I got my first review with what appears to be constructive criticism! Someone cares enough to read my work and find it worthy of critique! I feel like a real author! AN at the bottom.
Have a bonus chapter!
"Shiranui Ry, you've been challenged to a ladder match." A voice interrupted Utatane-sensei.
The green haired chunin glanced over at the door with exasperation. Her hand flicked dismissively.
Ry got up from his seat.
The ninjutsu blocks weren't of much interest to him. They were primarily focused on chakra control. Ry had long since progressed past the basic standard of the leaf concentration exercise. He spent most of his time with his chakra infusion up, doing his best to utilize adhesion and repulsion instinctively while juggling. That, or moving through the hand seals as fast as he could, without chakra infusion.
Today, he was juggling one handed while reading some of the books Kazune had helped him check out of Konohagakure's jutsu library. They were keyed to him via a fuinjutsu method he didn't understand, but the three books were useful. Two of them were on Bunshin. Ry already had a handle on Kage Bunshin, but he wanted clones that didn't demand half his chakra reserves every time he needed one. He wasn't the original chakra monster.
As for the third book…Kazune hadn't been the one to suggest it, but she'd been downright giggly when she saw him grab it. Ry had endured interminable teasing about it.
It was hopefully going to be useful enough to be worth it. Ry wouldn't know until he had a solid grasp on one of the described jutsu within, and a viable target for it. It was also not the book he was reading in class. He didn't want to be judged.
Regardless of his main preoccupation, he also spent a significant amount of time prodding Narisa to stay on task. She'd come a long way; the leaves no longer burst into ashes and flame on her forehead. Still, she hated the hour and a half of sitting still. His imouto had also made it clear that she resented the way he and the others who'd already mastered the lead concentration exercise weren't held to the same stillness standards.
"Kick their ass, nii-san." Narisa said, before grunting as the eraser Utatane-sensei threw struck her in the nose.
Utatane-sensei might approve of Narisa's ninjutsu skills, but she did not appreciate disruptions to silent time. Oddly enough, Narisa seemed to respect it. Or perhaps the instructor. Ry could tell it was something of a pride thing with her. The few times she'd dodged the eraser, she'd looked smug for the rest of class.
Utatane-sensei never missed twice in a row. Dodge attempts or not.
Ry followed the instructor who'd summoned him. He didn't recognize her, but that wasn't unusual. Quite a few temporary instructors had been roaming through the Academy for the past week. They were there as referees and proctors. At the same time, Ry had also seen them pounce on an attempt to delay a challenged student into a forfeit.
The fact that the ambushers hadn't been given any real penalties told Ry the rebuke was meant to encourage subtlety, rather than stop the underhanded tactics.
To his surprise, he found the gymnasium was surprising full.
He saw Rokku bouncing up and down off to one side. She was the only friendly face he recognized, and he moved to join her.
"Shiranui-san." Rokku said. "Are you ready? Yosh! The eternal bloom of youth is verdant today!"
Ry couldn't help grinning. For all her training insanity, Rokku's antics always made him laugh. Nothing made her more energetic than an upcoming spar. He felt bad for whomever had challenged her.
"What's happening?" Ry asked.
"The Hyuga." A voice said from the side.
Ry glanced over to find a pretty green eyed blonde standing with her arms crossed. "The Hyuga?"
"They're trying to take as many of the top spots as possible, that's my guess." The blonde said. "Hyuga Nemi is number one, but the others don't like people being ahead of them. Heard them talking about some sort of ritual challenge."
"I'm ahead of a Hyuga in taijutsu?" Ry's eyebrows hiked in disbelief.
"What rank are you?" The blonde asked.
"Twenty fifth." Ry replied. "Shiranui Ry."
"Fujimori Yurina." The blonde replied, a grin on her face. "Eighteenth. And yes, at least two. Hyuga Sora is rank twenty nine."
"Huh." Ry said. "Does Seong-sensei not include Gentle Fist?"
"Who have you been sparring with that uses Gentle Fist?" Yurina asked, eyes wide.
"No one in class." Ry said. "But I figured they'd be allowed to use it for the ladder matches."
Yurina blinked a few times, then frowned. "Ah. Well, that suddenly makes a lot more sense."
All told, about forty students were gathered. Ry saw a few instructors, and he recognized some faces. Saneko was standing in her own island of personal space, Junji nearby but engaged in a quiet conversation with a kunoichi Ry vaguely recognized as being a fifth year. Fuyuka was clearly fuming where she stood with her arms crossed while glaring across the room at an Akimichi Ry didn't recognize. Shiori was by another Aburame in the corner, the two of them standing silently.
Everyone quieted down as the doors opened for a final time. Another instructor walked in, followed by five eerily similar nin, three kunoichi and two shinobi. All of them had brown or black hair, pale skin, a rather thin build, and most strikingly, pearlescent eyes.
Yup, that's a bunch of Hyuga.
Ry found their expressions surprisingly devoid of emotion. They were surveying the room like Ry surveyed practice dummies. It wasn't reassuring.
"For some of you, I'm sure this is a bit of a strange moment." The instructor said. "Please pay attention."
"As many in this room are hopefully aware, the Hyuga practice a style of taijutsu called Gentle Fist." The instructor said, her cadence swift. "For the duration of their time at the Academy, they do not use this taijutsu style to its fullest potential, for fear of crippling fellow Konohagakure nin before they can grow into their strength."
"All five here have already met the necessary requirements to pass as genin, in the next two weeks." The instructor continued. "What you may not be aware of, however, is the tradition that the Hyuga have participated in since the village's founding. A demonstration, for their fellow future nin, of the prowess that Gentle Fist offers its practitioners."
"The following ladder matches will not change the rankings for graduation." The instructor said. "They will simply act as a demonstration of what the Hyuga can accomplish when they're not holding back."
"First up is Hyuga Matomi, ranked fortieth." The instructor said. "Takehara Rina, please step into the ring."
A brunette Hyuga stepped into the ring. Opposite him, a kunoichi with black hair and a resigned look in her eyes stepped up to the mark.
Ry grimaced. "This is not going to be pretty."
"Ya think." Yurina said. "She's going to cut through everyone. Gentle Fist is totally unfair when their opponents have no way to create space."
"Chakra infusion and kekkei genkai will be allowed for this ladder match." The instructor said. "Both of you, bow."
The Hyuga bowed mechanically. His opponent did the same, her hands shaking ever so slightly as she clasped them in front of her.
"On my mark." The instructor said. "Begin."
Veins immediately bulged around the Hyuga's eyes. He began advancing immediately, sliding forward in a manner Ry recognized.
He'd been sparring against Hizashi for the last few days. Ry was nowhere close to matching the Hyuga Heir, at least not while restricting himself to taijutsu, but he knew the stances. The odd mix of rigidity and fluidity that permeated the Gentle Fist style.
Rina was in the traditional stance for Leaf Style. That being said, her entire posture screamed defeat. Her first punch was telegraphed to the point that it was ludicrous.
The Hyuga calmly brushed it aside with his hand, not bothering to follow it up. Rina's face screwed up as her hand spasmed when she tried to resume her guard. The Hyuga appeared content to wait. Rina shook her hand a few times, before forming it back into a fist.
"That's so vicious." Yurina muttered. "Can't keep up with someone with chakra infusion without a chakra infusion of your own."
Ry glanced over, finding Rokku meeting his eyes. While that was generally true, Ry was almost certain part of Gaya's training routine was designed to create a body that could do exactly that. He never seen anything to confirm that theory, but the way that Gaya put so much emphasis on minimal chakra infusion during workouts suggested such a goal. So did full speed sparring, with inhibitors, without chakra infusion. He and Rokku had beaten each other bloody a few times when Gaya was really pushing them, though ninety percent of the blood had been Ry's.
Three exchanges later, the Hyuga had shut down Rina's chakra network in both arms. The kunoichi raised her hand in surrender.
