The spirit of rational reflection sparked by their extracurricular fieldwork had yet to fade completely, but the Ninja Academy's training ground welcomed an afternoon of an entirely different sort.
"So... this round thing is called a 'soccer ball'?" Choza Akimichi curiously poked the leather sphere on the ground with a chubby finger. A few crafty classmates had cobbled it together from Shinji's verbal instructions. The stitching was a little rough, but at least it was an inflated ball.
"That's right!" Shinji Uchiha flicked the ball up with one foot and balanced it neatly on his instep, his practiced movements looking completely out of place in this world. "The rules are simple. No hands, mostly feet. Kick the ball into the other team's 'goal'-those two piles of stones-and you score!"
He looked around at his classmates' bewildered faces, inwardly ranting, Who knows what possessed me to make this thing... maybe watching them throw shuriken all day was getting too monotonous, and I wanted to teach these future big shots of the shinobi world a little Earth-style sportsmanship? And try milking the system's [Promoting Otherworldly Culture] achievement while I'm at it?
Indeed, as Shinji's earlier remarks, full of distinctly Chinese ideas, had gradually spread through Konoha and sparked considerable discussion, he had earned an achievement for promoting otherworldly culture, along with some talent points and skill points.
Shinji had wanted to see whether he could keep exploiting that loophole to farm a few more achievements, which had led to this attempt to introduce soccer.
Minato Namikaze watched the ball with interest and nodded. "Sounds fun. A sport based on teamwork and movement speed."
"Hmph! Isn't it just kicking a ball? Watch me burst it with one kick!" Kushina Uzumaki was raring to go, her red hair flying. Clearly, she saw this sport as some new form of taijutsu training.
Shikaku Nara yawned and drawled, "Sounds like such a drag... all that running around." Yet his eyes had already begun instinctively assessing the field and the players.
Through a mixture of arm-twisting and sweet-talking, Shinji cobbled together the teams:
Team Shinji: Shinji Uchiha, self-appointed captain and tactical coach; Minato Namikaze, ace attacker; Choza Akimichi, defender, primarily responsible for blocking the ball with his body; Inoichi Yamanaka, midfielder, responsible for... uh, interference? And a civilian classmate named Xiao.
The opposing team: Shikaku Nara, reluctant captain and brains of the operation; Kushina Uzumaki, forward and heavy hitter; Tsume Inuzuka, accompanied by her ninja dog Akamaru, in a mobile role; Masashige Sarutobi, defender and tactical executor; and another civilian classmate, Jun.
A passing chunin teacher served as referee. Holding the rules Shinji had just written, he looked somewhat bewildered.
"Let the match begin!"
At the chunin teacher's signal, Shinji drew on his experience playing on school soccer fields in his previous life-even if he had been a programmer-and passed the ball to Minato first. Minato hesitated, then instinctively nudged the ball forward with his instep. His astonishing speed erupted in an instant, his blue-clad figure sweeping through midfield with the ball like the wind!
"He's so fast!" Tsume Inuzuka exclaimed, charging in with Akamaru to intercept him.
But a deft change of direction left both girl and dog behind Minato. He was about to face the goal head-on!
"Shadow Imitation Technique, successful!"
Just as Minato drew back his foot to shoot, his body abruptly froze! A short distance away, Shikaku held a hand seal. At some point, his shadow had silently stretched out and connected precisely with Minato's!
"Shikaku! Nice work!" Kushina shouted.
"What a drag... but I can't let you score that easily." Shikaku's eyelids drooped, though there was a hint of smugness in his voice.
Shinji stared from the sidelines, dumbfounded. What the hell? You can use the Shadow Imitation Technique in soccer?! That's a foul, right? Wait, I don't think I said ninjutsu wasn't allowed...
Just as Shikaku tried to make the controlled Minato pass the ball back to him, Shinji moved! He surged forward at full speed and shouted, "Minato, duck!"
Although Minato was under Shikaku's control, he could still move his head slightly and instinctively lowered it. Shinji drove his foot forward, firing a small pebble precisely into the underside of the soccer ball and sending it soaring over the immobilized Minato's head!
"Inoichi!" Shinji called.
Inoichi Yamanaka understood at once-or perhaps not entirely-and formed hand seals. "Mind Body Switch Technique!" His target: Shikaku!
Sensing the mental disturbance, Shikaku had to divide his attention to resist it, causing his hold on Minato to loosen for an instant! In that split second, Minato used his extraordinary physique and willpower to force himself free of the shadow's restraints. He only managed a stumbling step, but that was enough!
The ball dropped. Without waiting for it to hit the ground, Minato struck it with a volley! It shot like a cannonball straight into the top-right corner of the goal!
