Chapter 404: Chapter 402 : Strengthen Insects??
"Who wants to start first?"
Kurenai looked carefully at her three disciples and said, "If you can take the small flag behind me, you win!"
As she spoke, she pointed to a small flag stuck into a wooden stake behind her.
"The small flag behind you?"
The three looked at the flag behind her but none of them made the first move.
Finally, Genya and Shino both turned their eyes to Hinata. They wanted to see her strength!
"Teacher, I’ll go first!"
Hinata stepped forward with a serious expression and looked at Kurenai.
"All right, let’s begin!" Kurenai nodded.
"Excuse me, Teacher Kurenai!" Hinata bowed slightly and then took an attacking stance. Her eyes widened and the veins on both sides of her temples bulged.
Her Byakugan shimmered with chakra.
The Byakugan allows one to see the flow of chakra inside the human body and detect openings to strike an opponent’s vital points accurately.
In the end, Hinata was the first to attack. Like all Hyuga clan members, her signature technique was the Gentle Fist.
Byakugan combined with Gentle Fist was basically the perfect taijutsu style.
"Well done!" Kurenai raised her hand to lightly touch Hinata’s palm.
Feeling the strength behind Hinata’s attack, she evaluated, "Good power. Keep going!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Kurenai didn’t try to subdue Hinata immediately but fought while giving feedback.
"This move exposed my weak points, but when you attacked, you also showed many openings. If it were anyone else, you would have taken a fatal hit!"
"This time, your speed was too slow!"
"There are still openings!"
"Keep going."
"Still too slow, full of openings!"
The two of them fought for a full fifteen minutes.
Kurenai had almost completely studied Hinata’s moves, carefully analyzing Hinata’s weaknesses and flaws bit by bit.
Hinata listened seriously and fought even harder.
But she was still stopped by Kurenai.
Finally, Kurenai pressed her palm down hard on Hinata’s arm. Hinata’s body fell to the ground, unable to move.
Then, in a gentle voice, Kurenai said, "Hinata, you lost."
After saying this, she helped Hinata up.
"Sorry, sensei. I’m too weak," Hinata said obediently, lowering her head and apologizing sincerely.
"No, you’ve done very well!" Kurenai said with slight criticism but overall satisfaction. "Your strength is already comparable to a Chunin. Don’t lose heart. With more training at your current level, you’ll become very strong!"
Kurenai’s words were not just to comfort Hinata—they were honest.
Hinata’s taijutsu combined with the Byakugan was already tricky, even for Kurenai herself.
If Hinata kept improving, she would at least become a Jonin in the future.
After finishing their talk, Hinata walked back to Genya a little frustrated. "Sorry, Genya, Shino. I didn’t get the flag."
"It’s okay. We still have each other," Genya said, patting Hinata’s shoulder softly to comfort her.
Hinata’s personality was still too self-doubting, all because of her strict father. If she hadn’t been guided before, she might still be trapped in that self-doubt.
Speaking of which, the Hyuga clan was really strange—like caged birds. Heh.
"Next, who’s coming?" Kurenai’s eyes flicked toward Genya and Shino Aburame, shining with anticipation.
To be honest, Hinata’s strength had exceeded her expectations. What surprises would the next two bring?
"I’ll go!" Shino Aburame, seeing that Genya didn’t move, pushed up his small sunglasses and stepped forward.
He met Kurenai’s gaze directly.
"Let’s begin!" Kurenai sized up Shino Aburame, signaling him to make his move.
"Excuse me, teacher!" Shino bowed to Kurenai and then launched an attack toward her.
"Your entire body is full of openings!" Kurenai said sharply, slapping her palm against Shino’s chest. The strike wasn’t fast, but Shino seemed unable to dodge it.
What? Could Shino really not dodge? She instinctively pulled back her strength.
Buzz—
In an instant, Shino’s body flew backward, spinning several times in the air before crashing to the ground.
His body went stiff!
"Shino... your taijutsu is too weak!" Kurenai’s eyelids twitched as she looked at him. She knew the Aburame clan specialized in insect control, not taijutsu, but she didn’t expect it to be this bad.
One move—and he was already subdued? That was really terrible.
"Teacher, I got the flag!" Just as Kurenai was curious, Shino, lying on the ground, slowly raised one hand.
Then, dozens of small insects crawled over, each carrying a tiny flag, moving quickly toward him.
In the blink of an eye, the flag was in his hand. Shino finally raised his head slowly, a smile replacing his usual dull expression.
"You..." Kurenai smiled too, looking at Shino. "Did you let the insects crawl underground while you were attacking me? Interesting!"
From the moment Shino spoke, Kurenai had already guessed his tactic.
"Yes, it seems you’ve seen through it, teacher!" Shino struggled to get up, still smiling.
"Your taijutsu is too weak. Even though you have a good talent for controlling insects, your body is very likely to be targeted!" Kurenai seriously analyzed Shino Aburame.
But as she spoke, her gaze shifted to Hinata and Genya. "From now on, you three are teammates. You have to learn to cooperate in battle. You need to protect him!"
"I understand, teacher!" Hinata answered seriously like a good student. "I will protect Shino!"
In her heart, she was already thinking about protecting Shino during missions.
After hearing this, Shino’s stiff face flushed a little red.
Did he really need a girl to protect him?
Genya looked at Shino seriously and said, "You rely on insects to support your Chakra Pathway and your body. If I were you, I would think about how to make your insects stronger, how to hold more chakra!"
Genya felt that Shino’s training method was similar to his own. His way was to refine his cells to store chakra, like many small chakra storage, but Shino relied on these insects, each insect acting like Genya’s cells.
Shino’s insects weren’t as many as cells, but each insect could be controlled!
Each method has its pros and cons.
If Shino could turn his insects into his defense and power, breeding them into devouring metallic insects that can consume anything, then he could dominate the ninja world!
"Strengthen my insects?" Shino didn’t expect Genya to ask this and couldn’t help but ask, "How? My insects are already almost at their limit."
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