Training Session

The afternoon sun was exceptionally lazy, and the sky was clear for ten thousand miles; the vast blue expanse was so clean that only pure white clouds remained.

"Hey!"

"Ha!"

On the training grounds of the Ninja Academy, before class had even begun, the entire class had already assembled.

Outdoor classes were the favorite of six, seven, and eight-year-old children. Without needing supervision from Kaoru Iwabe, they were already rubbing their palms and warming up one by one.

Veigar lazily soaked up the sun for a while; he did not join the group warming up. Once on the battlefield, the enemy would not give you time to warm up.

Slaughter was always instantaneous!

As class time approached, Kaoru Iwabe finally arrived fashionably late.

"Good afternoon, students."

"Good afternoon, Teacher Kaoru!"

Kaoru Iwabe continued, "It seems everyone is ready, so let's begin the lesson."

"We have previously learned how to use kunai and shuriken; today, our main focus is training on throwing."

"Now, Teacher will first demonstrate the method for throwing shuriken."

As he spoke, Kaoru Iwabe pulled three shuriken from his ninja tool bag, aimed at a circular target twenty meters away, and flicked his wrist with force.

"Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!"

Dead center. All three shuriken struck the bullseye, with about a third of their tips embedded in the target.

"Teacher Kaoru, that's amazing!"

A gasp erupted from the crowd, and the students in the class cast looks of admiration toward Kaoru Iwabe.

For Veigar and the others, who were still in the student stage where they were primarily building their foundations, it was indeed very difficult to achieve what Kaoru Iwabe had just done.

"The use of shuriken requires the coordination of multiple parts of the body—the upper arm, the forearm, and the wrist must exert force in one fluid motion. More importantly, you must learn to use your eyes to observe."

Kaoru Iwabe began his tireless explanation. Veigar listened very intently; standing in the crowd, he even took out the notebook he carried with him.

"Alright, remember the throwing techniques Teacher just mentioned."

"Now, everyone begin practicing on your own. We will conduct a test of your progress in three hours."

Having finished explaining the throwing techniques, Kaoru Iwabe announced that there would be a test before the end of the school day.

"Yes!"

Hearing that they were to undergo a test, no one dared to slack off. Everyone, filled with high spirits, pulled out their shuriken and began to practice.

For a time, shuriken flew incessantly in front of every target across the entire training ground.

Fortunately, the training ground was large enough; otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to support an entire class of students training at the same time.

Although Veigar had no intention of using kunai or shuriken as his primary means of attack, mastering the art of throwing would still provide him with significant benefits.

Unlike the classmates around him who were following Kaoru Iwabe's lead by pulling out two or three shuriken to throw at once, Veigar chose to train by throwing them one by one.

"Clack! Clack! Clack!"

Veigar did not carry many shuriken or kunai. After each round of throwing, he would stop to retrieve the weapons he had just thrown, while simultaneously summarizing his performance and considering ways to improve in his mind.

After repeating this for several rounds, Veigar gradually grasped the essentials of shuriken throwing and was already able to hit the target every time.

Although he couldn't yet stand thirty meters away and hit the bullseye, he had still made considerable progress.

Under the scorching sun, Veigar sweated freely. After finishing another round, he looked with great satisfaction at the shuriken all embedded in the bullseye.

Just as Veigar was preparing for the next round of training, Kaoru Iwabe had already stepped into the center of the training ground.

"Alright, training is over. Everyone, come gather around."

As it turned out, three hours had passed quietly without anyone noticing.

Seeing that everyone had gathered, Kaoru Iwabe spoke up: "Next, we will conduct the shuriken throwing test. Those who fail will stay behind to clean the training ground."

"Now, let's divide into groups."

After three hours of training, the shuriken throwing test had finally arrived.

Everyone consciously lined up in rows, five people to a group, taking the test one after another.

As luck would have it, Veigar's group included Might Guy, the problem child who only practiced taijutsu; the class Dead Last, Obito Uchiha; the Third Hokage's youngest son, Asuma Sarutobi; and Ibiki Morino, who would one day serve as one of the proctors for the Chunin Exams.

After the preceding groups finished their tests one by one, it was soon the turn of the group Veigar was in.

Kaoru Iwabe, who was holding paper and a pen to record the test scores, heard Obito Uchiha jump out.

"I'll go first! I'll go first!"

Despite being the Dead Last, Obito Uchiha lacked the self-awareness of his status and insisted on taking the test first.

"Fine, next is Obito Uchiha."

Kaoru Iwabe granted Obito Uchiha's wish and let him take the test first.

"You guys watch closely, I'm definitely going to hit every single one!"

However, the fantasy was beautiful, but the reality was...

In any case, not a single one of the ten shuriken thrown by Obito Uchiha remained on the circular target, let alone hit the bullseye.

"Obito Uchiha, all misses. Zero points."

"Stay after school to clean the training ground."

At first, seeing Obito Uchiha so full of confidence, Kaoru Iwabe had assumed he was absolutely certain of success, or at the very least, would manage a passing grade.

But after the results came out, Kaoru Iwabe was so infuriated by Obito Uchiha's performance that he was practically trembling with rage.

The Dead Last remained the Dead Last. Kaoru Iwabe could not understand why someone like Obito Uchiha would emerge from the Uchiha Clan, a family known for producing geniuses.

He was simply a disgrace to the prestigious Uchiha family.

"Hahaha..."

Hearing that Obito Uchiha had failed the test and was being punished, and recalling his earlier declaration, the class laughed so hard that Obito Uchiha nearly wished he could crawl into a hole.

Even Rin Nohara couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth curl upward slightly.

Under normal circumstances, as a well-trained ninja, one would absolutely never laugh, unless they truly couldn't help it.

After Obito Uchiha finished his test, it was finally the turn of the four people in his group, including Veigar.

"Clack! Clack! Clack..."

"Clack! Clack! Clack..."

"Clack! Clack! Clack..."

Might Guy, Asuma Sarutobi, and Ibiki Morino finished their tests quickly, leaving only Veigar, who was slower to act.

However, although Veigar was slower, no one dared to voice any mockery toward him, because his previous nine shuriken had all struck the bullseyes of the nine circular targets.

Now, only one final shuriken throw remained. As long as Veigar could hit the bullseye again, he would receive a perfect score on this test.

With two fingers pressed together, a sharp shuriken was easily held between them by Veigar.

Then, under the gaze of everyone present, he threw it.