Chapitre 10: Surprise News
Winter has already passed, and so has the spring season. Time seemed to pass even more quickly after Kajiwara Ryōta joined Hikaru's training program. In the blink of an eye, six months had gone by since the academy reopened.
During this six-month period, numerous major news stories emerged one after another.
About three months ago, Uchiha Itachi, a young genius from the cursed family who had attended the academy for only four months, not including the break, received permission to graduate. Many of the academy's students were in awe of his performance.
A month later, another shocking revelation was that one of the three Sannin of Konoha, Orochimaru, had defected from the village.
The defection of one of their S-rank ninjas made Konoha village more vigilant than before. The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, deployed Shinobi on missions more frequently to uphold their clients' trust and guard the border from other villages.
This news of the defection also impacted Hikaru's academy class's training schedule, as his sensei, Takayama Koji, increased the pace of his teaching. He finally taught the students the three basic academy jutsu, hoping that some of them would be capable enough to request an early graduation.
Compared to the Nine-Tails demon fox attack, losing an S-rank ninja seemed more significant than losing many shinobi.
This news also urged Hikaru to train harder in case of unforeseen events.
"Come on, hurry; school will start soon," Hikaru said as he sat on one of the tree branches, looking down at his chubby friend.
Ryōta, panting as he leaned on the tree while looking up at Hikaru, replied, "I can't do it anymore; this exercise is too difficult."
Hikaru smiled as he heard Ryōta's response, reflecting on their current training together. Both of them had progressed to the next step of the chakra control exercise:
A Tree-Climbing Practice.
Hikaru's chakra control had progressed faster over the past six months. He moved on from the leaf training practice to the tree-climbing exercise after gaining enough confidence to hold a leaf on his head for three hours straight.
He had also completed the current step of the chakra control training a few days ago, which required him to climb the tree with his feet.
Ryōta also managed to almost catch up, demonstrating that his talent was comparable, if not superior, despite starting later than Hikaru.
Hikaru's Taijutsu training progressed much faster now that he had a training partner outside of the academy. He and Ryōta often got together to do some basic running, exercising, and sparring in their free time.
Sparring with classmates at school still gave him a beneficial variety of experiences with each fight.
Meditation training was the only physical exercise Hikaru did on his own. He considered his Tai Chi training to be his own secret technique and did not want to share it.
His meditation training proved to be the most effective tool, enabling him to progress more quickly in many other techniques. It almost felt like he was cheating, even with his current talent. He went from being a novice ninja to a regular one with potential.
His three basic academy skills also improved nicely; he could now use them without much chakra, but he still had to perform the required hand seals.
Most of the time, he still needed to almost empty his chakra reserves by performing Shunshin no Jutsu (body flicker technique). The more he used this technique, the better he could cope with dizziness from moving too quickly.
As Hikaru's chakra control became more efficient, his senses grew sharper. He could now extend his senses further, up to thirty meters.
His wind transformation exercise made a huge leap; he could now cut almost half of a leaf in one try. His ability seemed to have improved, which aligned with his improved chakra control. Based on his progress, he should be able to complete it in under a year.
His chakra reserve also increased steadily, but at a pace that wasn't overly dramatic. He couldn't compare the scale to the Boruto series, as their reserves seemed limitless. It probably had to do with his genes, but he didn't mind at all.
It was a trade-off that Hikaru could accept; he had a lot of free time to himself and didn't need to follow any traditional customs of the clan.
"Alright then, I guess we can take a break for the morning session and continue later after school," Hikaru said as he leapt from the tree to the ground near Ryōta. While offering a hand to pull his friend up, he added, "Let's head back; school will start soon."
"Yeah, let's go." Ryōta took Hikaru's hand to lift himself up and said, "We should stop by my house along the way and eat something for breakfast first."
Hikaru nodded in agreement. Both of them then separated; Hikaru went back home first to clean up before meeting at Ryōta's house, grabbing some food, and later heading to the academy.
Today, while Hikaru was attending class, he received an unexpected surprise. Koji sensei stood before the class, announcing that the first-year term would conclude with an exam in two weeks.
The exam would include a written test, leaf concentration technique, Taijutsu, Shurikenjutsu (concealed hand blade technique), and lastly, the three basic academy jutsu if one wanted to apply for graduation. For bonus points, there was also a test for Genjutsu and Bukijutsu (use of Ninja weaponry).
When Koji sensei brought up the topic of applying for graduation, he glanced at Hikaru for a brief moment, as if giving a hint. This gave Hikaru goosebumps and caused him to sweat profusely.
Ryōta, who was sitting next to him, spoke up, "Hikaru*, do you think we should apply for early graduation?"
Shocked by his question, Hikaru took a deep breath to calm himself and replied, "Why do you want to graduate early? There are still many things to learn at the academy."
"Uchiha Itachi has already graduated," Ryōta answered in a low voice. "We could give it a try."
"That's because he was ready, and we aren't!" Hikaru shook his head and immediately countered his reasoning. His nose wrinkled as he added, "Graduating early doesn't make you a better Shinobi than others."
"It'll only mean that you are prepared for a real battle that could cost your life," Hikaru emphasized his reason for being against the idea. "Also, we are still young. We can train for an additional four to five years before graduating."
"Hikaru, we're seven! We've already mastered the three academy jutsu techniques."
Ryōta still didn't give up and spoke his thoughts. They had turned seven two months ago and celebrated each other's birthdays at home. Surprisingly, Ryōta's birthday was two weeks earlier than Hikaru's.
