[Chakra ×1316 Quest : School]
Three months almost passed since my second year began, and it was now late June— almost at the height of summer.
I have thankfully been able to keep doing Daily in the morning amidst increased difficulty in the curriculum, never skipped a single day. Added with a single point for simply attending school, which I have a perfect attendance for, and yeah... it’s no wonder that it passed a thousand multiplier.
I also have never skipped any other personal training.
The highlight of that was, obviously, the Kage Bunshin that I finally mastered after two months of training, with guidance from Ebisu once a week.
Hmm? Slow? Well, considering Naruto took mere hours to learn advanced version of this jutsu, it sure seemed slow, huh? But the thing is, Naruto has already learned how to do a jutsu when he learned the Tajuu Kage Bunshin.
I haven’t. Neither at school nor elsewhere.
I mean, there were no jutsu training manual whatsoever in any of my parents’ books nor the library section that I can currently access. While at school we were just introduced to chakra last semester. And no, turns out those elemental manipulation training doesn’t really count.
If what I gathered from Iruka and Ebisu are true, then the school would only start on teaching jutsus around the third term of this year, just like what Sora have said.
So Ebisu, true to his words, actually taught me and made sure I mastered all pre-requisite skills first before he taught me the Kage Bunshin, which took most of the time.
That, and I also did kinda held back on the learning progress after seeing the gang’s reaction to me learning a B-rank jutsu. Just a bit though. Too much and I’m afraid both Ebisu and Iruka would notice.
I even took a little risk by asking Ebisu of how long the learning time of Kage Bunshin usually were. Of course, I tried my best to ask it like a kid that is impatient and just want to hurriedly finished his homework and play some games instead.
And while he didn’t really give me an average, he did share his learning time, which is around a week of training. And he said that is some time after he made Chunin. So that one week were him putting aside some time in-between his duties.
Now, as a student, I feel like I actually got more time to set aside compared to Ebisu back then. So overall, two months shouldn’t be too slow nor too fast overall for someone learning from the very beginning.
Hopefully.
If the modest praise that Ebisu gave me were interpreted correctly.
It also doesn’t help that I successfully pestered him into teaching me two more justu, but that’s not important.
Outside of training, life still flows as usual. Nothing changed too much.
Academically, as I’ve said, the curriculum did ramp up much more steeply than it did between terms in the first year, both theory and practice class.
The theory class of this term were clearly in preparation for the jutsu learning that will happen in the third term. The highlight was the introduction of hand seals, which we were expected to master.
Meanwhile in practice class, we are finally being introduced to hand-to-hand combat starting the second week of this term. Which I was quite excited about, until I found out that the content taught was almost identical to what’s in my parents’ books.
To be specific, it was mainly how to punch and kick properly. Then there’s also stances and immediately followed by footwork. So there’s some advancement compared to my parents’ books. Though I’ve also read a book that discussed that.
Of course, I’m perfectly aware that learning practical skills through reading can be far inferior to direct tutoring. So without holding back, I tried my best to follow Iruka’s instruction, hoping to fill in the gaps of my self-taught training.
I did ends up receiving a couple corrections along the way, which was much fewer than most other kids in the class. And Iruka also praised me once for doing well in that class, so… I guess I am?
Anyway.
Thankfully, my social life didn’t suffer despite the increased difficulty of the curriculum and my training. So, yeah, my second year at the academy have been going quite well so far.
“Are you Uchiha Sasuke?”
“Yes, I am. Who are you?”
“I would be your instructor in shuriken-jutsu for this afternoon. Your brother, Uchiha Itachi, calling a favor for me to teach you for today until around 7 in the evening.”
… Well, so far.
I picked up that conversation between Sasuke and someone with a flak jacket using my dojutsu abilities. I got curious when I see Sasuke picked up by someone not bearing an Uchiha crest, and thankfully that curiosity paid off. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
Because one thing that has not gone too well in the past week was the constant worry that I’m having over when the Uchiha Downfall would happen.
All I remember is that it happened when Sasuke was 7 years of age, coincided with the fact that he is part of Team 7. And the fact that he came home quite late that day, when the moon was already up. Though I also vaguely remember that it happened close to Sasuke’s eighth birthday rather than his seventh.
Not so sure about that last one, to be honest. But I chose to convince myself that I remember it correctly, just so I’m not becoming a nervous wreck for the majority of my first academic year.
But when it is now approaching July, when the girls started clamoring not-so-secretly about celebrating Sasuke’s eighth birthday, I can’t help but start to feel nervous again. Because I really, REALLY can’t afford to be caught in the crossfire of that incident.
With that conversation that I picked up, I am now ninety-nine percent sure, the Uchiha Downfall would happen tonight.
“Hey Takeshi! What’s the hold up?!”
I turned from the windows and saw Sora calling out from the classroom door with the rest of the group nearby.
“Sorry! Be there in a sec!”
I picked up my backpack and went to leave the classroom, helpless and can only watch as a tragedy, a preventable tragedy, are about to happen.
.
.
.
The next morning, news about the Uchiha Clan’s Downfall was… non-existent.
