"Go! Nono!"
Hearing the shout from the thick-browed young man ahead, Baixing instantly realized something was wrong beneath his feet—the ground felt different from before.
A trap.
Crack.
The loose soil and green turf on the surface began to collapse inward. Losing his footing, the person above instinctively flailed, hands moving chaotically—unable to form hand seals.
In these few seconds, any attack would land without fail.
"Where will the attack come from… above? The side? Or—"
Boom boom boom—
Using Earth Release chakra to burrow underground, a perfectly concealed trap activated, releasing anesthetic gas hidden beneath the soil. The moment someone stepped on it, the gas would leak upward.
Just inhaling a tiny amount made Baixing's body go slightly numb. It was clearly that anesthetic smoke bomb sold at ninja tool shops—wrapped with sealing tags and special white cloth for smoke and poison dispersion, bundled into a spherical shape, much like a modern grenade.
"Success!"
Using the D-rank technique Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique, Yakushi Nono lurked less than ten meters away. She was already mentally popping champagne, imagining herself in white socks stepping mercilessly on Baixing-sensei's handsome face, mocking this trash-tier teacher for losing to his own student.
"That spot, huh?"
Baixing's ear twitched. He caught the faint movement coming from underground. He shifted his stance slightly and formed a hand seal with one hand.
"Substitution Technique."
Poof!
He swapped places perfectly with a substitution object. Watching from concealment, Uchiha Mikoto was utterly shocked.
One-handed seals?!
Wasn't this guy supposed to be the academy's dead last?!
If you're dead last, your ninjutsu should be garbage—right?!
The substitution log fell straight into Nono's wire trap. Under gravity's pull, the steel wires tightened, completely binding the wooden decoy.
Yakushi Nono immediately popped her head out of the ground, intending to confirm Baixing's state—then drag him out and humiliate him thoroughly.
But the instant her cute little head emerged from the soil, a shadow fell over the back of her head under the sunlight.
In that instant, cold sweat poured from her forehead. Her spine chilled.
Only two words echoed in her mind—
I'm dead.
"Ninja combat fundamentals—genjutsu."
"Wh—"
Smack!
Before she could finish, a sharp pain struck her neck. Darkness swallowed her vision.
"But your teacher isn't very good at it," Baixing said calmly, "so I'll just let you knock yourself out and have a dream."
"Now then—the final category. Ninjutsu."
Baixing turned directly toward the patch of grass where Uchiha Mikoto was hiding.
"Next, I'll let you see my ninjutsu."
Seeing this, Mikoto stopped hiding and stepped out, bits of green leaves clinging to her clothes.
"I won't lose to you in ninjutsu!" she said through clenched teeth.
"Good!"
A faint smile appeared on Baixing's face. His hands flew through seals. Before Mikoto could finish the six seals for Great Fireball, his technique was already complete.
Snake—Goat—Tiger!
"Fire Release: Fireball Technique!"
A fist-sized fireball shot forward at high speed. Mikoto had no choice but to roll aside. The fireball hissed as it struck the grass, igniting the vegetation.
Firelight flickered behind her, while confusion filled her face.
"D-rank ninjutsu… you bastard!"
She'd thought Baixing would use something powerful, but it was just a tiny fireball—no bigger than one of the flames from Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique! An outright insult to the word ninjutsu.
"Huh?! Where did he go?!"
"Water Release: Water Drop!"
Whoosh—
A tiny droplet of water, faster than the fireball, turned into a bullet and sliced across Mikoto's cheek.
Pain flared as a thin line of blood appeared.
"This is a D-rank Water Release I developed. Not bad, right?"
The black-haired youth appeared at her side, hands still holding the final Boar seal.
Might Duy—who had collapsed to the ground in exhaustion after opening three Gates—had seen the entire exchange clearly.
Baixing had first used a fast D-rank Fire Release to interrupt Mikoto's ninjutsu. In the instant she dodged, he repositioned at high speed to her flank. With heat still lingering behind her and her focus broken by the speed of his seals, Mikoto failed to notice her surroundings in time.
That gave Baixing enough time to mold Water Release chakra, condense it into a controllable droplet, and fire it—
A technique inspired by Water Release: Heavenly Weeping.
It took too long to prepare, lacked concealment, and could only be fired once.
Concealment (E-rank), activation speed (D-rank), power (E-rank). At best, it barely qualified as a D-rank technique.
"Liar."
"What?!"
"You big fat liar!"
Mikoto clutched the small cut on her cheek. Her eyes were red, on the verge of tears.
Didn't he say he wasn't good at ninjutsu?!
Then why was he casually developing new techniques?!
"With your strength, you're definitely not a genin!"
Baixing: "..."
He fell silent for a moment, then lowered his hands and took a deep breath.
"Becoming a chūnin is my dream," he said seriously.
"But normal performance doesn't count. I have to pass the village's chūnin exam to be a proper chūnin."
"?"
Mikoto's mouth twitched twice. The cut had already stopped bleeding, but her anger only grew.