"Aburame Shiori, please step into the ring." The instructor said as Rina exited.
Ry frowned as he observed the next few bouts. Hyuga Matomi was fast, but he was nowhere near Hizashi's speed. Or even Rokku's, without a chakra infusion.
Not that it mattered. Thirty eight, thirty seven, thirty six, thirty five, thirty four, thirty three, thirty two, thirty one, and thirty all fell. None of them could offer more than minute resistance. Shiori actually did the best, but only because she sacrificed an arm in an attempted surprise counter. It didn't work, given the abilities of the Byakugan, but it was an admirable effort. Much better than what happened to Fuyuka, whose attempt at ending the match before it began finished with her collapsed on the floor, her chakra network completely disrupted after palms to her stomach and hip.
"Hyuga Matomi, you may exit the ring." The instructor said. "Hyuga Sora, you may enter the ring. Akimichi Hina, please enter the ring."
"Sensei, may I use my Clan's jutsu?" Hina asked as she and the Hyuga kunoichi took their marks.
"No." The instructor said. "Chakra infusion and kekkei genkai only."
"Talk about unfair." Yurina said.
"Sort of." Ry murmured.
Yurina's blonde locks swished as she turned to look at him. "What do you mean, sort of? These rules are slanted so firmly in the Hyuga's favor."
"Of course they are." Ry replied quietly. "They're trying to demonstrate why Byakugan plus Gentle Fist is so terrifying. Nothing is necessary for them other than chakra infusion and their eyes. And Byakugan are stupidly efficient, as is the base usage of Gentle Fist. They could keep this up for hours, if not days, provided they pace themselves and don't meet someone who forces them to expend their chakra rapidly."
Yurina squinted at him. "And you're an expert on the Hyuga?"
"I've asked around." Ry replied softly.
The Akimichi was in the middle of surrendering. The next kunoichi, a fourth year Ry didn't know, stepped into the ring. She looked determined, but Ry didn't see the outcome changing.
"Who'd you ask?" Yurina growled.
"A Hyuga." Ry said.
Yurina scoffed. "Yeah right. They don't share their secrets."
They do if they're besotted with your little sister and want your opinion to be as positive as possible. Plus when they know you're someone who's helping train them to augment their strengths and shore up their weaknesses.
Hizashi had proved remarkably dedicated. Ry wasn't taking that as a sign just yet, given they'd only been sparring for a week, but the initial signs were promising. Providing Hizashi the right motivation, and meeting him in a space where he could learn without outside pressures, had shown the Hyuga could do some incredible things.
It helped that Ry had bugged Kazune about it. Not that his taijutsu instructor was against the idea of sparring against a Hyuga, but she'd laid down some very clear rules.
Then she'd dished on every single weakness or counter strategy she knew of. Being Kazune, she knew a lot. She'd known things Hizashi himself wasn't aware of, things Ry wasn't sure the majority Hyuga were aware of. Those particular weaknesses were well beyond Ry's ability – and elemental affinities, in one case – but the Gentle Fist was not the monolith of taijutsu that most nin believed it to be.
Ry would bet money his taijutsu instructor was who the Hyuga went to when they encountered someone who'd come up with a new counter to their skills. Training against Kazune was, literally, like training against a copy of the new counter strategy.
Ry didn't bother replying to Yurina's disbelief. Twenty seven went down as quickly as twenty eight. So did twenty six.
"Shiranui Ry, step into the ring." The instructor said.
"Sensei." Ry said as he stepped in.
"Yes, Shiranui?" The instructor asked.
"Chakra infusion and kekkei genkai only, correct?" Ry asked.
The instructor frowned. "Correct. No jutsu allowed."
Ry nodded, then turned to Sora. "You're going to need to stop holding back."
The Hyuga's face tightened slightly. She was pretty, in a severe, pale way. Ry imagined she'd look stunning in an all black outfit, rather than the white and grey she wore. Her pearlescent eyes returned to equanimity after a moment's irritation.
"Bow." The instructor said.
Ry bowed, as did the Hyuga.
"Begin." The instructor said.
Ry held up the traditional guard, his chakra flowing through him. The Hyuga moved to meet him. Her gaze affected perfect serenity, even as the veins around her eyes bulged.
The previous opponents in the ring had opted for both offensive and defensive starts. Neither had proven successful.
Ry chose to wait, circling opposite his opponent. He'd prefer to go on the offensive right away, but that wasn't the path to success.
After a few seconds, Sora lashed out, fingers questing. Ry shifted his arm, shunting the jab to one side. Sora's eyes went wide, then snapped shut as Ry delivered a straight to her face. She reeled backwards.
"Stop expecting the first blow to make an opponent flinch." Ry growled, pulling back rather than taking advantage of his opponent's shock. "Anyone who knows what facing a Hyuga's like won't be shocked. They'll gut you with a kunai, happy to take a disruption to their chakra network in exchange for a blade to your gut while you're coasting on overconfidence."
Sora's eyes were narrowed. She took a moment to wipe at the blood leaking from her nose. Ry let her.
Her next strike was harder, and had a follow up behind it. Ry swayed away from the first, shunting the second. Sora's eyes turned to slits as she glared at him, especially when he chose not to retaliate.
"Learn to force your chakra through other materials." Ry said, creating space again and tapping his fingers against his forearm. "These aren't meant to protect against Gentle Fist, but if you expect minimal resistance, you're never getting through. You think an experienced chunin's chakra infusion is some flimsy thing? Or a jonin? They'll laugh off your strike and break you."
"Are you fighting or giving me a lesson?" Sora asked, her voice strained.
"Giving tips." Ry said. "You want a lesson?"
"I want you to shut up." Sora replied.
Ry smirked. "Make me."
Sora advanced with that clear intent. Ry kept blocking, using his forearms to divert her strikes. He took the first opportunity for a counter, knowing it was bait. Bait he was happy to accept.
As Sora's palm sent a pulse of chakra through the tenketsu in his upper arm, Ry's diverted fist made contact her shoulder. Rather than a full punch, however, he'd opened his hand. Sora's eyes were already widening as his fingers grabbed her shoulder, wrenching her off balance. Her broken stance made it easy for him to clip her ankle, sending her crashing to the floor.
She rolled, her pearlescent eyes screaming disbelief as she scrambled back to her feet.
"I told you." Ry said. "Those flimsy strikes aren't going to do anything against a solid chakra infusion. Now, stop holding back."
Sora's eyes twitched. Ry grinned at what he saw over her right shoulder.
When she advanced again, she was moving much faster, the chakra injections from Gentle Fist carrying much more oomph. The chakra network in Ry's right arm failed first, then his left.
"Going to surrender?" Sora asked.
"One last tip." Ry said.
"Without the arms to protect you?" Sora asked, cocking her head with a rather smug grin.
"You think you can take me down, go ahead." Ry said, gesturing.
Sora's hand flashed in, aiming for his jaw.
Clearly she wants to shut me up.
Fine by me.
Ry accepted the hit, his arms swinging in. He'd reacted too slow, which was expected. After all, he couldn't infuse his arms with chakra. Blocking or deflecting the Hyuga's attack would've been insane.
Ry wasn't aiming to block or deflect.
His right hand caught Sora at the elbow, his left at her wrist a moment later. The weight he'd committed to the maneuver let him turn the grapple into a twist, pulling Sora off any sort of line and giving him leverage over her arm. Leverage he immediately applied, forcing Sora to take two steps forward while he repositioned to be directly beside her.
"Surrender." Ry growled, his jaw difficult to move after Sora's strike.
Sora was frozen in place. Breaking out would only result in a broken wrist, and that was only if Ry was too slow to react. In reality, against an opponent like Sora, Ry would have no trouble maintaining the leverage necessary to snap her elbow.
After a few moments, Sora's tense posture relaxed. "I surrender."
