Chapter 394 - 391 ~ Lesson Two, Ninjutsu

Chapter 394: Chapter 391 ~ Lesson Two, Ninjutsu

"Lesson Two is basic ninjutsu," Ryu said, loud enough for the plaza to hear.

The five guards stopped.

"Who the hell is he trying to teach?"

Ryu did not raise his voice and said, "I am not trying to teach you."

The jonin’s eyes narrowed. "I am going to teach this brat a lesson myself."

**

The first attack came without warning.

A kunai, blade held flat, slashed across the face. Ryu did not sidestep. He fell back, feet locked in place, and let the edge pass a hair’s width from his nose.

Ryu had dodged it, but the opponent was ready to kick him while he was off balance and falling backwards.

Ryu’s hands moved swiftly, forming the Snake and Dragon seal. An [Earth Pillar] erupted beneath his feet, angling back and up, and carried him out of range as the strike hit the newly generated pillar where Ryu had been standing or, more accurately, falling earlier. He flipped and touched down at a distance, unharmed.

The jonin’s mouth was a hard line. His leg was hurting from kicking the earth pillar, but he did not dare show it.

"Spread out and attack from all angles."

The guards sprang into action.

**

Ryu’s hands moved in a blur, forming the Snake, Dragon, Boar and Ram seals, and the plaza floor responded in a way it never had before.

Pillars rose in a staggered forest — all of them sized to a match his own height. From the ground, the open square transformed into a labyrinth. Ryu disappeared into the stone maze.

Ryu shouted, "[Earth Pillar Forest]."

The opponent ninjas were stunned. They could not figure out where the voice came from.

"Attack jutsu are fine," Ryu said. "But the higher-rank ones are inefficient. Spend too much chakra and you’re dead weight after three uses. How do you fight ten ninjas, then? First and foremost is to not waste chakra when fighting multiple opponents. Also, if the environment is against you, then you have not just your opponent to worry about. So make sure you are in the environment that is never against you."

**

From his vantage point on the rooftop, Kakashi watched the stone rise, a sound of almost approval escaping him.

"He’s molding the environment to his advantage," Kakashi said.

"That’s beyond academy level. That’s battlefield control," Guy said.

The ANBU operatives on the perimeter were also impressed.

Beside him, Dan Hamura allowed himself a small nod. Neither of them looked surprised. They had seen and expected this much.

In the hiding, Shikanoboru said to his companions. "The ninjas are taller than Ryu. They can’t hide in that mess. But he can."

**

Inside the maze, the fight evolved into a strategic game.

Ryu remained hidden and elusive, moving from pillar to pillar, always one step ahead of his pursuers. A kunai clipped a guard’s sleeve. Another caught a shin guard with a clink. Another nicked an ear. None of it was meant to wound; all of it was meant to prove a point.

The guards thrashed through the stone, frustrated, always a heartbeat too late. Ryu was always one pillar away.

"In a battle, a small advantage is enough," he said, from behind a column he had already left. "Sometimes life and death depend on it."

The jonin thought, "How the hell is this brat doing this?"

The guards grew tired of the cat-and-mouse chase.

They stopped chasing. The jonin gave a sharp, chopping gesture, and the five of them went to work on the pillars — earth-style jutsus, heavy feet, brute strength. Stone cracked and toppled. The maze came down around Ryu until there was nowhere left to hide.

"Don’t worry, he can take the heat," the jonin ordered. "Throw all you have and corner him."

A guard nodded, drew a breath and shaped the hand seals. "Fire Style — Fireball!"

The fire bloomed, a wave of heat and orange that rolled across the open ground, reaching for the boy with nothing between them now.

Ryu did not run. He moved his hands into Dog, Dragon and Boar handseals. There was no open water source nearby, but Ryu had earlier mapped a nearby hand pump. And where there is a hand pump, there is a water outlet.

Water rose from the outlet and covered Ryu like a shield.

"[Water Style — Water Wall]"

The wall rose in a single, solid sheet, absorbing the fire’s impact. Steam rolled across the plaza in a white bank, hissing, hiding everything. When it cleared, Ryu was standing in the same spot, smiling.

He used [Water Burst Jutsu] to put back in placed another ninja that tried to jump on him.

"Gauge your enemy first and know your advantages and disadvantages. Attack with high chakra costs ninjutsu; without knowing your enemy’s affinity, your jutsu could turn into wasted chakra," Ryu said.

