"Wait—Souma-senpai, you mean we have to beat you today to pass?"
Ino finally realized something was wrong when she saw how agitated Shikamaru was.
"That's right," Souma said.
"And if we don't pass… what happens?"
Ino asked cautiously, peeking at him.
Souma smiled brightly, voice gentle.
"That depends on your teacher, Sarutobi Asuma. I'm just the substitute examiner. Normally, you'd just go back to the Academy for another year."
"B–Back… back to the Academy?"
Ino and Chōji both went wide-eyed.
"Next year you might not get me again," Souma went on. "With your clans and backgrounds, you'll definitely become a proper shinobi sooner or later."
"This year can just be written off."
"It's not that big a deal, really. You'll just be a year younger than your peers. You'll have to call them 'senpai,' and you'll have another year of teachers telling you what you can and can't eat."
Every sentence landed in Ino's heart like a knife.
Shikamaru stayed quiet on the side.
He could tell—
Souma was helping him.
That last line—
The first half lit a fire under Ino.
The second half hit Chōji right where it hurt, instantly motivating him.
He's making sure I die with no regrets…
Shikamaru sighed inwardly.
He gathered his courage.
"Let's just start. What exactly do you want to test?"
"Nothing special. Just fighting. No flashy gimmicks."
Souma rested a hand on his hip and took out an hourglass.
"To make things more interesting, I'll add one condition."
"Huh?" Shikamaru frowned, but listened quietly.
"I have a fatal weakness," Souma said with a lazy smile. "If you can find it during the fight and hit it, you win."
Shikamaru's brain kicked into high gear.
"What kind of weakness is it?" he asked.
"Intelligence is important in a ninja battle—but you think enemies will hand intel to you on a silver platter?"
Souma looked at him like he was an idiot.
Then he flipped the hourglass.
"When the sand runs out, if you still haven't found my weakness and hit it, you can obediently march back to the Academy for another year."
"I'll give you one minute to discuss."
Souma toyed with the hourglass, smiling.
"Yes."
Shikamaru understood.
Their mission was—
Find the weakness. Hit the weakness.
As long as they satisfied that condition, they'd win.
If Souma's strength was overwhelming, then finding that weakness was their only chance.
The problem was—
Would Souma-senpai really just offer that chance?
Obviously not.
Chōji put away his snacks and looked straight at Shikamaru.
Ino hesitated, then did the same.
She didn't like it, but she had to admit—
if someone had to use their head, Shikamaru was their best bet.
"First, let's rule out the idea of beating him head-on," Shikamaru said. "If we could win that way, Asuma-sensei wouldn't have asked Souma-senpai to test us."
He started by stating the brutal reality—
They had zero chance in a straight fight.
That was the foundation.
Souma watched with a faint smile and didn't interrupt.
"So the test is simple," Shikamaru continued. "Find the weakness. Hit the weakness."
It was simple.
Even Ino could see it at a glance.
But the simpler something looked, the less room intelligence had to maneuver.
Shikamaru knew that very well.
He took a deep breath.
"I want to confirm something—how easy is this weakness to find? If we can't get useful information during the fight, we won't find it at all."
"I'll give you enough hints," Souma said lightly. "But whether you notice them or not is up to you."
"And you have ten seconds left."
"Ino, Chōji—remember how our dads cooperate?" Shikamaru asked.
Both nodded.
Whatever petty complaints they had, their clans' "Ino–Shika–Chō" formation wasn't up for debate.
They didn't even need practice to move in sync.
Besides—
After Souma's earlier provocation, both Ino and Chōji were fired up.
Shikamaru quietly shifted position.
Souma flipped the hourglass.
"Now—start."
The moment he spoke—
A shadow streaked toward where Souma had been standing, slithering along the shade of the underbrush.
But—
Souma's body turned into a smear of afterimages.
A clone?
"Careful!" Shikamaru shouted, pupils constricting.
Not clones.
Just speed—so fast it left ghostly trails.
The words had barely left his mouth when Souma appeared beside Ino.
She was his first target.
But Chōji's enlarged hands swung in to block.
Bang!
Their clash sent a shockwave of exploding chakra through the air.
Chōji's body and arms were blown backward in one hit—knocked clean off his feet.
Shikamaru's shadow followed after.
But—
Swish—
A wire sliced through the branches above, cutting a gap in the leaves.