"Release her." The instructor said.
Ry heard the faint tinge of shock in the instructor's voice. He released the Hyuga, stepping back. She turned to face him, and he bowed. After a moment's pause, she returned the bow.
"Never. Assume. Opponent. Out of. Tricks." Ry forced through his nearly locked jaw. "Even dead."
Sora's pearlescent eyes blinked a few times, then she nodded.
"Gorusa Hina, please enter the ring." The instructor said a moment later.
"Yosh!" Rokku pumped her fist as Ry walked back over. "Gaya-sensei would be so proud of your blooming youth, Shiranui-san!"
Yurina had wide eyes as she stood there. "How did you do that?"
Ry didn't reply for a moment. He went through the series of full hand seals for Mystical Palm, pressing his fingers to his jaw. It took a few minutes, as Sora's blockage in his jaw was firm and Ry was doing his best to be efficient. When she'd finally stopped holding back, the Hyuga's chakra injections were a real problem. If he hadn't had Hirana pushing him to utilize Mystical Palm in places outside of his hands, he'd have no choice but to wait it out. As it was, the chakra control required to utilize the healing chakra grind away the blockages in his arms was not easy, nor quick. The complication from having part of his chakra network compromised only slowed things down further.
And she's not even a genin yet. Damn.
"They're good, but they're not perfect." Ry said, rubbing his jaw after it finally loosened. "I imagine the one you face will be better, but they have trouble pushing through a solid chakra infusion. Or thick materials outside the skin, let alone both."
"Wait, you knew that going in?" Yurina asked.
"I told you I asked around." Ry replied.
Yurina's emerald eyes blinked a few times before she shook her head. "That's crazy. Wow. You actually beat a Hyuga using Gentle Fist, with only chakra infusion and kekkei genkai allowed. That's nuts."
Ry chose not to comment on his victory. There were several things he could've done differently, but winning hadn't been his primary goal.
As evidenced by the way the newer Hyuga, having just switched out with Sora, was moving in the ring, his primary goal had been successful. She didn't wait for her opponents, nor was she holding back. There was a marked difference. Her opponents went down like wheat before a scythe, most lasting less than four exchanges.
"That hurt." Yurina said as she limped back over.
"Yeah, having your chakra spasm out of control doesn't feel great." Ry held up a hand. "Want some help?"
Yurina was leaning heavily on her left leg, her right arm limp. "You can help?"
Ry went through the full hand seals for Mystical Palm. He held up his hand, the glow of seafoam green chakra evident around his hand.
"I thought iryo didn't- you know what, I don't care." Yurina grimaced, shaking her head. "Please."
It wasn't a fast process, but Ry was able to find and grind away the blockages Hanaya had created. Yurina let out a few hisses, but didn't move otherwise.
By the time Ry was done, they were on to the last Hyuga challenging, the one ranked fifth. Ry didn't catch her name, but the girl facing her looked oddly familiar. She was pretty, with black hair and pupil free black eyes. Ry would've thought she was some sort of hidden Uchiha, but her facial structure was wildly different than Saneko's, much rounder.
Then the match started and Ry's eyebrows shot up.
"Who is that?" Ry asked, unable to take his eyes off the girl who'd flipped the Hyuga across the ring in a classic Constrictor Roll, even moving into a pin that Aoba hadn't yet taught Ry, but had used on him multiple times.
"Yuhi Wako." Yurina said. "She's a fifth year, she would've graduated last year, but she didn't break into the top fifty for ninjutsu."
"Yosh!" Rokku nodded. "She has a hip attitude, but her taijutsu is excellent. We spar regularly."
Yuhi?
"Like the guest genjutsu instructor?" Ry asked.
"Yeah." Yurina said, giving Ry a sideways look. "She's his little sister."
"Huh." Ry grunted. "Didn't know he had a little sister."
Is that in the show? I honestly barely remember Kurenai other than her supposedly being excellent at genjutsu. Apparently Kuro uses Strangler Style like Aoba. Or got him to teach his sisters.
The Hyuga managed to free herself from the pin.
It didn't matter. Wako caught her two exchanges later, and this time the Hyuga didn't have an arm in position to cushion her fall. The sound of her face smacking off the boards echoed loudly. The Hyuga went limp, one of the instructors rushing in to place hands glowing with seafoam green chakra on her head.
Wako stood up, looking over at the group of Hyuga. "The third year is right. You're arrogant. It's going to get you killed."
That's not exactly what I said.
"At least Nemi has the skill to back up the arrogance." Wako continued.
Then she turned and walked straight towards Ry.
Oh boy.
"You use my brother's style." Wako said, stopping in front of Ry. "You should spar with my sister and I sometime."
"Ah, sure?" Ry said.
I just used Leaf Style's grapple though.
Then again, if she's openly using Strangler Style, it means she knows it well. There might be a tell I'm not aware of.
"Good." Wako nodded, smiling slightly. "I think you and Emika will get along."
"Such a bloom of eternal youth, Yuhi-san!" Rokku said. "Shiranui-san and I train together and spar once a week. You should meet up with us!"
Wako blanched, giving Ry a wary look. "You train with Riri-san?"
"Once a week emphasized." Ry replied, understanding her reaction. "My body isn't as tough as Riri-san's."
"Gaya-sensei says you only need to train more, Shiranui-san!" Rokku interjected.
Not if I want to be able to function.
"I'm good." Ry said diplomatically, knowing he'd done a poor job of hiding a wince.
"I'll talk to Emika." Wako said, giving Ry another small smile. "We'll figure something out."
"Sounds good, Yuhi-san." Ry replied.
The instructor had given a dismissal back to class and Ry found himself accompanied Yurina.
"You look like you want to say something." Ry said.
"You're the guy my cousin is training." Yurina said. "I didn't get it before, but watching with the Hyuga, I sort of do, now."
Ry cocked his head. "Your cousin?"
"Seong Akena." Yurina said. "She's my cousin."
"Did not know that." Ry replied. "But yeah, she's training me."
"She's old enough to be my mother, I get it." Yurina shrugged. "But then again, Aunt Nanae is like twenty years older than my mom, so it's not too surprising."
Woah. How old is Akena-sensei?
Yurina let out a snicker. "Jushi said you were a bumpkin. Grandmother is over a hundred years old, and aunt Nanae is nearly ninety."
"That's…" Ry shook his head. "It's just weird to think about. I'm used to most people being dead at seventy, if they lived a healthy life."
"Yeah, sucks for civilians." Yurina shrugged. "But, you're training with jushi. How is it?"
"Painful." Ry replied honestly. "Incredibly helpful, but painful."
"Mmm." Yurina nodded. "I've been trying to get her to train me for ages. You know how lucky you are? Even Clan Heirs and Heiresses would fall over themselves trying to get training from her. She hasn't taken a student in a long time."
Ry blinked. "Really?"
He certainly hadn't known that. He knew Akena was an elite jonin – his aunt had let it slip at one point when he'd asked about his instructors – but being a kunoichi that Clans would fight over was different.
"Yup." Yurina nodded. "You know how many students would kill to be her student?"
"Likely a higher number than I'd be comfortable knowing." Ry said dryly.
Yurina snickered. "True. But seriously, you're so lucky. I bet she was the one who told you about how to beat Hyuga."
"I wasn't lying when I said I asked around." Ry shrugged, letting Yurina develop whatever impression she wanted.
"Anyways, what I wanted to say was that we should train together." Yurina said. "Jushi is teaching you her kenpo, right?"
"Uh, maybe?" Ry shrugged. "She says I'm decent with a geom, but we spend most of our time with her kicking the crap out of me. We don't spend much time on katas."
"She's teaching you geom?" The jealousy in Yurina's voice was unmistakable.
"Among other things." Ry said, suddenly feeling bad.
Yurina was Akena's cousin. Ry couldn't help feeling a little guilty that his instructor was teaching him over family.
