Upon hearing the pairings, Suguru glanced at the only person who had yet to meet their partner. Hyuga Mitsuko was a plain-looking individual with long hair and a pleasant smile. She stood calmly as she met Suguru's gaze.
Walking over, she softly greeted him, "Hi, I'm Hyuga Mitsuko. You're Hiryu Suguru, right?"
Suguru nodded in affirmation.
"Great! I hope we can both do our best to learn from Masumi-sensei."
Hearing these words, Suguru bowed, expressing his agreement.
"I hope so too," He said.
***
Suguru and Mitsuko were the first ones up as they were the last ones called.
"Please step forward, Suguru and Mitsuko. Make the Seal of Confrontation."
Hearing these words, Suguru walked forward and apart from his sparring partner. He then held his hand up and extended two fingers.
[Seal of Confrontation]
Mitsuko did the same.
"Start!" Masumi signaled the beginning of their sparring.
"Here I go!" Mitsuko shouted, rushing forward with her palms facing out. Her Byakugan was already activated.
—Whoosh!
The first strike came from Mitsuko as her palms flew through the air. Suguru allowed the palm to strike his shoulder, parrying her attack with a twist and striking back at her with his fist.
—Whack!
Mitsuko slapped his fist away while Suguru spun to catch his momentum.
Another strike came flying from Mitsuko, her palm aiming for Suguru's back. The latter hastened his spin, sending his heel streaking towards Mitsuko's face.
Inadvertently, or perhaps intentionally, Suguru's thigh parried Mitsuko's incoming palm. Meanwhile, his knee bent sharply and his heel threatened to strike Mitsuko's jaw.
—Fwhack!
Luckily, before that happened, Masumi appeared and blocked Suguru's heel from knocking Mitsuko out.
"We end here. Well done, Suguru. Mitsuko."
Masumi nodded in approval, thinking, 'Such fluid motions... Where did this kid learn how to do that?'
After making the Seal of Reconciliation, Suguru and Mitsuko made way for the other kids to spar under Masumi's guidance. The rest of the fights were a lot rougher as the children threw hands and sent kicks flying left and right.
Luckily, their strikes lacked both power and precision. Their battles lasted a lot longer than Suguru and Mitsuko's.
Watching the kids fight, Suguru calmly analyzed everything he saw.
"I should be around mid-level in Taijutsu compared to the others in the class... I need to put in more work."
Though he was swift to kill his emotions, comparing himself to children left a conflicting feeling in Suguru's heart. It was a bit sad... but it was also reasonable that he wasn't the best. He came from a world that didn't necessitate hand-to-hand combat, after all.
After everyone had a round of sparring, Masumi gathered the children for a debriefing.
"First of all, Hiryu Suguru, you did well considering your physical state. You have good instincts and fluid movements. However, you need to work on your physical fitness. I can tell that your body is a little sluggish."
Suguru nodded, "Thank you for your advice, Masumi-sensei."
"Next, Hyuga Mitsuko..."
As Masumi pointed out the strengths and shortcomings of each student, lunchtime eventually arrived. The students were dismissed and were tasked with going to the shuriken range in the afternoon.
'Should I go to Ichiraku?' Suguru pondered the question for a moment before relenting to his desire to taste some ramen.
After a short jog to the location, Suguru ducked under the flaps and took a seat.
"One Miso ramen, please!" Suguru said with expectation.
"Comin' right up!" Teuchi began working almost immediately.
This scene left a smile on Suguru's face. 'If I had more cash, I could eat here regularly...'
Although Suguru still had a little left from his parent's inheritance, he didn't want to squander it all in a moment's rejoicing. He already planned out his spending for the next months.
If he cut on a few meals, he could survive for more than a year without any income. Luckily, being an Academy student meant having a small allowance from the village.
Moreover, once he became a ninja, he could go on missions to earn some more Ryo for his experiments.
'Or...' Suguru smacked his lips, 'I can sell my research for a large price...'
Instantly, Suguru shook his head. His research was like Orochimaru's — something that should never see the light of day.
A great taboo that many would look at in disgust.
***
Afternoon arrived, and the students gathered at the shuriken range. Boxes of wooden shuriken could be seen arranged at the sides. Upon picking one up, Suguru noted how similar their weights were to the actual thing.
He wanted to give throwing shurikens a few tries, but Masumi arrived before he could experiment.
"For Shurikenjutsu, we'll see how accurate you are with three throws. Everyone line up, starting with Akimichi Rie and Matsumoto Rin until the last pair."
'...I'm going to do badly in this,' Suguru thought.
***
Suguru was correct in his assumption. He missed all three throws by a wide margin.
"..."
It was the only logical result of having never practiced throwing shuriken before. Meanwhile, Uchiha Tatsuya activated his Sharingan and threw his shuriken accurately, landing all three, dead-center.
'Damn,' Suguru thought as he watched even Hyuga Mitsuko hit all three despite not being at the center.
His shortcomings were becoming clearer.
'There are indeed things in life that cannot be avoided.' Suguru began setting up his training plan in his mind.
If he was going to work hard, then he wanted to break himself in the process. Pushing way past his limits would be the only way forward, especially with the research he had on hand.
'I can try out a few new ideas,' Suguru smiled, shaking off the shame of being the worst at Shurikenjutsu in the class.
***
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the leaf concentration exercise and written subjects such as mathematics and the sciences. It was only when the sun began to set that the students were dismissed.
Suguru stretched his body like a cat who had been rudely awoken.
"Yo, Suguru!"
Someone called out to Suguru just then. Upon glancing over, he saw that it was Akimichi Rie. She was with Nara Shikiro and Yamanaka Keiichi.
'Oh, it's the trio...'
Tilting his head, Suguru put on an inquisitive gaze. Seeing this, Shikiro chuckled.
"We're going out to eat. Do you wanna join us?"
Suguru thought for a moment before nodding.
"Un~"
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I made a P@treon! Hehe~
Link: pa treon.com/ubemantou
(No space.)
Read up to five advanced chapters on P@treon! :D
Big thanks to Godphaze, CosmicOwl, and HE for supporting me on P@treon! <3
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