[Battle Royale World— The Young Psychiatrist]
"The one you are calling for, that voice in your head, it is not your 'Mother'. And it definitely doesn't have any good intentions for you." Ino repeated her words boldly, despite knowing how deranged Gaara currently looked.
"How dare you say that?" Gaara shouted furiously at Ino in response, the gourd containing sand on his back vibrating, as if to show his anger to the world.
"When the world was against me, Mother loved me. When the entire village turned its back to me, Mother listened to me. When my own uncle tried to kill me, Mother protected me."
All of a sudden, sand exploded from Gaara's gourd and headed towards Ino in the form of bullets.
Thankfully, Ino was already prepared for such an attack and swiftly moved between the trees for some cover. Yet, it just wasn't enough in the end.
Gaara's sand bullets were relentless, piercing through the trees and hitting Ino no matter how much she tried to hide. It was as if the problem of low chakra reserves doesn't even exist for Gaara for some reason.
"Ahh!! I forfeit!" Ino somehow manage to declare her forfeit before the sand bullets could batter her to death.
Ding!
[Calculating the participant's chance of victory...
Confirmed that the participant has no chance of obtaining victory against the opponent.
The participant's forfeit has been accepted.]
A white barrier of light formed around Ino, protecting her from the sand bullet barrage as she was teleported out of the Battle Royale World.
[Chunin Exams Stadium]
"Ino darling!"
Ino's mother rushed towards Ino and hugged her as soon as she arrived at the stadium.
"You okay, dear? Any problems? How are you feeling? I almost had a heart attack as I saw you being battered by those sand bullets."
She launched a barrage of questions as she embraced Ino, how worried she was for her daughter.
"Umm… Dear, I think you are crushing her." Ino's father Inoichi Yamanaka said to his wife as he arrived at the scene, pointing at their daughter who was being suffocated in her grasp.
"I am so sorry, dear! I was so worried about you that I didn't notice." Ino's mother apologized to her as she released her from her tight embrace.
"Ugh… It's alright, mother. You were just worried about me." Ino replied as she took deep breaths.
"To answer your question, I am alright, just feeling a little bit exhausted. Thankfully, I managed to forfeit in time."
"That's good. But what possessed you to question a monster like Gaara? You saw for yourself what kind of deranged person he was when he nearly killed your fellow Genin Rock Lee in the preliminaries?"
Inoichi asked his daughter in a scolding tone, furious that Ino had taken such a huge risk needlessly.
"Well, Gaara just seemed more lonely than deranged to me at that moment. Looking around, shouting and searching for his so called 'Mother', he trusted his 'Mother' more than the entire world. How can a person be like this? It was just incomprehensible to me." Ino explained the reasoning for her action.
"But did you have to do this in a deathmatch where he would have killed you without even thinking about it?" Inoichi argued back.
"It was because I had the safety net of the Battle Royale that I dared to talk like this. Otherwise I would have been to afraid to even approach him.
The moment I saw Gaara, I knew that my role in this Battle Royale was over. So, I thought, why not try to make him see some reason. Perhaps he may spare some poor fellow's life in the future because of my words."
"Oh, my daughter! You are so kind and thoughtful. Trying to see hope even in a hopeless situation." Inoichi said as he embraced his daughter upon hearing her words, feeling proud of her.
"But how did Gaara become like this? Isn't he the son of the Lord Kazekage? How could Lord Kazekage let this happen to his son?" Ino asked her father, puzzled by Gaara's situation.
"The reason is one of the state secrets of Sunagakure, something I can't tell you. Lord Hokage had already offered to help improve Gaara's condition but Lord Kazekage refused the offer, saying that Suna can handle this matter alone."
"Alright! Enough talk about that monster Gaara. Our dear daughter has just come out of a freaking deathmatch and you have the gall to question her endlessly." Ino's mother scolded her husband for his continuous questioning as she stopped their conversation.
"Come, dear!" She took Ino's hand and led her to the stands to take a seat.
"So many fights!" Ino muttered as she looked at the giant blue screen broadcasting the Battle Royale in the sky.
Every now and then, another Genin would arrive in the stadium from the Battle Royale, often touching his neck or other part of his body while his whole body was covered in sweat as he remembered his death in the Battle Royale.
Ding!
[The System has verified that almost half of the participants in the Battle Royale has been defeated.]
It would not have been more than 10 minutes after Ino took a seat that the System's cold voice sounded again, almost causing her to jump in fright.
[The next phase of the Chunin Exams Battle Royale will now begin.
Several treasure chests will now be airdropped from the sky, each containing great treasures.
Participants can use these great treasures to increase their chances of victory in the Battle Royale, provided they can actually nab them!
Moreover, once the Battle Royale ends, the Top 10 participants will receive a copy of the various treasures they have obtained from the treasure chests.
May the best Shinobi win!]
The blue screen changed again after the System's announcement ended. Several pictures of the treasures were shown in detail, each one greater than the other.
Chakra Reserve Enhancement Cards which could increase one's chakra reserves up to mid Chunin level without even a single drop in their chakra efficiency. It could also unseal a participant's chakra reserve if it had been sealed by the chakra reserve limitation rule.
Status Restoration Cards which came with several charges, each charge capable of completely healing the user as well as refilling their chakra reserves.
Jutsu Scrolls which could apparently release Jutsu instantly. There were even some Bloodline Release Jutsu among the Jutsu Scrolls.
But what were the most attractive were the Character Cards! This cards could provide the abilities of a real Shinobi to the user. This for something unreal even though the Character Cards offered were only of Genin level Shinobi.
But what was even more unreal was that the Character Cards also contained Genin level characters from Uchiha, Hyuga and many other bloodline clans.
"This, this!!"
Ino could see just how much attractive these treasures would be for the participants.
However, while a normal participant would only see the treasures, being a student in psychology, Ino could easily perceive the underlying reason for the sudden airdrops.
The Chunin Exams Battle Royale was now going to be much, much bloodier!
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Chapter Title: System Announcement- [Airdrops are being dropped!]
Author's Note— The first part of this chapter was supposed to be included in the previous chapter but I couldn't add it because of time constraints.
As such, I decided to develop Ino's story a little since she is not a fangirl in this world. Besides, I always disliked that she is generally seen only as a pretty face.