Chapter 14: Practicing Tree/Water Walking Practice
In Sakura's mind, Naruto wasn't popular at all.
Kihon Toichi only glanced at Kakashi, gave a slight nod as a greeting, and then led the three away.
Kakashi's gaze left Kihon Toichi somewhat speechless.
He thought to himself, "Has Kakashi set his sights on Yoruha?"
After Yoruha's group left, Sakura looked at Kakashi in confusion. "Kakashi-sensei, who was that?"
Sakura had noticed that Kakashi had been staring at Yoruha just now.
She thought Kakashi must know Yoruha well.
Kakashi turned back and said blandly, "An interesting guy. All right, let's go in."
Kakashi had no intention of explaining too much to Sakura.
Ever since just now, Sasuke had felt a faint sense of pressure from Yoruha.
It was a feeling he had never experienced before.
At the Ninja Academy, Sasuke had always been first among his peers and had never really regarded any of the others seriously.
The idea of a classmate putting pressure on him was impossible.
Yet after only that brief encounter, he had the strange feeling that Yoruha would become his rival in the future.
Kakashi didn't say anything, but Naruto cheerfully told Sakura, "That's Team 11. The one who's only a little less handsome than me is called Yoruha. He's my friend."
Although they'd only known each other for a short time, Naruto had already regarded Yoruha as his friend.
He didn't seem to notice Yoruha's distance toward him.
Hearing Naruto's words, Sakura rolled her eyes at him.
"Idiot Naruto, your skin is way too thick."
In Sakura's heart, Yoruha's looks were on the same level as Sasuke's.
In fact, if Sasuke didn't hold such a special place in her heart, she might even have thought Yoruha was better-looking than Sasuke.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Yoruha and the others arrived at the back mountain of Konohagakure.
Looking at the huge waterfall before them, Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon both pulled long faces.
"Sensei, why did we get a mission like this? And with all that trash under the waterfall, how are we supposed to pick it up?"
Their mission was to clean all the trash out of the lake in the back mountain area of Konohagakure.
Since they were all rookies, naturally they wouldn't be assigned combat missions.
But upstream from the lake before them was a massive waterfall, forty to fifty meters high.
And the current was swift, with tremendous impact.
Just thinking about cleaning up the trash beneath the waterfall was enough to make anyone's head ache.
Kihon Toichi said expressionlessly, "Today I'll teach you how to use Chakra to stand on the surface of the lake without falling in."
Hearing Kihon Toichi's words, Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon instantly perked up from their earlier misery.
"Really, sensei? You're going to teach us some kind of ninjutsu?"
Yoruha looked toward Kihon Toichi and saw that Kihon Toichi was also looking at him.
"Tree/Water Walking Practice? It really is basic, but also very useful ninjutsu."
Basic though it was, Yoruha really didn't know it.
Before, because his talent had been fairly poor, he hadn't trained in it.
Now, though, Yoruha was genuinely looking forward to it.
Seeing Yoruha's interested expression, Kihon Toichi smiled faintly.
"Come with me to the lakeside. I'll demonstrate it for you."
The group went to the water's edge, to a spot far from the waterfall where the current was calm.
It was a good place to practice.
Kihon Toichi slowly stretched out one foot and placed it on the water's surface.
"Watch carefully. The moment your foot touches the water, control the Chakra inside your body and attach it beneath the sole of your foot."
"Pay attention to the amount of Chakra you use. It has to be just enough to support your body—too much or too little won't do."
"You'll need to practice and figure out that amount for yourselves."
As he spoke, Kihon Toichi was already standing on the surface of the water.
It was as steady as standing on solid ground. He didn't sink at all.
Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon stared in shock.
"Wow! Sensei, you're actually standing on the water without falling in!"
"That's amazing!"
Neither of them came from ninja clans, so they had never seen a technique like this before.
Yoruha, too, was a little surprised as he watched Kihon Toichi standing steadily on the water.
Imagining it and seeing it in person were very different things.
Unable to resist, Yamada Juki was the first to try.
He walked to the edge of the lake and carefully gathered Chakra beneath his feet. Although Kihon Toichi had just demonstrated it and explained the principle behind it, Yamada Juki still felt nervous trying it himself.
Tensely, he set his foot on the surface of the water.
But just as he was about to put his weight down, his foot slipped through and he fell into the lake.
"It's so hard, sensei. How do you make it look so easy?"
He stood up in the water, wiped his hair, and looked at Kihon Toichi awkwardly.
Tanako Hon, who had been about to try too, got scared when she saw Yamada Juki in such a state.
"Is it really that hard? Sensei made it look simple, and the principle doesn't seem that difficult either."
Tanako Hon looked at Yamada Juki as she asked.
Walking out of the water and back to shore, Yamada Juki gave a bitter smile. "It's impossible. He made the principle sound simple, but actually controlling the amount of Chakra just right is incredibly hard."
Kihon Toichi nodded. "That's right. Even though you didn't learn it, you've already understood the true core of this technique."
"The most important thing is precisely controlling the right amount of Chakra. That requires fairly accurate Chakra control. I can't help you with that—you'll have to train and explore it on your own."
Yamada Juki nodded. "It's too hard. I think it'll take me a long time to get it right."
He felt it was extremely difficult to pull off.
"Just now, I didn't even feel like my body could stand on the water for even a moment. It was no different from when I didn't gather Chakra at all."
"Sensei, how long did it take you to master this technique back then?"
Yamada Juki was very curious how long it had taken Kihon Toichi.
After all, Kihon Toichi was a Jonin, and anyone who could become a Jonin had been a genius since childhood.
Because Jonin were already among a village's top combat power.
That was true even in the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Even there, Jonin weren't numerous, and every one of them was outstanding in one field or another.
Kihon Toichi answered calmly, "Two days."
"Two days! Even sensei needed two days? Then we probably need more than ten."
Though his talent as a ninja was average, Yamada Juki still understood ninjutsu theory quite well.
And he knew perfectly well that his talent was definitely nowhere near Kihon Toichi's.
Tanako Hon had originally wanted to give it a try, but after hearing Yamada Juki say that, she drew back her foot.
Her talent was about the same as Yamada Juki's.
"Sensei, then what about all that trash?"
Tanako Hon pointed at the debris beneath the waterfall.
Looking at the terrifying impact of the waterfall, she felt afraid.
Water dropping from a height of dozens of meters could kill a person outright.
Kihon Toichi shook his head. "That's for you to figure out. That's also the purpose of this mission. If you can't even handle something this simple, then when you face powerful enemies in the future, you'll be killed."