He strode over, grabbed the skewer of dumplings, and took huge bites.
Red bean paste smeared his face. As he chewed, he wiped haphazardly at his tears with the back of his hand.
"After you finish, wash your face with clean water.
The fluid secreted by your tear glands contains salt. If you leave it to dry on your skin, it will clog your pores." Chisen crumpled the empty waxed-paper wrapper into a ball and tossed it neatly into the wastebasket in the corner.
"I'm going to the river this afternoon," Emi suddenly said. She swallowed her last bite of dumpling and looked at Chisen. "You told me to collect stones."
"The riverbank on the west side of the Naka River.
That area experiences the strongest scouring from the current, so the differences in the stones' density are most distinct there." Chisen checked the sun's position outside the window. "Now is the perfect time to go.
After three in the afternoon, the wind will pick up over the river. The drop in temperature will affect the sensitivity of the tactile nerves in your fingers."
"Can we go too?" Kenji raised his hand, a little red bean paste still clinging to the corner of his mouth. "Teacher Noda said we don't have physical training this afternoon.
I want to try something at the river-see whether sensing pebbles with chakra is the same as sensing dough."
"They're your legs.
As long as you don't dive in deep water without protection, Konoha's public safety regulations don't prohibit genin candidates from spending time on the riverbank." Chisen straightened up with the support of his Walking Stick. "Let's go."
The banks of the Naka River had a desolate openness in early autumn.
The water level had fallen almost half a meter since summer, exposing broad