The next day, Aozora accompanied Itachi to Training Ground 35.
"Aozora! Itachi!"
Mukashi casually chatted with two Uchiha on guard duty. When he saw Aozora and Itachi arrive, he quickly greeted them.
Aozora no longer held the position of Chief Instructor. To avoid any awkward irony or status reversals, Aozora had informed Hachidai beforehand.
Hachidai directly arranged for Mukashi, the deputy leader of the Flying Tigers, to welcome Aozora and Itachi. With Mukashi present, the three naturally passed through without any trouble.
Aozora and Mukashi walked ahead chatting casually while Itachi glanced around curiously.
"Mukashi, I'm just an ordinary clan member now. Why did you go out of your way to welcome us?" Aozora politely asked.
Mukashi waved his hand and said, "Titles and ranks are just superficial things. Your strength and looks speak for themselves — I genuinely respect you."
Hearing Aozora's compliment, Mukashi felt a spark of camaraderie and warmed up even more.
Chatting as they walked, the trio soon arrived at the Flying Tigers' training grounds.
Hachidai stood nearby with his arms crossed, watching the Flying Tigers' training. Seeing Aozora arrive, he waved him over.
"I've received the Director's letter," Hachidai stated bluntly. "Whatever requests you have, I'll do my best to fulfill them!"
He was fully aware of Aozora's wisdom and deeply appreciated Aozora's contributions to the clan, so he didn't hesitate to follow Fugaku's command.
As someone who highly valued promising younger generations within the clan, Hachidai was genuinely willing to cooperate with Aozora.
"Then thank you very much, Uncle Hachidai!" Aozora sincerely expressed his gratitude.
After speaking, Aozora shifted his gaze toward the distant training ground.
Today, the Flying Tigers were practicing kunai throwing. Although Junping had not yet retired officially, his status as a punished man led to his removal from the position of Flying Tigers instructor. The current instructor overseeing training was Ryoichi, who had once served as Kintai's personal bodyguard.
Spotting Aozora's arrival, Ryoichi shot him a sidelong glance, determined to showcase his training methods impressively.
An idea suddenly came to him, and his eyes lit up.
[Body Flicker Technique!]
Silently shouting, Ryoichi transformed into a black blur, swiftly darting across the entire training field.
In moments, he reappeared, having already scattered twenty targets throughout the area, placing them on different branches of trees facing various directions, some even positioned behind trunks.
Addressing the Flying Tigers trainees loudly, he announced, "Now it's time to test your kunai throwing skills!"
Pointing toward the center of the training grounds, Ryoichi continued, "From this spot, throw twenty kunai. Scores will be calculated based on how many targets you hit."
Seeing this, Hachidai nodded with a smile saying, "Interesting!"
The target placements were quite challenging — to hit them all, you'd have to master advanced ninja tool throwing techniques.
Such advanced throwing required both meticulous thinking and precise chakra control. Even among these elite Uchiha Flying Tigers members, only a few had truly mastered this skill.
Aozora also felt somewhat excited. This was the perfect opportunity to observe the Flying Tigers' actual capabilities.
Quickly, the first Flying Tiger trainee approached the center of the training grounds with a serious expression.
Watch him, his crimson irises darting up and down, left and right, before spinning on his right foot as a pivot. At the same time, he continuously hurled kunai.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Each kunai sliced through the air, cutting sharp, elegant curves.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One target after another vibrated from the impact—one after another, struck dead center.
Ryoichi scanned the scene, then announced loudly, "Uchiha Hisanao has hit seventeen targets. Score: 17 points."
There were a few nearly impossible targets out there—almost no angle to hit them from. Hitting seventeen was already a decent score.
After announcing the score, Ryoichi immediately ordered the removal of the kunai embedded in the targets, then reset the targets' positions.
Captain Hachidai nodded in satisfaction. Turning to Aozora, he asked, "What do you think of my Flying Tigers members?"
Aozora hesitated slightly before saying, "Not bad."
Hachidai had been about to speak when he suddenly recalled that Aozora himself had always been famous for his ninja tool throwing skills. He shook his head and said, "Don't judge them by your own standards!"
