Chương 21: Teambuilding and Aftertaste

Shuji stood at the center of the field, his gaze sweeping over the two standing before him. Uchiha Itachi wore his deep blue clan robes, standing perfectly straight. Sweat slid down his cheeks as his eyes remained focused on his opponent. His eight-year-old frame looked distinctly slender in the vast training field. Mitarashi Anko wore a faded black mesh short-sleeved top and shorts, purple hair sticking to her forehead with sweat.

She kept her hands stuffed in her pockets, projecting a lazy posture as she glanced at the on-guard Itachi.

"Combat assessment," Shuji said, his voice cutting through the stifling heat.

"Let's see how you work together. Rule: stop when you land a solid hit. Begin." Swish! Swish! Swish! Itachi moved first, leaving only a faint afterimage behind. Speed that would seem ghostlike to kids his age remained clearly legible in Anko's eyes. Three shuriken sliced through the air with sharp whistles, targeting non-lethal points at Anko's shoulders and knees. Anko snorted softly as her body uncoiled like a compressed spring.

Her movements were swift and fluid, bearing the strange, fluid taijutsu distinct to Orochimaru's instruction. With a precise side-step, the shuriken hissed past her collar and embedded deep into the sand behind her.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!" The instant her feet touched the ground, Anko formed hand seals. Three condensed orange fireballs blasted out like cannonballs in a triangular formation, screaming straight toward Itachi. They moved with high velocity and straight trajectories, carrying intense heat and heavy sonic booms that cut off his forward dodge angles. Itachi's pupils narrowed. With his Sharingan not yet active, he planted his feet and burst to the right to clear the incoming bombardment.

The fireballs roared past the outer edge of his left arm, heat stinging his skin. The shockwave rattled his balance, forcing him to stumble back.

"Hmph!" Capitalizing on his instability, Anko thrust her right hand out from her sleeve like a striking viper.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" Two thick, grayish-brown venomous snakes shot out with a foul smell, darting like arrows toward the ankles Itachi had just landed on. At the critical moment, Itachi's eyes turned red. Two black tomoe spun rapidly in his blood-red irises, slowing the snakes' strikes and revealing every muscle twitch in crisp detail. He twisted his torso with awkward force, barely dodging as the snakes skimmed his outer shins. The icy texture of their scales raised the hairs on his skin.

Though he evaded the strike, his center of gravity was broken, sending him tumbling sideways toward the ground. Anko kicked off the ground, rushing forward like an artillery shell to pin the off-balance kid. In that split second, the tomoe in Itachi's eyes spun frantically. Rather than trying to regain his balance, he leaned into his fall, dropping his upper body back. Then, catching Anko off guard while her focus was degraded by days of listlessness, he thrust his Sharingan genjutsu straight forward.

Anko's incoming fist stopped an inch short of Itachi's ribs. The sharpness in her eyes froze, replaced instantly by blank terror. Cold glass culture vats, pale fluorescent light, and a pair of slit-pupil snake eyes turning away without a trace of hesitation, those deeply buried nightmares flashed past. Though she broke the illusion in a fraction of a second, the mental shock caused her physical movement to lag and falter. Did I just get caught in an eight-year-old's genjutsu?! That split second was enough. Poof!

With a soft pop, the "Itachi" struck by her fist turned into a wooden log, tumbling away. The real Itachi had used that tiny opening won by genjutsu and the visual misdirection of the Body Replacement Technique to appear silently in Anko's blind spot from behind. The cold tip of a kunai rested lightly against the fabric over her spine. No puncture, just a frozen point of contact. Time seemed to freeze. Anko remained locked in her forward punch pose.

The cold pressure on her back and the soft breathing of the boy behind her were unmistakably clear.

