Chapter 8
A Shinobi Classroom Retrospective
Sora and the Hanzo girls were now training even harder than ever before, even though there were some minor hiccups left and right, as well as a bit of beration on the side, but they still trained harder. Sora however, felt his new powers were growing stronger as he trained. Kiriya left, letting Hibari and Yagyu know that they would be training privately with him, and left at once in a burst of smoke. This made the others worried about them, but Sora knew that Hibari was strong, and wasn't showing it at all. In his office, Kiriya was soon greeted by Daidoji who observed that he was training his students with enthusiasm, complimenting their unique and versatile styles, as well as telling him that the burden was for the students, not the teachers. Kiriya knew that quite well ever since their first encounter with each other. He remembered when he first met Ikaruga and Katsuragi, who had a rocky start when they first enrolled at the school two years ago, even as they trained, bathed, and got in trouble with each other, until they decided to form a compromise with each other by escaping the barrier that Ikaruga created without any distractions, which in turn caused her to let go of her pride and accept that she was stronger with friends than alone. Then a year later, Asuka joined them, as they practiced their transformation technique, which in turn surprised them that she was Hanzo's granddaughter, regardless of all the hardships she endured, until she unveiled her own transformed outfit. But by the spring of that year, Hibari and Yagyu also became part of the class, and the white haired girl exceeded all expectations of her classmates, as well as Kiriya's. But Hibari always had difficulty in the training, and Ikaruga would often get annoyed with Yagyu for how she acted around them, leading to her friend convincing her to let go of her pride and open her heart to others. At last, Sora came to the class, and was now part of the class, and he performed many incredible feats that made everyone surprised, but also impressed by how he used his Keyblade, and was rather light on his feet, earning a bit of respect from Yagyu, who regarded him as a strong but friendly-rival of her own making.
"Things were quite like that for a while, but eventually Yagyu was able to break out of her problem child phase. Then again, they're all problem children. Daidoji, graduate and get out of my hair, already," Kiriya said.
"Nah, I have way too much fun annoying you, and you know I have something to finish before I can leave," remarked Daidoji.
She thought back to the time she and Rin fought with each other in a sparring match, and lost to her, as well as received the best of luck from her, promising that she'd find a way to strike her opponent.
"However, before I could fulfill my promise, she…" she said quietly.
"I should never have let her go on that mission, but she managed to talk me into it," sighed the Hanzo class' teacher, as the memory of what happened before still haunted him.
"I should have stopped her. If I had a stronger will, she'd still be with us today," he added.
"I had a feeling she wanted to go no matter what you decided in the end," the graduate said.
"This war with Hebijo Academy is going to be a difficult one," replied Kiriya.
"They'll regret ever crossing us," agreed Daidoji.
"It's up to me to set everything right," he admitted.
'The end is approaching, and who knows? Perhaps my graduation isn't as far away as I thought," she said.
Unknown to them, Sora had heard everything from behind the door.
"Kiriya Sensei. I think I understand now. You're hurting because your student Rin is gone," he murmured and quietly left them.
Outside on the training grounds, Hibari and Yagyu climbed the ropes, but the white haired kunoichi apologized to her friend, and left thanks to his words. But at Hebijo, Suzune was angry that Dogen had ordered Haruka to proceed with her mission, without alerting anyone, even though she knew that the scroll was important, but the young woman said that without it's chosen master, it was completely useless, by turning them to the side of darkness, after they fully opened themselves to darkness. But Dogen was adamant about having someone be chosen by the Ying scroll, which Suzune found as foolish, only to hear him say that the time to act was now. Just as Hibari was just about to take a shower she saw the earring roll towards her through Haruka's careful manipulation, and placed it on her uniform in the basket. But as she showered, she began to feel strange, because Haruka's voice now rang in her ears.
