Tsuchigumo

Survival Drill

Iruka stared at the group of 11 years old. End of this semester they will graduate as Shinobi and hopefully gain their official Genin title. He gathered them around in the forest clearing where he had taken them, "Alright. I want all of you to survive until tomorrow morning, okay?"

Chouji raised a hand, "What about food?"

Iruka smiled, "That is the purpose of this training. I want to see how many among you actually remember what I thought about living it wild in the forest. That means scavenging for food and finding shelter. These are extremely important knowledge for a Shinobi to have because when you're sent out to the borders, you would often be far from civilization of any kind. It would also be far wiser to keep your ration as untouched as possible for true emergency situation. So you have to know what is edible and how to make it edible without attracting possible hostiles,"

The group shifted nervously. Iruka took note that Ino has confidence that she can recognize edible floras. Kiba looked fired up at the thought of hunting. He also know that despite his lazy countenance, Shikamaru should have this in the bag as the Nara Clan were the deadliest clan to face in a dense forest. Their strikes can come completely out of nowhere due to the amount of shadows inside a forest. Hunting would also be extremely easy with their Hidenjutsu. Chouji looked a little worried and will naturally team up with Shikamaru. Hinata and Sasuke should have already been given a more traditional Shinobi training in scavenging and surviving the wilderness. Basically all clan children or children from a Shinobi house has an advantage. This training was more for the civilian children. If they kept up in class, they will be able to keep up with the Shinobi raised children.

Iruka was more concerned for one child in particular; Uzumaki Naruto. He towered over his classmates as usual. Iruka has no idea how the boy would fare as a Shinobi due to his bulk but the boy was certainly talented. Hinata helped him focus in class and he managed to keep up with the others despite entering his class almost at the very end of it. But Iruka has a hard time evaluating his Taijutsu due to the other children forfeiting before they could begin anything. Part of the reason was Naruto's pedipalps that was warned to have fangs attached at the end with build in venom inside his body. If they attack, his pedipalps would be the first thing they will reach.

Also, from the few spar that he managed to join with the other clan children, like Sasuke, his chitin was too hard for them. He barely felt a thing. Considering that Taijutsu spars banned the use of chakra augmentation to keep things balanced so people could just learn the form, it was really hard on their hands and feet. The only way the boy would be able to feel the strike was if his opponent strike with a force stronger than his chitin could passively endure. That meant going all out.

Fortunately Naruto wasn't someone that will just stand there and take it either. The boy could sense an attack and avoid it before it could reach him. So he's surprisingly nimble at evasion. Then again his biological perception was already at the level of a passive Byakugan but without their weaknesses. Iruka could only imagine how much stronger the boy will become once he get the handle of using chakra to augment his physical body.

Iruka won't want to face him if he ever reach his peak condition...

Naruto looked at Hinata who offered to show him the ropes. He had read about the survival class but he wasn't part of it for practical lesson. Today would be his first day doing practical for the class and he had missed a lot due to joining late. Hinata, as usual, reached a helping hand as she pointed out signs in the forest like animal tracks and poisonous floras.

He placed a hoof on every little things that she pointed to him, remembering the scents with his preternatural senses. Hinata smiled at the action as she foraged. Naruto looked at her, "What?"