Wednesday, Training Ground No.
11, Kirigakure.
The jōnin conference held in Kirigakure a few days ago obviously wasn’t going to reach the ears of Tachibana Kenji, a newly promoted genin.
Tachibana continued training as usual every day, accumulating gold and improving his strength.
Although he had now saved enough gold for a ten-pull, he had plenty to occupy himself with for the time being.
Whether it was his newly acquired medical knowledge or the Water Release techniques he had recently obtained, both required considerable time and effort to study and master.
After giving it some thought, he decided to wait until the event was nearing its end before spending all his accumulated gold at once.
Since he was no longer a student at the Ninja Academy and didn’t have a squad leader assigned to him yet, Tachibana had been coming to this relatively secluded training ground in Kirigakure to practice after finishing his shifts at the hospital.
After completing his usual daily training, Tachibana checked the time.
Before heading home, he planned to have one sparring match with Lan.
One human and one frog faced each other.
Tachibana called out, “Lan, get ready.
We’re starting!” Lan answered with a serious croak.
“(-`´-) Croak~” Recently, Tachibana’s strength had been improving at an astonishing rate.
Even though the little Froakie trained diligently every day, the gap between them continued to widen, much to Lan’s frustration.
At Tachibana’s shout— “Begin!” —the two shuriken in his hands were instantly thrown.
They traced two elegant arcs through the air as they flew toward Lan.
The little fellow didn’t panic.
He reached up with both hands and pulled two clumps of bubbles from the frothy scarf around his neck.
He tossed them to the left and right.
The bubbles intercepted the incoming shuriken perfectly in midair, knocking both weapons away.
These bubbles could be considered one of Froakie’s innate abilities.
Their offensive power was rather mediocre—even being hit by them didn’t hurt much—but their defensive capabilities were surprisingly good.
With the strength of an ordinary genin, even if Lan didn’t throw the bubbles and simply allowed an attack to strike his neck directly, it wouldn’t be enough to injure him.
Seeing his shuriken intercepted, Tachibana wasn’t discouraged.
He simply accelerated, closing the distance between himself and Lan.
Because of his small size, Lan was at a constant disadvantage in terms of raw strength.
After only a few exchanges, he immediately changed tactics.
His legs tensed as he gathered strength, then he used Quick Attack to rapidly create distance.
Tachibana couldn’t help feeling a little envious.
But he wasn’t helpless either.
While continuing to run forward, he immediately formed hand seals and released a ninjutsu.
“Water Release: Aqua Jet!” Two streams of water suddenly erupted from beneath Tachibana’s feet.
The powerful thrust instantly increased his forward speed, lifting his body slightly off the ground under the force of the rushing water.
But that wasn’t all.
Tachibana continued forming hand seals.
“Water Release: Flying Water Shuriken!” With the release of the second technique, the water shooting from beneath his feet somehow began flowing backward toward his hands.
Gradually, it condensed into a shuriken made entirely of water.
As the water shuriken spun rapidly in Tachibana’s hand, it expanded in the blink of an eye until it was nearly thirty centimeters in diameter.
For comparison, ordinary standard-issue shuriken were generally less than ten centimeters across, making them easier to carry and use.
Seeing the water shuriken in his master’s hand—almost as large as his own body—Lan’s little face instantly turned pale.
He immediately leapt into the air and opened his mouth.
“Water Gun!” Using the recoil of the water stream, he propelled himself backward.
Tachibana, however, casually sidestepped the Water Gun.
His own momentum didn’t diminish in the slightest.
Even more astonishingly, after the Water Gun passed him, the stream of water curved through the air in a U-shaped arc and merged into the already expanding water shuriken.
Seeing this, Lan could only kick off against the tree trunk behind him and use Quick Attack again.
His tiny body bounced off two points among the trees, streaking through the forest like a blue bolt of lightning as he rapidly evaded his master’s pursuit.
A faint smile appeared on Tachibana’s face.
He drew his right arm far back, stretching his entire body like a fully drawn bow.
Then he suddenly unleashed his strength and hurled the water shuriken toward the tree Lan had just used as a foothold.
But the instant the water shuriken left his hand, Tachibana’s expression changed.
“Whoa!
Why is it so huge?!” A massive shuriken more than sixty centimeters in diameter tore through the air.
Wrapped in wind and splashing water, it spun at tremendous speed like a fleeting afterimage.
Several trees as thick as a person’s arms were instantly sliced apart.
The enormous projectile then struck an open patch of ground and exploded with a thunderous boom.
The violent blast instantly devastated the surrounding area.
Soil flew everywhere.
Grass and low bushes were knocked sideways by the shockwave and the countless droplets of water thrown through the air.
