At the same time, on the Ninja Academy training grounds.
Instructor Ichimei Toriyama stood in front of the target range with a kunai in hand, demonstrating the lesson.
“Listen carefully!
The three most important things when throwing a kunai are your center of gravity, rotation, and the timing of your release.
Watch closely!”
With a flick of his wrist, the kunai flew out and struck dead center.
Thwack!
“Bullseye!”
A scattering of applause came from the students.
Toriyama adjusted his glasses with a satisfied expression.
“All right.
Now you’ll try one at a time.
Line up by student number!”
The first student was a chubby boy.
He gathered all his strength and threw—only for the kunai to skim past the edge of the target and embed itself in the wall behind it.
“Fail.
Next!”
Second, third, fourth…
“Fail.
Next!”
Every now and then, someone barely managed to hit the target, earning nothing more than a dismissive nod from Toriyama.
“Passable.
Next.”
When it was Kushina’s turn, she took a deep breath and walked to the throwing line.
News of yesterday’s “guardian incident” had already spread through the Academy, so the training ground was unusually quiet.
Nobody dared openly tease her anymore.
Still, Kushina couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone was staring.
“You can do it, Kushina.
Believe in yourself!” Minato encouraged her with his usual warm smile.
But Kushina didn’t look at him.
Instead, her gaze went straight to the red-haired boy in the crowd whose hair matched her own.
Mirai met her eyes and smiled.
“Don’t be nervous.
Just do what the instructor showed us.”
Only then did Kushina look away and take another breath.
She bit her lip, picked up a kunai, and hurled it with every ounce of strength she had.
Whoosh—thunk!
The kunai flew in a ridiculous arc, sailed far past the target, bounced twice off the ground, and disappeared into the grass.
The training ground went silent.
“Haha—mmph!”
Someone almost laughed, only for the classmate next to him to clamp a hand over his mouth.
Remembering the unlucky students who had been wrapped like dumplings in golden chains yesterday, he forcibly swallowed the laughter.
Kushina’s face went scarlet.
Her red hair seemed to rise on its own like a blazing flame.
She grabbed the second kunai and threw it even harder.
Whoosh—thunk!
This one went even farther off course and stabbed into the ground less than three inches from Toriyama’s foot.
Cold sweat ran down the instructor’s face as he took half a step back.
“Uh…
the power is certainly there.
Your accuracy just needs some work…”
Kushina’s face remained red as she gripped the third kunai, her fingers trembling.
“I’ll show you.”
Mirai sighed and walked out of the line, patting her shoulder.
“You’re using too much force.
Relax your wrist a little.
Like this.”
He stood behind Kushina and gently adjusted the wrist holding the kunai.
“Look at the center.
Don’t stare at the whole target—focus on the red dot.”
“Breathe.
Don’t hold it in.”
Feeling his hand around her wrist, Kushina’s face became even redder.
She looked exactly like a little chili pepper.
‘Mirai is holding my hand…’
“Why are you spacing out?”
Kushina snapped back to reality and glared at him.
Then she focused again, thinking to herself, ‘Whatever!
It’s Mirai.
Holding hands with him doesn’t matter.’
She slowly adjusted her breathing and relaxed her wrist.
“That’s it.
Now throw!”
The kunai flew in a clean arc.
Thwack!
It struck the outer ring of the bullseye.
Not dead center, but firmly embedded in the target.
Kushina froze, then spun around toward Mirai with her red hair flying behind her.
“I hit it!
Mirai, I hit it!”
“Told you that you could.”
Mirai grinned, stepped back, and slipped his hands into his pockets.
Toriyama stared at him in disbelief.
This brat was seven years old.
Why did his teaching look more effective than the instructor’s?
When Mirai’s turn came, he casually picked up three kunai without even bothering with a proper aiming stance.
His wrist flicked once.
The movement was precise and effortless.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
All three kunai flew almost simultaneously.
One struck the bullseye, while the other two landed directly above and below it, forming a perfectly straight vertical line.
Everyone sucked in a breath.
Toriyama adjusted his glasses, the corner of his mouth twitching.
“Full marks…”
Minato went right after him.
His kunai also landed cleanly inside the bullseye area.
“Full marks.”
Toriyama nodded, silently making a note of the blond boy as well.
“Next—Naori Uchiha.”
(A serious clarification from the author: this Naori is not the Naori from the Warring States era.
The Uchiha Clan has existed for centuries, so duplicate names are inevitable, right?
Just treat her as an ordinary Uchiha genius.
Thank you!)
A little girl with long, straight black hair stepped out of the line.
Her features were delicate like a porcelain doll, but her expression was as cold as fresh snow.
She reached the throwing line, picked up a kunai without hurry, and barely paused before releasing it.
Whoosh—thwack!
Bullseye.
The second—thwack!
Bullseye.
The third—thwack!
Bullseye.
All three kunai were embedded neatly in the exact center, with almost identical spacing.
Toriyama opened his mouth and took several seconds to finally say,
“…Full marks.”
Mirai narrowed his eyes at the expressionless girl with long black hair.
‘Naori Uchiha…’
A genius of the Uchiha Clan?
Whatever the case, her throwing technique was clean and efficient, without a single unnecessary motion.
And just like Mirai, she had arrogantly chosen to throw all three kunai.
As expected of an Uchiha.
After finishing, Naori returned to the back of the line without expression and without looking at anyone.
“Are all Uchiha this aloof?” Mirai muttered.
Minato smiled beside him.
“Not necessarily.
My parents say Uchiha shinobi are all very capable, but their personalities can be a little…
reserved.”
“Reserved?”
Minato gave him a helpless smile and chose not to elaborate.
Kushina happily tugged at Mirai’s sleeve.
“Mirai!
I really hit it earlier!
Look, my kunai is still on the target!”
“I saw it, I saw it.
Very impressive.”
Mirai absentmindedly patted her head, but his gaze drifted toward Naori again.
The girl stood quietly at the end of the line like a silent black lily.
Even an Uchiha girl who never appeared in the original story was this pretty.
Then just how beautiful was Mikoto, the girl supposedly known as the greatest beauty of the Uchiha Clan?
Mirai rubbed his chin.
He’d have to find an excuse to visit the upper grades sometime.