As Sarutobi Asuma formed his hand seals, Kuroda Ren immediately realized something was wrong.
Normally, when an enemy began forming hand seals and preparing to cast a ninjutsu, the best response was to observe the opponent’s sequence of seals and predict what technique they were about to use, then choose an appropriate countermeasure.
For example, one could use a ninjutsu with an elemental advantage over the opponent’s technique.
Of course, this placed extremely high demands on a shinobi’s combat awareness.
They had to identify the technique their opponent was using in an instant while also possessing a sufficiently broad arsenal of ninjutsu to produce the perfect counter under any circumstances.
Kuroda Ren couldn’t do either of those things at his current stage.
Although he knew the hand-seal sequences for quite a few ninjutsu, by the time his opponent finished forming their seals and was about to release the technique, there was no way he could leisurely form his own seals and cast a ninjutsu in response.
Moreover, he simply didn’t know enough ninjutsu yet.
There was no guarantee that he would happen to possess a technique capable of countering his opponent’s.
However, besides the standard method of responding to ninjutsu, there was another approach that was much more suitable for ordinary shinobi who didn’t know many techniques.
Interrupt or disrupt the opponent before they could complete the technique, preventing the ninjutsu from hitting you in the first place.
This was especially important in one-on-one combat.
Creating a safe opportunity to stand back and cast ninjutsu was not an easy thing to do.
Sarutobi Asuma had clearly been too eager to rely on ninjutsu to turn the fight around.
He hadn’t even created any distance between himself and Kuroda Ren.
Kuroda Ren charged forward without hesitation.
Asuma had only managed to form the Boar seal when Kuroda Ren grabbed his wrist and violently pulled.
A tremendous force surged through Asuma’s arm.
He immediately lost his balance, and both of his feet left the ground.
Thud!
Kuroda Ren slammed Sarutobi Asuma heavily onto the ground.
Asuma felt as though every bone in his body had been scattered.
The chakra he had painstakingly gathered was instantly disrupted, and he could no longer concentrate it.
When Imai Nobuyuki saw Sarutobi Asuma preparing to use ninjutsu, his heart had already jumped into his throat.
He had been prepared to forcibly intervene and stop the fight.
Yet he hadn’t expected the situation to change so quickly.
In the blink of an eye, Sarutobi Asuma had already been defeated.
Imai had originally thought that even if Kuroda Ren noticed what Asuma was doing, he would choose to counter with ninjutsu.
Instead, Ren had done even better than he expected.
It was practically a textbook-perfect response.
Before Imai could even fully process what had happened, Kuroda Ren had completely subdued Sarutobi Asuma.
Imai Nobuyuki quickly came back to his senses.
“That’s enough.
The winner has been decided.
Stop!”
“Ninjutsu isn’t used like that.”
Kuroda Ren glanced at Sarutobi Asuma and couldn’t help adding:
“You were only two meters away from me.
At that distance, even Kuroda Ren wouldn’t dare use Water Release: Wild Water Wave.
And judging from Asuma’s clumsy hand seals, his proficiency was clearly even lower than Ren’s.
Kuroda Ren genuinely couldn’t understand how Asuma had dared to attempt a ninjutsu at such close range.
Wasn’t he practically handing me a free win?
Asuma was already frustrated by his defeat.
Hearing Kuroda Ren’s words, however, he suddenly froze.
Was my entire approach to combat wrong?
He subconsciously began thinking about it.
But he quickly came back to his senses, and his face immediately flushed bright red.
“Don’t think that just because you beat me, you can lecture me whenever you want, you damn bastard!”
Asuma roared inwardly, but he didn’t dare provoke Kuroda Ren any further.
After this fight, he had clearly realized something.
The gap between himself and Kuroda Ren hadn’t narrowed.
It had only grown wider.
Perhaps using ninjutsu could give him a chance to turn the tables.
But under Kuroda Ren’s overwhelming taijutsu pressure, he wouldn’t even have an opportunity to successfully cast it.
Unless he created distance before the fight began and immediately used ninjutsu the moment the battle started.
That might give him a sliver of a chance.
Or perhaps he could provoke Kuroda Ren verbally and force him to tank the ninjutsu for the sake of his pride.
But…
Would Kuroda Ren really fall for something like that?
Sarutobi Asuma fell into deep thought.
…
Elsewhere.
“Ren-kun, you’re amazing!”
Yūhi Kurenai looked at Kuroda Ren with undisguised admiration.
When Sarutobi Asuma had begun forming hand seals and preparing to use ninjutsu, even she had been frightened.
She hadn’t expected Kuroda Ren to win so easily.
“Didn’t they explain this in the ninjutsu theory class?”
Kuroda Ren smiled.
“Most ninjutsu require hand seals to cast, so you have to create a safe distance first.”
“At a distance that close, taijutsu is obviously going to be faster than ninjutsu.”
Any ninjutsu that required hand seals was inferior to taijutsu at close range.
Unless it was something like the Rasengan, which required no hand seals.
Actually, if Kuroda Ren had been a little more ruthless just now, he could have easily used the Rasengan to seriously injure Sarutobi Asuma.
Before he had enough strength to protect himself, Kuroda Ren didn’t want to completely antagonize Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Besides, there was no way to explain where the Rasengan had come from.
“Your taijutsu really is amazing.”
Yūhi Kurenai nodded.
Then she looked at Kuroda Ren and asked,
“Could you teach me taijutsu after school?”
“Teach you?”
Kuroda Ren was stunned.
He was still learning from someone else himself, and now he was suddenly going to become a teacher and teach someone else how to train?
But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that he really wasn’t bad at taijutsu.
According to Umino Ikkaku’s evaluation, Kuroda Ren’s taijutsu was already no weaker than that of most Chūnin.
Teaching Yūhi Kurenai at her current level would be more than enough.
“Sure.”
Kuroda Ren agreed.
Then, half-jokingly, he added,
“But I’m going to be very strict.
Don’t cry when I start lecturing you!”
“I’m not that easy to make cry!”
Yūhi Kurenai wrinkled her nose and put on an expression that seemed to say, I’m super fierce!
But paired with her young, innocent face, she didn’t look fierce in the slightest.
Instead, she looked unbearably cute.
Kuroda Ren couldn’t help laughing.
The afternoon practical class continued to focus primarily on taijutsu training, along with actual taijutsu sparring.
After Sarutobi Asuma’s challenge to Kuroda Ren, quite a few of the other students also began challenging one another.
For example, Uchiha Obito once again challenged Hatake Kakashi.
He was easily defeated.
Might Guy also tried to challenge Hatake Kakashi, but Imai Nobuyuki rejected his request on the grounds that each student could only participate in one match.
With no other choice, Guy challenged Uchiha Tekka instead.
He was also easily defeated.
However, because the rules restricted them to Konoha-Style Taijutsu, which happened to be Might Guy’s strongest area, the fight didn’t end nearly as quickly as the previous two.
Guy managed to hold out for several minutes against Uchiha Tekka before finally losing.
At this point, Might Guy was still nowhere near the future Guy who would nearly kick his way into ending the entire story.
He wasn’t even as strong as Rock Lee would be at the beginning of the main storyline.
So it was only natural that he couldn’t compete with Uchiha Tekka, a member of a prestigious clan.
After school, Kuroda Ren left together with Yūhi Kurenai and headed toward the training ground near Konoha Park.
◇ Bonus Chapter Goals ◇