After a grueling two-hour lecture on the Will of Fire—which felt more like brainwashing—Reigen finally led the class out to the training yard. Today, they'd begin learning Konoha's taijutsu.
The training was divided into four parts:
First, the fundamental stances and guarding.
Second, core strikes and combos—simple techniques, like using palm strikes instead of punches to create distance.
Third, movement drills: a watered-down version of the Body Flicker technique focused on footwork, positioning, and burst speed.
Fourth, practical application—where students tested their progress by beating each other up.
Shinra absorbed the material quickly. It seems focused on body blows—lots of simple, direct combinations to keep the enemy off-balance. Kind of like a mix between kickboxing and karate.
'But the downside's obvious,' he thought, eyes scanning his classmates. 'There's barely any evasive movement. It's basically trading hits. They just absorb blows guarding and then countering, unlike Earth's martial arts where footwork and reaction matter.'
Reigen began calling out names for sparring matches. "Kamikaze Shinra. Uchiha Ren. Step forward."
Shinra stepped onto the mat alongside a boy with the classic Uchiha look: black hair, black eyes, clan crest on his back. Nothing about him stood out—just another prodigy-to-be with a baby face and a chip on his shoulder.
Once they stood opposite each other, Reigen gave the signal.
"Begin!"
Both rushed forward, with Ren eager to land the first strike. Ren aimed a straight punch at Shinra's face. Shinra reacted with a right hook—too slow at first glance.
'An easy win', Ren thought, smirking as his fist flew toward Shinra's cheek. But then, his eyes caught the hook—and realized it wasn't coming anymore.
A feint?
Shinra ducked low, Ren's punch whiffing through empty air. 'You're wide open.'
Shinra drove his fists into Ren's body—clean, precise body shots, each one landing with a sharp thud. He avoided hitting vital spots; it was a spar, after all. No need to leave permanent damage—even if the kid probably wouldn't make it past the clan massacre.
'I thought the Uchiha were dominant, even as kids. But at the end of the day… they're still just kids. I guess not everyone is an Itachi.'
Ren dropped to the ground, clutching his stomach. Before he could get up, Reigen raised his hand.
"Match over! Winner: Kamikaze Shinra."
Ren staggered upright, scowling. "I can still fight! Why'd you stop the match?!"
Reigen's expression didn't change. "Naive. On a real battlefield, you'd already be dead. Now form the seal of reconciliation."
Shinra extended his hand without a word. Ren reluctantly formed the Unison Sign, his pride burning more than his ribs. He looked up, expecting Shinra to be smug, maybe smirking.
Instead, Shinra's face was completely calm. Unimpressed.
'Am I really that far beneath him?' Ren thought, teeth clenched. 'He didn't even care that he won.'
He turned sharply and walked away.
The rest of the class stared in stunned silence. The fight had lasted less than ten seconds.
From the crowd, Kenta laughed. "As expected of my future right-hand man! This level of strength is just standard."
Shinra sighed and returned to the sidelines and watched the other matches. The spectacle left him unimpressed.
'So that Uchiha was the strongest in class', he mused. 'Followed by that Hyūga kid. Not much competition.'
Most matches were disappointing. Some kids couldn't even form a proper guard and got beaten black and blue. Others tripped over their own feet.
'Is this really the Ninja Academy? he thought, sighing. Maybe I should start sparring with upperclassmen. Or see if Reigen's willing to give private guidance.'
Later That Day
After the taijutsu session, the class shifted into theory lessons—basic math, physics, and ninja history. The rest of the week followed a similar routine.
Surprisingly, there was no chakra control or hand sign training yet. It seemed the Academy waited until most students could at least sense chakra—likely with help from the Hyūga clan —to begin that phase.
Shinra added shuriken practice to his daily schedule, training from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM, then from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Still, he held off on learning ninjutsu.
At the start of the second week, Reigen finally introduced chakra and hand seals, along with proper shuriken form. Shinra, still a beginner in throwing weapons, found this segment especially useful.
Reigen explained that hand signs were a way to mold chakra to perform jutsu. Different techniques required different sequences, but in time—if mastered—a jutsu could be used without any hand seals at all, like Sasuke's Chidori in the original series.
Naturally, Reigen didn't teach any jutsu just yet. First, the students needed to achieve the bare minimum in chakra control.
During lunch, Shinra began sneaking off to the library to read.
'The first mistake any expert makes is forgetting the fundamentals. I need to engrain them into my body. Taking it slow now will make me faster later.'
The library had plenty of E-rank elemental ninjutsu, it was mostly for the civilians without clan support. If it weren't for the village's support many would have ended up specializing in taijutsu by default.
For now, Shinra held off on ninjutsu entirely. He was already balancing chakra control, physical training, and shuriken throwing. He wouldn't add another system until he reached genin-level in all three.
"If I keep this pace and stick to training, I'll be genin-level across these three aspects in around 8 months. Once I get there, learning jutsu will be much easier."
One Month Later
The students had settled into a routine. Every week, Reigen tested them and updated their profiles.
Shinra ranked 7th overall. His combat scores were exceptional, but his shuriken throwing lagged behind—his best was 5/10, while the class average sat around 3/10.
In theory, he could've topped every written test, but he made a point of staying out of the top 5. He didn't want too much attention—especially from the likes of Root or the higher-ups who might push for early graduation.
He trained alone in his off hours. Weekends, he sometimes hung out with Kenta, whose presence had grown strangely tolerable.
'I guess I'm used to him now.'
Shinra considered asking him to train together but dismissed the idea.
'Kenta wouldn't say no—but I don't have time to build him up. I need a sparring partner at my level.'
As he weighed his options, a tall figure with pale skin that seemed almost reptile-like to him walked passed him.
Shinra's eyes widened.
'What is he doing here?'