Aozora nodded and said, "I was being too harsh."
But Hachidai could still catch a trace of condescension in Aozora's eyes.
As the two continued their conversation, one Flying Tiger member after another stepped forward, none performing poorly. The worst still managed fifteen hits, while the best scored nineteen. Only one target nestled tightly between two twin trees remained unhit.
"Uchiha Ryuken!"
The last Uchiha slowly walked out from the crowd. Unlike most of the other Uchihas present, this one carried a long sword on his back. His arms were bare, revealing coiled muscles.
Without any flashy or fancy throwing techniques, he simply took kunai from his ninja tools pouch and threw them, one after another.
His throwing form was textbook-perfect—just like what students learned at the Ninja Academy.
He applied great strength, his accuracy quite good, consistently striking the bullseyes of the targets.
In the end, he also scored seventeen bullseyes!
Matching the average score among most Flying Tigers members. However, neither instructor Ryoichi nor the surrounding team members cast any approving looks toward him.
He broke the rules.
All the other Uchihas used one kunai per target, throwing them simultaneously.
But he had deliberately chosen the simplest seventeen targets. Within those, the first fifteen were each struck directly. The final two only hit their bullseyes after using five throws in total.
"That's cheating—get back in line!"
Reprimanded by Ryoichi, Ryuken quietly returned to formation, visibly disappointed.
Seeing Ryuken's defeated look, Aozora quietly marked him down for the Wolong Unit.
Ryuken and Wolong… sounds like destiny calling, doesn't it?
After displaying his teaching results, Ryoichi stepped forward and respectfully greeted Captain Hachidai, asking, "Captain Hachidai, sir, do you have any instructions?"
Hachidai affirmed, "You did well. I can trust you to handle the training."
At this, Ryoichi allowed himself a proud smile. Then raising an eyebrow, he turned to Aozora and asked, "Aozora, you yourself were once a Flying Tigers instructor. Any suggestions for me?"
Aozora shook his head. "You're the instructor. You call the shots."
Unwilling to let it go, Ryoichi turned to the nearby Flying Tigers members and announced proudly, "This is Uchiha Aozora, the Uchiha's rising star."
As it happens, he's also a master of ninja tool throwing! Now that he's finally graced us with his presence, why not ask him for some pointers?
Encouraged by Ryoichi, many Flying Tigers members started chiming in.
"Yeah, give us some pointers!"
"Teach us a thing or two!"
"Come on, do us a favor!"
"..."
Ryoichi glanced around, then said to Aozora, "Look how enthusiastic the team is. As their former instructor, won't you say something?"
Aozora replied playfully, "You really want me to speak?"
Ryoichi answered, "Say it, definitely say it—and the more honest, the better."
Privately, Ryoichi hoped Aozora would say something offensive—it would serve his purpose perfectly by turning the Flying Tigers against him.
Hachidai also added, "Your style of ninja tool throwing is unique. It'd be good to offer them some suggestions."
"Since everyone insists, I'll just speak my mind frankly."
Aozora gave Hachidai a gentle smile, then turned serious.
Stepping forward, Aozora scanned the Flying Tigers members and sincerely said, "Frankly speaking, I've never bothered learning these cheap circus tricks. Honestly, I can't even tell how difficult they're supposed to be—but judging from what I saw, you folks probably managed decently enough."
As soon as Aozora finished speaking, the Flying Tigers members below became displeased.
"What?"
"On what basis do you say that?"
"Do you have any idea how hard this is?"
"Prove it then—show us what you've got!"
"..."
Seeing that Aozora had offended the Flying Tigers members with just one sentence, Ryoichi secretly chuckled. He stepped forward pretending to be the peacekeeper: "Aozora, you're being too harsh. Although the Flying Tigers' techniques might look fancy, today's training was indeed somewhat challenging!"
"This was difficult?" Aozora asked, clearly unconvinced.
Uncertain about his own assessment, he turned to ask Itachi, "Itachi, was this training difficult?"
Upon hearing his name, Itachi respectfully stepped forward, shook his head, and replied, "It was very simple!"
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