Boom!
A cloud of dust exploded as Akimichi Choji leapt down from a tree and landed squarely on the training field, leaving behind a sizable crater.
Nara Shikamaru sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "Chakra, Choji. Use your chakra next time."
Choji gave an awkward grin and scratched the back of his head. "Heh… I kinda forgot."
"Let's head back. I wanna get a nap in before class starts."
With that, Seimi grabbed his bag and jogged toward the classroom.
"So troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, but started running too. As lazy as he was, even he wouldn't miss a good chance to sneak in a nap.
Seeing his friends run off, Choji glanced at the hole he'd made, then decided to ignore it entirely and took off after them.
"Wait for me!"
Just then, Inuzuka Kiba noticed that Naruto hadn't moved. He turned and shouted, "Hey, Naruto! What're you spacing out for?"
"Oh—coming!"
Before entering the school building, Naruto paused and glanced up at the Hokage Rock.
The Fourth Hokage… what was his name again?
He decided he'd ask the Third later.
It was still lunchtime, and kids were brimming with energy. Instead of napping in the classroom, most preferred to play outside.
Hinata and Ino returned to the classroom, holding their cleaned lunch boxes. The moment Hinata sat down, Seimi pulled a small paper bag from his desk and placed it in front of her.
"What's this?" she asked softly.
"Sushi and milk."
Hinata froze, her cheeks turning faintly pink. She quickly pushed the bag back toward him. "S-Seimi, I already ate."
"You didn't eat enough."
Her blush deepened. Her toes curled nervously inside her shoes.
Did he… notice?
Seimi, meanwhile, was busy trying out various sleeping positions on his desk as he explained lazily,
"We're both Hyūga. You think I don't know how much training you go through every day? Lord Hiashi definitely wouldn't ease up just because you're in the Academy now. That tiny lunch of yours can't keep you going."
"I already had a huge bowl of ramen outside, so you should eat. Don't be shy."
After fiddling around a bit, Seimi finally discovered that resting his head on a book tucked under his arm was the most comfortable position.
Within seconds, his breathing evened out—he was fast asleep.
Hinata gazed at him for a while, then blushed harder, grabbed the paper bag, and carefully opened it.
She glanced around. Seimi and Ino were both napping, and Choji and Shikamaru at the back were clearly asleep too.
Seeing no one was watching, Hinata ducked her head under the desk, picked up a piece of sushi, and quickly popped it into her mouth.
The sushi pieces were fairly large—Seimi himself would need at least two bites for one, or he'd risk choking. But Hinata ate them like they were snacks, one after another, effortlessly.
She had a secret—one she was deeply embarrassed about: she could eat a lot.
When Seimi suddenly gave her such a big portion of sushi and milk, she'd panicked, thinking her secret had been exposed.
But once she calmed down and took another bite, she noticed something odd.
Hmm? The sushi tasted unusually sweet—he'd added honey!
Rice, fish, and honey… it was basically a sugar bomb. For a modern person, this would've been an absolute calorie overload.
[Hinata Hyūga's Favorability toward You has Changed. Current Level: "Mutual Understanding – Friends."]
She didn't know how much time had passed before she gently nudged Seimi's head to wake him.
"Seimi, wake up—it's time for class."
"Ha~" Seimi yawned, stretching as he rubbed his eyes. "How long was I out?"
"Almost forty minutes."
"I'm gonna hit the restroom first. See you at the training field."
He stood, shook his head vigorously to wake up, and on his way out, roughly shook awake the four sleeping boys in the back.
Unlike Hinata, his wake-up methods were anything but gentle.
Training Field.
Under Iruka's lead, the students jogged two laps around the field. After their warm-up, class officially began.
At their age, ninjutsu training wasn't as efficient as taijutsu, so most of the Ninja Academy's core curriculum revolved around the Konoha-Style Taijutsu system.
"The Konoha-Style Taijutsu was originally developed by the Second Hokage and later refined by the Third," Iruka explained. "It's easy to learn, highly practical, and extremely versatile."
After covering its origins, Iruka gave a quick overview of the techniques—a sort of table of contents.
To Seimi, though, the essence of the entire style could be summed up in one word: kick.
As the saying goes, 'The fists open the gate, but the legs decide your fate.'
For both kids and adults, kicks usually packed far more power than punches.
"The first move of Konoha-Style Taijutsu: the Spinning Back Kick!"
Iruka stood before a training dummy, lowering his center of gravity. His waist twisted sharply, driving his entire body into motion. Using his left leg as the pivot, he spun to the right and unleashed his right leg in a perfect arc.
Boom!
The impact struck the dummy's midsection with terrifying force, sending it flying and splitting it clean in half.
"Whoa!"
The kids gasped in awe. Naruto jumped excitedly. "That's awesome!"
Basking briefly in their admiration, Iruka kept his composure and began breaking down the technique.
He explained how to lower one's stance for balance, how to use the waist as the axis for rotation, and the finer points of transferring momentum to the right leg at the moment of the kick.
Seimi noted that the famous Leaf Whirlwind used by Might Guy was clearly derived from this move.
And remembering the time Guy had kicked Jiraiya square in the face, Seimi had to admit—when the Third bragged about the "versatility" of Konoha-Style Taijutsu, he wasn't lying.
After finishing the explanation, Iruka clapped his hands. "Everyone got it?"
"Yes, sir!" the kids shouted in unison.
"Good! Pair up and start practicing!"
Pairs, huh…
Naruto blinked, then turned around toward Shikamaru.
But Shikamaru just raised a lazy hand and pointed toward the crater on the far side of the field. "Choji and I should go fill that hole before Iruka-sensei notices. Won't have time to spar."
"Oh… okay."
Before Naruto could mope, Kiba clapped him on the shoulder, holding a training dummy. "What're you waiting for? Go find a good spot before someone else takes it!"
"Right!"
Naruto eagerly dashed to an open corner, set up the dummy, and got into position.
He lowered his stance, locked eyes on his "opponent," twisted his waist, and spun—
Thud!
Naruto's world spun with him. He lost balance mid-turn and slammed face-first into the ground.
Watching Naruto's face buried in the dirt, Choji suddenly understood why the training field was full of so many random craters.