"As expected, he's still too naive."
As Leorio, Kurapika, and Killua watched Gon, that same thought rose in all three of their minds.
The gap in strength between the two sides was far too great. With Gon's current ability alone, could he even touch the corner of Roy's clothes?
Killua and the others were seriously doubtful.
Especially Killua, who recalled how shocked he had been by Roy's speed back in the underground passage before the first phase of the exam had begun.
"Looks like the next match is Gon versus Hanzo. I wonder what the result will be if Gon, after awakening Nen, goes up against Hanzo."
…
In the arena, the black-clad examiner looked at the two of them speechlessly, then turned toward Netero, only to see that he made no response at all.
Which made sense. There were no restrictions in the rules. Even if someone bribed their opponent on the spot and bought a victory with several hundred million Jenny, it still wouldn't count as a foul.
And so, thanks to Roy's suggestion, what should have been a proper duel turned into a game of hide-and-seek.
If it was hide-and-seek, there was no way Roy could lose. With sheer ability and bodily coordination alone, he surpassed Gon by miles.
The tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed, Kurapika thought. After all, a perfectly normal duel had turned into hide-and-seek.
"Well then, let's begin~" Roy said with a smile.
Then in the very next second, several afterimages spread across the entire arena.
Afterimage Technique.
Gon: "..."
Killua: "..."
The other examinees: "..."
The referee: "..."
Wasn't this bullying a bit too much?
"I won't give up so easily!" Gon slapped his cheeks and said with a serious expression.
Then he used Gyo, but no matter how he looked, he still couldn't tell which one was Roy's real body.
"Damn it, I still haven't trained enough!"
Clearly, Gon concluded that this was happening because his own strength was lacking.
What he didn't know was that this was an orthodox martial arts technique, not a Nen ability. Naturally, Gyo couldn't see through it.
And it wasn't just Gon. Even Illumi, Hisoka, and all the examiners present couldn't see through it either.
"Ho ho ho, so it really is the Afterimage Technique? I already saw it once before, but seeing it again still feels quite marvelous."
Netero smacked his lips in admiration.
After realizing Gyo was useless, Gon directly made his move.
But obviously, no matter how he touched those images, he could never catch Roy's real body.
And just like that, an hour slowly passed by~
"You lost~" When the time was up, Roy's figure slowly emerged.
Gon was still a little unwilling to accept it, but the result was the result. He couldn't go back on his word, so he could only say with a bitter face, "I admit defeat."
Seeing that, the referee immediately declared Roy the winner of the first round, making him the first examinee to pass the Hunter Exam.
Winning a Hunter License by playing hide-and-seek...
Was this really the final test?
The watching examinees all thought so silently.
Although Gon had lost, Roy—his companion—had successfully obtained a Hunter License, and Gon quickly became happy again.
Roy stepped back into the crowd of spectators, but Gon did not leave the arena. As the defeated party, he had to face a second opponent.
"My turn."
Hanzo came to stand opposite Gon and said seriously, "I'm not like him. You'd better surrender early and save yourself some physical suffering."
"No." Gon answered without the slightest hesitation.
"I see." Hanzo's gaze sharpened a little as he began thinking about how to force Gon into submission.
Outside the ring, Killua calmly watched Gon and Hanzo. Before Gon used Nen, he believed Hanzo was stronger than Gon, and that Gon was bound to lose.
But what if Gon released his aura?
In the next moment, Gon directly let his aura surge out, a steady flow of aura dispersing across the surface of his body.
Hanzo's instincts were very sharp. He immediately sensed a dangerous aura rising from Gon's body.
"As expected, there's something strange about these guys!" Hanzo's hand clenched tightly.
As an outstanding ninja, Hanzo had already noticed a lot of odd things over the course of these exams.
These people all seemed able to use some kind of mysterious power.
"I can't let my guard down!"
As he thought that, Hanzo's eyes became even sharper.
"Second round, begin!"
…
Hanzo came from a secret ninja organization, a background no less formidable than the environment of the Zoldyck family. It could be said that from the moment he was born, he had been subjected to all kinds of harsh training.
For nearly eighteen years, he had trained tirelessly without pause.
His name was Hanzo, after all—the name inherited from the most legendary figure in his organization's line, Hattori Hanzō.
That alone showed how extraordinary his talent was, and how exceptional his strength had become.
The organization had placed great expectations on him, and in order to complete his mission and find the legendary Hermit's Scroll, he had come here to take the Hunter Exam and obtain a Hunter License.
In all his past days, he had tormented countless opponents, but never had he felt as frustrated as he did today.
At the beginning, Gon, after activating his Nen, fought Hanzo for quite a while, but in the end he still wasn't Hanzo's match.
Hanzo used every method of torture he had learned over the past eighteen years on Gon, but none of it worked at all!
Hanzo could feel that there was some sort of power in Gon's body that greatly weakened the force and damage of the punishment he inflicted.
That gave him a terrible headache.
This was basically a damn turtle shell!
"I will never surrender!"
Watching Gon climb up from the ground again, shouting as if nothing had happened, Hanzo felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
"I won't back down," Gon said firmly.
A cracking sound came from Hanzo's teeth. After a long while, as though he had understood something, he let out a huge breath, suddenly stepped forward, and smashed a fist into Gon's cheek.
This time, he attacked out of pure resentment and used his full strength without holding back at all.
Gon was sent flying by the punch, and his chin happened to take the hit.
So when he landed, he cleanly lost consciousness.
"I surrender. Let's move on to the next match," Hanzo said to the referee.
Realizing there was no way to make Gon admit defeat, Hanzo vented the anger in his heart with a merciless punch, then quickly adjusted his mindset and prepared to win the next match.
As for the previous torture, the aura around Gon had only weakened the damage, not erased it entirely, which meant he wasn't actually as badly hurt as he looked.
Because of that, Roy, Kurapika, and the others weren't worried about Gon's condition.
The referee nodded, then called Killua into the arena, while another examiner took the unconscious Gon to the infirmary.
"Another kid... and one from the same group as that brat..."
Hanzo felt a toothache coming on.
"How about this? Let's also use hide-and-seek to decide the winner. What do you think?" Hanzo abruptly changed his tone. Completely unlike when he had faced Gon, he now sounded as if he were discussing it.
"Are you an idiot?" Killua pulled both hands out of his pockets and replied while staring at Hanzo with his catlike eyes.
"Uh...???"
(End of Chapter)
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