CHAPTER TWO

Sekita POV

The first week had ended unlike our first 2 years the third years now lived in the academy. The weeding-out process was over whether we wanted to or not we were on the fast track t becoming Iwa shinobi. Training would be a whole lot more serious, and so would the punishments. If you after all the time and money Iwa spent on you were unable to bear fruit you would be cut down.

Unsurprisingly, Ishikawa, Watanabe and I were asked to represent our year group this year. This was a big honour and all three of us immediately accepted. Now we went to the first of the many training for the representatives. They would consist of topics ranging from combat and strategies to Politics and how to act in the presence of certain wealthy individuals in Iwa.

The school had a lot riding on us. A good performance could mean some extra cash or better teachers sent here to fully utilize the potential of the promising students. Of course, the school had never made it past the district section ever let alone win it. For fifty years the only school to make it out of this district was the Imperial Iwa Academy. They were about as close as to a school from the capital you could get without being one.

This was my first time doing anything of the sort and as expected I was somewhat jittery if it was fear, excitement or a mix of both I did not know. Judging by Ishikawa's rigid movements and Watanabe's incessant tapping of his foot it was clear they were in the same predicament.

When we entered the room where we were directed to we were the only ones there. Quickly enough the members of the other groups entered. Quickly the room was filled with each of the groups representing the school. In the room, there were twelve of us. Three from each year group could participate.

The sudden slamming of the door caused me to jerk up as I watched a man whom I did not recognize almost slither his way into the room. The other students shifted around him. They knew something we did not about this man. The room was dimly lit but his strong features stood out. His face was gaunt and hollow he was at least fifty.

His lips parted and in a low voice like the growl of a dog he spoke, "good evening, good to see you all after last year" he paused and looked to us, "and to the new participants the best of luck". He chuckled to himself and gave us a knowing smile.

Quickly we found ourselves being encircled by the rest of the representatives. Before we could bring the were upon us Watanabe was pinned on the floor and they were dragging a kunai across his back making deep but non-lethal cuts. It was not long until his screams permeated the room.

I attempted to move but I was frozen in place I felt two hand place themselves around my neck. Quickly I gasped for air but I was quickly blacking out. Suddenly the choking stopped my relief was short-lived when I felt severe sharp pains scattered across my body. I looked down to see senbon protruding from every inch of my body. Ishikawa was getting his head repeatedly slammed into the stone floor.

This must have happened for at least three hours until a timer went off the older students immediately leapt away from us into their initial spots one student continued to slam Ishikawa's face into the floor.

The boy was immediately met with a punch in the stomach, "I thought I was clear. Very clear. You rough em' up show what happens if they don't meet my standards." He said coldly. "I told you and two hours not two and five seconds. five seconds too much. Stay behind after this meeting along with the first-timers. The rest of you can go" He motioned them away with the flick of his hand, the boy still resting on his outstretched hand.

In a controlled manner, all left the room until only the Third year and the other student remained. I was tense after that display of violence. The three of us slowly got up from where we lay like old dogs licking their wounds after a fierce battle. This man was someone to be wary of.

The man turned to us letting the boy fall to the ground before sighing, "every year someone always fails to follow my instructions" he chuckled darkly to himself. "Anyhow, you'll be getting trained every day after your classes. Most of it will be team-based and engaging in what they are teaching you at the academy. It was a pleasure to meet you my name is Kimura Masaru. I do hope you have better success than the rest of the idiots they give me".

Turning away from us he spoke again, "you can go to the room adjacent to this one. Ko will help with your injuries". He turned back to us and stared deeply at all of us, "I would say last year's punishment was tenfold what you just experienced keep that in mind the goal is the capital anything less is failure".

I was shocked by this school seldom made it to the district-level tournaments never had we made It to the capital it seemed like this man was just someone who like to torture children. I sure as hell wasn't going to give him a reason to do so to me.

Entering the adjacent room, I was met with the smell of rubbing alcohol commonly used in hospitals. A small woman, shorter than me, hurriedly walked towards us. Thinking about it now our injuries were a gruesome sight. It was probably only fear and adrenaline keeping me walking. One by one were laid into a bed the short woman was surprisingly strong enough to lift us and placed us on the beds without a hint of difficulty. I was last and it seemed whatever was keeping me up was fading as I fell into the woman's arms and drifted off.

