13 Chapter – 12 Shuriken Training & Annoyance Continues
Sasuke arrived at the Shuriken Training field after the rest of the Class. There were dozens of Shuriken practice ranges with individual target faces. Children have to throw the Shuriken and Kunai at the target faces. Naturally, the children are graded for their Shuriken and Kunai handling skills as well, so this is both training and grading.
Everyone lined up as per their naming order, and as fate would have it, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto were positioned next to each other, and much to the young Uchiha's annoyance the dimwit blondie was constantly looking at him instead of paying attention at Iruka as if he has some millennium-old beef with him. Technically, that is indeed the case, but still!
Finally, Sasuke couldn't help it and asked the guy, "What do you want?"
Naruto folded his hand over his chest, and said, "I am going to defeat you…"
Sasuke shrugged, "Considering how poor your current set of skills are, you wouldn't be able to defeat me even in your dreams."
"Yes, that attitude of yours is what pisses me off the most, I am going to kick you off your high horse, believe it!" shouted Naruto.
"As I said, what made you suddenly think that you are capable of defeating me when you haven't won a single time?" questioned Sasuke with a sigh.
Naruto was obviously angry and wanted to speak, however, at this time Iruka arrived beside him and sighed, "Alright, since you are so eager to compete, then let's start with you Naruto…"
"That's perfect, Iruka-Sensei pair me up with this guy… I am going to beat him into oblivion this time!" declared Naruto as he pumped his fists for a fight.
Hearing the blondie's words, Sasuke realized that Naruto was mistaking something, just to be certain he asked, "You do realize that we are not here for a Taijutsu battle, but Shuriken training, right?"
"What?" Naruto was taken aback, he suddenly became nervous, and looked at Iruka in shock, "Iruka-Sensei, are we here for Shuriken Training?" He was only focused on devising a plan to defeat Sasuke, as such he hadn't paid much attention to what Iruka was talking about in the classroom or a while ago.
Tick marks appeared on Iruka's forehead, he twisted Naruto's ear and shouted at him, "This is why I tell you to pay attention to what I am saying, you fool!"
…
A while later, with a red ear, Naruto took the stance to throw Shurikens, "So what if it's Shurikenjutsu… Hokage isn't afraid of anything!"
Iruka spoke, "Alright children… once I speak, 'Begin' you will begin, and when I say 'Stop' everyone will stop to catch their breath and retrieve their Shurikens. The time period between 'Begin' and 'Stop' will be that of three seconds. Try to accurately throw ten Shurikens at the target focus within the three-second time frame I am providing you…"
"Understood Iruka-Sensei~" The children responded in unison.
Iruka nodded lightly, then he raised his hand and sharply waved it, "Begin!"
Immediately, everyone at the training field started to throw Shuriken at the target focus.
Naruto and Sasuke naturally followed.
Nervous Naruto wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, then turned left and noticed Sasuke also taking his stance, and cried inwardly, 'Why did it have to be Shuriken training?' Earlier he claimed that he would defeat Sasuke, however, that was in Taijutsu, not Shuriken training, so obviously he was nervous. Shurikenjutsu has never been his strongest suit. It's not as though he can't throw Shurikens at all, but still, he struggles at it, but then again, what is it that he doesn't struggle at?
On the other hand, Sasuke did not focus on Naruto, instead, he looked at the four Shuriken between his fingers and then at the target focus fifty meters away from him. Unlike the ninjas of this world, the assassins in his previous world did not use throwing tools like Shuriken or Kunai, for this reason, he is not too well versed in handling the unique throwing weapons of this world. If it had been a military knife, a dagger, or Senbon, he would have been able to handle those things well, but handling Shuriken and Kunai? He is still learning.
From the memories and experience of 'Sasuke,' he does retain Shuriken and Kunai throwing skills, moreover, he has also carried out some personal training in handling these tools in the first week following the Uchiha Genocide to understand Uchiha Sasuke's current set of skills, so unlike the clueless guy standing beside him, he is not too nervous.
