"Come again Mura-chin, and don't forget to bring your friends when you do." The voice of Mira rang out as she waved at Murakami who waved back with a smile.
"I will, Mira-san." he said, "and thank you for your time."
"Don't mention it."
Murakami nodded and turned around. Hideki and Sora bowed low in thanks to Mira before following behind him while Mitsuki just nodded at her.
"That was one satisfying meal. Are you sure it's okay to not settle accounts with you?" Mitsuki asked as he followed the genin trio.
Murakami waved his hand dismissively. "It's just a couple hundred ryo. Don't mention it."
Mitsuki chuckled, "If I didn't know better, I'd think you are the son of a tycoon."
Murakami didn't bother to respond to that and turned to Sora, "What do we do now?"
Sora shrugged, glanced at Hideki then sighed and said. "I don't know, I'm sure Hideki also doesn't know so what do you think we should do?"
'If I knew that, would I even bother asking you?' Murakami rolled his eyes internally.
Kaito-sensei had only given them a map and told them to go visit the places marked on the map and didn't tell them anything else afterwards.
With them having finished with their assigned task with only half the day gone, even Murakami was lost on what to do next.
"Perhaps you all should go back to where you first met with your Sensei." Mitsuki who just successfully hid his embarrassment at being ignored by Murakami suggested causing the duo to look at him.
'Why didn't I think of that?' Murakami felt like smacking himself, but maintained a calm exterior and said. "You're right."
Then turning to Sora and Hideki. "We should go."
"Uhn."
"Hmm."
Hideki and Sora both nodded, then turned to Mitsuki. Sora bowed and said. "Senpai, thank you for showing us around, we wouldn't have known what we were doing without your help."
Mitsuki laughed and waved his hand at him. "Don't mention it. You just called me senpai, so it's what I should do."
Sora laughed then turned to Murakami, only to see he had already begun walking away. "Hey, Murakami!"
Murakami paused, then turned around and met his gaze. "What?"
"You… sigh…forget it." Sora didn't know how to rebuke someone who looked as though he hadn't done anything wrong. Turning back to Mitsuki, he smiled apologetically. "Don't mind him, he's just like that."
"What are you saying, he did nothing wrong." Mitsuki folded his arms and looked at Murakami who was also looking at him. "If anything, you all should aspire to be more like him."
"Huh?"
Before Sora could understand what he meant, his figure disappeared in a burst of wind and leaves.
"Whoa…he did that thing again." Hideki, who had been silent since they left the restaurant, said excitedly. "Mitsuki-senpai is also like Murakami and Sensei."
"Idiot." Sora rolled his eyes at Hideki and turned to follow Murakami.
"Hey!" Hideki, offended by the insult, ran after him. "What gives you the right to call me an idiot?"
"The fact that you still find the body flicker Jutsu to be that amazing already qualifies you as one."
"What are you saying? The body flicker Jutsu IS amazing." Hideki retorted. "It's not a skill just anyone can perform, you know."
Sora rolled his eyes.."Of course I know that."
"Then-"
"But it isn't reason enough to go crazy about it when you see it. How embarrassing." Sora finished and didn't give Hideki the space to respond and walked ahead faster.
Murakami in front didn't really bother with the both of them. Whether the body flicker Jutsu was cool or not, what mattered the most was efficiency of movement.
He hadn't studied the Body flicker technique but his Phantom step allowed him to create a similar effect.
And unlike the Body flicker technique that needed a medium as a distraction prior to movement, the Phantom Step simply allowed him to glide through the air to his desired destination without any ripples.
"By the way, Murakami, how did you manage to match Sensei's speed earlier this morning?" Hideki asked as he caught up to the two. "Can you teach me?"
Sora perked up at that question while Murakami merely glanced at Hideki then shook his head. "It isn't that simple."
Hideki's expression fell for a moment, but Sora, catching the underlying tone in Murakami's response, asked.
"Is it related to the weighted seal sensei mentioned?"
Murakami walked a few steps before he nodded. "Partially so."
As his voice fell, he took a step and suddenly vanished from the spot he stood, appearing a couple meters ahead of them.
Before the two could compute what just happened, he returned to his previous spot.
"What…what was that? So cool."
Ignoring Hideki's excitement, Murakami said, "The weighted seal is active just now."
Sora blinked and furrowed his brow in confusion. "Yours is different?"
Murakami nodded. "You could say that."
"Can you teach me?" Hideki asked in excitement as he skipped beside Murakami.
Murakami looked at him and could see the excitement radiating off him. He smirked at the thought of this excitement of his turning into terror and despair, but then schooled his expression.
"It's nothing difficult, you just need your body to be able to withstand a certain level of… pressure."
"Pressure?" Hideki asked with a careless smile. "That's nothing."
"Really?" Murakami asked with a smile and Hideki nodded strongly.
"Then how about this?" Murakami asked and stopped walking, raised his hand and placed it on Hideki's shoulder while transferring the combined weight of 100kg.
And just like that, Hideki's expression took a drastic change, his face turned red, eyes bloodshot and just as he was about to crumble to his knees, Murakami lifted his hand.
"I think not." Was all Murakami said and continued walking.
