Training

Ninja Academy.

"Renye, have you heard?" Motoya Nara leaned in front of Renye, looking deeply moved. "Reppu Uchiha got beaten up yesterday. Sounds like he got beaten pretty badly too!"

How could Renye not know about this?

He knew all too well!

But he had to pretend he did not.

A suitably timed flicker of curiosity crossed Renye's eyes as he asked, "Really?"

"Of course it's true," Motoya Nara said firmly.

"Haha, heaven has eyes!" Renye could not help laughing. "That brat totally had it coming!"

Motoya Nara quietly observed Renye's reaction.

Seeing his surprise mixed with what seemed like a hint of schadenfreude, Motoya Nara could not help feeling doubtful.

Could it really have not been Renye who did it?

Yesterday, Reppu Uchiha had just provoked Renye in the morning, then got a sack thrown over his head and was beaten up at noon.

The timing was far too coincidental. It was hard not to suspect him.

Seeing this, Renye raised an eyebrow and said in shock:

"Don't tell me you think I did it?"

Motoya Nara did not say anything, but his expression seemed to say, Who else would it be?

"That guy has provoked so many people. It's perfectly normal for someone to throw a sack over his head..."

As Renye spoke, he casually glanced toward Yuki Hyuga in the distance.

Motoya Nara followed Renye's gaze and fell into thought.

Reppu Uchiha truly was arrogant and overbearing in daily life. Renye was far from the only person he had offended.

Thinking about it that way, it was also possible that Yuki Hyuga had acted out of revenge...

Sitting at his desk, Yuki Hyuga suddenly felt as though someone was talking behind his back. Uneasily, he shifted in his seat.

He had no idea that someone had already set his sights on him, and that he was about to become the unlucky scapegoat.

"I think Kagami Uchiha is also a possibility," Renye said quietly.

"Kagami Uchiha?" Motoya Nara looked doubtfully toward Kagami, who was happily chatting with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō Shimura.

Noticing Motoya Nara's gaze, Kagami Uchiha gave him a gentle smile and even nodded to him in friendly greeting.

"Renye, you're joking, right?" Motoya Nara looked utterly incredulous.

Kagami Uchiha was so gentle. How could he possibly do something like that?

Renye seemed to see through his thoughts and explained, "You have to understand that honest people are actually the scariest... It's fine to bully them normally, but if you push them too far one day, they'll do some truly terrifying things."

"So that's how it is. I've learned something," Motoya Nara said seriously, nodding. He felt that Renye made a lot of sense.

He knew that Reppu Uchiha and the others had intentionally been excluding Kagami Uchiha. It was perfectly reasonable that Kagami might have beaten Reppu after being pushed too far.

"Reppu Uchiha has provoked so many people. It's normal for him to get beaten up. Stop always suspecting me. Do I look like the kind of person who'd strike from the shadows?"

"Not really."

"Then there you have it."

"But I still feel that Renye, you're the more suspicious one in this matter..."

Renye: "..."

Fine, fine, fine. What else was there to say?

He had spent all that time laying out a logical, well-supported analysis, and Motoya Nara still suspected him in the end.

"Prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain," Renye said, looking deeply hurt.

Motoya Nara was somewhat confused. Could it really not have been Renye?

Had he misunderstood him?

Thinking this, Motoya Nara said, "Renye, I believe you!"

"Haha, that's more like it. I'm not that kind of person."

With his superb acting skills, Renye finally managed to fool Motoya Nara completely.

If they kept talking, even he would start believing it himself.

Just as Renye finished dealing with Motoya Nara, their Homeroom Teacher, Takuma Senju, entered the classroom. "Everyone, gather at the training field!"

On the training field.

Everyone chattered among themselves, wondering what their Homeroom Teacher wanted to do.

"This morning's lesson is simple: endurance training, strength training, and balance training!"

Takuma Senju announced the training plan.

"Training already? How annoying..." Motoya Nara muttered.

Renye had no particular thoughts about it. He had long grown accustomed to high-intensity training. In fact, if he went a day without training, his whole body felt off.

After all, there were no shortcuts to becoming stronger. Only through relentless cultivation could one continuously improve.

"First, run one hundred laps to warm up!"

At the sound of the whistle, the students of Class A began running along the track.

One hundred laps was still manageable for the Class A students.

Most of them came from ninja clans and had begun training their bodies from a young age.

Although they were only six or seven years old now, they had already trained for at least one or two years.

At the beginning of Konoha's founding, ninja were far stronger than they would be in later generations.

Before this had been the perilous Warring States Period, when one careless mistake could cost a person his life. The weaker one was, the more easily he could die. To protect themselves, they could only keep getting stronger.

After one hundred laps, everyone was panting somewhat.

Takuma Senju did not give them time to rest and immediately moved on to strength training.

Special training equipment had been set up on the field. The students worked in pairs, cooperating to complete weighted squats, push-ups, and other exercises.

After finishing the strength training, everyone collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.

"I can't do this anymore, Renye. I'm exhausted to death." Motoya Nara's face was pale as he lay on the ground, gasping heavily.

Renye did not look much better, his lips pale.

Even he found such high-intensity training difficult to endure.

They had thought Ninja Academy training would be easier, but they had been wrong. The training here was even stricter!

"Rest for ten minutes. Next is balance training."

The moment he finished speaking, groans rose from all around.

Noticing the resentful looks in his students' eyes, Takuma Senju felt helpless.

He also felt the training was overly harsh, but this was the training plan Lord Tobirama had made. He could only follow it.

In Tobirama Senju's words, Class A was full of promising talents, so they had to be pushed hard.

There had been many geniuses throughout the History of the Ninja World, but not many had ultimately made a name for themselves.

That was because only those who grew up became geniuses!

Those who died halfway did not count...

Takuma Senju knew that Lord Tobirama wanted them to mature as quickly as possible and become true geniuses!

That was also why the training plan was so harsh.

Of course, all of this was based on the fact that these children had talent.

Those without talent would not have been assigned to Class A.

It could be said that if the children before him grew up successfully, they would absolutely become the backbone of the village in the future.

The break ended.

Next came a series of difficult stretching and balance exercises.

The students had to move quickly across narrow balance beams while assuming various poses. One careless slip, and they would fall.

One fall meant ten laps, two falls meant twenty laps, and so on.

Renye controlled his breathing and focused completely on controlling his body, successfully crossing the balance beam.

Motoya Nara was not so lucky. His foot slipped, and he fell to the ground, earning himself ten laps.

He had already been exhausted, and now he had to run another ten laps. It only made things worse, leaving him so tired he felt like he was falling apart.

As expected, he lost his footing again and crashed heavily to the ground. This time, he directly earned twenty laps.

Motoya Nara stared at the long track and felt his vision go dark. He was on the verge of breaking down.

Of course, there were quite a few unlucky people like him.

Renye looked around and made a rough estimate. So far, only ten people had crossed the balance beam.

Of those, he knew Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, Kagami Uchiha, and Yuki Hyuga. He did not know the rest.

"Danzō, keep it up!" Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted at the top of his lungs.

Danzō Shimura was currently fully focused, his eyes locked on the balance beam beneath his feet. Sweat covered his forehead, and he was just about to make it across.

Then Hiruzen Sarutobi's sudden shout startled him. His body instantly lost balance, and he fell to the ground.

"Hiruzen, you bastard!"

Danzō Shimura's face turned red with rage as he roared.

"Haha, sorry, Danzō."

Hiruzen Sarutobi scratched his head, an embarrassed smile appearing on his face.

The corner of Renye's mouth twitched slightly. Why did it feel like that guy had done it on purpose?