Chapter 55: Asuma's Test (4)
Asuma was shaken from his thoughts when Shinji reached back with his one free hand to grip the jounin's wrist attached to the hand holding him down, hard. With a self-confident smirk, the pinned genin spoke, "Thankfully, I have teammates to make up for my shortcomings. Right, Asuma-sensei?"
The Sarutobi's eyes lit up in amusement as he sensed Shino trying to sneakily run out of the thickets in the periphery towards the pair. He could also feel the strength in Shinji's grip, with chakra coursing through his digits. The genin was sincerely and genuinely trying to crush his wrist with as much force as he could muster.
Of course, the genin could not compare to his own chakra in terms of robustness and resilience, not to mention the jounin's own physical conditioning, thus Shinji's intention of crushing his bones was unsuccessful. Although, Shinji was able to succeed on his secondary objective which was to hold him in place while Shino joined the fray.
At this point, Asuma was already quite delighted with his genin team's plan so far. Shinji's decision to be the bait and his self-sacrificial attribute were praiseworthy. Yet his act of holding Asuma only worked as long as Shinji could maintain his grip. The kid was in a vulnerable position, being pinned down and only having one hand to work with. Yet, because he trusted Asuma wouldn't hurt him too severely, he was willing to risk his own safety to restrain the jounin.
Asuma had to applaud this line of thought. It wasn't as courageous as one would be led to believe, but it was clever. Although, there was a difference between something being clever and it being effective.
The jounin jabbed a thumb at Shinji's shoulder, pressing on to an acupoint that sent a wave of pain surging through the genin's arm. It was perfectly harmless with the exception of the momentary pain and loss of control in motor function which forced Shinji to release his grip.
This gave enough time for Asuma to turn towards the Aburame who was running at him and land a kick at the genin.
The figure of 'Shino' immediately dissipated and burst into a swarm of kikaichuu, which did not seem to surprise the jounin. Just as the swarm of kikaichuu descended on Asuma, a kunai appeared in his hand out of nowhere and a blindingly fast swipe at the swarm sent a wave of wind-natured chakra through the swarm which opened up a vertical hole through which he jumped out of.
The swarm chased after the escaping jounin, while Shinji who was freed from Asuma's restraint also went after him.
The unlikely pair, a swarm of insects and a non-Aburame genin, worked together in an unsurprising lack of cooperation in an attempt to trap the jounin. Often times, when Shinji went forward to land an attack, he would find the swarm of kikaichuu getting in his way and vice versa.
While Asuma was reluctant to be too heavy handed on his genin, he held no such hesitance towards the kikaichuu. One had to realize that kikaichuu had extremely short lifespans the moment they exited an Aburame's bodyhive. As such, every time an Aburame did battle, they accepted the fact that many members of their hive would perish.
For the Aburame who cherished their insect companions, to be willing to send them to their deaths in service of their clan and village was a tremendous sacrifice that no one other than another Aburame could relate to. Their cold and stoic demeanour was one that had been conditioned in the Aburame members from a young age to reduce their attachment to the short-living kikaichuu and hence be more willing to sacrifice them.
Nevertheless it was never an easy decision, even if logic and rationality dictated an Aburame's mentality. The greatest insult to an Aburame would be if the kikaichuu died for nothing. At the very least, if their insect companions died in service, fighting for some noble purpose or cause, it would be a comfort to their owners.
Asuma understood the Aburame clan's commitment to serving their village. This was not the first time he had fought against or with a member of the Aburame clan. He knew that every single kikaichuu sent out were essentially sentenced to death. The jounin respected the resolve; thus he would never disrespect Shino and his clan by avoiding the killing of the already doomed swarm. As a result, he held no qualms in destroying the kikaichuu that were chasing him.
Even then, he held back from simply breathing fire on the bugs. Such ruthlessness was not a show of respect but an act of contempt or scorn. He would have to teach Shino how to get around this huge weakness in his kikaichuu techniques, Asuma mentally noted.