Sunlight poured down, breaking the shadows apart.
On the ground, Shikamaru's black shadow stood out starkly, suddenly exposed.
Ino tried to use the chance to run, but—
Boom!
She took a kick squarely in the ribs and went flying.
"In a real battlefield, any posture that keeps you alive is a good one," Souma said, punting her away.
She crashed into a stump, hair loose and disheveled, looking utterly wrecked.
"If you die, you'll look even worse."
He twirled a kunai in his fingers and walked toward her.
Chōji leapt in front of Ino, hands swelling with Partial Expansion as he swung them down toward Souma.
His enlarged fists cast long shadows that stretched and merged along the ground.
Souma vanished again.
Konoha-Style Taijutsu—Secret Technique.
Smack.
Chōji's face twisted, and a moment later he toppled over with a thud.
Ino's eyes bulged.
Then she grabbed her backside with both hands, face turning ghastly pale.
"Don't just stand there! Help!" Shikamaru shouted.
"Oh! Right, right!"
Ino snapped out of it and formed a seal—but Souma disappeared yet again.
"Find him," Shikamaru ordered.
"Yes!"
Ino took several deep breaths and used every trick she had to search for Souma's presence.
But…
Nothing.
He had completely erased his presence.
And supposedly, this senpai still couldn't use nature transformation yet.
If he could…?
Ino cursed silently.
"I can't find him!"
"Fall back."
Shikamaru dragged Chōji to safer ground, then started setting traps with Ino's help.
Souma was actually right above them.
He had to admit—
Shikamaru had a good head on his shoulders.
Seeing things go south, he immediately used terrain to create a more favorable environment.
But that was all he could do.
He couldn't push further than that and could only rack his brain over Souma's "weakness."
Scenes replayed over and over in his head.
"His left hand."
"What?" Ino and Chōji looked at him.
"Souma-senpai hasn't used his left hand at all. From start to finish, he's only attacked with his right."
Shikamaru's eyes lit up.
That was it.
So simple.
So direct.
It was practically written on Souma's face.
But—
Ino deflated.
"But we can't even find him. How are we supposed to hit his left hand? Wait for him to walk into our traps?"
"There'll be a way. If we give up now, we really have zero chance," Shikamaru said firmly.
"Well said. In that case, I'll give you a chance."
A figure flashed in at an angle.
Shikamaru instantly unleashed Shadow Imitation.
This time, his shadows didn't pursue control.
They created a tangled defensive web.
But—
Shiiing—
White Fox cleared its scabbard.
Chakra flared along the blade like the flick of a white fox tail.
One slash.
The tree behind them was sliced clean through and crashed down in their wake.
Chōji, still in Partial Expansion, had lost a lot of mobility.
He had no choice—
Human Bullet Tank!
He curled into a rolling ball, barreling at Souma with his shadow trailing beneath like a dark blur.
Ino's hands flew into a seal.
Mind Transfer—
She had only one shot.
As Chōji's Meat Tank rolled back and forth, trying to herd Souma into the air, she thrust out her hand.
Mind Transfer Jutsu!
At the same time, Shikamaru's shadows formed a circle and began to close in.
Got him…
Sweat dripped from Shikamaru's forehead.
"Shikamaru, I've got hi—"
Ino barely got a few words out of Souma's mouth.
Then his voice shifted back to normal as if nothing had happened.
She'd failed to take control.
Souma's lips curved.
"I'd love to congratulate you," he said, landing lightly. "But unfortunately, while you were attacking, you overlooked something important."
"While you were setting up and discussing your plan…"
"What was I doing? Playing dead?"
He dusted off his clothes and straightened up.
Ino's consciousness was inside him—but compared to Souma's, her "spirit" felt like a tiny pet being squeezed into a cramped space, unable to move.
"I know you're Ino–Shika–Chō. Did you think I wouldn't prepare for that?"
Souma half-squatted in front of them, watching all three frozen in place.
"Well? Want me to slit your throats, or do you want to surrender yourselves?"
Shikamaru finally understood.
While they were talking…
Souma had been laying traps too.
A sealing formation that locked them in place.
He'd heard of it—
a combined absorption barrier and binding array, a seal that drains the chakra of anyone caught inside.
They'd lost.
Shikamaru had never felt the difference in strength so clearly.
"How did you do it?" he asked.