I woke up the next morning early the sun yet to rise. I couldn't feel any of my injuries anymore whatever the woman had done it had worked moving from the bed I stood up, Watanabe and Ishikawa were still sleeping. I couldn't see the lady anywhere, so I moved to leave the room and started to go to the mess hall I didn't get to eat anything that night.

The halls were mostly empty the occasional student or teacher would walk by me. I was halted in my movements by a hand on my shoulder. Turning to see who it was I was met by a fist to the face and a kick to the stomach.

Groggily I got up still dazed before I was sent back down in a crunch after my legs were swept from underneath me. The second fall seemed to have jolted me back somewhat. In my newfound alertness, I noticed Netami, Number five in the class, and his gang of two members who had surrounded me. Carefully watching the group, I swayed towards one of the others to Netami had gotten for this "job". He bit on the faint I spun around him and pushed him into the other two before sprinting from them.

Immediately the guys cut me off I was going to be here for a while.

Netami spoke up, "You aren't going anywhere. Shiba sensei told us that we still have a chance at being representatives if we can defeat them in combat".

"Shiba sensei said single combat. There are three of you" I reasoned.

"He doesn't have to know the specifics." He retorted a wide grin plastered on his face.

I snorted "sounds like you can't beat me without the help of someone else". At this point, I was just taunting and betting on Netami's pride. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side as he signalled to his two accomplices and they began to encircle me. I just wanted to eat and now I'm fighting in academy politics. I brought out a kunai from my back pouch. Right now it was all I had.

One of Netami's goons lunged at me and he was met with a sidekick to his face courtesy of me sprawling him on the floor, unconscious. The second one charged at me again throwing a couple of shuriken at me.

I deflected the projectiles but, at that time, Netami closed the distance between me and started his attack. Skillfully I deflected all of his kunai slashes while dogging the shuriken the other student was throwing.

I was getting pushed back and the tide of the fight was turning, Netami and I were about even in taijutsu but constantly worrying about getting hit by shuriken shifted the battle to his advantage. Deciding enough was enough I threw down a smoke bomb and used the surprise to finally get away

I sighed as I finally slouched against a wall this was going to be a regular occurrence as a representative. Becoming one meant it was you who was one of the stronger ones in your generation it got jounin interested in training you and of course, you might make it into one of the more prestigious academies which would almost guarantee you a jounin sensei and a good one at that.

People would be gunning for me now and I doubt that it would ever be a semi-fair fight, such was the way of the shinobi after all. There was going to be much more like Netami in the coming future. It just meant that I needed to prepare myself

Now I headed to the mess hall, the adrenaline of the fight no longer masked the hunger. So, hurriedly I scarfed down the soup they were selling for breakfast. I looked eyes with Netami before he looked away not stupid enough to try and fight me in front of all of these people.

It was now when Ishikawa and Watanabe entered the hall. They looked quite refreshed after the escapade last night. After spotting me they went in my direction and sat down. They weren't when I entered now everyone's eyes were on us watching our every move. We had a big target on our back, but no one would try anything now while the sensei was watching. Instead, they resigned themselves to plotting against us.

The message was clear there wouldn't be a moment this year where we wouldn't be challenged whether that was by classmates or sensei. I began to eat the eggs they were serving this morning before slouching into my chair and letting out a sigh for all the trouble we would face.

I doubt any of the sensei would bat an eye if a student or two went missing for some weeks so I could make an example out of someone. Get the idea of an easy target flushed from their head.

As it was Saturday the students were allowed out of the academy and I planned to check on Ryota's family to see how Yuki was adjusting to academy life. Of course, that was not the only reason I was going there. Ryota was very clear that his wife could give me the scrolls needed for the next part of my training.

When I arrived at the house its modest but traditional nature was in sharp contrast to the slums it was in. When I knocked on the door I was met with the hasty opening of the door by Yuki. Her mother was quick to follow looking to see who it was.

"Yuki you should always check to see who it is before opening the door" she scolded pointing a tantalizing figure in the younger girl's direction.

