Aoba: Kurenai, I'll Teach You a Fun Game

A new week at the Ninja Academy.

Morning sunlight streamed into the classroom, and the air was thick with laziness.

Sure enough, school was just like work. Many people were listless and low on energy.

Aoba sat at his desk with one hand propping up his cheek. Between the fingers of his other hand, a grayish-white pebble rolled from his index finger to his pinky, occasionally flipping from the back of his hand to his palm, so nimble it seemed alive.

Yuhi Kurenai turned around and stared intently at Aoba's hand. Only after a while did she ask.

"What are you doing?"

"Training my finger dexterity."

Aoba spouted nonsense with a straight face. "The speed of hand seals depends on finger coordination. This can train your neural reflexes."

Aoba's fingers moved slightly as his fingertips felt the stone's texture and grain, trying to resonate the frequency of his chakra fluctuations with the stone's material.

This was the first step in training Earth Release nature transformation—understanding the weight and structure of "earth."

"Really?" Kurenai blinked her ruby-like eyes, eager to give it a try. "I'll try too."

She picked up a pebble about the same size from the ground and copied Aoba, trying to spin it on her fingertips.

Clatter.

The pebble fell onto the desk before it had even made half a turn.

Kurenai unwillingly picked it up and tried again, but this time it bounced away, nearly hitting Obito, who was sleeping at the desk in front of her.

"So hard..."

Kurenai puffed out her cheeks, somewhat discouraged.

"The pebble's center of gravity is unstable. It's not suitable for beginners."

Aoba stopped what he was doing, pulled a coin from his pocket, and handed it to Kurenai. "Try this."

As he spoke, he demonstrated once.

The coin rose and fell across the back of his hand like a wave, moving with elegant fluidity.

"As long as you control the center of gravity and coordinate your fingers, it's actually very simple."

Aoba patiently explained several points for applying force.

Kurenai took the coin and tried a few times according to Aoba's instructions.

Though she was still a little clumsy at first, she quickly grasped the trick, and the coin successfully spun around her fingertips once.

"I learned it!"

Kurenai cried out in delight, a brilliant smile blooming across her face.

"Right. Once you're proficient, gradually increase the speed."

"Mm."

Kurenai nodded, as though she had found a new toy, and spun the coin with endless enjoyment.

Before long, the coin was whirling across her fingers.

Naturally, she had to show off her new toy to her good friends. Aoba rested his head on the desk, and before long he heard Shizune and Rin's voices.

Soon afterward, cheerful laughter rang out. It seemed they had all learned quickly.

Spinning coins on one's fingers was not actually difficult. Anyone with somewhat nimble fingers could quickly master it. Hand seals were also a ninja's basic skill, and many people had practiced them to some degree before entering the Ninja Academy, so their finger dexterity was not bad.

"Tch, what's so hard about that? I'll definitely learn it in no time!"

As Rin's loyal simp, Obito constantly watched her every move. Seeing her playing with a coin, he immediately came over.

The result was Obito chasing after dropped coins all over the classroom, drawing laughter from everyone around him.

This simple little game, which still required some skill, quickly spread through the class like a virus.

During breaks, nearly everyone held a coin in their hand, and the classroom was filled with the clinking sound of coins falling onto desks.

Seeing so many people spinning coins, Obito refused to fall behind and secretly started practicing during class. Unfortunately, he was just too bad at it. His coin kept falling to the floor with a loud clatter, until Teacher Araki, unable to bear it any longer, sent him outside to stand as punishment.

"Idiot!"

Kakashi was as sharp-tongued as ever. However, when he looked at the coin that had rolled to his feet, he pondered for a moment before picking it up.

After trying twice, the coin began rolling smoothly across Kakashi's fingers, growing faster and faster.

Rin, beside him, naturally noticed Kakashi's little movements. Seeing him get the hang of it after only two tries, she was extremely surprised and thought to herself.

As expected, geniuses learn everything quickly!

It really is a good method. It trains the muscles in the fingers and makes hand seals smoother too, Kakashi thought. Then he considered whether replacing the coin with a shuriken or kunai would make it more discreet.

"This is getting boring."

Yuhi Kurenai sat there listlessly. Now that the entire class was playing, she, the "trendsetter," instead found it dull.

The coin flipped between her fingers. Her thumb flicked it into the air, and it then landed precisely back in her palm.

The move did look cool, but once too many people did it, it was nothing special.

This thing really was not difficult. Once one grasped the trick, the novelty quickly wore off.

Kurenai turned her gaze toward the instigator beside her, who was lying on the desk pretending to nap.

"Aoba~ Do you have anything else?"

Perhaps it was her nature, but Kurenai had somehow learned to act cute without anyone teaching her.

Aoba instantly got goosebumps all over.

Kurenai seemed to feel that something was off about her tone too. Her little face reddened, and then she gave Aoba a "fierce" glare.

Seeing Kurenai's adorably fierce expression, Aoba immediately laughed.

"Here."

Aoba pulled a pen from the pen holder and lightly twirled it between his fingers. The pen shaft traced a perfect arc across his hand.

Kurenai's eyes lit up at once. This looked far cooler than spinning a coin.

The pen shaft fluttered between his fingers, sometimes spinning in the web between his thumb and forefinger, sometimes rolling across the back of his hand. The motions were so smooth that it seemed as if the pen had grown wings of its own.

"Let me try!"

As she spoke, Kurenai pulled out her own pen and prepared to start spinning it.

Aoba hurriedly stopped her. If it was merely pen spinning, he would not have needed to demonstrate it specially.

"The principle is the same. Only the center of gravity is different."

"But that's not what I wanted to tell you. Think about it—besides pens, couldn't you try other things?"

"For example, kunai?"

As he spoke, Aoba slightly turned his wrist. The pen that had been in his palm became a kunai. With another turn of his hand, the pen reappeared in his palm.

Then he flipped his hand again, and it had become a shuriken!

"This..."

Kurenai stared in stunned amazement.

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Aoba began explaining to Kurenai.

"This uses blind spots in vision and hand speed to create a visual illusion..."

"The principles are all connected. By using visual blind spots and subtle hand movements, you can also conceal shuriken or use your sleeves to perform techniques like hidden sleeve blades."

"Besides that, Kurenai, you can try expanding on it yourself. You're so smart, you'll definitely think of plenty of ways to play with it."

"Th-that's for sure. Hmph."

Praised by Aoba, Kurenai slightly raised her little head and put her hands on her hips, looking entirely pleased with herself.

"All right, good luck."

Aoba encouraged her with one hand clenched into a fist, then let Kurenai go find her friends and demonstrate it herself.

Aoba watched Kurenai's skipping figure from behind, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

It could not be helped. There were hardly any decent games in the ninja world. The more popular ones were ninja games, similar to tag from his previous life, which required multiple people and enough space to play.

This method of teaching through entertainment was like injecting a bit of vitality into the Shinobi World's barren selection of games. He also hoped it would make Kurenai's future path as a ninja go a little more smoothly.

As long as one was not too stupid, it was obvious that spinning coins or pens could serve as excellent supplementary training for hand seals and throwing techniques.

In the end, the ninja world still valued strength above all else. He could not stay by Kurenai's side forever, and after graduation, they would most likely not even be assigned to the same team.

The biggest issue now was safely surviving the Third Shinobi World War. Although they had all grown up safely in the original story and become Konohagakure's Special Jonin, there was no guarantee that his transmigration would not cause unforeseen changes.