Sasuke's expression turned stern, and he took a deep breath, 'Here goes nothing…' Then one after another he threw the four shurikens in his hand at the target focus.
Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha!
The four Shurikens left his hand, and after cutting through the air they nailed the target focus.
Tuk! Tuk! Tuk! Tuk!
Two Shurikens landed at the dead center of the target focus, while the other two were a little off mark from the dead center. Looking at the two missed Shuriken, Sasuke mumbled to himself, "I see, although my hand is good to go, I do need to adjust my strength to some extent…" and took six more Shuriken from his Shinobi Bag and distributed them equally among his two hands.
With three Shurikens in each hand, he threw them at the target focus, and this time Sasuke made sure to adjust the strength of his other arm.
Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha!
Unsurprisingly, all six Shurikens were nailed at the dead center of the target focus.
Tuk! Tuk! Tuk! Tuk! Tuk! Tuk!
At this time three seconds had passed, and Iruka spoke, "Stop!"
Following Iruka's instruction, all the children stopped.
Sasuke once again looked at his hand and thought to himself as he went to the Target Focus to retrieve the ten Shurikens he had thrown earlier, 'The needle throwing, shooting, and archery skills from the past life along with the experience of 'Sasuke' does seem to be of great help in basic throwing skills…'
One by one he took out the Shuriken from the target focus and put them in his Shinobi bag while thinking, 'But to learn better throwing skills… especially to learn the advanced Uchiha Shurikenjutsu I need to train a lot, and only through training will I be able to master these skills to an advanced level…'
The more Sasuke thought about it, the more he felt that the skills in his 'to-learn' list were increasing one after another with each passing day. Kenjutsu, Advanced Shurikenjutsu, Bukijutsu, Genjutsu, One-handed Hand Signs, Body Flicker Jutsu, Ninjutsu, mastering & adapting to the Sharingan, and so much more. Moreover, all these skills are quite basic and certainly, build up his foundation, but these wouldn't be enough to fight and kill the likes of Sarutobi Hiruzen within the next five years.
But he really can't help it, time is limited, and there's so much to learn and master. At such times, he couldn't help but envy Naruto, 'If only I had as massive Chakra Reserves as this idiot…'
Unbeknownst to Sasuke, as he envied Naruto, the Jinchuriki of Nine-tails was also looking at Sasuke with envy. He looked at the target focus used by Sasuke, then the one he used, 'Almost all of them hit the dead center of the target focus… compared to mine…' Only two Shurikens were nailed close to the dead center, while the other eight Shurikens were either at the edge or completely out of bounds, the difference in the level of their skill was apparent.
While Sasuke only missed two Shurikens–and that too because he didn't take into account the delayed recovery of his hand–Naruto only managed to hit two Shurikens close to the target. When the difference in their skill is so clear, even he can see that he has no chance of defeating Sasuke. With a disappointed sigh, he returned back to his position.
By the time the children retrieved their Shurikens, Iruka had already recorded their individual scores in the first attempt, then he instructed all of them to get back to their initial positions and once again waved his hand, "Begin!"
Once again, the children threw Shurikens at the target focus.
Sasuke held three Shuriken in each hand and threw them simultaneously.
Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha!
Just like the last time, all six shurikens were nailed at the dead center of the target focus.
Tuk! Tuk! Tuk! Tuk! Tuk! Tuk!
This wasn't surprising since he had already accomplished the same feat the previous time, and this time around, he wanted to try something else, 'Next, let's try a curve throw…'
Curve throws involve bending the Shuriken's trajectory. Unlike other complex Shuriken throwing techniques, this technique is just the gateway to advanced throwing skills and is not too complicated. It doesn't require the use of additional Shuriken to alter their trajectory either.
With the intention of using a curved throw, Sasuke looked at a different target focus. Naturally, there's more than one target focus tied to a tree, and each target focus is tied at a different position and is used at a different level of training.
