"Neji, he…"
Tenten hesitated.
Something about Neji's state felt different from before.
She couldn't tell if it was good or bad—just that he'd changed.
But her worry didn't last long.
"Neji! You bastard! As expected of my disciple!!"
Guy was already in tears.
A man that sturdy really didn't need eyes that were emotional.
Then came the usual—
Master and disciple hugging and weeping dramatically.
Of course—
That was Lee and Might Guy.
Neji was still lying in the infirmary.
Souma didn't have time to get emotional.
Konoha's on-site medical staff had already rushed over to treat Neji, but while Souma didn't know medical ninjutsu, he did know muscles and bones extremely well and figured he could help.
When he entered the rest room, Neji was lying on a stretcher, staring up at the ceiling, barely holding onto consciousness.
The wind blades were too fine and nearly invisible.
His body was covered in cuts.
When he saw Souma, Neji tried to sit up, but a medic pushed him back down.
So he just sat there half-propped, saying:
"They're only surface wounds. Her insides are worse. I blew a hole clear through her organs."
"Wow, amazing. Such a big man you are."
Souma nodded solemnly.
"…"
Neji turned his head away, speechless.
Why did the way he said it sound so wrong?
And why was he even explaining himself in the first place?
Neji closed his eyes.
He'd only meant to rest for a bit—
But before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep.
Beside him, one of the medic-nin spoke up.
"Souma-kun, can you help us check the injuries?"
"Sure."
That was why Souma had come.
He examined the wounds.
Most really were shallow, but the deepest one came very close to the bone—
That one was probably from when Neji closed in on Temari.
It was on the wrist.
"Any surgery on the wrist needs to be handled very carefully. Check whether the bone's been affected. If you miss something, he'll end up with hidden damage and you'll have to cut it open again later."
Souma said.
The medic nodded seriously.
"Yes."
"You're Fengshō-senpai, right?" Souma added suddenly.
"…You can even tell that?"
Fengshō jumped in surprise.
He was currently masked and dressed like ANBU.
He'd only said a few words—
But Souma had recognized him instantly.
"I remember your chakra signature."
Souma replied, glancing around.
These were all familiar people.
No point pretending.
He waved a hand.
"Set the barrier. I'll handle the wrist."
"Yes, sir!"
They'd already begun setting up a barrier beforehand.
Souma used a chakra scalpel to open a small incision, then sent his senses through the wound with chakra to inspect the deeper structure.
Sure enough, some bone fragments had been shaken loose and cracked.
Shame Neji had passed out.
With the Byakugan helping, this would've been far easier and less tedious.
"I need to reset the bone."
"How do we do that?"
Fengshō leaned in instantly.
This was a golden opportunity to learn.
Maybe he could finally surpass Baicao in something.
But after a moment of watching—
He quietly turned away to prepare the medical barrier technique.
On Souma's fingers, threads of chakra finer than hair danced, almost impossible to detect without careful sensory focus.
Each filament slipped into the wound.
He was using puppet-control finesse for bone-setting.
Fengshō wanted to cry.
He hadn't even mastered chakra scalpels yet—
And now there was this level of microscopic manipulation?
Impossible.
Souma "glued" the shattered bone fragments back into place, one by one.
It was painstaking work.
Fortunately, he was already used to it.
After a while—
"Done. The hard part's over. You can handle the rest."
Souma said.
"Yes!"
Fengshō nodded repeatedly.
Souma clapped the dust from his hands and left the follow-up work to them, walking out without looking back.
He didn't intend to interfere with Neji's choice.
The Byakugan, if he shelved it for a while, might actually break open to something new in the future.
If Kakashi hadn't lost his Sharingan, how would he have created Purple Lightning?
Same idea.
Open the window—
You might see a different sky.
Souma stepped back out.
Another match had just ended.
This one was between a Suna ninja and a shinobi from Takigakure.
"How is he?" Souma asked.
"Nothing serious. He'll recover soon."
Temari, on the other hand…
She looked less injured than Neji,
but inside, she'd probably been wrecked by those eight Gentle Fist bursts.
Souma just smiled and didn't bother with Suna's situation.
Their stance was already clear.
They were all-in on the Konoha Crush Plan.
The village leadership had been coordinating with Orochimaru for over a year to put everything in place.
What was there to talk about?
Helping them would just be aiding the enemy.
"As long as he's okay…"
Tenten finally felt relieved.
In the academy, she didn't like Neji much.
But after graduation, she realized that although he was prickly and stubborn, he was actually a good person underneath.
If he'd gotten seriously hurt…
On the side, Might Guy shot Souma a grateful look.
He knew full well that Souma hadn't just been "gone for a bit"—
He'd been in the operating room.
Lee sat gloomily nearby.
Souma nudged Tenten with his elbow and tilted his chin toward Lee.
Tenten almost burst out laughing, then leaned over to whisper an explanation.
While Souma had been working on Neji's wrist, two matches had already finished.
One was between Tsurugi Mikoto and a Suna shinobi.
The other—
Lee vs Takigakure.
Long ago, Takigakure had been strong enough to receive the Seven-Tails from Hashirama as a tailed-beast allocation.
But over the years, their strength had plummeted from one generation to the next.
So the result was—
Takigakure's candidate got sent flying by a single kick from Lee.
It wasn't a fight.
It was a one-sided beating.
And the one dishing out the beating—
I didn't feel happy at all.
He wanted stronger opponents.
Instead…
This left Lee deeply disappointed.
Souma turned his head.
"Lee, look at it this way—next year, you get to take the Chūnin Exam again. You'll meet even more opponents. But I've lost that chance forever."
"…"
Lee looked up, opened his mouth…
And ended up saying nothing.
He was earnest, not stupid.
"Souma, don't talk nonsense."
Tenten dragged him away by the sleeve.
If she let him keep going, she really would hit him.
"I've lost that chance forever"?
Exempted from the exam and you're complaining?
Unbelievable.
Down in the arena, the next match concluded.
On the display board, the names shuffled and then settled:
Tenten vs. Akado Yoroi.
"I'm up!"
Tenten said, eyes blazing as she leapt down into the arena.
Souma focused on Yoroi—
And was promptly disappointed.
The man had no intention of fighting seriously, just performing at a normal genin level.
Good enough to bully average opponents.
Against Tenten…
He didn't last long.
Kazusa vs Mami was similar—fierce, but over fairly quickly.
There weren't many candidates left.
Kabuto stepped into the ring.
Souma didn't expect any real performance from this veteran actor, but after watching one match, he was mildly surprised.
Not just him.
"His chakra control is quite impressive,"
Kakashi murmured.
Yoroi was clearly just another pawn, but Kabuto, on the other hand, was now showcasing his skills.
His jutsu weren't very lethal,
but every move highlighted his delicate chakra control.
His opponent was just an ordinary Suna shinobi—
Yet Kabuto made it look like a balanced, back-and-forth struggle.
And even found time mid-battle to slip in small bursts of medical ninjutsu to heal himself.
That level of pacing and control required a very high ceiling.
He'd calculated every step his opponent would take.
Souma watched Kabuto with a long, lingering look.
He had a feeling—
Once they got back to Konoha, Kabuto would be making some new moves.
But it didn't matter.
At worst, he'd slip into the Medical Corps.
And Kabuto had no idea about Souma's "special needs."
Whatever jutsu he tried to steal,
once he was part of the Medical Corps—
He'd be the perfect tool.
Not using him would be a real waste.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/pikachu614