Over the next week, the constant seemed to be that we would need to fight.
We fought in our classes when we messed up. We fought in the taijutsu classes to establish a pecking order. We fought after classes to get better, with other kids watching and giving pointers from the sidelines.
The sessions after school seemed to do the most for our group. We got faster, stronger, and more skilled in how we kicked, punched, and grappled with others. And if you weren't watching for it, you might not notice how Tenpora—henged as a kid—subtly nudged us in certain directions with positions or movements.
I'd learned how to pop up and throw a punch with my entire body before leaping away from him. He showed off a bouncing movement before a match once that I then copied. It was terrifying to see how easily he got us to our destination without ever telling us where we were going. I could have written an entire book on how to phrase things or position myself by just reflecting on how he acted. In a way, it helped that the others weren't aware of him. They just saw improvements.
I didn't tell them. They were getting better, and the matches between us and the clan kids were getting closer... As a group, we weren't winning any fights yet. But after two weeks, they weren't losing as quickly either.
I'd knocked out a Yuki boy by using that trick Tenpora showed me after I'd dodged a kick that overextended the boy. I considered it a double-edged prize.
The civilians saw me as stronger than them and were more willing to listen to me and my plans. The clan kids and their groups? They watched me closer. Himeto Kaguya had even started getting a look in her eyes that I assumed was interest.
I'd felt elated at the victory, and then disgust washed through me. Glory be to me, I could beat up a kid.
When I floated the idea of infiltrating the other groups, Tenpora smirked and nodded slightly. I felt like I'd scored a point on a test I hadn't known I was taking. Perhaps those were the ones I needed to be considering more and more.
I needed to show that I was thinking like a shinobi.
The other kids had been dubious, but I'd pointed out that they didn't know how to do it yet. I could only click my tongue. "Hmmm, we'll need to be on the lookout for any of the instructors or other kids doing it in the academy."
I rubbed my chin. "Let's consider it stealth training."
I waved my hand through the air. "We observe some of the other kids for a while and see if we can pick anything up. The older kids would have to know it, don't you think?"
The group as a whole all murmured at that, and Kizan had given a considering look. "Why is it important we do this? We'll learn it eventually, no?"
I shook my head. "We need to be pushing ourselves and not just settling back and waiting for lessons to come our way."
I pointed towards where the academy was in the mist. "The clan kids will have stuff they know instinctively that has been taught to them since they could walk. We only have a small understanding of how big a gap there is between us with fighting, sensing the instructors, and class work."
I started ticking off points on my fingers. "They have more jutsu, more equipment, more trainers, and more fitness. What we have is ourselves and what we can gather. If we're training to be shinobi, we need to start thinking and practising being shinobi. So that means sneaking around and learning what we can about what's around us. If we're blind to an opportunity that the clan kids know about, we're not just missing out. They're getting further and further ahead of us."
That got all the kids stiffening up and nodding. I nodded back. "To start with, we should try it in small groups but not be too close. Have someone trying to get close and two people watching from a bit further back to give them some security."
I rolled my hand about. "An extraction crew, if you would." That got the whole group much more excited, and I breathed out in relief. Good. That had actually worked.
When it came to my turn to sneak up on a group, I decided to try for Goma. Mostly for petty reasons, such as being able to pull one over the brutish kid. But also because they hadn't demonstrated good sensory skills and seemed to be cocky kids. They were too self-assured.
When I snuck up on them for the first time I learned they rather preferred to sit around a window in their classroom. This left them vulnerable to me crawling along the outside wall with wall walking and staying out of sight.
Inching up to them was a heart-wrenching experience with how I had to use as little chakra as I could while also being very much within sight if they decided to stick their heads out the window for any reason. When I was a few metres away, I wanted to curse. The mist that was working so well to hide me, it muffled their quiet conversation.
I had to get closer. So I continued to inch forward until it felt like I could reach through the window and touch them. Something that would be far easier for them with their much longer limbs.