Looking at the target focus Sasuke took out a single Shuriken from his Shinobi bag, then positioned himself and thought, 'There should be a slight snap in the wrist for a slider throw…' After that, he released the Shuriken with a wrist snap slightly to the side at the release point.
Sha!
The Shuriken was indeed curved; however, it did not take the trajectory Sasuke had intended and completely went off the mark. Sasuke wasn't disappointed, he analyzed his previous throw, 'The snap must have more power, I think…' and took out another Shuriken from his Shinobi bag. Positioning himself, he released the Shuriken with a little more powerful side snap at the release point.
Sha!
Once again, the Shuriken curved, however, this time the curve was a little too much as the Shuriken once again went off the mark completely.
'I see, the snap was a tiny bit more powerful, I need to tone it down a little…' thought Sasuke as he took out another Shuriken.
By now, the other children had noticed that Sasuke was doing something different. Naturally, Iruka noticed as well, and unlike kids, he understood that Sasuke was practicing Curve Throw, a higher-level technique rather than the basic Shuriken throwing technique, a technique that Genins learned. He hesitated a little, then shook his head, 'Geniuses are always ahead of their peers… there's no point in interfering,' and decided to not disturb the young Uchiha.
As for the grading? He already decided to grade the young Uchiha according to his first three Shuriken throws, 'Since he is already capable of hitting target faces using six Shuriken at the same time, and is trying the Curved Throw, I guess, I know what grade to offer him…'
Unaware of Iruka's thoughts, Sasuke continued to throw a single Shuriken with Curved Throwing Technique.
Sha!
'It curved too quickly… I need to delay the curve a little…'
Sha!
'I guess I applied too much spin, will have to reduce that…'
Sha!
'The altitude of the trajectory is being affected because of air resistance while cutting the wind, will that that into account…'
Sha!
'No, this isn't it… maybe it's because of the wrist angle while throwing?'
Sha!
'I see, this angle seems to work, but it's still not perfect…'
Sha!
After several dozens of tries, Sasuke had figured out the gist of the throwing technique. With a Shuriken in his hand, he once again positioned himself, 'Even if it doesn't get nailed at the dead center, this one ought to touch the target face, at least…' He was confident, and after taking a deep breath he threw the Shuriken!
Sha!
The Shuriken glided across the air, and while curving along the path it really did get nailed at the target face.
Tuk!
Of course, it didn't nail at the dead center, but he had expected such an outcome so there was no problem in that regard, rather he was a little excited that he had closed in on the target. As he once again retrieved all the Shuriken, Sasuke smiled, 'Next, I need to work on improving the accuracy…'
As Sasuke once again prepared to throw Shuriken using the curved technique, the children in the class looked at him in amazement and worship.
The boys were surprised and amazed at just how quickly Sasuke picked up the curved Shuriken throwing technique, while the girls being girls were fangirling. They exclaimed cutely with hearts in their eyes and squirmed in joy upon watching Sasuke practice.
"So cool~"
"Sasuke-kun is so good~"
"He is the best at Shurikenjutsu~"
On the other hand, Naruto snorted and turned his face away, "What's so good about Shurikenjutsu anyway? I can become the greatest Hokage even without mastering Shurikenjutsu…" Though he couldn't help but clench his fist.
Not caring about what the others were thinking or talking about, Sasuke positioned himself and threw the Shuriken.
Sha!
Once again, the Shuriken glided across the air, and while curving along the path it got nailed on the target's face.
Tuk!
Unlike the previous throw, this time the Shuriken was nailed just beside the dead center.
"In the next throw, it ought to hit the dead center…!" mumbled Sasuke as he once again positioned himself to throw the next Shuriken.
Sha!
Once again, the Shuriken glided across the air, and while curving along the path it got nailed on the target's face.
Tuk!
Unlike the previous two throws, this time the Shuriken was nailed at the dead center.
"Finally!" mumbled Sasuke with a smile and pumped his fist in excitement. It wasn't that big of an achievement, it was just a small step to mastering Shurikenjutsu, but he was excited, nonetheless.
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