Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Kano had considerable strength. He squeezed the boy's hand tightly, not holding back, causing him to cry out in pain.
"You, what are you doing?!" the boy croaked, his face distorted in pain. At the same time, his friend, seeing this, also shouted angrily at Kano.
"You're disturbing me," Kano turned his head and cast an indifferent glance at the speaker. And letting go of the boy's hand, who was trying to grab Kushina by the hair, he, not wanting the situation to escalate further, turned around and went to his place.
"That bastard," muttered the boy with the short haircut, rubbing his wrist, but he did not dare to answer the offender. At that moment, when his hand was squeezed, it seemed to him that it was about to break, and he still felt a sharp pain.
"Are you okay?" the others asked, looking at the boy's red and swollen wrist. Fear flashed in their eyes, and the sudden burst of aggression subsided.
Strength can be used for both attack and defense.
"It's okay," the boy with the short hair covered his wrist with his hand, occasionally sucking in air through his teeth. He glared at Kano, losing all interest in bullying Kushina, and headed to his seat. The others looked at each other and also returned to their seats.
Seeing her classmates disperse, Kushina breathed a sigh of relief. If it weren't for Kano, her hair would have definitely gotten damaged, and then she wouldn't have been able to hold back and hit that idiot.
"This guy..." She silently looked at Kano, who was leaning his chin on his hand and looking out the window. Even seeing only half of his face in profile, she clearly felt the indifference emanating from him. After looking at him for a while, she slowly returned to her seat. However, at that moment, she felt someone's gaze on her. Following it, she saw the same blond boy.
"What are you staring at?" Kushina snapped.
Minato was taken aback, smiled sheepishly and looked away, continuing his conversation with his friend. But even so, while talking, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the sulking Kushina and... at Kano, contemplating the scenery outside the window.
So, time flew by unnoticed, and six months passed.
Knock-knock-knock!
Almost merging into one sound, the three kunai pierced the target, forming a straight line. The distance between them was only a few centimeters.
Kano retracted his extended right hand. He pushed off the ground with his left foot, and using the momentum to turn his body, he transferred the force to his left hand, forcefully throwing three kunai held between his fingers.
Three dark shapes flew out of his hand, and the next moment three more dull blows were heard.
Knock-knock-knock!
Sawaki first looked at the six kunai stuck in the center of the target, and then at Kano with his indifferent expression. Surprise flashed in his eyes.
"Kano, top marks," he said in a deep voice.
The test was to throw three kunai, but Kano threw three kunai with each hand, and all of them hit the target. Before the test, Sawaki did not pay attention to this and did not notice that there were three more kunai hidden under the boy's left sleeve.
He neither praised nor scolded Kano for going beyond the task, but he was impressed in his heart. Everyone has a dominant hand, which is usually used for throwing weapons and ninja tools. And the fact that Kano had achieved equal mastery of both hands at such a young age truly surprised him.
For half a year, Kano devoted all his time to training with ninja weapons. He did not waste a single minute of his free time. The precision and strength he had achieved were the result of hard work, and this was quite natural, so there was no reason for special joy. He quickly approached the target, pulled out the kunai and put them in the weapon bag on his belt, after which he returned to the ranks of those who had already passed the test.
Everyone who had already passed the test or was still waiting for their turn looked at him with surprise.
Minato involuntarily raised his left hand. He was as confident as Kano in handling ninja weapons, but he had never trained his left hand to the same level as his right. Realizing the importance of this, he smiled slightly – he had a new goal.
"Next, Minato Namikaze."
Hearing his name, Minato stepped out of line, stood at the designated spot, froze for a few seconds, and then threw three kunai, accurately hitting the center of the target.
"Minato, highest score. Next, Uzumaki Kushina." Sawaki glanced at the target and, looking away, announced the name of the next participant.
There were only three outstanding students in this class: Kano, Minato, and Kushina. Unsurprisingly, Kushina also received the highest score. The rest of the students were not bad, but they lacked stability.
The end of the test meant the end of the lesson.
Sawaki wrote down the results in a notebook, carefully compiling a description of each student. Eventually, these accumulated scores over half a year would be presented to the Hokage as an official document.
It was spring. Pink cherry blossom petals swirled in the air like butterflies, creating an incredibly beautiful landscape. There was a place in Konoha where cherry blossoms grew, an ideal place to admire the blossoms.
Every time Kushina returned home, she deliberately made a detour to walk along this alley of blossoming sakura trees. And today she did not change her habit. Many people came to admire the blossoming sakura trees, and Kano was among them. Of course, there were those who were here for other reasons.
Kushina ran down the alley with a slight smile. Her bright red hair fluttered in the wind like a fiery train, enchanting with its unique beauty.
Suddenly she stopped. The reason for this was a man who appeared in her path.
"Hm," came a cold voice.
Matsuda looked at Kushina with an unkind expression on his face.
Seeing the classmate she had knocked out more than once, Kushina frowned, knowing that nothing good could come of it. If he had been alone, she would have simply taught the bully a lesson again, but the appearance of another person who looked like Matsuda made her wary.
"So you're the one who always makes my brother cry," the newbie with a shinobi headband on his forehead asked, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at Kushina.
Kushina wasn't scared at all. Pointing her finger at Matsuda and placing her other hand on her belt, she answered boldly: "He's the one who always picks on me! He's a weakling, but he keeps trying!"
"Eh…" Matsuda theatrically recoiled, as if from a blow. His inability to cope with the girl was his sore spot.
The older brother, who came to stand up for the younger one, was not going to figure out who was right and who was wrong. He only wanted to avenge his brother and punish the offender.
"You bullied my brother, you naughty girl, now you'll get what you deserve!" With these words, Matsushita cracked his knuckles, throwing an ominous look at Kushina.
Kushina took a step back. The enemy had a shinobi headband on his forehead, which meant he was already a genin, and she hadn't even graduated from the Academy yet. Without a second thought, she started running.
Looking at Kushina running away, Matsushita grinned and chased after her. Matsuda also ran after her, but much more slowly.
This whole scene unfolded before the eyes of two witnesses: Minato and Kano.