That morning, Takuya came to the ninja academy again.
When he entered the classroom, he carried a small wooden box in one hand. Its lid was half-open, revealing a layer of dried leaves inside. Their colors varied in depth; some had curled edges, while others still showed clear veins, like a cluster of little boats swept away early by the autumn wind.
The moment Kiyo saw it, he could not help saying, "We're not being made to sweep today, are we?"
Takuya set the wooden box on the teacher's desk and glanced at him. "If you can sweep your own chakra clean, that would count as a skill."
A laugh went through the classroom. Yamashiro Takuma stood beside him without taking over the lesson, merely writing two words on the blackboard: Stick, repel.
When Che saw those words, his shoulders and back tensed slightly before gradually relaxing.
This did not seem like a proper ninjutsu class so much as a preliminary trial before the real instruction began. But precisely because of that, it was the easiest way to expose habits. Real techniques involved hand seals, nature transformation, quantity and form, with far more difficulties. What lay before them, however, was the most basic test of control. If they could not even manage a single leaf, there was no point pretending to understand anything more complicated later on.
Takuya opened the wooden box and had the children in the front row pass it around for everyone to inspect.
"Today, we're not using techniques, and we're not competing to see who can make something stick the tightest." He picked up a dry leaf and gently placed it on the back of his hand. "Just feel it. Feel when it sticks and when it wants to fly away. Feel whether you're too tense