บท 16: The Real will of Fire
"Imagine your team has been tasked with safeguarding a caravan of merchants travelling through the land of hills. Your mission is to safely escort the convoy to its destination while minimizing casualties and mitigating enemy threats.
But along the way, you encounter a group of rogue ninjas who want to target the caravan. What is the appropriate thing to do?" Ryuji asked his students on one fine morning.
They were currently having one of their theoretical classes, strategic thinking and planning or as Renjiro had shortened it, strategy 101.
"Ryuji sensei, shouldn't we just fight them so that we minimize any even of the rogue ninjas getting to the merchants?" Akimichi Gima, a new addition to the class asked.
With the start of the new year, there were some missing faces as well as new faces in the elite batch of the second year. Since the elite batch consisted of academy students showing promise, it was understandable that the academy had taken a merit-based approach.
Those who were at the bottom of the class during the end of the first year's exams were relegated, to the lower batches while those who were topping the lower baches were promoted.
This was to foster healthy competition between the young children and force them not to foster complacency at any given time.
"You can't just rush at them and leave the caravan unprotected Gima, that's an opening you are giving the enemy. What if some of them were hiding waiting for that opportunity?" Nara Hayate, who was sitting next to Gima, refuted his response.
"What's the fun in that? My big brother always says that the best defence is going on the offence." Inuzuka Makoto, one of the Inuzuka Triplet in class, added.
"Your mission is safeguarding the caravan. Your priority should be to ensure that the merchants in the caravan are safe. After doing that, then maybe you can engage with the rogue ninjas." Ryuji Sensei declared, intending to put the mini-debate to an end.
'They are basically raising child soldiers.' Renjiro, who was paying attention to class, surmised.
It had been close to three years since Renjiro came to this world but occasionally, he would still find normal things in the shinobi were strange to him.
It was not strange for him to learn the strategies employed in the ninja world since he was an adult trapped in a child's body, but thinking about prepubescent kids doing the same was weird. Wasn't there some right against this?
"What do I always say?" Ryuji Sensei asked.
"Listen to your Jounin Sensei and protect what or who you are supposed to protect first before doing anything else if it is a safeguarding mission!" The students said in unison.
"Why do we do that?"
"Because our Jounin Sensei are experienced and know best and perfectly accomplishing the mission means that the village gets more mission." The students replied in unison.
'This is the real will of fire.' Renjiro chuckled at the thought as class ended.
"Remember to complete the assignment that I had given yesterday. I will check it at the end of the week." Ryuji sensei said as the kids were leaving the class. His voice was drowned in the sea of chatter as the students were happy to be finally heading for lunch.
They only had one class left before calling it a day. Since the class was weapon throwing, then it made sense to have it in the afternoon.
===
"Swish!"
"Thud! Thunk!"
With a swift motion, Renjiro drew another kunai, the metallic gleam catching the sunlight as he aimed. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the kunai hurtling through the air, the sound of its trajectory slicing through the silence like a sharp whistle.
"Swish!"
"Thud! Swish! Thunk!"
The kunai struck its target dead centre, embedding itself with a satisfying thud as Renjiro's keen eyes assessed his next mark. He repeated the process with each throw executed with precision and finesse.
Thud! Swish! Thunk!
"Good work Renjiro," Their instructor of the day, Hirano Tatsuo began, "Next!"
"Whoa! Have you seen that? Renjiro has hit all the Targets."
"Yeah, he never misses."
"And he looks good while doing so!"
"Sometimes when his eyes are red and it matches his hair, he looks more handsome!"
"You dumbass, that's the Sharingan."
"Huh? Sharigan? He isn't an Uchiha? Who's the dumbass now?"
Ever since Renjiro excelled in his first end-of-year exams, he had gained some fans. Most of them were girls, thankfully. But Renjiro was no pedo so he did not pay much attention to it.
'My aim is perfect when it comes to the kunai, even without using the Sharingan. But when it comes to the Senbon or Shuriken, I need the Sharingan to have an accurate aim. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.' Renjiro sighed.
After class ended, Sora immediately approached Renjiro, "Uhm... Renjiro how are you doing?"
"I am fine Sora."
"Do you have any plans now?"
"Aaah..."
'I got some good wind release jutsus that I wanted to start working on.'
Renjiro contemplated for a while before saying, "I was about to go home and work ninjutsu. Why are you asking?"
'Ninjutsu? He probably means the major academy ninjutsu That Ryuji Sensei talked about the other day. I already know the substitution jutsu. So it is good that he hasn't left me that much behind.' Sora thought.
"I was hoping that you could help us with practising weapon throwing."
Renjro noticed that Kaito was a few meters ahead eyeing them.
"You or Kaito?" Renjiro inquired
"Both of us." Sora shyly answered.
'Sigh.'
"Fine. Where do you want to go? Should we use the clan training grounds or the academy grounds?"
"Let's use the Academy ones since they are nearer."
"Okay, I'll be in training ground 5 in ten minutes."
"Thank you, Renjiro!" Sra said as she scurried to her brother.
'This will be troublesome.' Renjiro thought as he made his way to the academy training grounds.
The academy training grounds was a new privilege they unlocked when they reached their second year at the academy. there was no need for it since their first year mainly focused on workouts.
It was not like the academy training grounds were better than the one of the clan, the convenience of it being closer to the academy made it more suitable for the situation.
It did not take long for the siblings to arrive and join Renjiro at training ground 5.
"So, what do you guys need help with?" Renjiro inquired.
"We'd like you to help us with our weapon throwing."
"Yes, I know that, but what exactly? Kunais, Shurikens or the Senbon?"
"Why don't we just start with all of them?"
"Okay, but why don't you guys first show me what you can do."
Following his words, the siblings took a set of Kunais and threw them at some targets nearby.
'Well, at least they tried their best. So there's that. but this is going to take a lot of work.'
"Is it that bad?" Sora asked after she saw the look on Renjiro's face.
"It'd be better if we'd had the Sharingan like you." Kaito chimed in.
"Ooh really?" Renjiro said as he took a set of kunais and threw them.
"Thud! Swish! Thunk!"
"This was without the Sharingan. Yeah, it helps but don't ever use it as an excuse for mediocrity. Plus awakening it, comes at the cost of powerful emotions good or worse. It's even worse for the Mangekyo Sharingan."
"What's the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Kaito asked.
'Damn! I slipped up.'
"Don't worry about it. Let's get back to what brought us here," Renjiro began, adopting a more straightforward tone. "When you throw these weapons, think about two things: how heavy they are and how fast you want them to go."
"Kunais are a bit heavier, so you'll need to put some muscle into your throw to make sure they reach the target. But don't overdo it! You want enough force to hit the mark without losing control."
Moving on to the shurikens, Renjiro continued, "Shurikens are lighter, so they don't need as much force. You want to give them a good spin to keep them stable in the air and make sure they hit the target flat."
Finally, he turned to the Senbons, "Senbons are like throwing darts. They're small and light, so you don't need to throw them hard. Focus on your aim and precision."
Renjiro watched as understanding dawned on Sora and Kaito's faces, relieved that his explanation had resonated with them.
"Remember, practice makes perfect, so don't get discouraged if you don't nail it on the first try. So let's go again."
Unknown to Renjiro, there was a pair of eyes watching what they were doing at the training grounds.
'How does he know about the Mangekyo?' The figure wondered.
=====
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