Yuzuru's body suddenly sprang open like a snapped-back coil, and he jolted awake from the instance. The intense pain in his chest still tormented his nerves.
He instinctively pressed a hand to his chest, wanting to make sure he hadn't really been hurt... Thankfully, there was no gaping hole in his chest.
He couldn't help it. The sensation of being killed just now had felt too real—far more vivid than dying for no apparent reason. Thankfully, it had all happened inside the instance.
That Orochimaru had played dirty. He was not only moody but impossible to read. Everyone had been "studying," and then he'd suddenly struck without warning.
No wonder he was a ninja who seemed like a snake given human form. The man was far too cold-blooded.
Since he'd been killed in the instance, Yuzuru discovered upon waking that its cooldown had doubled. He wouldn't be able to enter again anytime soon... Compared to what he'd gained the last time, he'd gotten very little this time, and hadn't completed the course of action he'd planned in advance.
At least it hadn't been a total waste. He'd gotten several Wind Release Ninjutsu.
At the thought, Yuzuru quickly pulled a Blank Scroll from his Ninja Tool Pouch and recorded the Wind Release Ninjutsu in his head.
In Hazuki Uchiha's eyes, Yuzuru's series of reactions had been downright bizarre. First, he'd jolted awake in fright, clearly having dreamed about being killed or something equally awful. Then, after waking, he'd started scribbling away... What was he doing, recording his dream?
What should she do? It seemed like someone on the team wasn't quite right.
While the details were still fresh in his mind, Yuzuru copied several Wind Release Ninjutsu onto the scroll. Only then did he put down his pen and let out a long breath... The instance hadn't yielded as much as he'd hoped, but at least he hadn't been killed for nothing.
Orochimaru did whatever he pleased, and he was exceptionally perceptive when it came to other people's emotions. Before he'd suddenly attacked, Yuzuru really had been thinking about Orochimaru... Had Orochimaru sensed the emotion he'd let slip? What was that, Malice Perception?
But it didn't matter. Even just learning Orochimaru's location was an unexpected gain. During the Nine-Tails' Rampage, Orochimaru had taken the opportunity to move around in the Secret Technique repository; in a way, that was a good thing... The next time he entered the instance, Yuzuru could find an opportunity to explore Orochimaru's secret laboratory. He might make an unexpected discovery.
Orochimaru's attitude, treating human lives as utterly worthless, was a little too "ninja-like." Yuzuru couldn't do much about Orochimaru, but he could at least find a way to collect some interest.
What Yuzuru really wanted to understand was what this so-called "instance" actually was. Could it really all be explained so simply by the word "system"?
But while inside the instance, he lacked the ability to study it from a broader perspective. And under the threat of war and death, he couldn't find the composure to investigate its origins... Forget it. Since the instance could help him, he'd just leave it at that for now.
By the dim light of the cave, Yuzuru turned his attention back to the Wind Release Ninjutsu before him.
The hardest of the Wind Release Ninjutsu he'd obtained were only B-rank. Normally, B-rank techniques were the sort that only Jonin could master proficiently. Yet after a little study, Yuzuru found that these techniques weren't hard to learn.
"Hmm? They're not that difficult to practice. I feel like I can master these techniques pretty quickly."
Well, he had the Fourth Hokage's "selfless contribution" to thank for that. Yuzuru's Wind Release affinity was at the "Peak Mastery" level, which should be second only to "Perfect Mastery."
Yuzuru felt that with a little practice, he could learn B-rank Wind Release Ninjutsu... Or rather, as long as they weren't extremely advanced techniques like Rasenshuriken, he could give them a try.
A- and S-rank Wind Release Ninjutsu were difficult or extremely difficult for Yuzuru. B-rank and below, on the other hand, were basically easy.
Besides that, he realized that Wind Release was relatively friendly to ninja with limited chakra. Wind Release was light and sharp, and required less chakra to use.
Wind—or "air"—was everywhere. Getting it moving took far less chakra than using other elemental techniques.
