Next morning, in front of Anko, Shintoki was facing the moon bear in hand to hand combat.
Merely developing a tough body isn't enough to become a stronger fighter in hand to hand combat.
He needed to face someone or a monster who could push him to develop and eliminate flaws in his moves.
For now, despite his progress, Shintoki was being pushed around by the moon bear; only his speed had saved him from being humiliated.
His raw strength was not enough. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fully break through the moon bear's defense.
He didn't use his kenjutsu, elemental ninjutsu, or genjutsu in the fight.
Only Kawarimi and shinshin were used to avoid some clear hits that would have left him very hurt.
Shin braced himself to block an upcoming punch from the bear before countering with one of his own, but when it hit the bear it didn't accomplish much.
It was like his hand only bounced on the bear, who exploited the opportunity to shoot his arm at Shin, trying to catch him, but the moment his arm closed on Shin, the latter dispelled into a cloud, leaving behind a log.
This scene would only repeat several times when the bear was close to catching Shin.
Irritated, the bear increased its speed and started to chase Shin around the field. With the pressure increased, Shin found himself more and more in difficulty, but he still tried to fight back.
He parried some punches from the bear, though he winced and was sent flying some meters back.
Seeing this, the bear flashed a satisfactory grin.
After the break, Shintoki returned to Anko's side.
"You are improving very fast, Shintoki.
With this progress, you will be capable of going toe to toe with Bear-kun soon."
"Thank you, I am also very pleased with the progress, and I never expected to match our friend.
Now it's your turn, Anko."
When Anko started to fight the bear, she was punched so hard her hand was in pain. In anger, she summoned a huge snake and started to chase the moon bear away in the area.
She was very pissed.
Seeing this, Shintoki only shook his head. Yet a smirk still formed on his lips. It's really good seeing Anko so happy. He really didn't want her to lose that smile.
4 days later
He was now practicing his hand to hand with Chunin Guy.
"You really are getting stronger at a fast rate. Even me and Asuma didn't grow this fast. It seems like your flame is burning very bright, Shin. Come show me what you can do. Let me feel your passion."
Shintoki had been pushing himself hard lately, intent on getting better. Shin had been thinking of a way to improve his taijutsu, which was his least improved among the ninja arts.
He still wasn't on the level of someone like Guy, but he sure is making progress.
His ninjutsu, kenjutsu, and genjutsu were all already solidifying above mere chunin.
The only area he needed to work on was his taijutsu.
Thinking about it, Shintoki in the last mission had found an interesting way to improve it.
While building his raw strength by being Guy's taijutsu partner when he is available or sparring with the moon bear, who possesses monstrous strength.
Hand to hand is the core of a duel. When your opponent is as strong as you in the other arts, then hand to hand combat is inevitable, and if you can be bested in this area, you are done for.
Shintoki isn't intending to rival Guy there yet, perhaps in the future, but he still wants to make considerable progress in the area. This way, when he also uses his other jutsu, he would possibly level up further, pushing himself completely into the tier above the chunin.
Despite not having the vest yet, Shintoki doesn't consider chunin level as a level where he can be safe. After all, there are genin who are near jounin level; he had seen this in the previous chunin exam.
Even now, Shintoki isn't sure if he would be able to defeat Hatarume in a 1 vs 1 fight. After all, last time was a surprise attack which worked because the villainess underestimated him and dropped her guard.
He had to make sure he not only possessed elite jutsu that are instant kill as his trump card, and unless the target is a fully fledged jounin, they wouldn't stand a chance against him.
Guy was easily avoiding Shintoki's attacks.
His strength was undeniably on another level compared to Shin, who was not using his ninjutsu or sword.
This gap was mostly thanks to his superior physique. While Shintoki had made progress, Guy didn't sit idle ever.
He was a true beast. And knowing he would in the future be able to face off against all the most dangerous people in the world, his potential was frightening.
Of course, if Shintoki were to use his sword, he would be able to handle his own. After all, compared to his peers and even Guy's generation, he was ahead in that department.
If Kakashi could control his Chidori without losing control, then he could be a rival, but ever since Shintoki developed the spiraling human technique, which can boost his kenjutsu, he was confident he was completely above even Kakashi if he used his imperfect Chidori.
Guy started to spin, leaving in his wake a rising storm of dust in his momentum before delivering a strong kick toward Shin.
Seeing the attack coming, Shintoki raised his arm to block.
When it connected, he was sent flying back. If not for Shintoki himself starting to spin to reduce the strength of the hit, he would have been seriously hurt.
Damn it, seems like I really will be spending some hellish time with this dude.
Mainwhile, while our freinds were fully in their duel, Not far from the duo.
Someone was perched on a tree, looking at their exercise with an exasperated face. What are those idiots doing now? Guy, why waste your time on him?
The teenager had white hair and wore a mask.
For him, Shin having failed to graduate in the previous exam showed that he is not anything special.