"No! No, stay away! What are you—"
THWACK!
Ryouhei watched in terror as Qianyu's sword sheath cracked against his temple. The impact knocked him out cold. Then, Qianyu began healing him.
[Ding! Treatment successful. Congratulations, Host, for obtaining +1 Temper!]
"What a fucking waste."
Qianyu's temper flared instantly. Slap! Slap! Two hard strikes woke Ryouhei up. Then, Qianyu drove his blade deep into the man's body.
"Gyaaaaaaah!"
Ryouhei shrieked, writhing on the ground like a gelded pig. Qianyu's strike had found a very… specific target.
"You—"
THWACK!
Qianyu began the cycle again. Heal. Stab. Repeat.
Ryouhei couldn't die, even if he wanted to. Each time the pain threatened to drag him into unconsciousness, Qianyu yanked him back, forcing him to drown in the agony.
This dual torment—physical and psychological—shattered Ryouhei completely.
Tears and snot mixed on his face. "What do you want?! What are you doing?!" he sobbed.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Qianyu didn't answer. He just delivered another twenty or thirty thrusts, each one expertly avoiding vital points. It was like carving a poached chicken.
"Hurt… It hurts so much! Kill me! Just kill me!"
Only when Ryouhei's screams had faded to ragged, voiceless dry heaves, his body convulsing with pain, did Qianyu finally, leisurely, explain.
"I already told you. Just testing a theory. You won't hold it against me, right?"
He'd always wondered if you could farm rewards from one person. Beat them half to death, heal them, repeat? Using this piece of trash Ryouhei as a test subject proved it: no. The system only gave a reward for the same person once within a short timeframe.
"Demon… You're a demon!"
Qianyu's face was utterly serious. Ryouhei shuddered with primal fear. He tried to worm away, desperate to put distance between them, his mangled flesh smearing the ground.
Squelch.
Qianyu was a kind soul. He couldn't bear such a scene. Covering his eyes, he stepped forward and gave Ryouhei a merciful end.
…
When Qianyu returned to their previous location, Uzuki Yūhi was awake.
Her first reaction upon seeing him was to blush fiercely and clutch her chest. "Did you… bandage my wounds?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
"Nope." Qianyu shook his head and pointed at Kousuke nearby. "Old Man Kousuke did it."
"(òwó?)! Huh?!"
Uzuki Yūhi's face went from red to green in an instant.
"The kid's just messing with you."
Kousuke saw the sheer horror on Uzuki Yūhi's face and sighed wearily. He was already taking the blame for one thing and wasn't about to take it for this, too.
"Fine, it was me. But everything was a bloody mess. I didn't see a thing."
Qianyu raised his hands, launching into his explanation with practiced ease. This wasn't his first time bandaging a female patient. Lying came naturally; not a hint of a blush.
"Thank you for saving me. And… I'm sorry…"
Her beautiful eyes glistening as she looked at Qianyu's handsome face, Uzuki Yūhi moved to hug him, but he pushed her away.
"Your injuries aren't healed yet. Skip the hug." His tone was flat. Her previous absurd behavior still irritated him. He wasn't in the mood.
"I'm sorry… I'm really, truly sorry…"
Seeing the thousand-mile distance in Qianyu's eyes, Uzuki Yūhi broke down sobbing, her heart drowning in regret.
From Kousuke, she'd learned the truth. The Kirigakure ninja who had utterly crushed her and Ryouhei had been helpless before Qianyu—dead in just a few exchanges.
Compared to that useless pretty boy Ryouhei, Qianyu was the one with the real power to protect her!
If I hadn't given up on Qianyu back then… If I'd chosen him firmly… Maybe now…
Her regret was a physical, twisting pain.
Qianyu was handsome, responsible, a brilliant medic, and incredibly strong—lightyears beyond that scum Ryouhei.
Why had she ever believed that bastard's lies?!