But I stayed because I knew it was a good experience. If I couldn't hack it while the threat was just being beaten up... I needed to become more proficient at sneaking up on people.
So I stayed and listened. My heart thundered in my ears as I kept as tight a hold on my chakra as I could. The only parts of my system that moved were those that allowed me to remain on the side of the wall ten metres off the ground.
Sadly, Goma and his cronies weren't the types to flaunt their jutsu. They instead spent a good deal of time discussing what they'd done in class, what food they were eating, and how their training had gone.
It was interesting to learn about classes I assumed we were going to learn in a few years. It was also vaguely useful to know that goon number two disliked spicy foods and that goon number one enjoyed picking his nose so much that the others made a game of telling him to stop. It was nothing immediately actionable. Nothing, until Goma nudged one of his friends, causing them to spill some food on me through the window.
I held my breath and prepared to run away as fast as I could. My mind ran through the potential methods of evasion that I had available to me. Where I could go, how I could make them lose sight of me, and then keep it that way. I was practically jumping off the wall already when the kid whined at Goma.
"Dang it, Goma, you made me spill some of my lunch! I like it when my Ma makes this!"
"Urgh, she makes huge batches; you can have more tonight. Don't sweat spilled soup!" He then lowered his voice. "What do you think they'll have the new blood do at the end of the semester?"
I sharpened my hearing and licked my lips. What was this now?
The other kids all shifted about as though looking around carefully. "Goma, it's only been a few weeks. They got a few months before the instructors even give out hints." This was said by the whiney kid who had lost his soup over me.
"I think it'll be the Shark Coast," said another.
"Nah, that was the year below us. I think Tiger Island. Has to be."
"Weak," muttered Goma. "I'm hoping for the Skull Cliffs."
The other boys hissed. "No group get sent there! That's always held back for the third years. That's going to be us this year!" said one boy.
"Yeah, well, I'm ready for it. I know what they say. Only one in three make it out. I just think it'd be good to kick out the minnows from the pike early! Why wait?"
The other kids grunted. "That's pretty harsh," said one boy.
"Nah, those kids need to toughen up. We all do! There's a war on out there! We need better than those punks!"
At this point, there was a general chorus of agreement, but little else. I ended up inching away successfully and counting the entire expedition a success.
I told the other kids about it and then told them to keep an ear out for anything else they could find. We had some information. I wanted more. I needed the full scope of what was coming our way. Slowly, over the course of weeks of people sneaking up on older students or lingering near instructors with looser lips than our own Instructors, we learned something.
It seemed that every semester, an expedition occurred.
Students would be led to a destination away from Kirigakure by the instructors. Each year the destination, the number of students, and the duration of the event changed. The only thing that didn't change was the theme.
Survival.
You were expected to thrive in a variety of settings. Some people reported being thrown into deserts, forests, mountains, snowfields, barren islands, or even down into the depths of rocky caverns.
The aspect that stood out to me was that each year a certain number of students were expected to die.
Not predicted.
Expected.
Then, in the third and final year of the academy, we would be led to a place known as the skull cliffs, where the numbers that survived were only ever speculated on. The death toll was thought to be horrific. Kids heard rumours and knew it was bad.
Each year, they were apparently building up to that third and final event to show that they were one of the survivors.
Whatever awaited there was so bad that people were not allowed to know.
Any and all attempts to ask about it from the instructors garnered harsh punishments. Talking about it outside of the academy, if discovered, apparently resulted in worse punishments, along with the kids being shamed.
With no information, all that was left was for people to let their imaginations run wild.
They thought Kirigakure had a dragon, a troll, or some mythical Oni that we had to defeat. We'd be devoured if we didn't defeat it. They thought that we had to dive from the cliffs and demonstrate that we were fearless. Or that we were smart enough to jump into a spot where we wouldn't be dashed against the rocks.
They had many thoughts.
I thought I knew exactly what they did at the cliffs.
They already had all the building blocks in place. They had the mythos. They instilled in parents the fear that their children would not return from expeditions, while also building the understanding that it was 'normal' for this to happen. The students would continue to march forward, unaware of what was coming.
