บท 19: A little sparring
The last three months, I've been devising some plans for the future. Plans to strengthen the overall strength of the village.
Right now, we're in a financial crisis... And the easiest way to get out of it is to increase and diversify our sources of income.
Although I can only think and not act, I have thought of different ways to solve the crisis. The main one would be drip irrigation and the use of manure.
Drip irrigation is a system that reduces the water usage by almost fifty percent and yields double the amount. As its name implies, water is dripped directly to the roots of a plant.
This is done through clever pipe-systems and reduces the number of weeds growing around the crops. This is because all of the water is focused on one plant.
I don't know how advanced the agricultural system is in this world, but there's a chance that Sunagakure is not using great methods to grow crops... Heck, they might not even be growing any.
In my opinion, there's a high chance that most of the crops we produce ourselves come from the farms located on our country's borders... The majority of our fresh products are probably imported from other countries.
Becoming self-sufficient in agriculture and making sure there is no shortage of food will be one of my priorities as Kage. That, and increasing the strength of my military.
Well, all of that talk is for the future... I'm focusing on becoming a stronger right now.
(AN: This was just to give you a small sneak peek into what the future holds when he becomes Kazekage! Of course, the main focus of my novel is still plot and action, but some kingdom managing and building will slowly appear!)
As I was organizing my thoughts... When Raccoon-Sensei made his way into the class. He looked at me resentfully before speaking up.
"In preparation for tomorrow's tournament, we're having spars today. I expect none of you to be out of the top ten of this year's new students."
Midori (The shy twin) and Koji gulped down in fear, while the rest of the class had determined looks in their eyes.
Jun and Saori (The other twin) looked at me with determination in their eyes. It seems like some people just don't learn.
The one that interests me the most is that kid Jirou... (Shijiro's nickname)
Ever since I beat him on the first day, he's been completely silent. During these three months, his grades caught up to Sumire, and he was second only to me in Taijutsu abilities.
I don't know what happened to him after our fight, but he changed... He even got face paint for some odd reason.
Interrupting my thoughts, the teacher spoke once more.
"Alright, all of you get ready. Lets head over to the school's training grounds."
Following him, we all got up and reached the field in no time. As we walked, the tension was so thick that one could cut it with a knife. Speaking of knives... There was a table near the field with an assortment of wooden weapons.
Some students were scared, and some were fired up. Others were confident, like me.
You can tell that the sand's system is very different from the leaf's. Everyone is an enemy here... There's not much friendship going on. Especially in class 1A.
Raccoon-Sensei walked over to the middle of the training ground and looked at us with a smile.
"Okay... Everyone is going to fight two opponents that I will choose myself. The fights will be over once one of you gives up or I stop the match. Ready?"
"Yes!"
The only one shouting was Jun. Looking around him, he blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Okay! The first ones to fight will be..."
Jun was visibly breathing faster, and the teacher noticed his excitement.
"Jun and Saori! Pick a weapon if you need one!"
Jun smiled and picked a small wooden katana. Saori picked a wooden fan that was about half her size.
(AN: Both Jun and Saori come from a noble family. Jun has been taught how to use a sword ever since he was for and the same goes for Saori's Fan. They can't use any Ninjutsu related to these weapons yet though.)
Not wanting to be outdone by the other, both of them ran over to the teacher's sides and waited for the signal. The teacher slowly raised his hand and quickly lowered it.
Following the signal, Jun took a stance and accelerated towards Saori. His whole demeanor changed and he became serious. This put off Saori but she quickly reacted and blocked the strike with her fan's edge.
Jun continued on the offensive, sending a flurry of sword attacks her way, while Saori just blocked them all. At one point, he found an opening and drove his sword at full speed towards her abdomen.
Saori smirked, and spun around beautifully, landing behind Jun while holding the fan to his neck.
"STOP! The victor is Saori!"
Jun banged his fists on the ground as Saori walked towards her sister with a smile on her face. They both hugged each other and rejoiced.
Hmm... That was some pretty good taijutsu for a bunch of kids. Nothing compared to Shira though.
You can tell that they're rough around the edges, but the moves they're practicing are top quality martial arts from their respective families... Especially Saori. Her agility and spatial awareness are great.
After that fight, the rest was quite boring... After all, it's just a bunch of kids sparring. These were the results of the following battles.
Jun vs Koji / Jun overpowers his opponent with strength and speed.
Koji vs Midori / A draw. Both opponents couldn't really finish each other off.
Sumire vs Saori / Saori wins, but the battle was close.
Sumire vs Midori / Sumire completely overpowers her opponents with taijutsu.
The next fight was finally a little more entertaining.
"Jirou! Jun! You're up!"
Gulping hard, Jun nervously stood on the field while Jirou looked bored out of his mind.
"Begin!"
Swallowing down his nerves, Jun repeated the stance from earlier and went directly on the offensive with his sword.
Jirou didn't move and raised his hand a little while moving his fingers.
While he was running, something invisible seemed to latch onto Jun's foot, and he fell to the ground face-first. Jirou then took the opportunity and placed him in an arm lock.
"STOP! The victor is Jirou!"
"Hmph."
With a straight face, Jirou walked back to his place as Jun almost shed tears of sadness.
Well well... What do we have here? Was that the infamous chakra threads that the puppeteers in Suna are renowned for?
To be able to use them at such an age... The kid must have trained really hard. I wonder what drove him to do so.
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