"But mother I could tell it was Sekita" she responded in the same heated fashion. "I could feel it"

I was now a tad bit suspicious of why she could feel me. It sounded like she was a sensor, but I had other things to do before confirming my theory. It seemed that the two had finally realized that they had a guest standing outside and promptly welcomed me into the house. The two of them led me to the dining table. We all pulled out a chair and sat.

Setsuko was the first to begin, "I assume you are looking to continue your training". She reached behind her pulling out what I assumed was the scroll.

I nodded before taking the scroll. After that, she left the room leaving just me and Yuki.

"So, how is academy life treating you". A shrug was my only response. "You keeping up with your studies", she gave a curt nod.

It seemed that she was still very standoffish. She viewed me as a threat. Her father always wanted a son which was evident in her name "Yuki" a male name. to her was that son a threat to her spot as the beloved child.

As much as I had tried to explain that I was doing no such thing, childishly she remained stubborn in her thoughts. It seemed the hope of a somewhat non-hostile interaction was futile. I pulled out my chair and went to leave. Intending to use this time to train alone.

Yuki still viewed me as a threat to her position in the family. I couldn't blame her for holding this tight to her parents. My parents died in Kusa along with the other one thousand shinobi. I would be just as protective as her.

It was mid-day when I left the house and figured it was a good time to start training. Reaching back to pull the scroll from my back pocket it read 'For the next few months because you're a representative the academy will be helping you out with jutsu and whatnot. Flashy things like that help them get sponsors in these tournaments. So it's my responsibility to help you with the rest of the aspects of a shinobi. If you want to go far in these tournaments, you need to be extremely fit. There's no rest period once the tournaments get started so it 6 months of continuous trials. Your muscular and aerobics endurance will be important so you be doing plenty of running and all the physical exercise you've been doing will no longer be done for strength so you can decrease the weight of exercise difficulty for more reps and get closer to muscle failure because I'm not here it's up to you how hard you push yourself '.

I smiled to myself at Ryota sensei's full confidence in my becoming a representative. He also believed that I would have enough discipline to stick to this program. Then I read the bottom line 'you will find some weights in the scroll, which is a sealing scroll, just press the middle of the formula. Use them on your runs'.

Just as I did the action a medium-sized puff of smoke and a set of weights appeared. The weights were surprisingly small they were easily attached to my legs because there is no time like the present I decided to test them out and just start running

Immediately I felt the increased weight on my legs but I quickly adjusted. Of course, thirty minutes in my calves felt like they were splitting and every step I took was met with a pain-filled wince. It was clear I was not adjusted I could run for about ten hours straight at a good pace, Ryota made sure to test it, but these weights were by now causing me to feel like I was sinking into the ground.

The next thing I did was pull-ups the weights also affected my performance there but not as much so I got a good sweat built up before going into shuriken practice. I lacked the raw chakra capacity of Watanabe or Ishikawa where I had them beat was the control which enabled me to get the jutsu I had quickly.

I couldn't just fling jutsu until the enemy stopped moving I need the tools to end an engagement quickly I had for lack of a better word shit stamina. Prolonging fights would be my downfall. It was because of this that sensei was forced to train me in shuriken techniques.

In my mind, it was waste of time but pretty soon I could thread a needle with a shuriken, and it was by far my best skill. 'No point in fighting someone who could have to be killed by a projectile' was sensei's popular mantra he echoes while forcing me to do this.

Now I am begrudgingly seeing the benefits of what he was doing but to my eight-year-old mind, it was still inferior to the ninjutsu Watanabe was flinging around. As much as I like to think he and him equal, he was way better than me in anything ninjutsu related. That kid was chucking B-ranked jutsu like they were child's play the amount of chakra he had would have been uncanny for someone born into some of the more powerful clans.

Watanabe was an anomaly a freak of nature people like him tended to become feared by the wrong people and find their way into important people's bingo books. If you weren't all you were cracked up to be you would end up in some coffin. Still, Watanabe was a cocky bastard and he wouldn't let him any compliments out of fear of his head becoming too noticeable on a mission and getting him killed.

On the opposite side was Ishikawa the quiet boy who had not one prideful boisterous or cocky bone in his body. It worked to his advantage he was always being underestimated by all of his opponents. He'd be getting his fair bit of challenge from the rest of our class what many assumed to be the weak link between the three of us.