Then again, I saw how some of my cousins got along in my first life.
Still feel bad though.
"You heard Riri-san's offer to Yuhi-san, right?" Ry asked. "Just join us then."
"You think they'll let me?" Yurina asked.
"Trust me when I say that Gaya-sensei is always happy to find new students." Ry said.
Though I will admit to gleefully anticipating Yurina's reaction to a 'light' workout with Gaya.
"Nii-san, I need your help." Narisa said.
Ry glanced over.
They were sitting on the reverse side of a grassy slope. Down below, in the grassy area between the foothills of Hokage Mountain and the Academy, the graduation ceremony was halfway through.
The Hokage had already given her speech, as had several sensei. Honors had been handed out, for those with outstanding marks in different categories.
To Ry's complete lack of surprise, Hyuga Nemi had received the award for taijutsu, academics, and overall Rookie of the Year for the fourth year students.
What had surprised him was that he knew several of the others receiving awards.
Matada Zerin was recognized for first place in ninjutsu. Ry wasn't sure if that was just due to iryo, or if she had other proficiencies. It was a good thing regardless.
There was a growing idea in the back of his head, about proactively trying to get more iryo nin out there. Zerin wasn't the result of any particular effort of his – unless the way they'd vied for the unofficial title of best Academy student in Hirana's class had sped her progression – but he was happy to see it. He could only hope his future efforts would produce equally effective iryo nin.
Hadashi Tensei was first amongst the fourth years in bukijutsu. Ry was surprised initially, until he took a few seconds to think back to the few things he knew about Tensei's counterpart.
The fifth years didn't get the same feting, but they were given distinctions as well. Bitai was recognized for bukijutsu, Tsugumi and Wako for genjutsu.
Tsugumi's recognition for skill in fuinjutsu caught Ry completely off guard. He'd known her mom was skilled at it, but Tsugumi had never struck him as the type to be interested.
It was an art Ry had already tried and failed to progress in several times. Kazune was happy to laugh at his failures, which were many and myriad. He'd put it aside for the moment, with a resolution to focus on it again when he wasn't burnt out.
Or when his hair grew back enough to stop reminding him of his last failure.
"What do you need help with?" Ry asked.
"Pineapple-chan helped me devise the perfect prank for the start of the year next week." Narisa said. "But I gotta break into the Academy and make some preparations."
"You're better at stealth than I am." Ry said.
"Yeah, but I can't tree walk yet." Narisa said with a frown. "And some of this stuff has to go on the ceilings."
"Ceilings?" Ry turned his attention away from Iroha-sensei droning out names in order, along with their marks in the main nin disciplines. "What would I be attaching to the ceilings?"
Narisa grinned. "Storage scrolls."
Ry cocked his head. "Storage scrolls?"
"Yeah, Pineapple-chan has this book on them and I figured out how to make remote release ones last week." Narisa said, frown flipping to a grin.
"Last week?" Ry cocked his head. "Wait. Was this the book you didn't pull your nose out of for three days?"
"Mmm." Narisa nodded. "It's pretty cool. Really easy stuff too. Way easier than the textbook in the Academy's library."
Ry remembered the book; it was one he'd recognized, the first time he'd seen his imouto with it. He'd asked Shikahana if she had any books on fuinjutsu during his last attempt at the discipline. The beginner book felt like he'd been trying to learn calculus, except the textbook was missing ninety percent of the explanations and in between steps.
Kazune, Akena, and Aoba hadn't stopped giving him crap about the baldness that was the result of his latest experiment. His scalp still itched from the way it was regrowing.
Ry knew that Narisa had gotten into fuinjutsu; he'd been the one to introduce her. He was both impressed and a little concerned she was already past his own skill level. When she'd first started, he'd laid down one rule. He was fairly certain she was following it, but if she was, it still implied a scary amount of progress in less than two weeks time.
Huh. Note to self. Narisa is maybe a fuinjutsu prodigy. That could be useful. Have to look into the more complicated fuinjutsu, see if there's anything especially useful for her to learn.
"Alright." Ry said slowly. "I should be able to help. Presumably we're doing it the night before the first day?"
"Mmhmm." Narisa smacked her fist into her palm, grinning. "We've got things all planned out."
"I feel like I've unleashed something terrible, putting you and Nara-san together to work on pranks." Ry snorted.
"She and Crisps-chan are fun." Narisa said. "And she likes that my Kage Bunshin can do all the work. She just has to lay around and give directions."
Yeah. That sounds about right.
"Glad you think so." Ry said.
"Shiranui!" Ry turned, surprised to hear his name called.
Bitai was making her way up the hill, followed by Wako.
"Ugh." Narisa groaned.
"What?" Ry asked as the two kunoichi approached.
Narisa gave him a flat look. "You're dumb, nii-san."
"That's not new." Ry replied with an arched eyebrow.
"No, you're just a dumb boy." Narisa rolled her eyes. "Pineapple-chan and Crisps-chan agree with me."
"Hey, Tebori." Ry replied as Bitai approached. "Ditching the ceremony?"
"Fifth year graduates don't need to attend." Bitai replied, grinning. "And we don't walk on stage after the awards and honors either. Tsu would be up here too if she didn't have to be there to applaud for Rei."
Bitai turned and sat, leaving almost no space between her legs and where Ry was reclining.
This is different.
"And you, Yuhi-san?" Ry asked.
"Following Tebori, mostly." Wako shrugged, seating herself on Bitai's other side. "She overheard me asking Yurina about you, and said she'd introduce us more directly."
"You can always ask me directly." Ry said. "I'm a man of few secrets."
"Told you." Bitai grinned.
Wako rolled her eyes. "I was just wondering what your training schedule was like. Yurina said her cousins both train you."
"I mean, Seong-sensei's an instructor at school, and Akena-sensei works with me on bukijutsu." Ry said. "Though it's mostly kenjutsu."
"Nii-san trains way too much." Narisa interjected. "Every day, really. Nice to meet ya, Uzumaki Narisa."
"I know who you are." Wako replied. "You glued my sister's hair into a mohawk last year. I'm Yuhi Wako."
"Ohhhh." Narisa's smile grew large. "You're Em-chan's sister? I miss her."
"I'll bet." Wako said dryly.
"The instructors don't." Bitai snickered.
"A friend from before I came?" Ry asked.
"Nah." Narisa shook her head. "She was my pranking rival."
"They terrorized everyone." Bitai said, shaking her head. "They're the reason that Modori-sensei quit last year."
"Well she was no fun." Narisa said, grinning. "Why else wouldn't she like our pranks?"
"You rigged the floor under her desk chair to spray streams of glitter every time she sat down." Bitai said.
"Emika glued her entire classroom to the ceiling." Wako added.
Ry gave Narisa an amused look.
Her face was unabashedly proud. "It was great. We even worked together for one prank. Sorta. I didn't know she was doing her prank, and she didn't know I was doing mine, but they were amazing together."
"They threw the second story of her house into the river." Bitai said when Ry looked her way.
"…what?" Ry cocked his head.
"I had this whole plan to set a bunch of smelly candles up all over, which were set to light at random times." Narisa said. "And Em-chan was doing something so that she could sneak Mopey-sensei's bed out of her house and leave her floating in the middle of the river. And there was sawdust that drifted down into a closet below, and one of the candles I'd placed lit and…boom."
"Everybody thought the village was under attack." Wako said. "The blast dislodged the entire second story, throwing it into the air and over the entire Hyuga compound. I saw it through the window in class."
"That's…" Ry shook his head, noting Narisa's beaming look. "You're a little too proud of that one."
"They wrote a section in our textbook about it!" Narisa said, irrepressibly enthusiastic. "In the one we get next year, for structural sabotage. I saw it when I snuck into the library one night."
"We have a class on that?" Ry blinked.
Mental note to ask Narisa about why she was sneaking into the Academy library.