Then, the academy could put them through a final, bloody test.
One that all the shinobi knew of, but didn't say anything about.
I imagined that it helped that life was harsh and cheap in the Elemental Nations. But that might have been my 'modern' sensibilities acting up.
Still, the information was a big win and something that we could act on. We'd done enough to verify it from multiple sources, and there was a common enough theme that we were able to start gathering books and asking our instructors pointed questions in class when survival was the topic.
Tenpora always had the knowing little look and it didn't take long for Instructors Geta and Mizune to work out that we knew. Geta looked like he'd smelt something foul. Mizuna got a thoughtful look as she considered a question about setting up tents or sleeping arrangements in the snow. Then she answered the question.
It turns out that if you kept your ears open, you learned quite a lot from all the conversations that occurred around the academy.
For practice, I started sneaking up on Kizan, Rei, Shoto and the other kids in our group. I surprised a few of them with this and they shouted at me for a while, only to see the reason behind my stalking them. Then I started pulling kids aside during our training sessions and had them do the same to others in the group or even against me. We made it a game, and I held in the pain of self-loathing as I manipulated them into loving it.
With my early successes, the kids saw me as a goal to reach, and so I suddenly had lots of them trying to do it.
Some days, I couldn't go to the bathroom without them jumping out at me. Which was so disgusting. I hated that I'd set myself up for this as training. Still, it made me better at detecting people around me. I started faking out bathroom breaks or slipping off without warning to use a different bathroom. I had to vary my routes around the academy, and I couldn't have a routine to follow. My pride was on the line, and I knew that one day more would be at stake.
Rei was the worst at stealth. She always had to run away when she tried and failed to sneak up on someone. Fortunately, she mastered it quickly. I only had to step in and start throwing down with an older kid twice before she started getting away faster than they could catch her.
She might have sucked at throwing punches, or kicks, or kunai, but Rei could run. We stopped having her try and listen in on the other groups and instead had her practice against people in our group.
Kizan was alright, but his chakra control left something to be desired. It infuriated him that I could detect him trying to sneak up on me every time.
Shoto…
I stopped what I was doing and stiffened as something sharp and metallic touched the back of my neck. I tensed and prepared to do something, anything crazy, to get myself out of this situation. This was exactly the situation that you didn't want to find yourself in. It had been covered in multiple lectures.
Now, walking back from the academy I had been too lost in thought and now I was going to have to resort to—
"Got you again, boss. That's ten points for me!" said Shoto from behind me.
I exhaled heavily only to come to a halt. "What colour was Kizan's rice three days ago?"
"Fruple-two," said Shoto back after a moment of thought as he recalled the response.
I relaxed. It wasn't someone disguised as Shoto, at least as far as I could tell.
"You got me," I said. "How many times is that?"
"Six now. I'm on top of the sneak game now. You need to keep your head up even on the days we're not due at the academy." Shoto tilted his head and glanced at where I'd come from. "You live in the red light district?"
I considered him for a moment and, as subtly as nonchalantly as possible, checked our surroundings before I answered him. "Yeah. That a problem?"
"Nah. No problem. What's it like?"
I scratched my cheek. "It's life I guess?"
It wasn't all that I could say, but it was the best answer I could give. Matsu—aka my current life—had been raised in the Red Light District. He wouldn't know any different. My past life's memories let me know that things were rough but that I should be happy that I had a roof over my head and food in my belly.
I inspected Shoto. The kid in our class with the most dirt stains on his clothes. The person that I needed to trick into eating some of my and Rei's lunches due to his own tiny or utterly lacking lunch.
I usually bet him some food on something small, like making a throw that I knew he could make, but that would be a challenge for me. Or daring him to do something like a backflip better than another kid.
I could never just give him the food.
He always had to earn it. Otherwise, he rejected it. Pride could be funny like that.
"So, is it true that it has women that drain the life out of men with their legs? That they whisper things that make men go dumb?"