Hikaru couldn't help but sigh as he saw the boy's hopeful eyes. He knew immediately that his advice wouldn't stop Ryōta from wanting to try. He normally would have agreed and given encouragement if this didn't involve life and death.
"Alright, everyone, let's head out today for some sparring matches," Koji sensei spoke as he guided the students to their next destination.
Seeing all the students on the training ground, Koji sensei said, "Hikaru and Seiji, how about you two for the first match?"
Koji sensei called out both names, prompting Hikaru to quickly glance at the nearby Inuzuka Seiji boy. They hadn't had a chance to fight one another at all since the beginning. It was almost as if the god of luck was on his side.
Seiji, sneering as he heard his name, immediately jumped to the middle area and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for his opponent to step out.
Hikaru then slowly made his way to the middle, adjusting his mental state and preparing for the fight. Hikaru could feel his adrenaline pumping, as he had been looking forward to this spar for a long time.
Before both of them started to fight, Koji sensei stated the rule differently than before, which made Hikaru even more alert. "From now on, you can use any means to fight during sparring, except for explosive seals, which are strictly prohibited."
Koji sensei had already taught the three academy jutsu, and this was obviously his way of checking whether each student had progressed with them.
Looking at both of them and confirming their positions, he added, "You may start!"
Both Hikaru and Seiji initiated a seal of confrontation, then swiftly engaged in battle. Hikaru, aware of his opponent's hot temper, prepared his fighting stance and waited for his opponent to approach.
Seiji coldly snorted and immediately executed his clan technique.
"Shikyaku no Jutsu" (four-leg technique)
This technique significantly increased his speed and accuracy by imitating an animal. He then ran at Hikaru at full speed, attacking with his claws.
'Isn't this a little too much for the start?' Hikaru thought. Seeing the approaching attack, Hikaru decided to jump at the last minute, flip over his opponent's body to avoid it, and then launch a straight kick with his right foot against Seiji's back.
Seiji dodged the kick and countered with a flurry of claw strikes, which Hikaru narrowly avoided by pivoting his body to the right. He then blocked a follow-up kick before performing a backflip to gain distance.
"Got you!" Seiji's voice echoed behind Hikaru as he barely settled into position. Hikaru knew he was in trouble but calmed his mind and performed a quick series of hand seals to escape the dangerous situation.
Seiji's claw swiftly struck Hikaru's back, but a wooden log appeared instead of the real body.
Seiji, dumbfounded by the situation, noticed ten shurikens hurling toward him from two different directions. He immediately dodged the attack and called out his Ninken companion, Eiji, whom he thought he didn't need to use.
Seiji hadn't learned his clan combo jutsu yet, but he used Eiji to smell out Hikaru's position.
'Trying to hide?' Once Eiji confirmed he had found the opponent, Seiji got serious and used another one of his clan's techniques.
"Tsūga" (passing fang)
Seiji swiftly rotated and launched an attack on Hikaru from his position. As Hikaru realized the seriousness of the situation, a line formed between Hikaru's brows as he quickly performed hand seals and recalled his training.
Hikaru narrowly avoided his opponent's jutsu skill, flickering away just in time toward the area where the wooden log was. Once in his new position, Hikaru thought, 'This kid is too crazy; I'll be injured if I don't do my best.'
Hikaru then gathered two kunai into his hands and performed another hand seal to prepare for a new attack. The same attack resurfaced almost immediately at his current position. Everyone watched as Hikaru moved out of the way once more and flung the two kunai from his hands.
When Seiji saw the kunai thrown at him, he simply laughed and easily avoided them by bending down his body as they flew by.
Almost simultaneously, as two kunai approached the target, a nearby wooden log transformed into Hikaru's actual body and swiftly advanced toward Seiji from behind.
Seiji felt something off, but before he could look over his shoulder, Hikaru was already close.
'This is for the punch you gave me earlier!'
Hikaru spun his body and kicked down, hitting Seiji right in the back, catching him off guard, and pushing him to the ground.
As soon as he finished the attack, Hikaru flipped away, dispelling the clone that was throwing the kunai.
Seiji, taken aback by surprise, swiftly stood up, gritting his teeth, and returned to fight, only to have Koji sensei intervene.
"The fight is over; the victory in this match goes to Hikaru-kun." Koji sensei called an end to the sparring fight and declared Hikaru's the winner.
"I haven't lost yet," Seiji retorted.
Koji sensei shook his head, saying, "You're lucky he only kicked you; if it were an enemy, you would have been dead."
The audience watched the outcome with mouths agape. They were initially in awe of the Inuzuka Seiji technique, but when they saw Hikaru counter with just a fundamental academy jutsu and win, it was an eye-opener for them.
As Hikaru watched the situation unfold, he initially thought, 'Now we're even,' but his expression quickly turned grim as he realized the implications.
'Crap! Now Koji sensei is going to force me to graduate!'
.....
* Ryōta dropped the horrific because both of them got close. Please point out if I was wrong.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Midwing1412
Midwing1412 Finally, 10 chapters!! with about 18k words. This marks a significant milestone for a newbie writer like me.
I'm trying very hard to make the story as authentic as possible to the source.
Naturally, I couldn't adhere to it entirely, or else it wouldn't qualify as fanfiction.
I had to incorporate some novel ideas that I thought they would be interesting. Not all at once, though.
Hopefully, I can still motivate myself to write it to the end. lol
Many thanks for reading!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
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