Sora didn't understand what just happened, but he did feel a certain change around Murakami as he placed his hand on Hideki's shoulder, after that, Hideki looked as though he was constipated.
"What was that?" He asked the panting Hideki who looked at him wide-eyed before turning his gaze to look at Murakami with a flicker or horror.
"That guy…he's a monster."
…
Kaito had just finished his investigation on Murakami. He thought about doing the same for Sora and Hideki but soon changed his mind.
There was nothing worth investigating about them.
His observation of them matched what was written on their profile, the one he was given when he was assigned as their Sensei.
Only Murakami stood out, and now, he understood why.
With that understanding, came plans, but those plans would have to wait since he had a more pressing issue at the moment.
He hadn't told the trio where to meet him when they were done or at what time.
He couldn't help feeling a bit disorganized. Were it back in his day in the ANBU, he could rest assured that his team members would find him anywhere he was, as long as he wasn't intentionally hiding himself.
But these were Genin.
Kaito exhaled slowly through his nose, one hand resting against his hip as he stood atop a nearby rooftop overlooking the village streets.
"…They'll figure something out," he muttered.
Or they wouldn't.
"Well, it's common sense to return to the meeting point if a rendezvous point wasn't allocated."
There was no need to rush. If they had any sense, they wouldn't wander aimlessly for too long.
And if they didn't…
His eyes narrowed slightly.
With that, Kaito vanished with the wind, as though he was never there.
…
The trio soon arrived at training ground 8 in what was an uncomfortable silence, each with their own thoughts.
Hideki couldn't understand how or what that pressure he felt was.
His thoughts kept circling around what Sora had mentioned earlier about the weighted seal, but then he didn't know how to bring it up.
Sora on the other hand was contemplating whether to ask Murakami to let him feel the pressure or not.
He had just seen Hideki go from smiling to constipated…No, horror. Yes, horrified. That was it.
Physically, he wasn't delusional to think that he was better than Hideki, so if Hideki had such a reaction… he couldn't help but shiver at the thought of being under that same pressure.
But while he couldn't subject himself to such a horror, he wasn't hesitant to satisfy his curiosity.
"How did you come about the weighted seal?" He asked as he settled down beside Murakami.
Murakami, who had just closed his eyes to meditate, opened them again and looked at Sora. "I know a bit of Fuinjutsu."
Saying that, he closed his eyes again.
"Is that all?"
" Hn." he nodded without opening his eyes. "It looked interesting when I came across it, and that was when I was looking for that extra boost to train my body."
There was a moment of silence between the two. Sora was a bit taken aback.
'Not only Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, even Fuinjutsu?' he thought curiously as his impression of Murakami took another change.
"Others train with heavy objects with gravity seals applied to them." He finally said.
He knew this because his father had mentioned it to him when he wanted him to train his body a bit.
He had vehemently refused to do that as it was unsightly and painful.
"I am aware."
"..."
"..."
"And?"
"...And what?"
"Why not use that method?"
Murakami finally opened his eyes and gave Sora a long look.
"And why would I do that?" He finally asked.
"Well…that's what people normally do."
"Oh…" Murakami let out impassively. "First of all, I'm not other people, and who said anything about being normal?"
"Uh…" Sora didn't know how to respond to that, combined with the look in Murakami's eyes, he felt a bit embarrassed, but didn't lose his composure. "You certainly aren't other people and you certainly aren't normal."
Hearing this, Murakami actually smiled. "Exactly. I've been called mad, crazy, weird, insane…and many more actually."
He chuckled, the first genuine laugh Sora, and Hideki listening by the side, has seen him show since knowing him.
"Don't you think it's a rather shameful thing to be a copy of the people around you?"
Without waiting for their response, he turned to Hideki. "You called me a monster earlier…why?"
Hideki froze at the question like a kid who had been caught red handed stealing candy. "Uh…sorry."
"What are you apologizing for?" Murakami raised a brow. "I'm not offended, it's just another title to the many titles I already have attached to my person."
"Now, answer me, why did you call me a monster?" Murakami asked again, his smile not leaving his face as he looked at Hideki who kept avoiding his gaze.
"..."
"Other than the fact that you failed to comprehend how an arm of mine could be that heavy, you labeled me a monster, right?"
Hideki nodded after a few seconds of contemplation. "How is that even possible?"
Murakami smiled and turned his gaze to Sora. "Humans attach emotions to things they can't really comprehend. Just as Hideki finds the body flicker technique to be cool, and pressure to be horrifying, so too do I find being normal to be…shameful."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So…what are you trying to say?" Sora asked. "That using the normal method is shameful?"
"Hmm." Murakami hummed, a few seconds later, he shook his head. "Not really. I just don't see its efficiency being of help to me."
"Efficiency?" Sora asked, confused. What does efficiency of training have to do with anything?
Murakami looked at Sora for a long while then shook his head. "Don't worry."
Saying that, he closed his eyes. There was no way he could explain his thoughts to someone else and expect
them to understand.
So rather than wasting his time and energy, he'd rather remain silent.
And just then, the air shifted and a Kaito-sensei figure materialized in front of the trio.
"Well, looks like you three had some sense after all."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
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