I held up a finger before lowering it. "... In a sense…" I settled on. "I think you need to be older to understand…" I coughed as he shot me a flat look. As a trainee shinobi, he was already on the way to being considered an adult.
"Can't you ask your parents about this?" I said.
He gave me a look that informed me how stupid that was. "I'm a gutter rat orphan, a shinobi found me scrounging for money. They come to find me if I don't go to the academy. So no, I can't ask my parents!" he said with a snap.
"Ah, sorry to hear that." I'd suspected something was going on there. Damn it, was I going to have to give Shoto a sex ed talk wasn't I?
I rubbed at my face and waved him to follow me. "Come on, I need food for this and you need to listen." What followed must have been extremely amusing to the soba noodles chef. They served both Shoto and me a bowl of noodles and then got to sit and listen as I explained things to Shoto.
They received such treasures as, "What's the difference between girls and boys?" I said.
Only for Shoto to slurp up his noddles and reply, "They smell weird, and have to squat to pee?"
Or, "So this sex thing? It feels good?" asked Shoto.
"It seems that way?" I had to say that, having obviously never done it in this life. The Chef shooting us thumbs up didn't make the situation better.
By the time I was done, Shoto had a faraway expression, I had a vague headache, and the chef was not even trying to hide his laughter. When I sat up to leave he returned my money to me.
"For the show! It's not often I get such entertaining young men come in! I will make so many people laugh today that they will be sure to buy more!" he said happily.
I just walked off and left Shoto to it. He'd find me again if he wanted to. He was damn good as a scout.
I obviously had to work on my sensory skills and keep my awareness up more. I sighed and finished the errand I had left the Okiya to do before getting back to my training. I wasn't going to be miraculously able to heal myself or others without working at the Mystical Palm jutsu.
Shoto started following me.
"Uhmm, Shoto I'm going to go home and work on my jutsu after I run this errand for the Madam."
"Oh! Right! Sorry about that, my place that I'm staying is this way as well," he said as he continued to follow me.
I scratched the back of my head. "You're safe there?"
"Yeah, safe as anywhere can be I guess."
I grunted. "Ah, I'd offer you a spot at the Okiya but that'd piss the Madam off and well she's already threatening to sell me if I don't become a strong shinobi so… yeah."
"You saying I'm not pretty enough?" He barked out a laugh. I glanced at him. He was a wiry kid with hair the colour of mud and dull eyes that were very sharp.
"Yeah, pretty much. Trust me, though, that might be a good thing though. Instead of getting drafted, you might have gotten tossed into the Okiya."
"Brrrr, yeah no thanks!" He then eyed me. "You alright going to that place?"
"I grew up there. My mother was a geisha, and the Madam owed her one, so yeah. That doesn't stop the old lady from threatening to sell me. It's safe enough, and I can keep my stuff and train there."
"Hmmmm, alright then. I'll see you later!"
"Not if I see you first next time!" I called to his back. He smirked, and I knew I'd just laid out a challenge for him. By the time I completed my errand, he'd snuck up on me again just to prove a point.
I went back to the Okiya and doubled down on my sensory skills before going and floating in the cave as had become my weekly tradition. I made sure to be entirely bored about the entire event and also made doubly sure that Shoto or anyone else wasn't following me before I did so.
I entered the caves and continued to work on a small node of my chakra coils. These days it felt like step by step I was making slow progress. When I was done cleaning the node I lay in the water and just thought about all the other avenues that I needed to improve with the kids.
I needed to get them to be able to run on water, walk on walls and leap across buildings. All this and more and they needed to make it as second nature to them as possible.
For all the progress I'd made, I still had a long way to go.
It was doable though. I knew that.
Another week passed by with us continuing to fight in our taijutsu lessons. I was waiting for the next shift in dynamic. They'd almost made it a point to change something up each week so far but now we'd gone two weeks with nothing. Nothing visible at least.
