Ryu Uchiha: The Village Hidden in the Storm! [Book 2]

Chapter Four: Ryu Vs. Fighting Dummy! - Part 1

Kasurou looked at his team as they stared at their paper and tried to channel their Chakra. Ryu, on the other hand, got almost immediate results. But they were surprisingly interesting.

     He stepped forward to show Kasurou the ashes in his hand that had once been the piece of paper. Kasurou smiled and said, "As expected, since you're an Uchiha, you're Fire natured."

     "But something else happened before the paper burned," Ryu said. "Can I have another one to show you?"

     Kasurou shrugged and took out his spare paper and handed it to Ryu. Ryu held the paper in his right hand and channeled his Chakra into it.

     First, the paper crumbled up, which confused Kasurou and the rest of the spectators, and then ignited and burned to ashes once again.

     "Well, that's weird," Kasurou said. "I don't remember that ever ever happening to anyone. Then the only conclusion I can come up with is that you're both Fire and Lightning natured. But I thought each person was supposed to have one nature affinity."

     Everybody looked just as confused as Kasurou as Ryu went back to rejoin with the rest of the Genin.

     "Everybody divide up in groups depending on your nature affinity," Kasurou instructed. "Ryu, you can join the Fire natured."

     Everybody did as he said, forming five groups, one for Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water. Then Kasurou made the Clone seal, and there was a puff of white smoke. Next to the original appeared four more Kasurou's.

     "To train each group," Kasurou said, "I have created Shadow Clones of myself. One will train one group each, so we can get the training done a lot faster."

     The clone on the far right said, "I'll be training the Water natured group," then the next one said, "I'll train the Lightning," and so on.

     Each clone took their groups and headed out for training, and the real Kasurou stayed behind with the Fire natured group.

     "The first part of training will be learning a basic Fire Jutsu," Kasurou. "The Jutsu I will be teaching you is called the Fireball Jutsu, and I'm sure you all already know what it is. The hand signs for it are Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, and Tiger." He performed each hand sign as he called it out. "If everything goes well, you should get this." He drew his head back and breathed out a fireball from his mouth. "Now I want everyone to try it. The hand signs once again are Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, and Tiger."

     Ryu, already familiar with the technique from being part of the Uchiha Clan, was easily the first one to perform the Fireball Jutsu flawlessly.

     It took everyone else a while, but in the end, they all ended up performing the Jutsu correctly.

     "Good," Kasurou said. "Next we will be practicing Taijutsu. You all know the two basic attacks of Taijutsu: a punch and a kick. And you must know the two basic defense techniques: blocking and dodging. So now, I'm going to help you improve your Taijutsu by putting you against opponents."

     Kasurou made a few hand signs and said, "Secret Jutsu: Fighting Dummy Jutsu."

     Four human-shaped wooden dummies appeared behind Kasurou. They each matched the size of the four Genin before Kasurou.

     "These four dummies are going to be your opponents. They're able to fight and are a little bit stronger than you guys, but they won't kill you or anything."

     He looked at Ryu and winked, which got Ryu wondering what that was for. Ryu suddenly had a bad feeling about this training session.

     The dummies each walked up to one of the Genin and bowed respectfully.

     "Ready . . . begin!"

    

     Ryu and his dummy at the same time leaped into the air and exchanged a few punches and kicks simultaneously, but neither managing to connect a single hit.

     Upon landing, they dashed at each other, almost disappearing from sight by their speed.

     Ryu went for an uppercut, but the dummy leaned back to dodge the attack, but once Ryu's arm was high enough, he brought it back down on top of the dummy's face.

     Satisfied for now with the first strike, Ryu jumped back, creating space between them. He kept his eyes on his opponent as the dummy took a step back, but that's when it suddenly disappeared.

     What in the word? Ryu thought.

     He spun around to have his face punched by a wooden fist, sending him flying into a tree.

     Ryu struggled back to his feet and looked at the wooden dummy. "That a strong punch. If I hadn't tried to dodge it and took half of the damage, I probably woud've been a goner. And that speed. He just disappeared without a trace."

     The wooden dummy once again disappeared from Ryu's eyes.

     "Not again!" Ryu said.

     He backflipped onto the tree and, channeling some Chakra to his feet, stuck onto the trunk.

     Now where is he?

     The wooden dummy appeared to Ryu's left with its fist going toward his face. But unfortunately for the dummy, the punch went straight through Ryu.

     It had been a clone!

     The real Ryu fell from the sky and landed on the dummy's back, making both of them fall to the ground. In a moment, Ryu had had stuck an explosive tag on the dummies stomach and kicked it hard toward the ground.

     "Explosive Drop Combo!" Ryu yelled as he kicked the dummy down and used it as a surface to jump back onto the tree trunk.

     BOOM! The explosive tag on the dummy exploded, creating a large crater at the base of the tree.

     Ryu landed, expecting to see a blown up wooden dummy, but instead found nothing.

     Sensing a presence from above, Ryu looked up. And standing on a tree branch was the dummy. But it looked different. Its carved in wooden eyes had been replaced by . . .

     Ryu's eyes widened in shock. "Sharingan!?"

      Kasurou smiled at Ryu's reaction and thought, Let's see how much you've grown in the last five years, nephew.