"If you've made enough progress in the other disciplines, they reduce or remove them from your schedule." Bitai said. "Or if they're not your specialty, you can petition to reduce your time in certain classes. It frees you up for other classes. Tsu's mom said they're probably going to offer a new version of the yuwaku class, for kunoichi. There might be some others too, it all depends. Last year there was a new class on fuinjutsu that Tsu and I took."
Huh. That's interesting. Makes sense too. We're being trained to be saboteurs and spies as much as we are killers.
Though I feel like I'll need to take structural sabotage. If for no other reason than to make sure I have a way to double check that Narisa's pranks don't grow too large or dangerous.
"That'll be interesting." Ry said.
He wasn't sure how the beginning of the school year experience went. He'd shown up more than halfway through, and presumed that his aunt had arranged for his scheduling.
"I'm looking forward to it." Ry said. "So, do you two know your jonin instructors yet?"
Bitai grinned. "Tsu, Matada-san, and I are on Team Twelve, with Utatane Hana as our jonin sensei."
"Congrats." Ry said.
"She's awesome, and she specializes in genjutsu and ninjutsu." Bitai gushed. "I can't wait."
"Mm, good luck with her test." Ry said.
"Test?" Bitai cocked her head.
"Don't jonin sensei all give tests?" Ry asked, confused.
The bell test was one of the few things he remembered with almost perfect clarity from the show. He didn't know if it was ubiquitous, but it had stuck in his head.
"What for?" Bitai asked.
"Separating talent." Wako answered. "There's only so many jonin sensei to go around. They'd rather not waste their time. If you're on a genin team with a jonin sensei, that means you've got the talent to make jonin yourself. Otherwise, it's the Genin Corps, or specialized training for a specific group, like ANBU or T&I. That's where Emika is, and where I'm going."
Bitai frowned. "Is it like an assessment of skill?"
"Yes, but they can reject you too." Wako said. "With fourth years, it gets them sent back to the Academy for an additional year. For fifth years, their rejects go to the Genin Corps. Nobody wants to waste a jonin's time with mediocre talent."
"That's…mmm." Bitai shook her head. "Does that happen often?"
Ry shrugged. "Not sure."
"Depends on the jonin." Wako said. "Last year, I think twelve graduates were failed by various jonin sensei. Though the only one to fail their entire team was Hatake Kazune. Which makes sense, given she's the Silver Vixen."
"That sounds about right for her." Ry agreed absently.
Wako glanced over at Ry. "Why say that?"
"She has…high standards." Ry said. "Painfully high standards."
"Tsu said you train with her." Bitai said, a bit of a twinkle in her eye.
"Technically, yes." Ry replied. "She's a friend of my aunt's, who got asked to help whip me into shape before I was enrolled at the Academy. Now, I think she does it so my aunt won't worry about me not learning enough and getting myself killed when I become a genin."
"Like that'll happen nii-san." Narisa made a dismissive noise.
"Ah." Wako made a noise of understanding. "Did Hatake-san recruit my brother to help you with Strangler Style?"
"That, and pain tolerance." Ry grumbled, then blinked. "Wait, Aoba-sensei is your brother? I thought you were Yuhi-san's little sister?"
Wako nodded. "My eldest brother adopted him formally into the family, though nii-san refused to change his name. He wants to honor his parents."
"I like your brother." Narisa said. "Except for his dango obsession. He always poisons my ramen when I tell him that it's better."
Bitai let out a squeak. "He poisons your food?"
"He poisons everything." Ry and Wako said in unison, then looked at each other in surprise.
"Seriously, at least half the time I'm training with him, I'm poisoned or envenomed." Ry said when Bitai's eyes swung his way, wide and disbelieving. "It's worse when he wants me to work on chakra manipulation."
Wako let out a sympathetic shudder. "That sounds like what he puts Emika through."
"Not you?" Ry asked.
Wako shook her head quickly. "He taught me how to identify and flush poison and venom from my system. Since I specialize in genjutsu, it's better I get it out than building up a resistance, and I have the necessary sensitivity to identify it quickly. I have to; I can't afford contaminants in my chakra that might alert my targets. Any resistance is incidental, unlike Emika. And you."
"It's not that bad." Narisa shrugged.
Wako gave the blonde a hard look.
"Your brother said she's not normal." Ry interjected quickly, before Wako could start any sort of interrogation. "Seriously, ask him. He puts poison in her ramen that would incapacitate me for days and all she does is get gassy."
"Nii-san." Narisa pouted, slugging his shoulder. "Kunoichi don't get gassy."
Wako looked back and forth a few times. "Truly?"
"Yup." Narisa shrugged. "It makes the ramen taste weird. Normally I wouldn't care, but he keeps messing up the food of the divine. I haven't managed to mess with his dango yet, but I'll get him eventually."
Wako opened her mouth, then closed it.
She shook her head. "I wish you luck. Emika's been trying for years."
"Good, then it's a challenge." Narisa grinned, rubbing her hands together.
Bitai was frowning when Ry looked her way. She saw, and immediately put on a forced smile.
"You okay?" Ry asked.
They weren't exactly friends, but she'd never been unkind. Unlike Tsugumi, she didn't seem to be holding a grudge against him either. The opposite, really.
"Just…worried about the test." Bitai admitted after a moment. "Tsu and I are both fifth years. I don't want to end up in the Genin Corps, or stuck working as Tsu's assistant in T&I."
"Ah." Ry wasn't sure what to say.
He reached out, putting a hand on Bitai's shoulder instead. "You'll be fine. You and Yamanaka-san work well together as a team, and Matada-san is going to be an amazing iryo nin. She already is, really, but you've got a good team. I think Utatane-sensei will be impressed."
"If you say so." Bitai still seemed a bit depressed.
Ry didn't care for seeing the beautiful kunoichi so down. He was confident she'd be just fine, given what he'd seen in their mandatory lessons and in classes in general. She just needed a boost of confidence.
Which he didn't know how to give. He went for a gesture of support instead.
"Tell you what." Ry said. "When you end up passing the test Utatane-sensei gives you, I'll take you out for a celebratory dinner. My treat."
Bitai looked up sharply, confusion knitting her brow. "What?"
"When you pass the test, I'll take you out to dinner." Ry said. "As a celebration for graduating, and passing Utatane-sensei's test. I'll pay, for you, and for Yamanaka-san and Matada-san if you want to bring them along. Call it a vote of confidence on my part."
Bitai looked at him blankly for a moment. Ry was confident that, if nothing else, he'd successfully diverted her worry in the moment.
"Nii-san, did you just ask an entire genin team full of kunoichi out on a celebratory date?" Narisa asked with a snicker.
Ry blinked, then felt himself blush.
Well, I was hoping to play on the attraction she has for me, at least a little bit.
Not her entire team though! I just threw in the bit about her teammates to make it seem less date like, if she wasn't interested in that.
Bitai let out a giggle. "Your brother's bold, Uzumaki-chan."
"I think nii-san's poisons might have affected your brain, Shiranui-san." Wako said, smirking. "That, or you're one of those secret readers of the blue cover books."
Ry took a deep breath, trying not to let his embarrassment show any further. He knew very well how quickly a group of women could pounce upon an opportunity to mess with someone dying of embarrassment. Especially a guy.
Telling them that Aoba had poisoned him in training yesterday was annoyingly unlikely to help his case either.
"Maa, there's no winning, no matter how you respond, Shiranui-kun." Kazune's voice said from behind him.
Ry flinched, while the three kunoichi all jumped.
Turning around, Ry found the silver haired jonin with an eye crinkled in an amused smile. She wore one of her more decorative masks today, a blue and red swirling design that made it hard to focus on any one part.
"Kazune-sensei." Ry said. "I thought I was excused from morning training."
"You were, but something's come up." Kazune said. "I'll be borrowing you. We have a bit of a trip to go on. Which is apparently necessary, since sometime recently you've become delusional to the point of asking an entire team of kunoichi to go on a date with you. You're lucky I'm removing you before they do."
"I see you found him easily enough." Akena commented.
Ry felt he was extremely out of place.
Kazune had taken him back to his apartment, where he'd needed to change into an outfit his aunt had given him before she'd left on her mission. Ry could only picture it as actual combat gear, which worried him greatly. Kazune had shown him how to slip armor plates into the vest and pants, the cleverly sewn pockets fitting the pieces in such a way that barely affected Ry's range of motion. His vest had a few kunai tucked away, along with a dozen shuriken. His sleeves had two pockets with senbon in them, his thighs each holding a pouch filled with several more kunai and a few smoke bombs.
Included with the outfit were several new pieces of gear. The inhibitors he'd been wearing on his forearms and shins had replacements, these ones made of steel rather than ceramic. The undershirt had a replacement as well, though this one was of a strange cloth Ry didn't recognize; tiny, inch wide hexagons of ceramic had been slipped into more sewn pockets, forming an odd grid over most of his torso.
Then there was the blade. It was identical in length and weight to the one Akena had shown him, way back at the beginning of his training when she'd showed him the type of blade he'd eventually be proficient in. Just like that blade, this one was metal, though Ry didn't recognize the coloration. Akena's was crimson, almost like blood beaten into a solid. Ry's was grey, but with an oddly green sheen to it. Kazune hadn't elaborated when Ry had asked about it.
Now, he'd made a chakra infused run with Kazune, going for nearly half an hour to arrive at a building near the north gate. Where, outfitted like he was actually about to be in a fight for his life, Ry found himself surrounded by a number of similarly armed Konohagakure nin.
"Maa, he was in the middle of trying to ask out an entire team of kunoichi." Kazune shrugged. "I'd have found him from the screams of pain quick enough."
The rest of the gathered jonin – all of whom were kunoichi – gave Ry amused looks.
"That wasn't what was happening, Akena-sensei." Ry grumbled.
"You two picked an interesting shinobi." A platinum blonde, who had to be a Yamanaka given her ice blue eyes, smirked. "He's the one training with my daughter, yes?"
"Correct, Yamanaka-dono." Akena said.
Wait. What? I thought Tsugumi's mom was brunette.
"Wait, this is the one who was interesting in the exercise!" Another Yamanaka exclaimed.
Ry recognized her. He repressed a groan.
"Told you I'd be seeing you soon!" The kunoichi exclaimed. "Seong-san, Hatake-san, does he have a genjutsu instructor yet?"
Please, god, no.
"Mmm, we did have one." Kazune hummed.
"Raika is on mission." Akena pointed out, amused. "But genjutsu doesn't seem to be something he's naturally talented in."
"I don't mind training him in defense." The Yamanaka grinned, looking at Ry with a gleeful grin. "I want to see how he does when his perceptions are inhibited by genjutsu. He did better than two trained genin when facing me in close quarters."
"Maybe our lessons are paying off, then." Akena mused. "Kazune?"
"Maa, Naori-chan, why don't you come to a training session?" Kazune said. "We'll see how it goes. We can't hurt him too badly. Hirana gets a bit annoyed when he can't fix himself."
"He can fix himself?" Naori's eyes lit up. "Even better!"
Fuck me.
Kazune patted Ry on the shoulder. "Don't look so glum, Shiranui-kun. Didn't you want more effective and efficient training?"
"I regret opening my mouth." Ry said.
Akena and Kazune both started snickering.
Ry decided that saying anything acerbic would only result in more embarrassment, or more pain in training later. Both women enjoyed messing with him, that much had long been clear. Given the receptive audience they currently had, he knew they'd leap on any further opportunities.
Instead, he surveyed the rest of the gathered nin. It was an impressive force, if a bit odd.
The trio of Yamanaka kunoichi were joined by Ikuhito, who was looking at Ry like he'd bitten a particularly sour lemon. Rei was also there, though she was studiously not looking in his direction.
A pair of Hyuga were accompanied by Hyuga Matomi and Hyuga Sora. Sora in particular was giving him a look with slightly raised eyebrows.
For a Hyuga, that's almost like screaming in surprise. At least when it's not Hizashi.
The two jonin from the Akimichi and Nara clans were each joined by students Ry recognized the faces of, but not the names. Chori and Shikahana were both absent.
The Aburame and the Inuzuka had also sent a pair of jonin each. Two genin accompanied each, though Ry didn't recognize them, as they weren't graduates from this year.
A blonde jonin Ry could only recognize as not a Yamanaka was accompanying Yurina, who gave Ry a small nod of acknowledgement. Then she went back to glaring at a greenette across the room.
Ry followed her gaze.
The pair of greenette jonin had a trio of students with them. Ry recognized the students, whose eerie similarity to their ninjutsu instructor had originally piqued his curiosity. One and all, they were Utatane. Utatane Wakatoshi and Utatane Koutarou were twins, a year behind Ry. Utatane Kyoko was in his year.
Ry didn't know what to make of the way that Kyoko was glaring back at Yurina with equal animosity. Before the Hyuga challenge, he'd never interacted with Yurina. Kyoko he'd only ever seen from a remove. He couldn't recall seeing the two of them interact at any point.
Lastly, the group of twenty off to one side. One and all, masked, with grey armor and distinctive tattoos on their arms.
ANBU.
Something odd is going on here with this composition. Jonin, one and all experienced and powerful. Elite jonin, most of them, or I'd eat my nonexistent hat.
But then there's all of us. Young, students still or young genin. Most of them from the Clans. Only one Clan Heir, no Clan Heiresses. A more balanced split of kunoichi and shinobi than I'd expect.
Where are they taking us that we'd need this kind of protection? Or representation?
…Goddammit, this better not be some sort of weird marriage contract thing. It'd be just my luck that trying to avoid all that crap the Clans get up to has gotten me embroiled in it by accident.
Though, if that's the case, am I here with Kazune and Akena? What group do they represent? Do they represent one at all?
And why are all of us clearly geared for combat?
Too many questions, dammit.
"Shiranui." Kazune said, her voice lacking its usual carefree tone.
Ry turned to his instructor. She pulled him to the side.
"Keep an eye out." Kazune said. "This should be peaceful, and resolved quickly. Still, watch everyone."
"Can I ask where we're going?" Ry asked.
Kazune's eye crinkled. "Maa, good question. No, but I think you'll figure it out quickly."
"Is it some sort of marriage thing?" Ry asked.
Kazune blinked. "Maybe you have been paying more attention than I thought."
Akena stepped over. "Told you. Shiranui, think of this as a showing of what potential we have to offer in our youth."
"And I count?" Ry asked.
Akena grinned. "Your naivete is adorable."
She reached up, ruffling his still regrowing hair. "Stick close to Kazune and I. We'll keep you safe. Kazune."
"Hai, senpai." Kazune said, reaching up and pulling down her mask.
Ry stiffened. Kazune wasn't doing anything more than looking at him, but seeing the Sharingan was a kick to the gut. It brought back memories of the dying kunoichi who'd sacrificed her life for Ry and Narisa. At the same time, it reminded Ry of all the dangers rapidly approaching this world, if his memories weren't wrong.
Then, of course, there was the action itself. The reveal, and the trust. While they'd danced around it, Kazune had never explicitly revealed the fact that she had a Sharingan. Ry's questions about Narisa's dojutsu had certainly implied that he knew, and Kazune's answers suggested she was aware he knew, but having it out in the open was different.
It was simultaneously a statement on the seriousness of the moment.
"Everyone get ready." Akena said, her voice carrying through the room. "We depart out the gate after a final check."
With that, she left the room.
Huh. Akena's in charge?
Ry blinked, an oddness occurring that he couldn't put his finger on. He could still see all the jonin in the room, but they suddenly seemed less threatening. Like their presence had been diminished somehow.
"Maa, you sensed that?" Kazune asked quietly as they walked to stand in line in the rear of the group.
"Like everyone here became less threatening." Ry replied equally softly. "Did my face give it away?"
"Not just your face." Kazune said. "But yes. And they're suppressing their chakra emissions, among other things, which is part of what you sensed. Means you might have some sensitivity."
"Some sensitivity?" Ry asked.
"If you were an actual sensor, you'd have gotten nervous before we got here." Kazune replied. "This many jonin concentrated in one spot would set your senses off, even if you didn't know why. It's partially why both the Yamanaka over there are looking peaky. You, on the other hand, have likely just developed a sensitivity to chakra intensity in your nearby vicinity. Thank your instructors for that. It might save your life in the future."
"Hai." Ry grinned. "Thanks, sensei."
Kazune's eye crinkled as she brought out her orange book. "You're welcome."
Rather than let his nerves build, Ry closed his eyes, pulling out a kunai. He spun it back and forth in his hand. It wasn't anything particularly useful, far too flashy to be helpful in combat, but it was a dexterity building exercise that Kazune had taught him. Ry found it relaxing, similar to spinning a pen back in his first life.
Except with a knife that can and will slice flesh if I screw up.
The thought put a humorless grin on Ry's face. The reality of needing to wield implements of death had become all too real to him during the run in with missing nin and yokai. He hadn't killed yet, but Ry had started working on his acceptance of its inevitability. He was training to be part of the most lethal profession in a world that was kill or be killed.
Definitely wouldn't mind the plot armor Narisa likely has.
Well, had. There are a bunch of people out there like me. If they know anything, they might come looking for her, to upset that balance.
They hadn't so far, but Ry knew that might not last forever. The Bound, as Kazune had told him the group was called, were likely gaining power as fast as he was. Or faster.
Or worse. They were under the thumb of some of the more dangerous individuals out there, with a way to divulge whatever information they had on the original Naruto world.
Don't go down that path. You're nowhere near strong enough to begin affecting things like that. And Kazune said my restrictions weren't unique. The other Bound were equally affected.
Just play with the dangerously sharp knife and try to stay calm for whatever this is.
"Good." Kazune said from his side. "You're getting better at keeping yourself calm."
Ry opened his eyes, looking over at his sensei. She was still reading her erotica, looking absorbed. He thought about asking her to clarify, but nodded instead. Enough time training with Kazune had taught him about some of her quirks. She wasn't likely to expand on her statement. Especially not with so many other nin around.
"Let's go." Akena said, reappearing in the doorway for a moment.
The jonin were setting the pace, and it was just shy of uncomfortable for Ry. He was used to running. Between weekly workouts with Gaya and Rokku and the endurance training both Kazune and Akena had assigned him outside of their own sessions, he was used to long interval, high intensity cardio for at least an hour or two a day.
Trusting in Gaya's training methods and what he remembered from Earth, he usually ran without chakra infusion.
The pace the jonin were setting demanded chakra infusion, but Ry was fairly confident in sustaining it for at least a few hours. Beyond that, he hadn't gotten any opportunities to test how long chakra infusion could extend his physical stamina. He knew it did, but his own limits weren't established, and he was toting about sixty pounds worth of gear.
Things got interesting when they cleared the forest Ry had been in several times for survival exercises.
Whether they were purposefully cut down every so often, or something was different within a few miles of Konoha's walls, the trees near the village were relatively normal sized.
What Ry hadn't realized – though he now wished he could've had a look from on top of Konoha's walls – was that after those first few miles, the trees grew bigger.
Much bigger.
It was an abrupt change. Ry went from running past trees three to five feet in diameter to seeing a tree at least thirty feet wide, one that soared upwards beyond his chakra infused eyesight.
Holy-
The sight of the tree was distracting, but Ry didn't miss Kazune's flickered signal for a halt. They all stopped, with Akena turning around to face them.
"We go by the high roads." Akena said, standing in front of the large tree. "Escorts, please separate your candidates who haven't mastered tree walking at moderate travel speeds."
Ry turned, giving Kazune a questioning glance.
"Maa, you're fine." Kazune said. "What Aoba-kun's had you doing is far more difficult. You run with adhesion and repulsion active, anyways, and this will be less intensive than water walking."
Ry could only nod. He'd only doubled down on using every strategy possible to improve his chakra reserves. It felt strange to him when he wasn't using tree walking or water walking during running at this point. He'd taken to doing his endurance runs on the streams that criss-crossed through Konoha, the added challenge of doing so while moving and without infusing his whole body helping with the chakra control exercises both Kazune and Hirana demanded.
Have to thank Narisa for that. Even if it was only motivating her to improve on her own chakra control.
A small grin flickered across Ry's face. Remembering his imouto attempting to jump straight to water walking had been hilarious. She had not liked his taunting as he decided to jog around her during her first, brash attempts. Nor did she like blowing up the streambeds, splattering herself with mud when her chakra failed to maintain the correct mixture of adhesion and repulsion. Noticing that she'd grown far more motivated after his first, mostly teasing taunt, Ry had latched onto it as a training method for both of them, which was showing remarkable progress.
When Ry glanced over, he saw that the students and genin had been separated out. The genin from the Aburame and Inuzuka still stood by their escorts, as did the Hyuga. The rest had been gathered up to stand near the ANBU.
"All you have practiced tandem travel." Akena said. "Candidates designated by their escorts will be using tandem travel with an ANBU escort."
Ikuhito's suddenly sour face was representative of the ten students and fresh genin who ended up in the tandem travel position. The ANBU carrying them moved like they weren't affected at all.
Ry could understand his fellow students' sourness. They were accompanying a large group of jonin, and being labelled as incapable of a fairly basic nin skill.
Then again, the Hyuga and I are the only students who were given the go ahead by our escorts. I assume they have to practice chakra control at least as much as I do, given the nature of Gentle Fist.
"Form a perimeter." Akena said.
The ANBU not carrying someone in tandem travel disappeared in a flurry of leaves. Akena turned and leapt, disappearing in a blur. So did about half of the non ANBU jonin. Each ANBU left was shadowed by one of the escorts.
Ry was relieved when the still visible jonin didn't disappear in blurs of motion. Instead, they began running up the massive tree in front of them.
"Let me know if you're faltering." Kazune said. "It's going to be a long way down if you fall."
That's not terrifying.
Rolling his shoulders, Ry nodded. He rolled his neck, shifted his head side to side, and ran after the jonin climbing the tree.
Tree walking, more than anything else, had taught Ry the ridiculous levels of fitness and bodily control even the most basic genin had.
Running up a tree was hard. It was like running with parachutes tied to his back, doing their best to drag him down. Running vertically and staying in a relatively upright position was a core workout from hell. It only got worse when he had to transition surfaces, performing midair acrobatics.
None of that was necessary as he ran up the stupidly huge tree, but it made him beyond grateful that his body seemed capable of transcending what he thought humanly possible back on Earth. It would've been far more of a struggle without the chakra infusion, but as he climbed higher and higher, Ry couldn't quite help the small grin on his face.
Which disappeared the moment they encountered the first level of branches, nearly three hundred feet in the air. The branches were five or so feet wide, which wasn't a problem. They weren't perfectly level, but it was no worse than running on the ground, especially while using tree walking.
Ry's grin disappeared because of the gaps between the tree branches. Gaps the jonin and genin in front of him were already jumping.
Oh fuck me.
This is why I practice so much free running, but fuck!
The sensation of flying through the air, with nothing between him and the ground hundreds of feet below, set his stomach churning. At the same time, there was that eerie giddiness of knowing he was almost spitting in the face of both death and common sense.
Tree walking, and by extension jumping across absurd gaps, were among the most basic activities nin did on a regular basis, but they grew up knowing it was possible. Ry had lived two and a half decades very firmly knowing it was impossible for a human's legs to propel them well in excess of thirty feet without needing to succumb to gravity's pull. He'd had less than a year of being in a world where that not only possible, but common for any nin.
He hit the next branch, taking a few steps and then launching himself again. Kazune flew through the air beside him, entirely silent.
Traveling along, Ry did his best not to get distracted. Their group wasn't moving at the ridiculous speeds they were clearly capable of, but they weren't waiting around. A great deal of focus was needed to sight in his next landing point and the proper trajectory necessary to reach it. Then there was the calculation of how much power to use as he pushed off, while simultaneously using chakra reinforcement on the local portion of the branch below his feet, to prevent his force from cracking the bark and possibly the branch. Then doing the same when landing.
Not likely, given these branches and their thickness, but it's good practice.
Ry was fortunate that a good deal of it was instinctive. Focus was necessary, but it didn't need to be absolute. He'd asked both Kazune and Akena about it not long after being given clearance to resume full physical training, given how nervous he'd been. Still was, to some degree; the flight in the burning forest had left a lasting impression.
"Your body has been using chakra for a while, and your brain knows, on a level below your thoughts, what your chakra can do." Akena had said. "How powerful it is, what effects it has on your movements while fully infused. It's a lot more like learning taijutsu or kenjutsu than you'd think. You start with a basic idea, and practice helps refine it. Like muscle memory, your brain and body remember how things work, even if you've consciously forgotten exactly what you're doing. Using chakra speeds up the process, at least in the case of movement."
"Maa, free running for nin is like sex for normal people." Kazune had said, her eye glued to an orange book at the time. "Your body knows what to do, even if you're freaking out."
One explanation had been markedly more helpful than the other.
Ry still had a great deal more practice ahead before it would be entirely second nature, but he'd improved by leaps and bounds. Some aspects needed more work than others.
Namely, improving his use of repulsion on departure and landing. His idea to minimize or outright remove collateral damage from his exertions had only come about when he accidentally broke a branch while training and fell face first into the trunk due to the loss in effective propulsion. Incorporating that still took a great deal of thought.
There was a bit of petty satisfaction that flowed through him as he occasionally passed cracks or chipped bark at the take off or landing points of the Hyuga students or the genin.
The jonin, ANBU or not, left no such marks.
"Your chakra reserves?" Kazune asked after Ry estimated two hours had passed.
"Still fine." Ry said. "There was no training today. Just over eighty percent. Do I need chakra at the end of this?"
"Always assume you'll be arriving to a fight, or that one will find you mid journey." Kazune said. "In this case, let me know when you get near half. At the pace we're moving, that's unlikely though."
"Your exercises have been paying off." Akena said, appearing silently next to Ry in midair.
If he could've jumped, he would've. In this case, Ry only clenched his fists, his landing on the next branch a bit stiff as he recovered from his surprise.
Akena disappeared, reappearing next to the genin from the Inuzuka and Aburame. One of each genin pair had ANBU appear next to them, and the group halted for a moment while they moved into tandem travel positions. The Hyuga were quietly conferring while that was happening, and Matomi ended up in tandem travel as well.
Chakra reserve sizes coming into play. Does make me wonder where we're headed.
Also, do I really have that much more chakra than those three? Or are they just less efficient?
Kazune snorted softly when he asked. "Both."
She refused to elaborate further.
First thing to note, not every critical review will get this response out of me. If you throw a bunch more critical reviews my way, they won't get you more bonus chapters. They might get you responses in the AN section though. I just felt like celebrating!
Not much to say about this chapter itself. It didn't fight me the way the others have, and it actually didn't lose much on the editing floor. Narisa's and Ry's back and forth is pretty natural to me, and expanding upon that with others in the conversation is always fun. It's a fun challenge as an author to make sure as much of Narisa's character shines through as possible. Narisa's and Emika's prank wars are one of those omakes I was talking about that in the previous AN.
Below is probably my too long thanks and response for the feedback offered. tl;dr: Thanks for everybody who's favorited or liked, I love seeing those! It genuinely makes me smile. For those who offer criticism, thank you! It's appreciated, and as someone who is trying to grow as an author, I need more of it!
First of all, thank you to everyone who as favorited, followed, and reviewed. I love seeing that. Knowing that people are reading this story, that they like this story...pretty much every author's wish fulfillment. (Besides publishing, fat contracts, and tons of money from writing. We can't all be famous authors though, so I'm psyched about knowing people like what I'm writing.) Seriously, thank you. I'm writing this for myself, for a lot of reasons, but I'm also writing it for the readers. So thank you lads and lasses, very very much.
Now, as to the critical feedback. First of all, thanks for caring enough to give your opinion. I genuinely appreciate hearing it. Good, bad, or ugly, authors don't improve without feedback. I, at least, get caught up in self-feedback loops, existential crises, and weird dreams about piloting spaceships yelling at me in gibberish.
The bit about too much text about nothing was a bit vague, so I'm not really sure what it meant. I'm going to assume info dumping or overloading on exposition, but it could also be that my style of narrative focus isn't working for you and I get that if so. No story is for everybody, and what I want my story to be about may not be for you. If it is over exposition or info dumps...I'm just flat out guilty of them. I love exploring what makes things or people tick, understanding the mechanics or explanations. I'm a magic system geek, and not ashamed to let that flag fly. People, well, people are fascinating and I have a great deal of fun getting into my character's heads. Show not tell is something I fight with all the time, and I know if I ever miss the balance, it's because I went overboard, rather than telling too little.
The names...yeah. It's a fair criticism. You have to remember who they are, in relation to both the other characters and the canon cast. I knew that, debated it coming in. It's easier for me as the author, because I'm in this world constantly, but I really do get that it could be off putting for people only picking up this story once a month. I try to keep the names close, but there's only so much I can do.
Small changes equal big impacts on canon? Absolutely. That's the whole point of fanfiction writing in the first place. That, lotsa lemons, and alternate shipping, it seems. (I'm guilty of it too. Be warned.) I can't say just how much of canon gets smashed to itty bitty pieces, because this is discovery writing and that means I'm flying by the seat of my pants, but pretty much nothing is sacred to me in terms of canon events. I picked this universe to write in because I love the characters, jutsu as a magic system, and just the sheer size of it. Given how spotty my MC's knowledge of canon is and that I introduced at least double digits worth of OCs with varying levels of knowledge regarding canon, all a couple of years pre-canon, well...I think it's safe to say that things are going to go sideways, but even I don't know how sideways things might go. Hold onto your butts people.
Significant changes to the world, like yokai...I don't want to spoil plot points floating around in my head, but your point's valid. I'm actually fairly similar with my opinions on stories of that nature, that adding significant changes is a big ask, as opposed to altering a significant component of the story. Can it ruin the story? Absolutely, and believe me when I say I understand the challenge of walking the tightrope. I don't want to give you a complete look behind the veil of my mind's processes, but I can say that the yokai aren't a 'just because' idea that popped into my head and were thrown in. The sole reason for their existence, initially at least, was to solve a numbers problem in my head, regarding the martial/socioeconomic power balance within the Elemental Nations. Is that something I could absolutely ignore because this is fanfiction and who cares about things like that? Sure, I could, but it would keep bouncing around my head and bothering me. So I found a solution. If you feel like it's bolted on, and ruins the story, I get that. Like I said, I've read plenty of stories where my brain says 'nah, you know what? Throwing in the towel. That's too much.' For me, it was necessary, and having found a palatable solution, I'm going to do my best to have it part of a cohesive world. If it doesn't end up working out, that'll suck, but it removes that annoying, itchy voice in my head talking about power distribution and ratio of armed forces to total population over extended periods of time.
Anyways, thanks for the critique. I appreciated it greatly, and you made some great points. If anyone else has feedback, I'd love to hear it! Please! Seriously!