"Then what does that make me?!"
"My student," Baixing said, waving his hand dismissively. "You failed the test, but now I know exactly what each of you needs to train."
He pointed at Mikoto.
"Your hand seal speed is too slow. From now on, focus on seals. Practice less with kunai—against strong enemies, steel wire tricks are child's play."
He was referring to the kunai-wire setup she'd used earlier.
"Against jōnin, those tactics might even be turned against you. Of course, if you meet someone deliberately holding back, then nin-taijutsu like Manipulated Shuriken Technique can still land."
"What idiot would deliberately get hit?" Mikoto pouted.
Baixing glanced at her. "You might see one someday."
"Eh? Someday?"
Cutting her off before she could ask more, Baixing walked over to Duy and helped him up.
"Forget that for now. Go carry the unconscious Nono to the shade under that tree. Then we'll continue."
"Okay~"
...
Yakushi Nono woke from a nightmare.
A very short nightmare.
She dreamed her teacher had tied her up, leaned close to her ear, and whispered:
"Little trash, time to wake up."
"Nono, wake up."
"Ah!!"
She jolted upright, face pale—then realized she'd been sleeping with her head on Baixing's leg. Her cheeks instantly turned red.
Baixing didn't care about that. He glanced at Uchiha Mikoto, who was practicing the Fire Release: Powered Shuriken he'd taught—deepening her Fire chakra nature transformation—then looked back at the two beside him.
"Next, I'll teach you both the key points of chakra control. Listen carefully."
Half an hour later—
Thanks to her Fire Release talent, Mikoto successfully drew a strand of Fire chakra onto a shuriken. She immediately ran over to show it off.
Baixing was slightly surprised, but outwardly remained calm. He said that since Mikoto had already mastered two C-rank Fire techniques, this level should be easy for her, then sent her back to continue practicing.
Yakushi Nono trained water walking by the riverbank.
Meanwhile, Might Duy—recovering his stamina and chakra beside Baixing—began practicing tree climbing.
Crack, crack.
Baixing covered his face as he watched Duy's abysmal chakra control.
The biggest reason Duy couldn't become a chūnin was exactly this.
He couldn't use the Three Basic Techniques proficiently. Every time he used chakra to climb, it made noise or damaged structures.
What kind of supervisor would approve a promotion like that?
"Your chakra distribution is too scattered. It has to be even."
"Got it!"
A few seconds later, Duy fell again—seven or eight failures in a row. He scratched his head and asked, "So… what went wrong this time?"
Baixing covered his face again.
At that moment, Mikoto walked over with her single-tomoe Sharingan activated.
"Why don't you first spread chakra evenly across the soles of your feet," she suggested. "Increase it little by little. Once you find the right amount, then try climbing. That might work."
"It's kind of a dumb method," Baixing rubbed his chin, "but it might actually be effective. Give it a try, Duy."
"Alright!"
Duy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Blue chakra flowed along his meridians, leaking from his body and gathering at the soles of his feet.
As the chakra increased, cracks began to form in the ground. Hearing the faint sounds, Duy hurriedly adjusted his control.
"Be patient… Once you get it right even once, you'll probably grasp it quickly. This stuff is basic, after all."
Baixing observed without interrupting, then glanced at Mikoto still training her Fire chakra.
When did this girl even awaken her Sharingan… and she didn't say a word.
Tap, tap, tap—
With chakra attached to his feet, Duy finally moved without making noise. He walked a short distance, confirmed it, then exclaimed joyfully:
"I did it!"
"Try climbing the tree," Baixing said. Walking on flat ground and climbing were completely different. He just hadn't expected Duy to lose control even on flat terrain.
Crack.
"Huh?!"
Crack, crack.
"Don't get excited. Focus on control. This is normal—you just managed brief movement on flat ground. That doesn't mean you can sustain stable control."
"Okay…"
Before he could finish speaking, Duy fell again.
Baixing frowned. "What happened this time…?"
"Out of chakra."
"..."
Baixing's eyes turned lifeless.
With chakra reserves like that, training chakra control was going to be hell.
Around noon, Baixing called Nono back from the river and took out the lunch he'd prepared. The four of them ate together.
When Baixing pulled out two extra-large bento boxes, while the three students had normal-sized ones, they all stared blankly.
Can he really eat all that?!
Then Baixing showed them what a true big eater looked like.
With his strengthened physique, he naturally needed to eat more.
A few days later—
At the Mission Assignment Office, after submitting a D-rank mission, Baixing noticed several postings on the wall:
B-rank Mission — Reconnaissance within the Land of Rain: Forest of Drizzle
C-rank Mission — Escort supply convoy to the Land of Rain border: Valley of Mist
B-rank Mission — Support the Land of Rivers border: Flowing Water Gorge
...
"Why hasn't anyone taken these missions?" Baixing asked, pointing at the public listings. Even without detailed descriptions, it was obvious—they were all related to the Second Shinobi World War.