I stood to the side as Shoto traded blows with a girl. It put them on even weight brackets but not on skill. Shoto was scrappy though, and the Yuki girl wasn't used to being made to work for her fights. She lunched with a knife hand into Shoto's neck only for Shoto to throw himself against her and headbutt her. While she was reeling from the hit he followed up with a punch and a kick to send her back. When she hit the wall of awaiting kids they shoved her back into the ring.
This week we'd lost the ability to be thrown out of the ring.
We had to win or lose our matches. I had to admire how they conditioned us to believe that retreat was not an option. I considered it masterfully sinister.
I also noticed that there were more instructors coming around today. They watched us and there was a casual air of indifference about them. Like we were beneath their notice.
That was slowly vanishing the longer the civilians got called up and started eking out wins against clan or shinobi-born kids. With the announcement of ranking being set up with taijutsu matches, the clan kids had gotten a rather ornate board with plaques that you could slot in and out with various people's names on it.
They thought they were very clever because they had ornate plaques for themselves, metallic plates for their subordinates, and simple folded-over paper for the rest of us.
Over the last few weeks, they'd stopped feeling so clever as shoddy, cheap paper plaques inched up the rankings. There were a handful of names that stood out, having intruded in the glamour and style on display.
"Matsu!" barked instructor Geta. Then he smirked, and I knew precisely who he was going to call up. "Himeto Kaguya."
I didn't click my tongue in annoyance as I strode forward. Himeto leapt into the ring, more than ready to fight. Dare I say, eager, even?
I eyed the stance she had fallen into as I walked forward. It was loose, and she had her feet well positioned. She'd always been one to watch during the taijutsu spars. Unlike others, she obviously had been trained in what she was doing. Watching her tear through the other kids had reinforced just how lucky I'd gotten with that cheap shot so many weeks ago.
Her name plaque was written in bone, and it stood at the top of the rankings.
My own name was ten names down in simple paper.
In people's minds, I was the anomaly for having beaten her.
"Start!" ordered Geta without any warning, not that I was expecting one. When we'd first started these matches there had been all of one match where the kids had been confused by his immediate order to get on with it before he said nothing.
Some of the fights didn't even get an order to start they simply ran at each other.
Himeto started things off by going on the attack, and I stepped to the side and batted away a fist that would have slammed into my hip. I spun, making sure to stay facing her as much as I could before dropping under a kick. My own response with a kick to the knee had her backing off with a hop.
I didn't let her gain room, instead, I pushed in close and tried to punch her and break her blocks. She turtled up and my arms stung from hitting her forearms. One of the things I noticed about her was that she was able to endure hits that no one else in our class could. She could shrug them off easier and back tenfold.
I dipped and tried to slip an uppercut past her, only to get nailed in the face as her fist shot out in a jab and caught me in the face.
Despite my efforts, I stumbled, and she was on me. Her hits rained into me like I was in a hailstorm rather than fighting a girl.
I got my arms up and felt them shudder with each hit.
I had to raise my leg up to block a viciously rising knee. She redirected her hands, which had been prepared to nail me should my defence break, and she hit me with twin open palms that saw me skidding backward.
I dug into the ground with chakra and slowed to a stop.
I tested my arms with a one-two punch to see what the damage was before she closed in on me again and they seemed fine.
Then she was on me, and we started firing off punches at each other. I had to block way more than I could dish them back but on rare occasions, I was able to slip another punch in. She kept driving me, and before I knew it, I was close to the circle's edge.
I was too caught up watching her to see it coming.
One of the kids that made up the circle must have kicked me in the back of the knee, as I found myself crumbling. I was already cursing myself for my lack of awareness as I fell. This was obviously the other aspect of the lesson they were trying to teach, but I had only picked up on the 'no retreat' mindset.
I dropped to a knee and shot my arms up ready for the beating that was surely going to come.
Only it didn't happen.
Instead, Himeto stepped around me and punched the kid who had kicked me in the face.
I grimaced as I heard the bone crunch. It turns out that keeping your awareness up was a two-way street in the sparring circle.