She'd had a chance to get closer to this perfect, idealized figure… and she'd ruined it with her own hands!
The remorse twisted like a knife in her chest, making it hard to breathe.
…Oh. That's just my wound reopening.
Looking down, Uzuki Yūhi realized her frantic breathing had torn the injury open again.
"What. Are. You. Doing?"
Qianyu was speechless.
Did this civilian not understand the concept of resting? Did she think she was like that monster Zabuza, ready to fight the moment her wounds closed?
"Come here. I'll bandage it again." His tone was reluctant.
Kousuke, ever the gentleman, tactfully moved away to give them privacy.
Yūhi watched Qianyu's focused expression as he tended to her. She suddenly grabbed his hand and pressed it firmly against her chest.
"Qianyu… You saved my life. Can I pledge myself to you?" she asked, her face flushed.
"I save you, and you want a reward?"
Qianyu didn't look up, keeping his attention on the bandages. He'd saved everyone from the Sannin's precious student to Matron Nonō. If anyone was pledging themselves, this foolish woman was at the very back of the line.
"Done. All patched up."
It was just basic bandaging. No reward. His enthusiasm was correspondingly low.
"At this hour, there shouldn't be any other examinees in the outer ring. You should leave the Forest of Death and withdraw from the exam."
Because of Ryouhei and Uzuki Yūhi, he'd wasted too much time. He just wanted her gone.
"You're worried about me?" Uzuki Yūhi gazed at his perfect profile, her voice dreamy.
Qianyu: "???"
Could she not hear the impatience? Did this sound like concern to her?
"You're the first man to see my body."
Blushing, Uzuki Yūhi rose onto her toes, bringing her lips close to Qianyu's ear. "You saved me. From now on… my heart beats only for you."
Every hair on Qianyu's body stood on end. He stared at Uzuki Yūhi's infatuated expression. Oh no. Did I run into a yandere?
"Let's go, Old Man Kousuke!"
Wanting no further entanglement, Qianyu called out to Kousuke and hurried away.
…
Less than four days remained until the exam's end.
Qianyu and Kousuke finally began their push toward the heart of the Forest of Death.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but the deeper they went, the thicker the atmosphere of deathly stillness became. As they traveled, even the sounds of insects and birds vanished completely.
"Kid, that girl back there… she's smitten with you, isn't she?" Kousuke teased in a low voice as they moved.
He could see Lady Tsunade's interest in Qianyu, but the boy's background was… lacking. It would be an uphill climb. That girl from the smaller clan? A much better match.
"Come on, Old Man. Don't say things like that."
Qianyu shot him a sidelong glance. "Plenty of girls like me. Her falling for me is just normal."
With looks as handsome as you, dear readers, being chased was a given. Nothing to be proud of.
Kousuke: "…"
He decided Qianyu's current ability to annoy people was quickly rivaling Nawaki's.
They fell silent again, maintaining their formation—spaced about ten meters apart, moving through the forest with minimal noise.
But as they passed through a dense grove of water cypress, Qianyu's expression sharpened.
"Old Man! Ambush!"
In his sensory perception, an astonishingly powerful surge of earth-nature chakra was racing toward them from nearby at a terrifying speed. It would be on them in an instant!
RUMBLE—!
Even with ten meters between them, the ground beneath both Qianyu and Kousuke heaved violently, bucking like a great earth dragon trying to throw off everything on its back.
"That's an Iwa technique—Earth Style: Fissure! At this scale, there must be at least four of them!"
Thanks to Qianyu's warning, Kousuke steadied himself instantly, his experience allowing for a rapid assessment.
CRACK!
They tried to converge, but the ground between them split open. A chasm, two to three meters wide, formed in a blink—and it was still widening!
Simultaneously, rows of towering cypresses groaned and toppled, crashing down toward Qianyu and Kousuke. A tsunami of broken branches and dark green foliage poured into the newly formed ravine, threatening to bury them alive.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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