"Running doesn't mean abandoning the mission; it's a strategy for regrouping."
"It's the most direct and effective choice to escape the enemy's lethal attack range."
"In escort missions, prioritizing the client's escape from an absolutely dangerous environment is sometimes a wiser and more responsible choice than staying to engage in seemingly brave protective combat."
He didn't cut the Earth wave technique off while he spoke. His eyes swept the undulating ground, taking in every figure thrown off balance—struggling, panicking, and flailing to find their footing.
He turned his attention to the Ninja Academy teachers who had come with the class; their initial unpreparedness showed in rumpled clothes and unstable stances. As Roshi's thoughts shifted, the violent, tsunami-like tremors began to slow, settling into clearer, tide-like rises and falls.
The teachers were the first to recover. Ebisu steadied himself at once, and the others followed, gradually regaining balance. Soon a few of the older students adapted as well.
When the ground surged beneath her, Uchiha Izumi didn't brace against it; she used the recoil of a sudden chakra burst under her feet to spring lightly into the air. Her hand already drew a kunai attached to a thin steel wire from her tool pouch. With a flick she buried the kunai in the trunk of a large tree and used the line to swing up onto a relatively stable branch. The tree still transmitted the quake, but it was a firmer foothold than the shifting, living ground below.
Roshi nodded in approval and scanned the younger students. "Sasuke chose to jump at the first moment, making the correct judgment." The black-haired boy—dusty and humiliated by his disarray—showed no pleasure at the praise; embarrassment only deepened his shame.
"Shikamaru, that's a clever response. Curling up to reduce the area of impact, protecting vital points, while observing the ground's pattern to find a rolling angle and actively escape the core influence range of the Ninjutsu."
"One additional point: when maintaining a Ninjutsu on this scale, a caster's mobility and ability to react to sudden situations usually decrease."
"The central area of such Ninjutsu—where the caster stands—is often the least affected, because it must preserve the Jutsu's stability."
"Of course, that's a secondary tactical choice, used when escaping is no longer feasible."
Naruto, by now less fazed by the shaking earth, looked up. His blue eyes locked on Roshi at the center, lighting with determination. Without hesitation, he began to inch his way—rolling and skidding—toward that point.
Roshi watched him—not intervening—his posture awkward as Naruto closed the distance. He also noticed Karin on the far side, fighting to stay upright; as if prompted by the same impulse, she too started edging toward the center.
Naruto seemed to shut out everything but the one target. He drew closer, close enough to make out the pattern on Roshi's shoe soles through the jagged cracks in earth and stone. A fierce excitement swelled in his chest.
Just as Roshi appeared to be deliberately turned away, exposing his back, Naruto seized the moment. "I will never run away, Roshi-nii!" he shouted, gathering himself and leaping from behind a rising wall of earth, arms spread as he lunged for the figure at the center.
Almost at the same instant, another attacker sprang from the flank like a leopard—Karin. Naruto's grin widened. As expected of Karin, who isn't interested in the conceited Sasuke, she must have also understood the true meaning of Roshi-nii's words—choosing to directly attack the caster's body.
Just as the thought flashed through his mind, Naruto noticed something wrong with Karin's jumping angle.
"Wait..."
Through his blue pupils, her wildly dancing red hair loomed closer and closer.
'Why... is she coming for me?!'
Karin's fist was nearly on him when another hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
Naruto, who had launched himself upward, found himself seized by the collar and left dangling in Roshi's grip.
The violent tremors in the ground seemed to freeze, settling back into an uneasy calm.
"You missed, Karin."
The furious red-headed girl immediately dropped her head, her voice suddenly small and contrite. "Yes, I'm very sorry, Captain."
Roshi released her. Karin slid to the side, standing with her head bowed.
He glanced at Naruto, still hanging from his hand. "Although it was a reckless choice, the outcome was somewhat useful, Naruto."
He set Naruto down on the now-solid earth. "Class dismissed."
—
"It's all your fault, Naruto."
On the way back, Shikamaru complained irritably, brushing dried, caked mud from his clothes while flecks of sand still clung to his hair. "If you hadn't jumped out at the end and said those unnecessary things, we wouldn't have had to roll around in the dirt a few more times before it ended."
"Yeah, my clothes are completely dirty!" Ino and Sakura glared at Naruto.
"But, but, everyone secretly wanted to see Roshi-nii's real jutsu, right?" Naruto flailed his arms, trying to defend himself. "That Jutsu! It was super amazing!"
Relying on the impressions left in his mind, he wildly mimed hand seals, trying to recreate them. "That Earth Release! The Jutsu that can make the entire earth move!"
"What's amazing isn't the Ninjutsu itself," Shikamaru cut in, rubbing his still-slightly dizzy head. "Besides, a Jutsu of that level probably isn't even considered 'amazing' to that person."
Naruto drifted into a daydream. "I really want to learn it too... Such Ninjutsu is much stronger than what Iruka-sensei teaches."
"Idiot," Shikamaru snapped. "Learning Ninjutsu also depends on your chakra nature. And you, who can't even perform the Clone Jutsu properly—how could you master Earth Release?"
Naruto blinked, baffled. "Chakra nature, what's that?"
Shikamaru stared at him, utterly speechless. "You... just forget about it, Naruto."
"Why does Shikamaru know all this even though he wasn't listening to the lecture?" Naruto protested.
Shikamaru fell quiet. He wasn't the type to show off. A retort hovered on his lips, but he swallowed it—he hadn't been silent because he didn't understand but because he already knew.
"I'll go ask Iruka-sensei!" Without waiting for a reply, Naruto dashed off.
Shikamaru watched his retreating back and sighed. Life at the Ninja Academy was truly bothersome with a troublemaker like him around.
Roshi had spent the morning at the Ninja Academy—sat in on a class and, more importantly, made an informal assessment of Ebisu for special Jonin promotion. But Ebisu wasn't the only candidate Roshi needed to vet.
Back at the Ninja Apartments, Anko was slurping noodles while Roshi sat across from her, doing the same.
"I'm full, I'm full," Anko said, setting her empty bowl down and patting her stomach with a grin. She looked up at him. "Captain, what exactly was my promotion assessment content again?"
"Your promotion's about information gathering and reconnaissance," Roshi replied, putting his chopsticks down. "What else would it be besides searching for intelligence and finding scrolls? Since you've reached the stage where you can apply for special jonin..."
"You should have your physical and mental states adjusted to the best level you can currently achieve, right?" Anko finished for him.
She sounded unsure of why but answered anyway. "Mhm, I guess so. No matter how much I train, it's hard to make more breakthroughs in taijutsu and strength."
Roshi considered that for a moment. "Then I have an idea. Maybe we can try to raise the upper limit of your basic abilities."
The purple-haired ninja chuckled. "If it's about improving my abilities, that's great! Does Captain-sama have some special training method?"
"It can be considered special training," Roshi said evenly. "It can also be called an experiment."
Anko's smile froze for a heartbeat. The word "experiment" instinctively pulled her mind back to Orochimaru and the things he had done. Still, she looked at Roshi and nodded firmly. "I'll do it. Do I need to prepare anything, Roshi?"
"No need. Just follow me."
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