This area, located in the forest, was equipped with countless targets for shuriken practice and also had surrounding rivers, making it ideal for training Water Release and Fire Release techniques.
It was by this very riverside that Sasuke trained with Itachi on the Great Fireball technique.
"I'd like to see which idiot dares cause trouble for Team 7!"
Ye Liang arrived here angrily.
Several ninja about his age had already surrounded Rin Nohara, and without Kakashi's intervention, they might've come to blows already.
"What's going on?"
Ye Liang walked closer.
"Teacher Liang, when I got here, they were already surrounding them."
Ye Liang then turned his gaze toward Rin Nohara, but she avoided his eyes and didn't respond.
"Hmm... Looks like this little girl is angry at herself."
"Sorry, sorry. Teacher made a mistake. Suddenly there was an urgent matter at home, so I couldn't make it on time. You have to believe your teacher!"
Ye Liang spoke these words earnestly, but Rin still ignored him.
"Rin! A person should be independent and strong-willed. The reason teacher couldn't make it on time was actually to teach you this lesson—only when you learn to stand on your own can you become a true expert!"
Ye Liang added another line.
"Independent and strong-willed?"
Suddenly showing slight reaction, Rin looked suspiciously at Ye Liang. Could it be that teacher really thought this way?
Seeing Rin soften slightly, Ye Liang immediately pressed his advantage.
"That's right. Only when you developed that independent spirit could teacher begin your next lesson. Rin, you haven't disappointed me. Even though teacher wasn't around, you continued practicing at the training ground!"
"Teacher is truly pleased!"
"Oh! So that's how it is! Teacher has been testing me all along! How come I couldn't see it at all, and almost misunderstood teacher. I'm such an idiot!"
Instantly regretful, Rin fixed her gaze on Ye Liang, her eyes filled with guilt.
"Rin! I'm glad you understand now!"
The hell with independence and strength!
Ye Liang's face had thickened to an unmatched level.
Looking at Rin solemnly, he poured out all that heartfelt emotion without even cracking a smile, acting as if every word came straight from the soul.
"Hey! You two done yapping yet? Chattering nonstop, do you really think we aren't here!"
The group of Chunin suddenly spoke up.
This guy Ye Liang shows up and starts babbling with the girl about whatever nonsense—although they didn't know what exactly—they still ended up fed a mouthful of sentimental garbage!
"You're the team's instructor, right? We're this year's newly promoted Chunin. With battle preparations underway, this young girl has been holding up our training ground—it's really interfering with our drills!"
"So, you decided to attack my team members?"
Ye Liang's expression turned cold.
Rin appeared fine, but Ye Liang clearly noticed burn marks on Kakashi's wrist.
This was clearly from a fire technique!
"What do you mean by that? From your words, are you saying you don't plan to give us space?"
"I'll tell you this much—pre-battle training is completely reasonable!"
"You're just a bunch of useless Genin. You don't deserve to use such precious training materials. If you don't step aside right now, we'll have to get rough!"
"Useless Genin?"
Ye Liang's expression darkened.
"Haha! What else would you call someone who can't even throw a Shuriken straight?" The group immediately burst into mockery.
Suddenly, Ye Liang noticed Rin Nohara's eyes welling up with tears.
He understood immediately.
These people must be talking about Rin Nohara. He didn't believe for a second that Kakashi couldn't hit with a Shuriken. His anger flared.
They could say whatever they wanted about him, but not about Rin Nohara!
Ye Liang wasn't the kind to go all protective-daddy on his students. But defending a pretty girl? That was right up his alley – especially considering how this mess partly started with him. If it weren't for his loose tongue earlier, Rin wouldn't be getting bullied now.
"If you think Genin can't hit their target with a Shuriken, then let's have a little contest with Shurikens then!"
"A contest? With who? You?"
"With her!"
Ye Liang suddenly grabbed Rin Nohara's arm and raised it high.
"Eh? Teacher, what are you saying! My Shuriken technique is terrible!" Rin immediately exclaimed.
"Don't worry. I say you can do it, so you can. Don't you trust your teacher?"
"No no! Of course I trust my teacher."
Rin hurried to explain, but the Chunin burst into laughter.
They'd all seen Rin's skills firsthand. Calling her accuracy one-out-of-ten was being generous – usually took her over twenty damn Shurikens to hit anything!
"Teacher! Come on, you must be joking. I might believe if you said you were doing it, but her? Haha! Have you gone mad?"
"Hmph! Are we doing this or not?" Ye Liang coldly snorted.
"Of course! But just throwing Shurikens is boring. Why don't we add some stakes to make it interesting?"
"Stakes? What did you have in mind?" Ye Liang asked irritably.
"There's ten thousand taels (a small fortune) in my pocket from a recent mission. You're the teacher, so bet however much you want, but it should be at least something."
"Fine! I'll match you ten thousand taels!" Ye Liang declared boldly.
He had just finished a mission too – still had fresh cash burning his pocket. However, Rin was immediately unhappy beside him.
"Teacher! Really, I can't do it!" She desperately signaled to Ye Liang with her eyes.
Without any stakes, just for practice – sure. But ten thousand taels was way too much – it would take completing several B-rank missions to earn that much!
"It's okay, just go when I tell you to," Ye Liang said, pushing Rin forward.
He naturally had some confidence letting Rin compete against Chunin with Shurikens. Otherwise, why would this gold-hungry bastard gamble half his fortune?
Ye Liang felt secretly pleased. In truth, he already had a complete plan.
"Fine! Since we've agreed, let's begin!"
The Chunin immediately got into position, walking toward one of the targets.
"We'll start right here!"
Standing a hundred meters away, he scoffed and threw his Shuriken.
"Four rings!"
The blade landed right beside the center, missing it by just a hair!
"Great! Scoring four rings at a hundred-meter distance is already an impressive score!" Several chunin couldn't help but murmur in amazement.
"Then let's continue."
Ye Liang shrugged and gestured toward him.
The contest would be ten consecutive throws, with the winner determined by the highest total score.
It was a test of endurance, because throwing shuriken required intense focus that quickly drained stamina.
"Don't panic. Just follow my instructions, and you'll catch up to him," Ye Liang murmured softly into Rin Nohara's ear.
At this moment, Rin Nohara's palms were soaked with sweat. It was obvious she was very nervous.
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