"That's enough," Shuji's voice cut through the silence. Itachi instantly withdrew, his tomoe fading as he stepped back. His face was flushed from exertion and his chest heaved slightly, but his gaze remained calm. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, walked to the edge of the field, and took small sips from his water bottle. Anko turned around slowly. A cold wave of defeat washed over her. I lost... I actually lost to... Is this why you abandoned me, Lord Orochimaru...? She snapped her head up.

Her lips pressed into a tight line until, unable to contain it, she slammed her fist into a nearby training post. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Thud! A deep indentation remained in the hard wood. Shuji glanced at Itachi drinking water, then at Anko standing stiffly, choosing not to speak right away. He walked to the corner of the field and picked up his cloth bundle, unrolling it.

Inside were not weapons, but several rice balls wrapped carefully in green leaves and a small bamboo tube of tea.

"Take a break," Shuji said, cutting the tense silence with casual calm. He pulled out two rice balls, handing one to Itachi. Taking the second, he walked over to Anko and held it out without looking directly at her. Anko's body shuddered. She didn't move, her shoulders stiff as stone.

"Steamed the rice before leaving. Hand-rolled, chicken filling, teriyaki flavor. It turned out pretty good," Shuji said softly, as if chatting about the weather.

"After a spar, you need food in your stomach." Anko whipped her head around, suppressed frustration and embarrassment threatening to spill over.

"I don't..." The rest of her sentence choked in her throat as a rich aroma of rice, savory chicken, and sweet glaze hit her nostrils. The warm, hearty scent was nothing like the stale smell of instant ramen and expired dango in her room. The refusal died in her throat. Shuji didn't push. He held the rice ball out a fraction further, letting it rest steady near her hand, before sitting down against the wooden post.

He opened his own rice ball, took a bite, unsealed the bamboo canister, and set a cup of clear tea on the ground beside him. His movements were as natural as resting in a back garden. Itachi ate his rice ball quietly, chewing a little faster as the savory chicken revived his energy. Anko stared at Shuji's calm profile, then at the savory rice ball held near her, then back at the dented post.

Her anger was smoothed over by the warm smell of food and Shuji's casual indifference to her outburst, leaving behind only exhaustion and disorientation. She stood silently for a few seconds before snatching the rice ball and taking a spiteful bite. The sweet-savory sauce and tender chicken eased her turmoil, but the embarrassment of having her vulnerability exposed still weighed on her. The three ate in silence. The only sounds on the training field were chewing, swallowing, and the wind brushing across the sand.

Shuji offered no critique of the spar, eating quietly and sipping his tea as though the intense clash and explosive frustration had never occurred. Finishing his rice ball, Shuji gathered the wrappers, stood up, and brushed sand off his pants. He walked back to the center of the field, looking over Itachi, who had recovered his breath, and then Anko, whose eyes remained clouded.

"Recovered?" Shuji asked calmly.

"Next, I want both of you to attack me together." He stood casually with his hands loose at his sides, forming no seals and taking no defensive stance, as if asking them for a casual walk. Anko looked up sharply, surprise flickering in her eyes before being replaced by a spark of stubborn urge to prove herself. She looked at Itachi beside her, then at their composed leader. Itachi's eyes sharpened as well. Though his Sharingan remained unactivated, his focus locked back in.

He looked at Anko, and in a brief exchange of glances, a silent understanding formed between them around a shared target.

"Right!" Anko grunted, opting for tactics over brute force. Her hands moved swiftly.

"Ninja Art: Snake Glare Binding!" Greyish-brown snakes formed of chakra shot out like living beasts. Instead of targeting Shuji directly, they slithered into wide arcs, locking down his escape routes to the left, right, and rear. Simultaneously, her hands shifted seals.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" A beam of dense orange fire shot forward like a burning spear, tearing through the air toward Shuji. Area lockdown paired with a direct armor-piercing line, a textbook suppressive combination. The moment the fire beam spewed forth, Itachi faded into the shadows. Instead of following up immediately on Anko's spell, he used his raw speed and keen perception to circle behind Shuji's blind spot.

