Survival Exercise Begins, Freebie Teammates

Iruka stood in the center of the training ground, holding two bells that caught the sunlight and reflected tiny glints of light.

"The rules for the survival exercise are as follows." His gaze swept over the group of students in front of him. "Three-person teams will face off against one Chunin—that is, me. Either snatch the bells from my hands or hold out for thirty minutes without being defeated. The failing team will have their daily training doubled."

A wave of commotion rippled through the crowd, accompanied by the sound of sharp intakes of breath.

Takuma's expression remained calm. He knew this rule wasn't so much an assessment as it was a way to intimidate the newcomers. Asking a group of children who hadn't even mastered proper Ninjutsu to fight a Chunin meant the outcome was decided from the start.

But the point was never about winning or losing. Iruka wanted to see how everyone performed in a desperate situation.

"First team, step up."

Three students walked onto the training ground, trembling. Two boys and one girl, all faces Takuma didn't recognize well. They exchanged glances, nodded in unison, and adopted what seemed like a reasonable tactic—a triangular formation to cover each other's flanks.

Then Iruka moved.

There were no flashy Ninjutsu, just a standard Body Flicker Technique followed by a Substitution Technique. He left a wooden log in his place, his real body appearing in the blind spot of the triangular formation. The blunt side of the Kunai in his hand struck the back of the neck of the boy at the rear with precision. The boy groaned and dropped to one knee, the formation instantly collapsing on one side. The remaining two turned in a panic, but Iruka had already vanished again.

In less than three minutes, all three were subdued. When the last girl had a Kunai held to the back of her neck by Iruka, the Shuriken in her hand hadn't even been thrown yet.

The training ground went quiet for a moment. The students who had been whispering to each other fell silent.

"Second team."

The second team clearly learned from the lesson. They didn't cluster together but spread out, attempting to pin Iruka down with long-range attacks. Two Shuriken flew toward Iruka from both sides simultaneously; the angles were tricky, and the timing was decent.

Iruka didn't even dodge. He formed hand seals with one hand, and a clone rushed out from the side, swatting the attacker on the left with a single palm strike. The main body used the cover of a Smoke Bomb to break through from the right, knocking the second student over with a knee. The last person tried to escape using the Substitution Technique, only to be dragged out of the smoke by Iruka.

The lingering smoke from the bomb was blown away by the wind, and the three students lay neatly on the training ground, all "killed in action."

The spectator area was deathly silent. Someone subconsciously took half a step back.

"Next team."

When it was Takuma's team's turn to step up, Yamada Kenta's expression was more serious than usual. He had already finished warming up his wrists and ankles and was taking deep, repeated breaths. Sato Jiro wasn't quite as nervous, or rather, his nervousness manifested in a different way—the practice Shuriken between his fingers spun rapidly, nearly flying out of his hand several times.

"Stop spinning it." Takuma pressed down on his wrist. "Save your energy, you'll have plenty to throw later."

Sato chuckled and tucked the Shuriken back into his ninja tool pouch. "What's the matter, nervous?"

"I'm fine."

Yamada walked up to the two of them, his eyes looking overly serious, his voice low. "I observed the first two teams. Teacher Iruka's tactical core is to create chaos. He uses the Substitution Technique and Clone Technique to confuse the line of sight, then cuts in from unexpected angles to take us out one by one. If we charge in a group head-on, that's likely the outcome."

He finished speaking and looked at Takuma with anticipation.

Takuma was a bit surprised. He had expected Yamada to advocate for a steady, conservative strategy; he hadn't expected the analysis to be so spot-on.

"So my suggestion is—" Yamada took a deep breath and clenched his fists. "Concentrate our power and break through from the front! Use our numbers to our advantage and just charge straight in!"

"...What did you say?"

"Take advantage of the fact that Teacher Iruka just finished two rounds, his Chakra and stamina are being depleted, and his impression of us is that we'll be 'cautious and probing like the first two teams.' We attack with full force in one go and decide the outcome in a single wave! Catch him off guard!"

Sato's eyes lit up. "Well said! That's the spirit! I'll provide fire suppression with my Shuriken, then Yamada uses the Substitution Technique to flank him, and Takuma handles the front—let's aim to end the fight in thirty seconds!"

