Chapter 35: The Arena and the Arrogant
The crowd of onlookers let out a collective sigh of disappointment. The spectacle they had hoped for had fizzled into a pathetic dribble.
Ahem! Ueno Kuri cleared his throat. "Nawaki, you haven't fully mastered the jutsu yet. That's all. Don't be discouraged. The fact that you can even produce water is a significant achievement for your age." He offered an encouraging smile. "With more practice, you'll get it. I believe in you."
"Yeah, Nawaki, you're already so strong," Shinra chimed in, his tone dripping with mock sincerity. "You can use ninjutsu! Sure, it's a bit... underwhelming. It might only drown an ant. But hey, you could always consider a new career as a professional ant exterminator."
"Ahhh! Shinra, are you trying to encourage me or insult me?!" Nawaki yelled, his face reddening again.
Shinra looked at him as if the answer were obvious. "Can't you tell? I'm insulting you. Is that little trickle really something to be proud of?"
Nawaki was speechless for a moment before rallying with a weak defense. "That was just a fluke! I did it perfectly yesterday! My sister saw it! Go ask her if you don't believe me!"
"And do you think they believe that?" Shinra asked, gesturing to the snickering crowd.
"I believe you, Nawaki," Yamanaka Inoichi said, stepping forward and placing a hand on Nawaki's shoulder.
"Really? Thank you, Inoichi!" Nawaki said, his eyes welling up with grateful tears at finding a believer.
"I believe you will never pull it off," Inoichi finished with a smirk before walking away, leaving Nawaki petrified with humiliation.
"Damn it! All of you, just wait! I'm going to be Hokage one day! This is just one jutsu! I'll have it mastered in a few days, you'll see!" Nawaki declared vehemently before stomping off to sulk in a corner.
The others just smiled and shook their heads. They all knew Nawaki's personality; he'd forget all about this in an hour. He was resilient, if nothing else.
"Shinra, would you like to spar with me?" Namikaze Minato asked, a gentle, hopeful smile on his face.
"Hey! Minato, have you got water in your head?" Nawaki, drawn back by the prospect of a new drama, popped up again. "Shinra's ridiculously strong! With your skinny body, he'd punch you straight into the hospital!"
"He has a point, Minato," Ueno Kuri interjected, choosing his words carefully to avoid crushing the boy's spirit. "While you are one of the most talented in our class..." He let the sentence hang. The truth was, despite Minato's prodigious intellect and chakra control, his overall combat ability currently placed him outside the top ten. Coming from a civilian family with no shinobi background or early training, he was simply playing catch-up to the clan heirs who had been conditioning their bodies and learning basics since they could walk. He would likely surpass them in a year or two, but for now, the gap was real. Ueno Kuri saw immense potential in Minato and didn't want it dampened by a brutal and demoralizing defeat.
"Forget it, Minato," Shinra said, shaking his head. "Why don't you spar with Nawaki? You're both aiming for Hokage. It would be a good match."
It was an undeniable truth that Minato would one day become a legend, but that day was far in the future. The current Minato was so far beneath his level that Shinra felt bullying him would be unsporting.
"Yeah! How about it? Want to have a go?" Nawaki puffed out his chest, looking at Minato with a competitive glint.
Seeing no way to gracefully refuse, and still wanting to test his own limits, Minato agreed with a nod.
"Alright, you two. But be careful. No serious injuries, and remember this is a friendly match," Ueno Kuri reminded them before turning his attention back to Shinra. "And you. I truly don't understand this... whatever this is. It looks like you're just messing around, wasting your innate talent." He had lectured Shinra on this multiple times, but the boy never listened. In Ueno's eyes, Shinra was blessed with monstrous strength but frittered away his time with slow, seemingly pointless sword drills instead of proper physical conditioning.
Shinra just offered a noncommittal smile and continued his slow, deliberate swings. The slowness was an illusion, a product of the immense gravitational force he was exerting on his own body. The moment that force was released, the speed would be blinding. When he had obtained Ryūjin Jakka, he had also inherited all the sword mastery of its previous wielder, Yamamoto Genryusai, including all the techniques possible without releasing the Zanpakutō. While his swordsmanship might be considered unrefined in the worlds of pirates or soul reapers, in the shinobi world—where kenjutsu was not the primary focus—he was already near the pinnacle. The legendary Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, might be the only one who could potentially rival him. Shinobi sword arts often relied on chakra enhancement for explosive power, but the underlying technical skill was frequently lacking. Of course, this was just his assessment; he hadn't seen every swordsman in the world. The samurai of the Land of Iron were a wild card.
After two solid hours, Shinra finally stopped, his body having reached its limit under the constant strain. He released the gravity, the ground beneath his feet settling almost imperceptibly lower than the surrounding area. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked around.
Mikoto was meditating in a corner, refining her chakra. A large group had gathered not far away, watching a match. It wasn't Nawaki and Minato anymore; the current combatants were Akimichi Choza and Uchiha Ken.
While Uchiha Ken kept to himself after school, during class hours he was present, and his arrogant nature couldn't resist the spotlight. After watching Nawaki score a flashy but hollow victory over Minato, Ken's urge to show off had overwhelmed him. He had challenged Nawaki, and the already tired Senju heir had lost without much of a fight. Emboldened, Uchiha Ken had then challenged several other classmates in quick succession, leaving them bruised and humiliated. Even Hyuga Hizashi had been defeated, forced to yield against Uchiha Ken's Great Fireball Technique. The successful use of ninjutsu had only inflated Ken's ego further.
His domineering, contemptuous attitude had soured the mood. If not for Shinra's presence, Uchiha Ken's decent looks might have still attracted a few fangirls. But now? The collective glare of their classmates was one of pure, unadulterated resentment. An arrogant, insufferable personality was hard to tolerate, no matter how handsome the face.