Even Tachibana, the person responsible for all of this, couldn’t help clicking his tongue in amazement.
He had been looking straight ahead while rushing forward, so before throwing the water shuriken, he had only been able to judge its size roughly by feel.
He knew that the shuriken, which had condensed nearly all of his remaining chakra, was probably quite large.
There was no way he would throw an attack like this directly at Lan.
He had only launched it toward the empty ground after confirming that Lan had completely escaped its trajectory.
He simply hadn’t expected its power to be this absurd.
Tachibana dropped heavily onto the ground, completely exhausted.
Lan flashed to his side with an angry expression.
“Haha, Lan, you win this time.
I’m out of chakra.” Tachibana looked at the little frog’s expression and reached out, intending to pat his head reassuringly.
“(`へ´) Croak!” The irritated Froakie twisted away from his hand.
“Sorry, sorry.” “I only came up with the idea at the start of the fight.
I thought I could use all that water produced by Aqua Jet to power the Flying Water Shuriken.
I didn’t expect it to become that powerful.” Seeing his little frog so angry, Tachibana immediately clasped his hands together and sincerely apologized.
Perhaps remembering how the Water Gun he had fired had also been absorbed into the water shuriken, Lan stopped sulking.
He hopped away to retrieve the two shuriken Tachibana had thrown earlier.
Tachibana took the opportunity to lie down on the grass.
Through the thick mist surrounding the training ground, he looked up at the sun.
Living a peaceful life like this forever wouldn’t actually be so bad.
Just as Tachibana was lying there contemplating life, a figure leaned over from above him, blocking out the sunlight.
“Hey!
Kid!
You’re the one recklessly throwing ninjutsu around in the training ground just now…
Huh?
It’s you?!” Because the newcomer was standing with the sunlight behind her, Tachibana couldn’t immediately make out who she was.
But her voice sounded vaguely familiar.
Out of caution, Tachibana immediately rolled over and stood up.
To his surprise, the newcomer was Mei Terumi, whom he had encountered once before.
Both wore blue tops.
The black-haired boy dusted himself off and awkwardly got to his feet, while the brownish-red-haired girl stood before him with her hands on her hips, glaring angrily.
“Why is it you again?!
Last time you were blocking the entrance to the hospital, and now you’re recklessly throwing ninjutsu around in the training ground!
Don’t you know you’re supposed to check whether anyone else is around first?!” “I’m sorry.
I’ve been coming to this training ground for several days and haven’t seen anyone else here, so I wasn’t paying much attention just now.” Tachibana naturally had no desire to get into an argument with a girl this age, so he didn’t pay much attention to her somewhat aggressive tone.
Seeing how agreeable Tachibana was being, Mei Terumi became a little embarrassed herself.
Nevertheless, she stubbornly insisted, “I’m a proper shinobi!
I just haven’t been training here recently because I’ve been out on missions.
Before that, I always practiced at this training ground.” As she said this, Mei Terumi finally noticed the Hidden Mist forehead protector strapped around Tachibana’s left arm.
“You’re a genin from the village?
How come I’ve never heard of you before?
You weren’t wearing a forehead protector the last time we met, were you?” Three questions came one after another like a barrage, leaving Tachibana speechless.
Are we even that familiar?
He certainly didn’t mind establishing a good relationship with the future Fifth Mizukage.
But the young Mei Terumi was seriously full of herself.
Still, whatever.
Kids are probably all like this.
“I only became a Medical Ninja a few days ago.
It’s normal that you don’t know me.” After saying that, Tachibana felt that if he didn’t interrupt her, Mei Terumi might continue firing questions at him one after another.
Fortunately, Lan hopped over at that moment with the two shuriken in his arms.
Tachibana scooped him up and placed him on his shoulder, preparing to leave.
Seeing that Tachibana seemed ready to go, Mei Terumi couldn’t suppress her curiosity and called after him.
“That technique you used just now was way too powerful for a medical specialist.
And what’s your name?” “Medical Ninjas are still shinobi.
We’re not the same as ordinary medical personnel.
Besides, shouldn’t you introduce yourself before asking someone else for their name?” “My name is Mei Terumi!
And I’m going to become the Mizukage someday!” The moment she was asked her name, Mei Terumi seemed to have been waiting for this opportunity.
She proudly blurted out the dream she had apparently repeated to herself countless times.
By then, Tachibana had already turned around and taken several steps away.
He didn’t bother looking back.
He simply raised his right hand in farewell.
“My name is Tachibana Kenji.
And someday…?” He paused.
“Someday, I’ll be a man who lives long enough to die of old age.” Watching his figure gradually disappear into the mist, Mei Terumi curled her lips.
“What a weirdo.
I thought he was some impressive guy, but he’s actually got no ambition at all!”