"Fuck off with that crap! I don't need you to step in! You… Shithead!" she exclaimed.
She sounded oddly uncertain about how she'd insulted him, but her expression morphed quickly into a sneer at the downed boy. I idly noted one of the Hozuki kids.
I felt a surge of vindication at the kid being laid out like that. Then my oh-so-clever mouth started talking before my mind could consider what was coming out.
"Himeto, leave it. I shouldn't have allowed myself to be hit like that. I was too focused on you."
She scowled at me, only to pause and cock her head as she considered what I'd said. I was about to say thanks for messing him up, only for her to shrug and leap at me, forcing me to evade.
I rolled under the punch and then kicked out backwards, only to hit nothing but air.
As I was turning around she tackled me to the ground and rode me into the dirt where she wrapped an arm around my neck and started choking the life out of me.
I tried to bite, headbutt, gouge, or do anything that I could, but she was out of my reach and far too proficient at grappling.
I felt the corners of my vision going dark, and I tapped her arm in submission, but she kept going. I bucked and shot chakra into the ground before heaving myself upright to slam her into the ground. She grunted in surprise but clung on.
I rolled, clenching my neck as much as I could to work her free, but she clung on.
With my vision darkening further and a very real fear that Geta was going to just let her end me, I did something desperate.
I changed my chakra typing and shot some medical chakra into her arm. Her grip loosened and I rolled away from her, heaving in precious air.
I staggered to my feet to find Himeto staring at her arm that was hanging limply. She clenched it and tried to move it around, but it was responding sluggishly. I'd obviously impacted her nerves slightly, but as I drew in air I could see she was quickly returning to normal function.
"Come on, Matsu!" cheered Rei loyally. I didn't shoot her a look of disbelief. Couldn't she see I was getting my backside handed to me out here?
I hacked out a cough and righted myself into a fighting stance once again, willing my legs to stop shaking and my heart to stop thundering now that it had oxygen.
I became hyperaware of how the clan kids were all watching me intently. Just like the instructors. The smart part of my mind was chastising me for not taking the loss when I had the chance. Instead, I was being stupid and standing out more than I already had been.
Himeto took up a defensive position, and I grunted. It looked like both of us were more than happy to take a moment to recover, her with her arm and me with my breathing.
Instructor Geta obviously wasn't though.
"All kids! Take five large steps in! Close the circle! Matsu! Himeto! Stop wasting time and go for the other's throats!"
I grimaced as the circle became the size of a small room. There was barely enough room to dodge and if people were feeling bold there was no way they would kick out or trip like they had before.
I lurched forward to follow the order, only for Himeto to drop her shoulder and leap at me.
This time she took me to the ground and she rained blows down on my arms as I tried to turtle up. She gave that up after a few hits and reached down and pried my arms open as she launched herself forward into a headbutt that knocked me out.
I came to a few seconds later with Instructor Geta pointing out all the mistakes we'd both made.
Himeto was scowling at him as he spoke down to her, "—more aggression. You weren't pushing like you normally do."
"That's because he's not trash like the others," Himeto said with a glare.
Geta worked his jaw back and forth, his eyes flicking around at the other instructors. "Be that as it may, you are seceding too much when you don't engage like normal."
Geta then turned to me. "Matsu, you're a mess. You don't fight with any style and you exposed your back to Himeto twice in that fight. You also let yourself get knocked down." He glared at me before huffing. "You're right that the kids around the circle don't have to play nice though. They are to keep you on your toes. You need to be faster and heavier with your punches if you want to break through a Kaguya's defences, you should have gone for softer targets."
I nodded, not willing to say that it was easy to say and another thing to do in practise. Himeto kept the soft bits behind the hard bits.
I shot a glance at her and noted she had a few scuff marks and some dirt on her, but she was otherwise fine.
Keeping the soft bits behind the hard bits summed her up pretty well, actually.
There was one more fight, but this one ended up being between Rei and another clan kid with the fight taking much less time than my own had.
