Water Walking

More than half an hour later, all the defeated students had completed their revival challenges.

Some succeeded, some failed, and some succeeded, then failed, then succeeded again.

All in all, this double-elimination system left almost no room for tricks. Without sufficient real strength, it was genuinely difficult to keep one's spot.

"All right, that's everyone. Follow me!"

The chunin instructor scribbled on the roster for a while, then led everyone to the seaside.

"The technique I'm teaching you today is called [Water Walking]. As the name suggests, it allows you to walk freely across the water's surface."

As he spoke, he stepped out and stood firmly on the sea. He even rose and fell slightly with the rolling waves.

"Wow!"

As expected, the instructor's demonstration drew plenty of admiration from the students.

Araki merely tilted his head. Water Walking was not an especially advanced technique, but he clearly remembered that Kakashi, a jonin, had only taught it to Naruto and the others after they graduated from the Ninja Academy!

Was Mist Village really this advanced?

Their teaching schedule was ahead of Konoha's by who knew how many years!

So this was Kirigakure?

He loved it!

Would they start teaching ninjutsu directly later on?

With a touch of anticipation, Araki listened as the chunin instructor continued explaining.

"Because of Kirigakure's geographical location, we often need to sail out to perform missions or fight at sea. If you can't walk on water, then even if you graduate from the academy, you probably won't survive more than a few missions. So learn this properly!"

"I see. It wasn't that Mist Village's curriculum was really that far ahead of Konoha's. It was because of their particular national conditions!"

Araki suddenly understood.

That made sense. Although he was not particularly fond of Konoha, it was still the number one ninja village. It deserved at least some basic respect.

"When stepping onto the water, release chakra from the soles of your feet to create a force opposing your body weight. It can't be too much or too little. All right, practice here."

After explaining a few key points, the chunin instructor left.

As soon as the teacher was gone, the students naturally scattered like sheep let loose, breaking into groups of two or three with their friends to find places to practice.

No one stood beside Araki, and he was happy to have some peace and quiet. He glanced from afar at Zabuza, who was receiving the same treatment, and silently mocked himself.

"So, are they removing the highest score for looks and the lowest score?"

As he spoke, he cautiously stretched out one leg, guided the chakra he had refined to the sole of his foot, and gently set it upon the water.

Splash!

The enormous splash drew everyone's attention.

Facing those pairs of youthful eyes turning toward him, Araki remained perfectly calm. Pretending not to notice, he adjusted the chakra gathered beneath his foot and tried again.

As long as I don't feel embarrassed, no one can embarrass me!

Splash!

The second splash was slightly smaller, and scattered murmurs began rising around him.

"Wow, is that the [Smiling Devil]? Is he fishing with explosions?"

"That stomp was almost as powerful as a Water Release ninjutsu!"

"Stop talking. Araki-kun will get embarrassed!"

Hearing those voices, the veins on Araki's forehead began twitching.

Well, well. These little brats had learned how to be sarcastic.

He forcibly shut out those voices and continued adjusting the amount of chakra under his feet.

Thump!

Thunk!

Plop!

Tap!

After repeated adjustments, Araki's right foot finally landed on the water without splashing at all.

"Good!"

Araki nodded in satisfaction, gathered the same amount of chakra beneath his left foot, and stepped onto the water as well.

Tap!

A crisp sound rang out, as though he had stepped onto a stone-paved road. Araki stood steadily atop the sea.

The children who had just been mocking Araki for blowing up fish instantly changed expressions. Touching their soaked clothes, they lowered their heads and fell silent.

Araki stood cautiously on the water and swept his gaze around. Seeing that no one dared meet his eyes, he nodded in satisfaction and took one step back onto the shore.

"Whew... I've already memorized the amount of chakra needed to balance my body weight. Next, I just need to keep practicing until maintaining this level of chakra output becomes instinctive, so I won't have to divide my attention to adjust it."

Araki's ability to grasp the basics of Water Walking so quickly had a great deal to do with his mastery of swordsmanship.

Swordsmanship was fundamentally about precise control over every tiny part of the body. Slashing, charging, upward strikes—how to exert force and how much force to use were all basic components of swordsmanship. If one could not do those things, then such combat could only be called wild hacking, not swordsmanship.

It was the same principle as taijutsu in the world of the Hokage.

Being able to throw punches and kick one's legs did not make someone a taijutsu ninja. It required technique. How powerful would this kick be? Could one's own body withstand the force of that punch?

If someone did not even understand those things before attacking, then they might throw a kick, leave the enemy unharmed, and cramp up themselves instead.

Using ninjutsu as an analogy, control over bodily details was like practicing hand seals. If one fumbled through hand seals, how could they possibly cast ninjutsu?

Immortals excluded!

With the boost from his swordsmanship realm, Araki's control over the chakra in his body was also extremely high. He could freely control how much chakra gathered beneath his feet.

If there had been too much last time, he used a little less the next time. After testing it repeatedly, finding the right amount was not difficult.

So where did the difficulty lie for those who could not learn it?

It was not that they did not know to use less after using too much last time, or more after using too little. The key issue was that they simply could not control the amount of chakra gathered beneath their feet.

They clearly wanted to condense a little more chakra than before, yet somehow ended up with less. Such things happened constantly, and that was the true reason they learned so slowly.

However, Araki did not care about any of that. They were not acquaintances, after all. Because of the brutal graduation examination at the Mist Village Ninja Academy, everyone was wary of one another. Even those small groups that seemed friendly now probably hid plenty of scheming bastards within them!

Rather than join a group and scheme against one another, Araki chose to do as he pleased and remain close to no one.

As long as I trust no one, no one can betray me!

But today, someone unexpected quietly approached Araki.

Glancing at Zabuza, who had already come to stand not far behind him, Araki was slightly surprised.

Because he knew what Zabuza would do in the future, he had always been somewhat wary of him.

If this person was not a bloodthirsty madman by nature, then at an age when he had only just been able to graduate from the Ninja Academy, he had already thought of using such a cruel method to force Kirigakure's higher-ups into reforming their education system.

Such intelligence, courage, and broad perspective were probably no less impressive than those of a certain Red Eye who slaughtered his entire clan.