The boy was the smallest but if speed had a poster boy, he would be it. It was scary how he could damn near perceive you in slow motion when he was motivated, he did not doubt that the adjust freak he was would become much more known after he destroyed those who thought to challenge him.

I was the one who acted like the bridge between the two good at everything but not great at anything the quintessential jack of all trades. I was even getting a couple of genjutsu down for some weird reason that involved getting messed up by a genjutsu specialist after dishing the branch of shinobi combat. Luckily for me, Iwa had no shortage of books on genjutsu and medical ninjutsu was the most lacking area when it came to our shinobi.

As you would expect numerous books were available trying to get someone hooked on it and get for the job. The Third Tsuchikage was not a fool and after two wars of watching Konoha's medics be the deciding factor in their victory, he diced to push for it in his shinobi forces. Of course, your average stone shinobi wanted cool earth jutsu to kill their enemies not jutsu to heal their comrades.

Pulling myself from the mussing I quickly brandished eight shurikens and threw them all of them lodging themselves into eight points that would kill you instantly, Larynx, Spine, Lungs, Liver, Jugular, Subclavian artery, Kidneys, and Heart. Most of the day was spent repeating this with shuriken and kunai time using wire to 'capture' my target.

Most of the qualifying matches up until the district tournament would be simulated missions. The district was a team combat exercise and when we reached the capital we would be in single-combatant fights against academy students all over Iwa.

It was important that I could be useful in any situation if I wanted to be defined by my jack-of-all-trades moniker.

I stayed there until about eleven o'clock before I was called and went back to the dorms. The rest of my weekend was spent training and at the end of the day on Monday I was on my way to attend the first training session with Kimura. The man still unnerved me but if I wanted to make it far I would d have to grin and bear it.

It was clear that both Watanabe and Ishikawa were going through a similar set of thoughts as we entered what we would learn to be hell on earth or Kimura anger ventilation room the sight we met was quite … Interesting.

Intense was the only way to describe it. Everyone was preoccupied with some exercise all operating in their three-man cells and executing every exercise with precision and practised ease it was unnerving that all across the country others were training with the sole goal of crushing anyone in their way, and by extension them, with this ferocity.

It was not long after we admired those around us that we were approached by Kimura. He looked much more approachable after our first meeting. There was a smile across his face as he led the head of the academy to us.

"Ah yes these are our third-year representatives," kimura said talking to the man, "Right now we going to put them through their first circuit and see where their teamwork is"

That was news to my ears. Whatever this was it was not going to be a walk in the park but It seemed it wouldn't be as torturous as their first meeting. Following Kimura we were led to an obstacle course there was rocky terrain similar to most of Iwa.

The second thing I noticed was the heat. Even thousand this was underground the lighting along with vents blowing in hot air simulated the barren lands of the border between Iwa and Kusa. It was now when Kimura decided to speak.

"Do you see that lag in the middle of the arena" He pointed to a there stood yellow flag blowing to the left from the constant venting of the hot air " in this task the three of you will attempt to stop your fellow representatives from taking the flag in the next ten minutes"?

We made our way to the flag and waited in anticipation. Our roles were very clear Watanabe would support with ninjutsu along with defensive ninjutsu, Ishikawa would use his taijutsu expertise to hold off most of the forces and I would be in between helping who needed the most help.

It wasn't very long until about seven students filed in very controlled they were all older than 13 and had gone past puberty. Any bout in strength would be in their favour. Anything that experience presided over would be in our elders' favour as well. the had the numbers and the skill. Quantity and quality were not very good for me.

Without a doubt, we would be over-extended. These ten minutes would be gruelling it would take every trick in the book to make it to five minutes. Every trick that wasn't in the book might take us to the ninth minute but any longer was up to chance.

As our senior eyed us like prey I watched my two companions tense up. Swallowing the spit that started to pool in the back of my mouth before speaking "When the going gets tough the tough get going". It was a popular saying of Ryota sensei. There was a wave of relief across Ishikawa's face, he also knew the saying and Watanabe became determined to fall into the tough category.

When Kimura's shout signalled the start of the battle all our opponents flashed away, out of sight. My eyes darted to find them but there was no one there they'd vanished. My next thoughts were ended by a loud crack.

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