"It's in!!!" Team Shinji erupted in cheers. Choza was so happy he nearly crushed the potato chips he had brought.
"One-nil!" The chunin teacher wiped away his sweat, realizing that refereeing this match was no easy job.
Shikaku's team quickly adjusted their tactics. After the next kickoff, Kushina charged straight ahead with the ball. Applied to kicking, the Uzumaki Clan's innate monstrous strength was terrifying. The ball howled through the air, and no one dared intercept it head-on!
"Choza! Stop her!" Shinji ordered.
Choza Akimichi summoned his courage and planted his massive body in front of Kushina like a wall. The corner of Kushina's mouth lifted, and she suddenly drove her foot forward-
Boom!
As though struck by a giant hammer, the ball carried an irresistible force that blasted Choza backward, ball and all. He slid half a meter before coming to a stop! The ball... hadn't burst! But Choza landed on his backside, seeing stars.
"Multi-Size Technique! Partial Multi-Size Technique!" Choza shouted groggily. His feet instantly swelled, shielding the goal like two door panels.
Kushina's powerful "shot" bounced straight off those enormous feet!
"You can do that?!" Everyone was dumbfounded again.
"The rules don't say you can't use ninjutsu to defend..." Masashige Sarutobi adjusted his glasses and analyzed calmly. "As long as you don't touch the ball directly with your hands."
The match plunged fully into magical realism. All sorts of ninjutsu began appearing on the field:
Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru used "Fang Over Fang," not to attack anyone, but to advance with the ball in a spiraling charge. The scene briefly descended into utter chaos.
Inoichi Yamanaka tried to control opposing ball carriers with the Mind Body Switch Technique, but his success rate was painfully low. He spent most of his time "disconnected."
Masashige Sarutobi used Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall to create small obstacles in front of his own goal, while Shinji bombarded them from a distance with Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Fire at extremely low power, trying to blast the ball out from behind them...
Shikaku Nara became the busiest person on the field. His Shadow Imitation Technique struck without warning, immobilizing Minato with the ball one moment and restraining a rampaging Kushina the next. His brain worked furiously as he kept muttering, "What a drag, what a drag..."
Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze fully displayed his potential as the "Yellow Flash." Even without Flying Thunder God, his sheer speed and changes of direction made him so fast as he dribbled past opponents that he left nothing but golden afterimages, becoming one of the most unstoppable players on the field. Drawing on the exceptional coordination and anticipation granted by [Clear Sword Heart], along with an adult's tactical awareness, Shinji repeatedly delivered brilliant passes and executed exquisite combinations with Minato.
The score climbed back and forth, and the scene was, for a time, full of merriment-and chaos.
Finally, during a fast break, Minato raced down to the goal line at top speed while Shinji moved in through the center. Facing Shikaku's precisely positioned shadow and Kushina's diving block, Shinji made a move that left everyone speechless-he sprang sideways into the air and, rather than an ordinary kick, unleashed an unconventional "bicycle kick"!
Bang!
The ball traced a beautiful arc, bypassed every defender, and slipped into the goal just inside the post!
"A last-second winner! The match is over! Team Shinji wins, twenty-five to twenty-four!" the chunin teacher announced with immense relief.
"Yeah!" Shinji and Minato celebrated with a high five, while Choza and Inoichi were exhausted but happy.
On the other side, Kushina stamped her foot indignantly. "Damn it! We were so close!" Shikaku simply collapsed onto the ground, drained of energy. "Next time... don't invite me to play such a troublesome sport..." Masashige Sarutobi gazed thoughtfully at the ball, seemingly considering how to incorporate this kind of teamwork into ninja tactics.
As the sun sank in the west, the training ground was filled with the cheerful-and utterly exhausted-figures of the youngsters. The soccer ball lay quietly in the center of the field. This sport from another world seemed to have unexpectedly planted a tiny seed in the land of ninja.
"Whew, I never thought playing soccer would be more tiring than training," Minato said, wiping away his sweat, though his smile was especially bright. "But it really was fun."
"Right?" Shinji raised an eyebrow smugly. "Next time, we could try basketball? Or volleyball?"
Seeing curiosity return to Minato's face and those of the others, Shinji Uchiha felt that, alongside saving the world and changing tragic destinies, bringing a little different color to this solemn ninja world seemed like a pretty good idea.
The wind swept over the footprint-covered training ground, carrying the scent of the youngsters' sweat and the sound of their laughter into the distance.
What Shinji hadn't expected, however, was that ninjutsu could alter the ball's movement far beyond normal limits. Over the next few matches, the focus gradually shifted from scoring goals to competing in ninjutsu, losing the essence of soccer entirely.
Instead, the sport spread among civilians in a form largely true to the original. He supposed that counted as losing on one front and gaining on another.
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