Rivalry and Chuunibyou Poses

"All right, starting now, I'll teach you the techniques for throwing shuriken. First, when using a shuriken, you can't rely solely on the strength of your arm. You need to find every way possible to concentrate the power of your upper body into that instant of release."

"Watch my movements carefully." As he spoke, Sanada Shiku took a shuriken from his ninja tool pouch.

He walked to a spot ten meters from the target. His upper body lowered slightly, and he held the shuriken in his right hand beside his left shoulder. Then, at the instant he swung his arm, his upper body twisted slightly along with his waist.

The students watched as the thrown shuriken flew toward the center of the target at high speed.

Thud. It struck the exact center.

"Did everyone see that clearly? I'll demonstrate it again in slow motion. Pay attention to how my upper body twists."

After Teacher Sanada finished explaining the shuriken techniques, he had the students form groups of five and take turns coming forward to practice.

Quite a few students had already been itching to try. Not long after Sanada Shiku finished speaking, around a dozen children eagerly stepped forward. After arranging them, he began the day's practice.

Shuichi and many of the clan ninja children did not rush forward with the crowd. Instead, they watched from the side first. After three groups had gone, Shuichi saw that there was no one in front of the targets and walked up.

Shuichi took a shuriken from the teacher. The moment he stood before the target board, Hatake Kakashi ran to his left at high speed. On his right, Sarutobi Asuma, still sporting his spiky hair, quickly ran over as well.

One was expressionless, while the other wore a somewhat arrogant, unconvinced look. Judging by their appearances, they seemed to be waiting for Shuichi to make a move so they could compete with him.

...Shuichi was a little speechless. Even a shuriken practice class could turn into people targeting him. It seemed his performance last semester had been a little too outstanding.

Shuichi ignored them. He picked up a shuriken and threw it according to the movement Teacher Sanada had just demonstrated. The shuriken spun with a slight tilt as it flew out, striking two centimeters above and to the left of the center circle.

Kakashi and Asuma beside him seemed to become excited at once. The moment Shuichi threw, the two immediately followed suit.

Shuichi first glanced at Kakashi on his left. His shuriken was embedded in the center circle, though not at the exact center. Then Shuichi looked at Asuma on his right. His had struck the edge of the center circle.

Shuichi turned his attention back to the target and recalled the feeling of his previous throw. Then he raised his hand, his eyes fixed on the center of the target.

Use a little less force, and aim a little more to the right, Shuichi silently thought.

Once he had aimed, he released it without hesitation. After that throw, the next three shuriken swiftly flew out one after another as well.

After finishing, Shuichi did not say anything. He gave up his spot to the students behind him.

Kakashi looked at his five shuriken. Four of them nearly filled the center point, though they looked slightly scattered. The last one had landed just outside the center because there was almost no space left.

He turned his head to the right and looked at Shuichi's target. Aside from the first shuriken, which had landed a little farther off, the other four had struck the center of the target in perfectly parallel positions.

Even Sanada Shiku was surprised. From a distance, those four shuriken looked as though they had been tied together before being thrown.

On the other side, Asuma seemed to bite his lip. Seeing that only three of his throws had hit, he turned and returned to the line.

"Wow! Shuichi-kun is amazing!"

"Yeah, those landing points are unbelievable!"

Most of the little girls who saw it cried out in surprise, while some looked at Shuichi with admiration. Feeling their gazes, Shuichi could only sigh. Was this the exclusive treatment for the number one student at Konoha's Ninja Academy?

"Shuichi, you're way too amazing. Do you have any tricks?" Ishikawa Tatsuki came over and asked. He had always felt that Shuichi was hiding something and refusing to tell him.

"It's nothing difficult. We've been playing this for so long already. The principle is the same as that marble game. You just need to stay calm and adjust your throw based on where the first one lands."

This time, Ishikawa Tatsuki really did perform well. His first throw was even slightly better than Shuichi's, and in the end, three of them hit the center point.

"Shuichi, I think I might have misunderstood you. The things you usually have us play really do seem somewhat useful." Ishikawa Tatsuki had shown off a little in front of his classmates and was in quite a good mood.

Shuichi himself did not know whether to laugh or cry. After all this time, Ishikawa Tatsuki had never fully believed that his games had a purpose.

After this shuriken practice, Shuichi's image as a genius was completely cemented in his classmates' minds. Over the following weeks, Kakashi competed with Shuichi quite often as well.

Both of their shuriken techniques were already excellent, but Shuichi's neat and orderly landing points looked even more terrifying.

Besides shuriken instruction, this semester also had a practical Ninja Marching course, which began in the latter half of the term.

That afternoon, Sanada Shiku brought the students to a relatively remote, large training ground in Konoha. The area was spacious, and there were many tall trees around it.

"Today, we'll begin discussing the special running posture used by ninja. I'm sure you've occasionally seen ninja moving rapidly down roads or across rooftops in that unusual posture. I imagine you've all imitated it quite a bit yourselves."

"You should have noticed that this running posture feels somewhat uncomfortable. When we run on the field normally, we keep our upper bodies straight and swing our arms. So why do ninja use this way of running?"

"First, I should have taught you last semester that ninja tools are very important. We need to draw our ninja tools as quickly as possible in battle, so the best places to position a ninja tool pouch are either on the outside of the thigh or behind the hips, because both places are very close to your hands."

"If you run with wide arm swings like you normally do, your counterattack speed will be greatly reduced. With this ninja running posture, your hands are kept close to your ninja tool pouch, allowing you to counterattack enemies at the fastest possible speed."

"There's another reason as well." As he spoke, Sanada Tomohisa used Chakra to leap onto a tree, moving to another tree about twenty meters away from the students and facing them.

He straightened his body, took a normal running posture, and jumped to a tree ahead of him. Then he returned to his previous position. This time, he lowered his center of gravity, assumed the ninja running posture, and jumped to the tree ahead.

"If you were the enemy right now, which time do you think would make it easier to attack me?"

"The first time," some students called out.

"That's right. That is why ninja use this running posture. When you lower your center of gravity, you can respond to attacks from different directions at the fastest speed. At the same time, enemies directly in front of you will see much less of your body, making it harder for them to attack you."

The students suddenly understood after hearing this. Sanada Tomohisa added, "You will all need to get used to this running posture in the future. Of course, since you do not have much Chakra yet, we will gradually increase the intensity over the coming years. I hope you remember its key points. This running posture may very well save your life on the battlefield."