Asuma smiled and said, "He saw the fire and didn’t panic. He already knew about the nearest water source in advance and was waiting for someone to use fire against him. And with water source nearby, he also did not waste any chakra compared to his opponent."

**

One ninja tried to use the water jutsu using water spilled by Ryu.

"[Water Whip]!" he shouted and lashed it across the gap at the boy.

Ryu did not dodge. He watched the water come, smiled almost gently, performed a few hand seals and raised a hand and caught the whip.

"[Lightning Style — Waking Jolt]."

A thin fork of lightning jumped from his fingers into the stream. The water carried it back along its own length, faster than the whip could recoil or the opponent could react. It hit the guard’s hand, and the man dropped — stunned by the lightning.

"If you’re not careful," Ryu said, "your own jutsu can be used against you."

All the kids hiding amazed by how Ryu used his opponent’s jutsu against him learned this lesson.

The plaza went quiet. Four guards were left standing; one lay on the ground. The boy had not thrown a single true attack the whole fight.

Asuma watched the man fall, then shook his head slowly. " He baited them to use water jutsu against him."

Kakashi nodded once and said. "He also provided the water for it."

Guy said, "And they fell for it immediately. Clever. Just like you, Kakashi, he is good at ninjutsu."

Kakashi replied, "I think he is better than me."

Kurenai didn’t say anything. She just watched the seven-year-old standing in the middle of the wreckage and thought, privately, that none of them had expected a lesson in chakra economics today.

**

The remaining guards closed in together, done with games.

Ryu’s fingers formed the Bird seal and then Ram seal and he jumped high to dodge the kunai flying towards him.

The jonin smiled and thought Ryu just made a mistake by jumping high in the air.

Ryu was attacked with many shuriken, but Ryu smiled.

When the shuriken was about to hit him, everyone got tense for a second, but not Kakashi and Hiruzen, who knew about Ryu’s barriers or his companions, who had deeper insight into Ryu’s repertoire compared to the rest.

Ryu stepped on nothing and jumped from it sideways to dodge, and the crowd below let out a sound that was half gasp, half disbelief.

Ryu did many air jumps in the middle of air to dodge many shuriken left and right.

This was a new support jutsu [Wind Style - Sky Walk] that Ryu had meticulously created for his companions. It was not a simple jutsu anyone can learn, as it needs high-grade wind affinity, deeper chakra control and the trick only known to Ryu right now.

"What the...!" the jonin shouted.

A guard stares with his mouth open. "How is that possible?"

Kakashi answered without looking away. "Flying jutsu... that’s a rare sight."

Asuma watched the boy step on air, and his voice came out almost reverent. "He’s not flying. He’s stepping on air and pushing it back for thrust. It sounds simple but isn’t. There is more to it that we cannot see, or every wind ninja could fly. It is a proprietary technique."

Kakashi saw and analysed it with his Sharingan. His insight was not enough to know everything, but he saw an explosion of wind chakra.

In a window across the plaza, half-hidden behind the glass, Danzo watched with narrowed eyes. He had been a wind user all his life. Like all wind users, flying was the highest calling. A floating jutsu already exists, but it was not practical or efficient or battle-ready. It’s just a demonstration trick for kids. Danzo, hiding in a building, removed his bandages. Ryu’s image is reflected in his sharingan.

Danzo thought, It’s a controlled explosion of wind chakra, with enough precision and speed that it is usable in battles.

All of them stood still a moment — the jonin on the roof, the elder on the ground and in the hiding.

In the bushes, Shikanoboru was leaning so far forward he was nearly out of the leaves.

"It must be a wind jutsu now; he was not bluffing when he said he had got them all."

"Wow," Fumi breathed.

**

Saya did not hear any of it.

She was watching the air where Ryu had been standing. She had not taken her eyes off it since his feet first left the ground.

He has all five affinities.... I have two...

Her hands were clenched at her sides. It was not admiration that sat in her chest — it was something older, hungrier, something that had been growing quietly for a long time by watching Ryu.

I want more. I want that. I want to be able to fly like that.

Her eyes tracked Ryu. Trying to decode how Ryu is doing it.

Her mouth opened. An emotion she had been holding back exploded inside her chest like an atomic bomb — envy, sharp and bright. Her iris shook. A red shade crept in at the center of her eyes.

She did not blink.

Two tomoe appeared in both of her eyes each.

A/N:

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