenai was not late.
The moment the clock struck eight, she appeared before the three of them in a shunshin.
Had Ryūsei and his teammates been wearing watches, they might have suspected that Kurenai had been waiting nearby the whole time, given how perfectly she timed her arrival.
"It seems you're all ready. Let's begin."
Seeing the three of them standing at attention, Kurenai took out three bells from her weapon pouch and jingled them in front of them with a smile.
"Your mission is simple—find a way to take these three bells from me."
After saying this, she tied the bells to her waist and declared, "Then… begin!"
Whoosh—
Almost the instant Kurenai finished speaking, the three of them vanished in a blur of movement.
Kurenai stood with one hand on her hip, unmoving.
She didn't use shunshin to pursue them, nor did she employ any sensory techniques to locate them.
Instead, she remained in place like a target, waiting to see how they would approach the challenge.
Unlike Kakashi's test—which involved only two bells and a strict time limit—Kurenai's trial for Team 8 was by far the easiest among all the jōnin instructors.
Perhaps… this was the gentleness of a woman.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Seeing that Kurenai wasn't making any moves and seemed content to let them attack freely, someone in Team 8 quickly lost patience.
Three kunai shot out from the dense foliage of a tree, cutting through the air with sharp whistles as they flew straight toward Kurenai's head.
All three kunai were aimed precisely at her skull—proof of the thrower's exceptional accuracy.
Facing this attack, Kurenai didn't dodge.
Instead, she allowed the kunai to pierce her head.
Thunk—poof!
The moment the blades struck, her body dissolved into a puff of white smoke.
When the smoke cleared, only a log impaled by three kunai remained on the ground.
Kurenai's real form then stepped out from behind another wooden post.
Substitution Jutsu!
Her actions seemed to signal to Team 8 that she wouldn't go all out—she would suppress her strength to properly test them.
Then, three small black spheres flew out from another tree.
The thrower's skill was equally impressive—each sphere landed precisely in front of Kurenai and to her left and right.
With several poofs, white smoke erupted, quickly engulfing her.
"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"
The instant the smoke swallowed Kurenai, a girl's voice rang out.
Hinata appeared in a shunshin and thrust her palm forward, sending a distorted wave of compressed air shooting toward the smoke.
The shockwave tore through the mist, dispersing it instantly—only to reveal Kurenai's figure, already warping like a desert mirage before fading into transparency.
As her image vanished, a dark silhouette suddenly materialized behind Hinata.
Since she hadn't activated her Byakugan, she didn't seem to notice the shadowy figure.
Just as it was about to strike—
Poof!
Hinata's body burst into white smoke and disappeared.
Seeing this, Kurenai—who had once again emerged from behind a post—blinked in surprise.
"A shadow clone?!"
Much like how Sasuke's Great Fireball Jutsu had shocked Kakashi in the original timeline, seeing Hinata use the Shadow Clone Jutsu at her age left Kurenai pleasantly stunned.
It meant Hinata's chakra reserves far exceeded the standard for someone her age.
But the surprises didn't end there.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"
A voice called out from behind, and an enormous surge of water erupted, forming a towering wave nearly six meters high that came crashing down toward Kurenai.
Glancing back at the oncoming deluge, Kurenai's eyes widened in shock before she finally resorted to shunshin to evade.
BOOM!
The massive wave slammed into the ground with a deafening impact.
Before the water could fully drain into the earth, two figures sprinted across its surface, charging straight toward Kurenai, who had reappeared in another clearing.
Both figures were identical—Ryūsei and his shadow clone.
Watching them close in, Kurenai's expression remained stunned.
"To produce such a powerful water jutsu in a dry environment… With this much chakra, is he really just a genin?"
But with Ryūsei and his clone rapidly approaching, she didn't have time to dwell on his secrets.
Instinctively drawing a kunai from her pouch, she prepared to test Ryūsei's close-combat skills.
However, the next moment, her pupils contracted in disbelief once more.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"
One of the charging Ryūseis suddenly leaped back, forming hand seals midair before spewing another colossal wave of water from his mouth.
But this time, the target wasn't Kurenai—it was the other Ryūsei still rushing forward.
The advancing Ryūsei raised his right hand toward the sky, palm open, as if intending to catch the crashing wave.