"Trying to stall for time?" Souma snorted. "I'm not that generous. And it's not like you have time to stall."
He pointed into the distance.
The sand in the hourglass was almost gone.
Shikamaru clenched his fists.
Souma hadn't even used anything truly advanced.
Just simple moves.
And they'd been utterly crushed.
On top of that—
Ino's Mind Transfer hadn't worked at all.
How?
It was hard not to feel despair.
Souma sheathed White Fox, then lightly tapped the side of Chōji's neck.
"You're dead."
He walked over to the unconscious Ino and poked her neck as well.
"She's dead too."
"That leaves just you."
Souma squatted in front of Shikamaru.
"Well? Any thoughts?"
Shikamaru balled his hands into fists.
He couldn't fully taste "true despair" from this, but he understood—
Souma's conditions had been very generous.
No killing blows.
A blindingly obvious weakness.
He'd basically been playing with kid gloves.
Real enemies would never be so kind.
And even then, they'd lost miserably.
"The gap is huge," Shikamaru muttered. "Why are you so strong?"
"Because when you skipped class, I was reading. When you were slacking, I was training," Souma said, sitting down beside him. "There's no such thing as an absolute genius. Right?"
"…"
Shikamaru heard something deeper in those words.
He remembered something his father, Nara Shikaku, had once told him—
If you don't work hard normally, you'll only realize you're too weak when it's too late.
It felt similar.
"You did have chances, you know," Souma added.
"We did?" Shikamaru looked up, genuinely wanting to hear the answer.
"Ino won't always listen to you. But Chōji will. If you'd ordered him to confront me head-on earlier, you could've forced the situation to the point we just reached much sooner."
"I didn't think you were afraid of Chōji," Shikamaru said after a pause.
He remembered their first clash—
Chōji with Partial Expansion had been swatted away instantly.
Clearly, Souma wasn't fazed by Chōji.
"That's true. If I don't want to lose to him, I won't," Souma said. "Ultimately, your strength isn't enough."
"But the Akimichi clan does have a secret pill."
"I'd never let him use that just for an exam!"
Shikamaru's expression turned icy.
Souma shrugged.
"Then what can you do? Sacrifice one person, and at least you and Ino survive. He'd be willing to do it for you."
Flat on the ground, Chōji spoke up quietly.
"Yeah."
"Because he trusts me, I can't do that," Shikamaru said coldly, voice firm. "I'd rather go back to the Academy than watch Chōji take a secret pill for a test."
"Indeed. Right now, you still have the choice to go back to school. Once you're on a real battlefield, all you can do is cling to your captain's leg. And when one day you run into an enemy even Asuma can't handle…"
Souma stood and looked toward the trees.
"Congratulations. You get to stay in school another year."
Shikamaru said nothing.
He really had done his best.
He'd found Souma's weakness.
He'd come up with the plan.
But as the "brains" of a team, he knew he'd failed.
If they were just a bit stronger…
Souma poured chakra into Ino to wake her up.
She blinked, then took stock of the situation, face going white.
She sat up and stared at him in disbelief.
"How is your mental strength that strong?"
"It's not that I'm strong. It's that you're too weak," Souma said flatly. "Spiritual power isn't that simple. Put more effort into it. Don't waste your time on useless things."
His gaze was meaningful.
In their team, Tenten and Kazusa might have their own little thoughts, but they still put training and study first.
They never let themselves be too distracted.
Ino and Sakura were different.
For the sake of so-called "love," they never once considered their teammates.
Too blind.
Souma turned to Chōji.
Chōji's whole body tensed up.
The guy in front of him was only a year older, but when Souma stood there, he felt a suffocating pressure.
"You… just train more," Souma said after a moment.
"Mm," Chōji mumbled.
Souma had already had his talk with Shikamaru earlier.
He didn't need to repeat himself.
And he was only the examiner, not their sensei.
He stretched lazily.
"That's it for this side."
He looked off in another direction.
"Want to go watch the show over there?"
Shikamaru followed his gaze.
Was Team 7 still being tested?
He hesitated, then nodded.
Souma led them, following the chakra signatures.
Before long, they spotted Kakashi.
Just in time to hear—
"AAAHHHHHH!!"
A girl's shrill scream rang out.
Ino slapped both hands over her face.
She felt like she was watching a second version of herself.
Humiliating.
Way too humiliating.
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