Takuma opened his mouth, his gaze sweeping back and forth across their faces, trying to find a trace of a joke. There was none. Yamada's expression was more serious than ever, and Sato's fists were already clenched.

"...Are you two serious?"

"Of course!"

"Then let me say two things simply." Takuma held up a finger. "First, Teacher Iruka did expend a little stamina in the first two rounds, but that's a Chunin fighting a group of students—that kind of consumption is like a warm-up exercise to him. Second, the head-on breakthrough tactic isn't impossible, but it assumes the opponent's speed and strength are below yours. The current situation is that we can't even react in time when facing Teacher Iruka."

Yamada frowned. "But—"

"Also," Takuma interrupted him. "Since you observed that his tactic is to create chaos and pick us off, the optimal solution to that tactic is to use his expectations against him. Let him think we'll be as cautious as the first two teams, and then we instead... never mind."

He stopped. He saw the look in Yamada and Sato's eyes—it was the resentment of feeling denied and looked down upon. It wasn't defiance, but something purer: they felt their ideas hadn't been truly considered.

Takuma was silent for three seconds. Then he sighed.

"Fine. We'll do it your way."

Yamada was stunned. "Really?"

"Two against one, the minority obeys the majority." Takuma loosened his shoulders. "But if the head-on breakthrough fails—"

"Don't worry!" Sato patted his chest. "It won't fail!"

Takuma didn't finish the second half of his sentence. He just silently tucked two more Explosive Tags into his ninja tool pouch and followed the two of them toward the training ground.

Yamada and Sato charged in from the left and right.

Sato's Shuriken were the first to fly, three Kunai carving arcs toward Iruka's face; this was his full-power strike. Yamada charged head-on, forming hand seals to activate the Clone Technique—two clones flanked from the sides, while the main body went straight for the center.

There was no hesitation, no probing; it was a true full-power strike. If the opponent had been an ordinary Genin or even a student of the same level, this combination attack might have actually worked. The tactic was reckless, but their execution and coordination were indeed decent.

Their opponent was the Chunin Iruka. He had graduated from the ninja academy at twelve and spent six years as a Chunin. While he might be considered lackluster compared to the strongest, he still possessed overwhelming strength against students who had only just entered the school. He had faced more opponents than Yamada and Sato could imagine combined.

Iruka's figure flickered in place, leaving behind a substitution log. Two Shuriken pinned into the log with a dull thud. Yamada's clones missed simultaneously, and before his main body could even turn around, he felt a numbness in the back of his neck—Iruka's hand blade struck the side of his neck with precision, the force controlled perfectly to incapacitate him without causing real injury.

Yamada's legs went weak, and he dropped to one knee, the Shuriken in his hand rolling onto the ground.

At the same time, Iruka's other clone appeared beside Sato. Sato had just pulled out his second wave of Shuriken and caught a glimpse of the figure, subconsciously turning to dodge. But Iruka's movement was faster; he delivered a low sweep to Sato's ankle, and the moment he lost his balance, he struck his back with a palm.

Sato stumbled twice and sprawled onto the ground.

From the start signal to the two of them falling, no more than fifteen seconds had passed.

Takuma stood where he was, motionless. He saw it clearly—Iruka had used a clone, and while his main body took down Yamada, the clone took down Sato. The time difference was within a fraction of a second, completed almost simultaneously. This wasn't a temporary reaction; it was muscle memory built from years of experience.

"The tactical intent was good, and the execution speed wasn't bad." Iruka walked past the fallen Yamada, his tone gentle but hitting the nail on the head. "But your opponent is a Chunin. A Chunin's sensory range, reaction speed, and combat experience far exceed the Genin level. Thinking you can turn the tables just by catching someone off guard is a flaw in itself."

He turned around and looked at the last person.

"Only you are left." Iruka's voice wasn't loud, but everyone on the training ground could hear him clearly. "Do you want to give up?"

The sun shone directly onto the training ground, with about ten meters of distance between Takuma and Iruka. Yamada and Sato lay on the sidelines, being helped up by their classmates; both were still conscious, just temporarily unable to continue fighting.

Takuma didn't answer Iruka's question. He bowed slightly and assumed the starting stance of basic Taijutsu.