I heard nothing. No murmurs from folks I passed by on my way to school nor from my classmates, even after the class began.
The only “news” came from Iruka, who announced that Sasuke was on sick leave and wouldn’t be attending class. Predictably, that announcement made the girls restless with worry for their crush. Though the practical class in the morning was somehow able to go on without much issue.
“I wonder if Sasuke is okay. He never took any sick leave before.”
“Well, everybody can get sick. Let’s just hope that he gets well soon, okay?”
While Sakura expressed her concern to Ino during lunch, I glanced around to others’ faces behind my sunglasses, trying to see if someone else noticed something. Which brought my attention to Shikamaru.
“A ryo for your thought, Shikamaru?”
“Huh?” Shikamaru started as he looked at me in confusion.
“You kinda look distracted there, which is unusual. Something on your mind?”
That question of mine brought the group’s attention to Shikamaru, whose face clearly showed that explaining things would be a total drag or something.
“Haaahh… It’s nothing, really. I just remember that I didn’t see any Police Force member this morning.”
Huh. I actually didn’t notice. Or, more like, my focus was solely on the “Uchiha” that I forgot about Konoha’s Police Force being all Uchiha.
“Come to think of it, yeah, I also didn’t see any of them in my morning run and on my way to school today. What about you guys?” I asked as I look the others in the group.
To which everyone basically confirmed the same thing; they also haven’t seen any Police Force member today.
“You think Sasuke absence today were related to that?”
“I don’t know, Shino. But I know that I’d rather not get dragged into whatever troublesome stuff involving another clan’s affair.”
“Fair point.”
Well, fair point indeed. If even the Shikamaru from the Nara clan think that way, then I have even less reason to stick my nose in. Even more so that I don’t really have a need to. I guess I can only wait until the news spread by itself.
.
.
Which it did, by the next day, the second day after the night of the massacre.
“You gotta be kidding me…”
“I, we wish we were, Sakura.” Ino’s expression when she said that was extremely grave, along with other clan heirs and heiress of the group, who just dropped the bomb unto the group.
The rest of the group wore disbelieving expressions, while I shifted my gaze between the clan heirs and heiresses, doing my best to appear shaken.
Sora finally broke the silence after a minute. He looked around, maybe to make sure that no one nearby, before he speaks in a hushed voice. “I did hear the whisper from people on my way home yesterday, but I thought that was just nonsense. Do you guys know how it happened? For that to happen… I mean…”
I immediately added, also with hushed, grave voice. “Yeah. The Uchiha was recognized as having the most powerful combat capabilities as far as I know. No offense, you guys.”
“None taken, Takeshi.” Shikamaru said with low voice while the other five nodded along. “But no, my dad said nothing more than the fact the Uchiha was wiped, except for Sasuke.” To which the other five nodded along once again.
Sakura’s face then contorted, as if her brain had finally caught on to the severity of the news. “Oh, no! Sasuke must’ve been devastated! I gotta do something!”
Or not.
“What Sasuke might need right now is some peace and quiet.” I said flatly to Sakura who already got up and almost dashed to who knows where. “Give him some time to process this tragedy before you overwhelm him by throwing yourself onto him uninvited.”
“I agree with Takeshi, Sakura.” Ino said as she rose and then hugged Sakura’s shoulder. “Let’s give him some time and space, okay?”
“B-but, what if he needed help?” Sakura stammered a bit, looking as though she was about to cry.
“Well, what kind of help can you, or any of us for that matter, really give him directly in the first place?” I retorted “You said it yourself, Sasuke must’ve been devastated, so I think it’s best to give him a chance to collect himself, like Ino just said.”
I then also looked toward the others. “For the rest of us, I think it’s best to avoid acting as if we were walking on an eggshell around him, when he returns to class. At least we could help him indirectly by letting him feel some sort of normalness when he is attending class.”
The others wore thoughtful expression after I put forward that suggestion, seemingly contemplating for a minute, before they nodded in agreement.
“Very thoughtful of you, Takeshi.”
“Thanks, Shino. Just trying to be a good classmate.”
“But what’s next? I know we’re not close to Sasuke, but it’s not right to just ignore and pretend nothing happens.”
Yeah, Kiba make a really good point there. I mean, my goal was to include Sasuke into this group, but I have never really cooked up any plan on how. Long term planning is simply not my forte, y’know?
And to be honest, I still feel kinda terrible for doing nothing to prevent that tragedy. Again, I’m perfectly aware that I simply don’t have any capabilities, but it doesn’t stop me for feeling terrible.
“Haah… What a drag. Let’s finish our lunch first and think about it later. The break’s almost over.”
Agreeing with Shikamaru, we all went back to eating lunch under the heavy atmosphere.
Note
Here it is, the Uchiha Downfall. And with it also comes ROOT’s official “disbandment”, which the MC will take advantage to make a couple of major moves in the next ten or so chapters.
Speaking of which, I think the next ten or so chapters would also be a make or break for those who followed the story thus far. But we’ll see.
Regardless… fingers crossed.