In other words, from an "energy-saving" perspective, Wind Release could make Yuzuru's chakra use more efficient... Again, as long as he didn't try to make something like Wind Release: Great Ball Rasengan or Wind Release Rasenshuriken.
There was just one problem. If an ordinary ninja like Yuzuru suddenly used Wind Release Ninjutsu associated with a particular clan, how would he explain where he'd learned them? Would that cause trouble? He was overthinking it. Those concerns came after survival. If he couldn't make it off the battlefield alive, none of it mattered.
Besides, it wasn't as though he couldn't explain it. Yuzuru could quickly think of several plausible explanations, even if they weren't very honorable.
As he thought, Yuzuru began practicing hand seals without realizing it, looking as though he were about to release a technique at any moment.
By now, Hazuki Uchiha, who'd been watching Yuzuru all along, had to speak up and stop him. If he suddenly used a technique inside the cave, it might be dangerous—but even if it wasn't, what if they gave away their position...
"Yuzuru, what are you doing?" she asked directly.
Uh...
Only then did Yuzuru realize that staying up in the middle of the night, waving his hands around, really did look strange.
So he thought it over and decided to dress up a little truth in a lie. "Senior Hazuki, I just made a little progress in my elemental training?"
"Elemental training? While you were sleeping?" Hazuki Uchiha looked baffled. Hadn't he just been asleep? How could he train in his sleep?
Well, although it wasn't what she'd thought, Yuzuru really had trained while asleep.
"I'm just an ordinary Genin, nothing special—so unremarkable I'm practically clumsy. If a ninja like me wants to survive on the battlefield, I have to stay alert and never let my guard down... Saying I train in my sleep is a little exaggerated, but I do sleep lightly. The thought of getting stronger is always circling in my mind."
Usually, though, people didn't call that training. They called it cheating.
"So that's what you mean." Hazuki Uchiha nodded slowly. "Only when a ninja is on the battlefield, facing life-or-death choices, can their true nature show. Skill and ability can be honed, but a person's nature is set from birth... It's rare for a ninja to go from mediocrity to becoming a hero, but it does happen."
So Uchiha ninja could have a normal conversation after all.
Wait, hadn't she just subtly expressed a belief in bloodline determinism or fate?
Setting aside the Uchiha's own bias, there wasn't much wrong with what Hazuki Uchiha had said. Some ninja really did grow at an astonishing rate on the battlefield. Take the Fourth Hokage, for example. He'd been nothing special at the Ninja Academy, but as soon as he graduated, he was able to take down a Kumogakure Jonin and save a certain ninja from the Uzumaki Clan.
It was the thirty-seventh year of Konoha. Come to think of it, the Fourth Hokage was about to graduate...
Yuzuru had said all that only to lay the groundwork for using elemental techniques later. Otherwise, it would be strange to start out fighting mostly at close range, then suddenly switch to mid-range ninjutsu combat.
"Hero? That's an exaggeration, Senior. If I learn more techniques, I'll be better suited to the battlefield... If we run into enemies again, I think I can use Wind Release in a fight."
"Even if you've learned Wind Release, there's a difference between learning it and truly mastering it. Also, what techniques? Do you know any Wind Release Ninjutsu?"
"Techniques? Senior, do you know what I used to do for work... I treated Konoha's wounded on the battlefield and recovered the bodies of fallen Konoha Ninja."
"When you're doing that kind of work, you can always recover a few other things, too."
Ninja on the battlefield stuffed all sorts of things into their Ninja Tool Pouches. Compared to that, carrying a few ninjutsu scrolls was perfectly ordinary.
Hazuki, an Uchiha ninja, didn't mind the idea of taking other people's techniques from the battlefield. After all, they often used the Sharingan to copy techniques themselves.
"If your techniques can come in handy, all the better."
Hazuki Uchiha didn't quite believe someone could master an elemental nature so quickly. But if Yuzuru really could do it, then it would certainly be a good thing for the team.
The question now was when their two teammates would return...
Before you continue