Rei still managed to drag it out, but that was mostly because he dodged most of the hits. Geta was quick to point out how evasive she was being and how her punches and kicks were still weak when she did run out of space and lose.
Instructor Tenpora shunshined in after that, and clapped his hands to get our attention. "Alright, you punks have had enough time playing simple hand-to-hand! From now on, you will also be allowed blunted training kunai and weapons to begin improving your skills for two sessions a week!"
Most of the clan kids perked up at this.
Tenpora continued, ignoring them. "If you don't have a weapon, you will have to learn to wield kunai, cause for those training sessions, we're not going to pull blows. You won't be able to stab each other properly or slice each other but if you're sloppy, broken fingers aren't the only injury you'll have."
He glanced at Himeto. "If you want to use bone weapons for those lessons, you can." I shot a warning look at the rest of us. "We're not going to tell you in advance which lesson each week you will be allowed weapons. It's up to you to have them on hand!"
He nodded. "That's all, dismissed! Get out of here and enjoy your day of rest!"
Rei was quick to jump to my side. "Matsu! What are we going to do? We have no weapons except those kunai! I've seen some of the older kids running around with giant blades!"
"Well, Kizan probably won't have any problems, but we'll need to get very, very good at evading…" I chewed my lip and was about to keep walking to our training area when I noticed Himeto kind of just dragging her feet as she walked home.
A dumb idea popped into my head, and my body was already clenching up in future pain. Still, if I wanted to be positive about it it was equally as likely that she'd say yes, no, or beat me up again for what I was about to do.
But beating me up wasn't as much of a threat as it once was. I couldn't let it happen. It was the price of being a shinobi.
I walked up to her, and she glared at me only to relax slightly. "What?" she said eloquently.
I jerked my head back towards Rei and some other civilian kids. "Want to come with us and fight some more?"
She stared at me like I was stupid. "Sure," she said. She turned and followed as I moved towards the now fearful and yet awed kids. The clan kids that had been slow to depart gaped at Himeto as she followed me along.
"Matsu! What are you doing?!" Kizan said.
"Getting us someone that can make us stronger," I replied, watching as Rei flitted about, just out of lunging distance from Himeto. It was like watching a puppy approach a wolf and try to be friendly.
"I like your…... hair?" Rei said painfully, knowing that this would likely cause the other girl to target her first but making the attempt nevertheless.
"Uhn," grunted back Himeto. She turned to me. "Where are we fighting?"
I waved her on and led her into the abandoned tower we'd found. Then I turned and started limbering up. "Alright, no injuries or breaks, but otherwise anything goes. Good?"
Himeto grunted as the other kids settled in to watch. I scowled at them. "Some of you are going to be next against her, so you better be paying attention!" They sat bolt upright, their eyes suddenly much wider.
Himeto shot them looks of disinterest. "Why should I bother with them?" she asked.
I shrugged. "The stronger we get, the more we can challenge you and make you stronger."
She nodded, and just like that, I had someone who actually knew what they were doing pounding lessons in taijutsu into us. The pain was well worth getting her to join us.
I was seriously rethinking how clever I was when Rei informed Himeto of our sneaking up on each other game. She became very interested when she learned I was the hardest to sneak up on. I suddenly had a Kaguya launching herself at me as for her, stealth meant moving fast enough they don't see you coming. It sometimes worked for her, which annoyed the hell out of me.
Sadly, Himeto's inclusion caused Tenpora to stop coming around, but I had known that was always going to be a limited-time deal. Not that she came to every training session. As a clan child, she was expected to attend her own clan's training, which she was tight-lipped about.
I noted that I usually had to be the one to fight her first on the days after such clan training, as she would be more vicious.
Bruises and cuts built up on me, and small scars were being collected.
This was compounded by some of the clan and shinobi children starting to tout weapons around the academy. Himeto abstained from carrying anything beyond the basic kunai. When she fought, she usually protruded a spike of bone from her forearm.