The jounin danced around the swarm and Shinji, while simultaneously swinging his kunai wrapped in wind-natured chakra occasionally to tear apart the kikaichuu and to keep the genin at bay.
Shinji once again used [Flash Step] to appear at what he presumed to be Asuma's blindspot but was unable to succeed in his spearhand which was aimed at piercing through the jounin's kidney. Asuma caught the extended hand and tossed him away, but the moment Shinji landed on his feet, he vanished again. This time, he reappeared next to Asuma, on opposing sides of the kikaichuu swarm.
Without hesitation, Shinji threw himself at the jounin. Clutching on to one of Asuma's arm before twisting his body to get into an armbar position. Shinji's small body and nimbleness, in comparison to the jounin, was extremely helpful in orienting himself around the Sarutobi's larger frame.
Shinji immediately started pulling, using his legs across Asuma's chest as a fulcrum to either break or dislocate the man's elbow. His abnormally great strength thanks to the gamer system allowed for a stronger hold than the jounin would have expected from the small size of Shinji's physique. He had to admit, the moment he loosened the tension in his arm, Shinji might very well break it.
When Shinji's STR exceeded 100, he had received another perk – [Bull's Strength]. Its effects were simple: Once an hour, Shinji was able to increase his STR stat by 20%. This was an ability that scaled well since it gave a percentage increase. It was also an ability he had activated the moment he got Asuma into a flying armbar.
Asuma could've easily slammed the genin into the ground or even something more vicious like reaching over with his other arm and tearing out the boy's throat; but it wasn't as though the jounin was in a life or death scenario, and there were alternatives to getting out of the death grip Shinji had on his arm.
The jounin swung the genin locking his arm at the swarm of kikaichuu, using the genin as a makeshift club. It wasn't intended to kill the kikaichuu, more to irritate the boy and get him to release his arm himself. However, he underestimated Shinji's determination to hold on to him. Because the genin knew that there were more in the works than just himself and an insect clone.
Right on time, Hinata who had been under a henge illusion of grass and slowly crawling towards the fight, showed herself and launched a series of jyuuken strikes against the troubled jounin. Asuma of course was not the least anxious, easily deflecting her palm strikes with just a leg and an arm.
Though he might have been as in trouble as he might appeared, the jounin was getting annoyed – especially with the swarm of kikaichuu flying around irritatingly, the tiresome armbar Shinji had on him and the skilful display of Gentle Fist by the Hyuuga heiress. Not to mention he was also fully aware that the third member of their team had still not appeared. A knife in the shadow was ten times more threatening than one in the light.
Irked, Asuma brought Shinji down and landed a knee on the genin's back. The impact was heavy enough to knock the breath out of the genin, but not so far as to leave an internal injury. Another knee saw Shinji releasing his grip from the impact of the attack.
Hinata saw that act and glared at Asuma in a cold fury, staring daggers into the eyes of the jounin. Her hands trembled, not in fear or hesitance, but rather from an uncontrolled rage that threatened to spill over into a rampaging frenzy. Her pupil-less Byakuugan eyes, under the influence of her wrath, pinpointed the tenketsu points on Asuma and her surprisingly quick movements managed to close off two of them before Asuma backed away.
Asuma raised an eyebrow at her seemingly unprovoked anger, but nevertheless carried on evading or deflecting her Jyuuken strikes. Seeing the ineffectiveness of her techniques, Hinata ducked down to sweep Asuma's legs from below. The jounin responded by lifting up one leg to avoid it while landing a relatively gentle kick that landed on Hinata's shoulder.
Before he could continue however, he was forced to deal with the slashes that came from Shinji who had recovered his wakizashi. The blade, layered with chakra, swung dangerously past Asuma's face, even managing to take off a few strands of his beard.