His fingers flicked, sending multiple shuriken curving on silent, awkward trajectories toward Shuji's knees and ankles. His timing was flawless, striking right as the fire beam neared Shuji's chest and the snake shadows closed in. Suppressive ninjutsu matched with blind-spot sniping, a near-flawless combination. Facing the dual attack, Shuji's expression didn't shift. As the fire beam neared his clothes, his hands formed a single fluid seal.

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" A dense wall of water erupted from the ground in front of him. Hiss! The Dragon Fire collided with the water barrier, producing a cloud of scalding steam. The water wall wobbled under the impact, but held firm against the penetrating fire stream. Almost simultaneously, Shuji shifted half a step sideways under cover of the steam, light as a feather. The tiny movement let Itachi's shuriken graze past his boots to bury themselves deep in the sand.

At the same time, his right hand flicked back casually.

"Wind Release: Wind Reversal!" A flexible, swirling vortex of wind formed beside him. The snake shadows Anko sent crawling from his rear caught in the vortex, their trajectories twisted and torn apart until they dissolved with faint hisses.

"Ninja Art: Striking Shadow Snake Hands!" Anko summoned eight thick, physical snakes that charged out with foul smell, lunging at Shuji from multiple angles as he cleared the steam. Shuji remained unbothered. Leaning back slightly to avoid the high strikes, his hands completed a sequence of seals, and he stomped his foot down lightly.

"Earth Release: Rock Pillar!" Two sharp stone pillars burst upward from the earth, pinning two lead snakes to the sand like brutal traps. The snakes thrashed in agony. As Shuji neutralized the snakes, Itachi pressed the offensive. Exploiting the split-second distraction, he closed in like a shadow, Sharingan predicting Shuji's body mechanics. His kunai jabbed straight toward the opening under Shuji's ribcage.

As if he could see what was behind him, Shuji pivoted sideways at an unnatural angle, letting the blade slice through empty air. Spinning with the momentum, he formed hand seals facing the pursuing Itachi.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!" Transparent, sickle-like wind blades whistled sharply as they sliced toward Itachi's joints. Danger flared in Itachi's mind as his Sharingan activated fully. The invisible wind blades slowed and sharpened in his tomoe-vision. He leaned back to his physical limit, crossing his twin kunai to block. Clang! Clang! The heavy force sent numbness shooting up his arms, forcing him back several steps before he stabilized. Sharp notches were left on the metal of his kunai.

Seizing the opening, Anko's eyes flashed with fierce resolve as she rapidly rearranged her hand seals.

"Fire Release: Snake Tooth Volley!" Compressing her chakra, she spat out over a dozen palm-sized orange fireballs shaped like fangs. Rather than a carpet-bombing spread, the fireballs whipped around on homing trajectories, aiming toward Shuji's vital points from brutal angles. Their speed and lethal precision far exceeded her earlier Flame Bullets. Facing the barrage of homing fireballs, Shuji remained entirely unphased. His hands wove seals even faster.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" A solid rampart of earth erupted upward, shielding him completely. Boom! Boom! Boom! The fireballs slammed into the stone barrier, exploding into flame before fading into wisps of grey smoke. Anko panted heavily, sweat dripping from her forehead. Rapidly casting high-level jutsu back-to-back took a heavy toll on her stamina.

"Stop," Shuji's voice called out calmly. The earth wall collapsed back into dust. Shuji dusted dirt off his sleeves, his breathing as calm as when they began, as if the high-speed exchanges were nothing more than a light stretch.

"I have a good sense of things now," Shuji said, glancing at the two winded shinobi.

"We will gather here again over the next few days to refine our tactical coordination."

"Of course, training like this consumes a lot of stamina," Shuji raised an index finger.

"As your captain, I will take responsibility." Having experienced this before, Itachi took a quiet sip of water and waited for what came next.

"Let's go restore our energy. My treat," Shuji smiled, his eyes drifting over Anko and Itachi.

"After all that effort, how about some meat?"