Chapter 40 (Patreon)

Another fifteen days passed.

During that half month, Mihawk’s life returned to what it had been like before he met Hinata.

Every day, he completed his daily tasks, practiced his swordsmanship, entered sword meditation, and experienced more of Hawkeye’s memories through the template.

Nearly three months had passed since Team Eight’s first B-rank mission.

After counting the three Amegakure shinobi Mihawk had killed during that mission, along with the Otogakure spy Yoroi Akadō, Hawkeye’s template had reached:

[52.2%]

Without realizing it, Mihawk had already experienced more than half of Hawkeye’s life as a swordsman.

The Hawkeye he now saw within the template was already frighteningly powerful.

However, he had not yet reached the level of a Great Swordsman.

Mihawk knew this because he had not yet experienced the moment when Hawkeye’s awareness of the Breath of All Things spread across most of Konoha in an instant.

Still, Mihawk was not in a hurry.

Breaking through a limit like that would take time.

There were still five years before the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Even if Mihawk did nothing except complete his daily tasks, the template would still pass eighty percent by then.

At eighty percent, Hawkeye would certainly have reached the level of a Great Swordsman.

Once Mihawk experienced that level through the template, he believed he would be able to expand the range of his own Breath of All Things in the same way.

When that happened, he would become a true Great Swordsman.

For now, however, Mihawk had something else to work on.

Since Hinata was no longer beside him, he spent almost all his free time training.

His daily tasks, sword meditation, and time spent experiencing Hawkeye’s memories did not take the entire day.

Because of that, Mihawk used the remaining time to improve his Body Flicker Technique.

After watching Rock Lee use the Eight Gates, Mihawk realized that his current weakness was speed.

His body was not naturally powerful, nor did he possess any special bloodline.

Armament Haki increased his strength and defense, but if an enemy moved faster than his body could react, it would become difficult for him to use his sword properly.

It was similar to how Mihawk had prevented Kurenai from using her genjutsu and stopped Zabuza from using his swordsmanship and ninjutsu.

Mihawk had never been placed in that situation himself, but he could imagine how frustrating it must have felt.

There were not many shinobi in the world fast enough to trouble him.

The Fourth Raikage and Might Guy were among the fastest, while Tsunade possessed terrifying physical strength.

Two of them belonged to Konoha, so Mihawk might never have a reason to fight them seriously.

Even so, now that he had noticed a weakness in himself, he would not ignore it.

He had no intention of letting an enemy take advantage of it in the future.

For the entire month, Mihawk practiced tree climbing and water walking while wearing weights.

After that, he trained his Body Flicker Technique without removing them.

Once he became used to the weight, he changed the way he trained.

He placed all the weight on one leg.

With one leg heavier than the other, it became much harder to keep his balance.

Tree climbing and water walking were especially difficult. Mihawk had to control the chakra in each foot separately while also keeping his body steady.

The slightest mistake would make him fall.

Using the Body Flicker Technique in that condition was even harder.

However, once his body adjusted to the imbalance, his reactions became faster and his movements felt more natural.

Mihawk wanted his body to move before he had to think about it.

With him training harder than usual, the remaining month quickly passed.

One month was not enough for most people to become much stronger.

Even Mihawk had only managed to increase the speed of his Body Flicker Technique.

Naruto and Sasuke were different.

As the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, their strength could rise at an unbelievable rate once they found the right way to train.

Today, Konoha was filled with noise and excitement.

The village looked as lively as it did during a festival.

Spectators had arrived at the stadium early in the morning, hoping to find good seats before the official matches began.

Fireworks burst across the daytime sky, leaving trails of smoke behind.

The final stage of the Chūnin Exams was about to begin.

That morning, Mihawk and Hinata finally saw each other again after spending an entire month apart.

The moment Hinata saw him, even her usual shyness could not stop her.

She ran forward and threw herself into his arms.

That alone showed how much she had missed him.

One month might not have seemed very long to other people.

For Mihawk and Hinata, however, it had been difficult.

They had spent nearly every day together for the past six years and were almost never apart.

Before leaving the house, Mihawk teased Hinata for quite some time.

Hinata usually became too embarrassed to respond, but this time, she gathered her courage and returned his affection.

By the time they finally separated, her face was completely red.

Mihawk also noticed that Hinata had changed slightly.

She stood with more confidence than before, and there was less hesitation in her movements.

It seemed Hiashi’s strict training had helped her improve.

After spending a little more time together, Mihawk and Hinata gathered their equipment and left for the stadium.

By the time they arrived, most of the candidates who had passed the preliminaries were already waiting in the arena.

Only Sasuke Uchiha and Dosu Kinuta were missing.

Even Naruto, who had nearly arrived late in the original story, was already there.

As soon as Gaara noticed Mihawk, his eyes filled with killing intent.

Neji also looked at him with open hostility.

Mihawk ignored both of them and calmly took his place beside Hinata.

Neither of them noticed the two people watching from the audience.

“Father, why did Onee-sama come here with that person?”

Hanabi looked down at the arena with a puzzled expression.

“Didn’t she leave the compound early this morning? Why did she only arrive now?”

Hiashi did not answer.

He stared at Mihawk with a slight frown.

The reports he had received from the servants over the past several years came back to him.

Hinata often left the compound and rarely remained at home, even during holidays.

At first, Hiashi had not paid much attention to it.

Most of his attention had been focused on Hanabi.

He had already decided that Hinata’s personality and talent made her unfit to lead the main family.

As long as she did nothing that could damage the Hyūga clan’s reputation, Hiashi had seen no reason to interfere with how she spent her time outside the compound.

Now, however, it seemed there was more to the situation than he had realized.

Hiashi remained silent as he watched Mihawk and Hinata below.

Mihawk had no idea that Hiashi had finally begun paying attention to him.

The time for the matches soon arrived.

Sasuke had still not appeared.

The proctor for the official matches was Genma Shiranui, a tokubetsu jōnin who had once served in the Fourth Hokage’s Guard Platoon.

Genma removed a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and looked at the nine candidates standing before him.

“It’s time.”

He opened the paper.

“Before we begin, I’ll go over the match order once more.”

The candidates turned their attention toward him.

“There has been a change because of a special situation.”

Genma looked toward Naruto and Hinata.

“Dosu Kinuta will not be participating. Hyūga Hinata, who originally received a bye, will take his place in the fifth match.”

He paused before announcing the new pairing.

“The fifth match will be Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyūga Hinata.”