Other kids wielded shortswords, ninjatos, and tanto blades. I had a serious think about what to get my group and I eventually settled on some long strips of wood that could ostensibly be used to train with blades, staves, or spears if they were so inclined.
Kizan's parents gave him a straight dao blade that seemed sensible to me. He had made a big show of it until Himeto joined us for training later that day, only to proceed to stomp all over him.
A meaty-looking clan kid who walked into the class on the second day we were allowed weapons with a tetsubo—a club with blunt edges—with which he threatened people. More than a few kids' weapons broke when they tried to block him.
With injuries starting to pile up, I threw myself into learning the mystical palm jutsu, and I finally succeeded in healing a fish while simultaneously keeping it alive.
I then ordered my gang of kids to catch me rats, which they did so by the handful, taking it as agility training.
When I grabbed a rat and cut it in front of them, they gave me worried looks, as if I were a favourite friend who had suddenly revealed they liked hurting animals in their spare time.
I set my hand on the cut and then revealed what I was trying to learn.
Himeto had stared at me for a long, long while after she first spotted me attempting to heal a rat with broken limbs.
I was, thankfully, successful in healing the bones correctly, and I shaved some of the rat's fur to better judge it compared to its fellow rats before I turned to her. "What's up?"
"Up?" she said, glancing up momentarily before scowling at me. "There's just the mist."
"No. It means… It means what's wrong, or what's on your mind." I tilted my head. "Do you hang out with anyone besides us?"
She shook her head, and I nodded. "Right, that makes a lot of sense. The other Kaguya, they're like this as well, yeah?"
She made a so-so gesture before straightening up. I took that to mean she didn't want to talk about it. It was irrelevant anyway. I gestured back at the rats. "Why were you so annoyed with me for healing the rats?"
She grunted. "You just irritated me; you're going to be a medic. It's weak."
"It's actually insanely hard work. But what makes you think I'm not going to fight?"
"Medics aren't fighters."
I opened my mouth to point out a flaw in that logic, only to shut it. We were still in the midst of the second shinobi war. That meant Tsunade hadn't become famous yet. Which… damn… That meant I was around the same age as Konoha's thirteen's parents.
"Well, I'm not going to do that. I need to stay close to you all so I can keep everyone alive. That means I need to be able to do both, heal and fight." I shrugged. "Anyway, it's a means to an end more than a goal."
She side-eyed me for a while before nodding. "Alright, I can accept that."
I grunted back at her and considered what to do next. I had wounds and broken bones. Was it time to start damaging the organs of the rats? That was going to be much messier and tougher. I'd need it though. Being able to heal a cut or break was all good and well but it was the torso that was the most important part of the body. I wasn't sure how good I would have to be to heal a brain injury.
I'd work on it though.
Shoto approached, and I grinned. "Hey Shoto."
He clicked his tongue. "Damn, what gave me away?"
"Chakra," I said honestly. I'd continued to work on my control, and now I had very, very good control with lots to burn. This helped me work on my sensory skills, and I was getting much harder with all the practice the kids were giving me.
"Damn it. More chakra control exercises. Blergh," he said as he walked up to me.
I glanced at him. "What's up?" Himeto tilted her head at my phrase. Shoto clicked his teeth.
"I was able to sneak up on Geta today."
I whistled. "Nice work!" I said earnestly. He shot me a grin.
"Thanks!" Then he nodded to our group. "They picked a site for the end-of-semester expedition."
Now Shoto had my full attention. "Where?"
"The shark coast."
I nodded. "So we need to get ready for tropical beaches, grass skirts and warm sunny days," I said sarcastically. Shoto snorted. "Betcha there are tons of sharks around the coast?" I said, and he shook his head, not willing to take the deal.
I glanced back at the rats. I needed to be better. Sorry rats, I thought to myself as I marched back, ready to do horrible things to them in the name of personal progress.
Still, we had a heads-up and a location. Now it was going to be up to us to give ourselves as good a chance as possible while being on the lookout for any extra little issues that might trip us up.