The jounin leaped backwards, to give himself some space away from the two deceptively dangerous genins. Eyeing the Jyuuken stance of Hinata and the more lethal, chakra infused wakizashi of Shinji, Asuma decided he needed to take it up a notch. Reaching into the pouch strapped to his thigh, he fished out his pair of trusty trench knives – forged with the highest quality chakra metal imported from Tetsu no Kuni and crafted by the number one master blacksmith in the Capital city.
Similarly, Shinji upon seeing Asuma put on his trench knives, realized that the jounin was getting serious. Even though his Sharingan was not activated, the mass of chakra being pumped into the trench knives by Asuma was still visible to the naked eye. When compared to his own [Chakra Flow]'s reinforcement of his wakizashi which could only be seen with chakra sight, the difference was massive and an indication of the potency of Asuma's chakra as well as his mastery in the advanced chakra technique.
"I think I have seen enough from the three of you that I can confidently say it is already enough to pass my test even if you don't get the amulet," Asuma began speaking, smiling at the two genins with some satisfaction,
"But, from the looks of you two, I don't think you will be satisfied if we end this here. So… come at me with the intent to kill!" He declared with a roar that seemed to have been infused with chakra in some form of sound-based ninjutsu. However, the reality wasn't as complicated. The pressure and killing intent that slammed into Shinji and Hinata was purely the result of Asuma's desire to not just demonstrate his superiority, but also a desire to see how far he could push these little geniuses.
Before anyone moved, however, five separate kunais flew towards Asuma, the edges of the knives wobbling as though covered in a layer of black goo. The jounin extended the chakra on his blades, lengthening the edge of his knives and swiftly shredded the kunais as well as the kikaichuu attached to them into pieces.
Shinji shared a glance with Hinata before they both moved at the same time, targeting Asuma with their respective skillsets. What seemed odd to the jounin, however, was how well the pair seemed to work with each other. Actually, Shinji was the one who was lacking in teamwork and cooperation. It was Hinata who seemed more than comfortable and familiar with Shinji's abilities. She was the person whose movements accommodated Shinji's own, acting and reacting according to how the boy would move.
It was a strange sight, but not one that Asuma had the time to pay much attention to as a third person, Shino, finally joined the bout. At the same time, a swarm of kikaichuu burst out from the ground beneath Asuma, buzzing angrily and immediately flocking towards his chakra blades to consume what must have looked like a decadent meal to the insects.
The three of them worked together, albeit clumsily and awkwardly, to the best of their abilities to take him down. Asuma had to recognize Shinji's massive contribution to the endeavour. He was starting to recognize how exactly did Mizuki get taken down by this green horn, still wet-behind-the-ear genin. A chuunin-level target would have already succumbed under their continuous assault, and even a lesser jounin might be given a run for his money.
The jounin smiled, with what might seem like misplaced pride filling up his chest in the genins who had yet to even spend a single hour under his tutelage. The pride he was feeling was not in the accomplishments of himself as a sensei. Of course not. Rather, it was an admittedly rosy and optimistic outlook on the future of the village if these genins were the new generation who would replace himself as Konoha's elite shinobi.
As much as he would want to deny it, the patriotism and genuine love he felt for Konoha instilled in him by his father the Sandaime Hokage outweighed whatever cynicism or jaded perspective he had developed which ultimately drove him towards the Capital city in the first place.
It was at this moment, that Asuma made a binding resolution to himself… Even if it was at the cost of his life, he would make sure these three would be given the opportunity to grow, flourish and thrive. No matter who would threaten them, as long as he still lived and breathed, he would ensure they reach the peak of their potential. They would be the new generation that would inherit the will of fire even if he himself never did.
And the first step to grooming them to become elite warriors; the bedrock foundation of this village's military might like Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai that he knew they would become, was to utterly crush them in this graduation exercise.
'And I was still looking forward to being a laidback jounin instructor', Asuma mused before infusing his muscles with chakra, much like Shinji's [Chakra Enhancement], except at a level that his movements would have looked like a blur even under the dynamic vision of Shinji's Sharingan.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone