Chereads / Kumo kunoichi / Chapter 5 - Apprenticeship

Chapter 5 - Apprenticeship

It has been six months since Yoko was moved to the last-year class at the Ninja Academy. Over the last six months, a war has erupted between all of the major hidden villages. The Third Raikage began dispatching more Shinobi to the land of lightning borders to fight against the Hidden Mist Shinobi and the Hidden Rock Shinobi.

During these six months, Yoko also made friends with Yugito Nii, a girl in her new class. Yugito Ni is an 8-year-old girl who is fair-skinned. Yugito has long, straight blonde hair, taut bandages, and dark eyes. Yoko introduced Yugito to Mabui and Akane. The four of them train with each other every day, which helps improve their ninja skills tremendously.

Today marks graduation exam day. Yoko did really well in the exam; now only the Ninjutsu portion remains. Yoko patiently waited for her turn in the class. A middle-aged man with tanned skin. An afro-haired with an ordinary face entered the classroom.

The middle-aged man looked at Yoko and said, "Yoko Ichimaru, it is your turn; please follow me."

Yoko nodded her head and followed him, They entered another classroom, where three instructors were waiting for them.

Sujiro smiled when he saw Yoko enter the classroom, and he said to her, "Good to see you again, Yoko. You are the last to be examined. To pass the Ninjutsu portion of the graduation exam, all you need to do is execute the three jutsus taught in the academy."

Yoko nodded at Sujiro. The afro-haired middle-aged man took a seat next to Sujiro, and all four academy instructors looked at Yoko in anticipation.

Yoko made the ram seal and transformed perfectly into Sujiro. After he examined her transformation, the afro-middle-aged man nodded his head in satisfaction.

Next, Yoko substituted herself with a log without using any hand seals, which impressed all the academy instructors present.

Lastly, Yoko created two clones with a single-handed seal.

All the academy instructors smiled at Yoko, and Sujiro took a headband from the table in front of him and walked over to her. "Congratulation, Yoko. You have graduated. I proudly give you this headband. You earned it."

Yoko smiled and grabbed the headband from Sujiro's hand. Suddenly, she heard the system notification [TING]: [Congratulation, host; you have completed the quest; you have earned one golden ticket].

Yoko smiled widely, bowed to all four instructors, and left the classroom.

_______

In The Orphanage

In the orphanage room, Yoko sat by herself and smiled. "Well, it is time for me to spin the Golden Roulette of Talents."

She summoned her system's home panel, then began spinning the Golden Roulette of Talents.

The roulette spun with great speed, and when it stopped spinning, she heard the system's robotic voice say, "Congratulations, host; you are going to be a full-blooded Saiyan."

"What is a Saiyan?" Yoko inquired in confusion, to which the system responded, "Saiyan is a warrior race that exists in a number of universes; in fact, this universe has a Saiyan race that exists on a planet called Sadala." Yoko was shocked when she heard this piece of information.

"Now the process of changing you into a full-blooded Saiyan is going to be painful; you better bear with me." Suddenly, Yoko felt a tremendous amount of pain from every cell in her body; however, she didn't scream; she kept gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. 

Her blond hair started to turn black, and her eyes, too, turned black. She started to put more muscle in her body.

Yoko fell to her knees and started to breathe heavily. "That was really painful." She stood up, and her eyes widened. "I feel great," she thought to herself. She clenched her two fists and said to herself, "I feel way stronger than before."

[TING], [Congratulations, host. You have become a full-blooded Saiyan. Your basic status has increased by 10 points, except for INT. Furthermore, all of your talents have evolved, with the exception of medical art.]

Yoko was surprised and started checking her status.

Name: Yoko Ichimaru (full-blooded Saiyan)

Gender: Female

Age: 6

STR: 27

SPD: 26

FLX: 24

REF: 24

STM: 28

INT: 25

BAL: 29

BL: Storm Release (full bloodied Saiyan)

Chakra Reserve: Jounin

Chakra Control: Excellent

Talent: Photographic Memory, Medical Art ( Excellent ), Water Release ( Excellent), Lightning Release ( Excellent), Storm Release ( Excellent). Ninja Arts (Good), Taijutsu (Excellent), Kenjutsu (Excellent), Shuriken Jutsu (Good), Genjutsu Talent (Good).

She smiled widely at the improvement she made. She couldn't wait for tomorrow, so Yoko decided to relax for the rest of the day.

_____

Next Day

In the morning, when Yoko entered the class, all the students looked at her in surprise because of her new appearance.

Yoko ignored the looks the students were giving her and took a seat next to Yugito.

Yugito turned to Yoko and asked, "What with the new look, Yoko?"

Yoko chuckled and said, "Yesterday I awakened my bloodline. "According to my father's journal, my hair and my eyes will turn black when I awaken my bloodline."

Yugito and the other students who heard her answer were surprised at her response. The afro-haired instructor entered the class and yelled at the students, "All of you, be quiet now." The academy instructor's arrival left Yugito unable to respond to Yoko, and he continued to address the students. "I'll now announce the Genin squads. You should pay attention."

As the afro-haired instructor began announcing the new ganin teams, the academy's right side wall suddenly exploded "BOOM," causing all the students to jump in freight.

Ay and Bee entered the class through the broking wall hole, and Ay yelled loudly, "Where is Yoko Ichimaru?" "Come and follow me right now."

All the students sweatdrop at what Ay said, and Yoko's eyebrows twitched when she heard what he said. She then addressed him, saying, "Hell no, do you expect me to follow a stranger after he breaks the wall and he tells me to follow him?" "You must be like those old men who are after young girls."

All those in the class dropped their jaws at Yoko's comment, and Bee, who was standing next to Ay, burst out laughing while holding his stomach. A vein popped above Ay's eyebrow, then punched Bee in the face. "Shut up, Bee."

When Ay punched Bee, he fell hard to the floor. He then looked at Yoko with twitchy eyebrows and said to her, "I am your new sensei." "You, moron, now follow me and stop wasting time."

Yoko sighed and nodded. She got up from her seat and followed. Ay, Bee stood up and exclaimed, "Yo, Yo, Yo." Come on, pussycat, it's time for you to shine and show the world your claws. Oh yeah."

Yugito became irritated at Bee's rape and sighed. She then followed Bee and left the academy.

_______

Training Ground 1

Ay and Yoko stood across from each other. Ay looked at her and asked, "You look different from how you look in your academy registration file."

Yoko sighed and said, "I awakened my bloodline yesterday, according to my father's journal. When he awakened his storm release his eyes, and his hair turned black too."

Ay was surprised when he heard this, so he took a plain-looking paper from his pocket and said to her, "This is the Chakra Induction Paper. "I want you to run your chakra through the paper."

Yoko was confused, but she did what Ay asked her to do; the paper wrinkled and got wet at the same time.

Ay smirked at what he saw and said, "Well, it is true you have the storm release bloodline." Yoko turned her head to Ay after hearing what he said and asked, "I told you."

Ay looked at Yoko and said to her, "There are different types of bloodlines out there. We refer to your bloodline type as an elemental bloodline. By fusing the water and lightning nature transformation, you can manipulate beams of electricity that flow like water."

Yoko's eyes widened in shock at what she heard. She gave a small smile and thought to herself, "I can be strong by learning and improving my bloodline."

Ay then said to Yoko, "The Raikage asked me to take you as my student, but you will have to pass my test in order to become my student you have a choice whether to take my test or not if you decided to not take my test or fail the test you will join the reserve squads.

Yoko's eyes widened, but she looked seriously at Ay, who continued his explanation: "In order for you to pass my test, you will have to land a clean hit at me. You only have twenty minutes to land a clean hit on me. I don't care what you use or how you land the hit. Do I make myself clear?"

Ay took out a alarm clock and set the alarm.

After Yoko saw Ay finish setting the alarm, she leaped backward and threw a couple of shurikens at Ay, "SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH." 

Ay effortlessly sidestepped, dodging the shurikens, then sped up toward Yoko. Yoko's eyes widened when she saw how fast Ay was; he then kicked Yoko in the stomach.

Yoko first spit saliva from her mouth from the power behind his kick, then, with a puff of smoke, she replaced herself with a log.

When Ay saw this, his eyes widened in surprise, and he smiled, thinking to himself, "Not bad girl."

Yoko was hiding behind a tree, her heart pumping in excitement. "I never felt this excited before. Oh, well, let's start."

Suddenly, Yoko heard the system notification in her head [TING]. [A new quest has been issued, Impress Ay in this test, reward unlock training facility 2 x times gravity dimension, and 100 ninja points.]

Yoko smiled widely when she heard the system notification, and her eyes shone with determination. "Alright, now how should I proceed? "He is quite fast, and by the way he destroyed the log with one kick, I can tell he is strong. On top of that, he is Jounin," she thought to herself.

"The only way to succeed in landing a clean hit is to deceive him. I really want to fight head-on, but for now I will focus on passing this test." She smiled when she formulated a plan in her head; she did a ram-hand seal, and a clone appeared next to her.

Then she started moving stealthily between the trees around the training ground.

_______

"I used Chunin speed and strength to attack her, and she used the substitution jutsu to avoid my attack," Ay thought to himself, smiling. "Her skill in substitution jutsu surpasses some of the Chunin, I know; it's not bad for now; even her Shuriken jutsu was not bad," Ay thought to himself, smiling. Let's see what else you have in store, girl."

Suddenly, Ay saw Yoko appear in front of him and charge forward at him. Ay looked disappointed at her and said, "Attacking me head on, I think I overestimated you, girl."

Yoko, hiding behind one of the trees, grabbed six shurikens and aimed them directly at Ay's back, "SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH."

Ay, by instinct, dashed to the right, dodging the six shurikens that Yoko threw. Ay saw the shurikens pass through Yoko's clone, and Ay raised his eyebrow at that. "Impressive. She used the clone jutsu in order to bait me while she attacked me from behind."

Ay smirked, then said to himself, "Not bad girl; let me see how good you are in Taijutsu."

Ay sensed Yoko was moving fast around the trees and he used the body flicker jutsu, all of a sudden he appeared in front of her and Yoko quickly put some distance between them.

"What are you going to do now, girl? You can't hide from me." Ay spoke with a sly smile on his face. Yoko also smirked in excitement at fighting Ay.

Ay was surprised at seeing Yoko smirked and was about to ask her why she was smirking, she unsheathe her katana from her back, the katana has red handle, golden cross guard, and red exquisite blade.

Ay admires the craftsmanship of the katana and says to Yoko, "Your katana craftsmanship is very impressive, girl."

When Ay praised her katana, Yoko smiled and glanced at it. After a few moments, she said to him, "This katana name is the red princess; it was my ancestor's sword. "I decided to wield it in honor of his legacy, sensei."

Ay smirked and nodded to her, then said, "Well, let's see what you can do with the katana." Yoko smirked and charged at Ay, swinging her sword at him multiple times.

Ay simply sidestepped at each of Yoko's sword swings, pulled out a kunai, and began blocking Yoko's sword strikes with it.

Yoko swung her sword vertically, horizontally, and thrust, but Ay easily blocked all her sword's strikes with no problem at all.

"CLANK, CLANK, CLANK, CLANK," Ay used his Chunin-level speed to punch and kick Yoko, but he was surprised to see her dodge and block his attacks.

Ay smirked. "She is talented in Kenjutsu, but now let's test her Taijutsu." Ay swung his kunai at Yoko, "CLANK." Yoko raised her katana to block the kunai, but the katana slept from her grasp thanks to the force behind the swing.

 

Ay dropped his kunai and charged at Yoko. He started throwing punches and kicks at her with Chunin level speed and strength.

Yoko started blocking and dodging, which surprised Ay.

Ay noticed that Yoko was improving the longer they fought, and he gave an unnoticeable smirk: "She is so talented."

Both Ay and Yoko stopped when they heard the alarm ring.

Yoko was breathing heavily, but she was disappointed that she had failed the test. Ay noticed the disappointed look on Yoko's face and said to her, "You don't need to look disappointed because you passed my test."

Yoko was surprised and looked at him with a wide eyes and he gave her a wide smile ""The purpose of this test is to see what you will do if given an impossible task. Your performance impresses me, girl."

[TING], [Congratulation host for completing the quest you gained 100 ninja points and 2x gravity dimension had been unlocked.]

Yoko raised her hand and said, "Wait a second, I didn't land a single hit at you. How did I pass?"

Ay snorted, "I am a Jounin girl. Do you think a Genin fresh from the academy could land a hit on me? Use your head." Yoko's eyebrow started twitching madly at Ay's comment, and Ay smirked at that.

"As a Shinobi, there is no doubt that one day you will face impossible odds." Your survival will be at stake, and your failure will affect you and maybe our village too. So, I want to see how you will handle similar pressure. I told you that if you fail or give up, you will join the reserve squads which is the worst possible start for your career, or you can risk it and take your chances with me. You have shown courage and didn't give up; you went ahead to face me, and for this reason, you passed my test.

Yoko listened carefully to Ay's speech, and she understood the purpose of the test. Ay then said to her seriously, "Now listen, girl, we are now at war. I will not always be available to train you. I am very sure soon I will be called to go and join the others, and in the future you will be called too, so you will need to get stronger as soon as possible."

Yoko nodded her head in understanding, and Ay continued, "When I am not available to train, I will ask my brother or someone else to train you."

"Now before I dismiss you, I will show you a chakra control exercise to train your control. I want you to master it like second nature." Yoko smiled gratefully and nodded.

The tree walking exercise serves as a training method to enhance one's skills in chakra control. This training involves focusing a fixed amount of chakra on the bottom of one's feet and using that to climb a tree without using one's hands. If the stream of chakra is too weak, the user will lose their footing on the tree and fall off. If it is too strong, the user will be pushed away from the tree, causing the tree to fracture around the point of contact, and the user will fall."

After explaining the concept, Ay approached the tree and began walking up its trunk without using his hands. Yoko's eyes widened in shock at that.

Ay jumped down after demonstrating the exercise to Yoko and told her, "You are dismissed for the rest of the day." We will meet on this training ground from now on at 8 a.m. I want you to master this exercise as soon as possible. Good luck."

Then, Ay vanished from the training ground like a flash of lightning. Yoko, looking at the tree, smiled and said, "Alright, let's start working on the tree walking exercise. I need to master it as fast as possible."