"Hmph, this again..." Tetsu said, looking like he had seen it happen before.

'I guess he didn't really die, then…' I thought, completely ignoring the system screens that had appeared in front of me; they weren't important right now.

When I was about to comment on it to my sensei, he spoke first.

"About five years ago, I came across this shinobi. His skill was unlike anything I'd ever seen before... In short, he's hard to kill."

I reflected on his words for a few seconds.

"This has to do with the black liquid, right? It seemed to be able to control those people, but I don't really know how it works. Do you?" I asked.

"More or less. At the time, I was helping Anko on her mission with some other ninjas. This man was apparently spreading word about some kind of cult, recruiting people to his cause or something like that. We couldn't find out much... but we put a stop to his plans."

'Cult... blood... could it be...?!'

"Do you know what that cult was about?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Not really, but he managed to kill two of our colleagues at the time... it's something I can't forget. Um... apparently I'm a very memorable person — he even remembered my name, you know?" Tetsu said, always avoiding more sensitive subjects.

"It must have something to do with the fact that you're extremely strong, sensei," I said, trying to smile.

"Sure. Now let's deal with those ninjas you managed to unmask," he said, heading toward the place where we first encountered this ninja, Satoshi.

We walked a few meters ahead in silence, staying alert to avoid being attacked again.

When we arrived at the spot where they should have been, the ninjas were gone too, leaving only their masks behind.

I approached one of them.

"This should be useful for Konoha's intelligence, right?" I said as I picked up the mask.

For a split second, I felt an energy coming from the mask, but I couldn't quite grasp what it was.

"Probably..." Tetsu said, walking toward the other two masks on the ground.

"About your jutsu, Riku. You did well. You still have a lot to learn about chakra control, but your reserves are quite large. Have you ever completely exhausted yourself?" he asked.

"In a real battle, never. But I've gotten tired during some long training sessions," I said, remembering the training with Itachi.

"Interesting. I'll find a way to wear you out. Maybe that'll be a good way to really test your physical limits," he said, smiling.

"Don't you ever get tired of thinking about ways to make us stronger, even in moments like this?"

"It's my job, kid."

"Fair enough," I replied, smiling — this time more at ease.

*

After our conversation, and after I understood a bit more about what was going on and who Satoshi — the cultist — was, we returned as quickly as we could to the hospital, where Renji had taken Sora.

Upon entering, one of the nurses guided us to my teammate's room. Renji was just returning.

"Renji!" I said, walking a little faster to catch up to him.

"You guys are here. I guess you managed to take care of them?" he asked.

From the tone of his voice, I could tell that Sora was no longer in danger, so I felt a bit more at ease.

"Yeah, more or less," I replied.

"What do you mean, 'more or less'?" he asked, confused.

"Renji, how is Sora?" Tetsu interrupted.

"Ah, she's fine, sensei. The poison was definitely very dangerous, but because of her enhanced physical constitution, it didn't have time to seriously damage anything. The medic ninja who treated her even broke a sweat trying to carefully remove it," Renji explained.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Tetsu just nodded, entering the room to talk to Sora.

Renji and I followed our sensei.

Sora was lying down, but conscious, looking out the bedroom window. Her expression wasn't great.

"Hey Sora, how are you?" Tetsu said, relaxed.

She seemed a little surprised by our sudden arrival.

"Oh, hi sensei, hi Riku, I'm getting better, but the doctors asked me to stay here a little longer for observation. I'll be out by the end of the day, thanks for your concern..." she said, her voice still a little weak.

She may be physically fine, but I think she's still shaken from being the only one who got hurt.

"You did well, Sora. If it weren't for that ninja coming out of nowhere, we would have beaten them much faster!" I tried to cheer her up.

"Yeah." She forced a smile. "But the fact that I couldn't blow them up bothers me a little."

'She's upset about not being able to use her explosions?! This girl…' My expression changed completely.

"Ah... so that's why you've been acting like this?" I said, surprised.

"Of course! What's the fun in fighting if I can't use the weapons I have?" she said, crossing her arms in irritation.

"You really are surprising, Sora..."

Tetsu laughed.

Renji was still a little serious, so he said:

"You said you beat him 'more or less.' What does that mean, Renji?"

Sora and Tetsu turned to us.

"Well, he found a way to escape, from what we understand. After I delivered the final blow, we couldn't find his body or the ninjas who were with him... that's all we have." I lifted the mask, which I had left attached to my waist.

"Damn... I hoped we could defeat him. Was he really that strong? I wish I had fought harder..." he said.

"Next time, we'll deal with the enemy together, Renji. The situation wasn't in our favor. But it gave us a little more experience for when we take the chunin exam."

Renji nodded.

"You're right."

"By the way, maybe it would be good if I learned a little medical ninjutsu, or how to treat injuries and poisons more carefully... we might have to deal with something like that in the exam," I said, touching my chin thoughtfully.

"Those are skills that require excellent chakra control. I don't know if you could master them by the chunin exam, but you should be able to learn the basics," Tetsu said.

"If Tsunade were around, maybe she could teach me."

Tetsu looked at me in surprise.

"That easy?"

"Well, I don't know... but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask her, right?" I said.

He shrugged.

"I'll report the mission to the Hokage. You guys have the rest of the day off... I mean, as free as you can get." He looked at Sora as he said these words. "Tomorrow we'll get back to our training."

"Cool, sensei!" Sora said excitedly.

Renji and I just nodded.

"What are you going to do now?" Renji asked me.

"Eat. And then I'm finally going back to the library... to do some research on medical ninjutsu and take a look at some things I left out," I said.

"The library? I didn't know you liked to read, Senju."

"I don't! But I need to learn more if I want to pass the exam."

He pondered what I said.

"You're right. Well, see you tomorrow then. Bye, Sora, get well soon," Renji said, leaving the room.

"See you later, Renji!" Sora said.

"I guess you're leaving too, right?" she asked me.

"Uh-huh... get well soon, Sora," I said, getting ready to leave the room.

"Wait!" she interrupted me.

I turned around, waiting for her to continue.

"Next time, I won't cause any trouble on the missions," she said confidently.

I smiled.

"Relax, I'm sure you won't. Well, see you later." I turned my back to her and said goodbye.

"Bye, Riku!" I heard her say as I left the room.

They're really resilient. I ended up on a really good team, I thought as I walked down the hallway smiling.

My next destination was the Konoha library.

....

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