Arc I Chapter 8


    <strong><b>I</b></strong>


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    <strong><b>Arc I Chapter 8


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    Asami practised another morning session of callisthenics, even when it was already afternoon. It was herhabit to sleep longer than necessary,but in her defence, her bed was simply too soft and fluffy to fight the temptation of slumber ...


    Her periphery senses reacted. An unknown chakra signature entered her range, headingstraightin her direction. The signature waing closer and closer.


    Unidentified chakra signature... Above average... High chakra level... Ninja ... Probably her sensei.


    A womanopened the door, entering the garden. The woman was young, in her early twenties, and yet she was a genuine kunoichi. Her metal headband betrayed her upon sight.


    Her senseiwore a white sleeveless tunic over her red fis. Herck hair was loose, and her eyes possessed a crimson tone.


    The woman seemed ufortable with the entire situation, visibly nervous. She was fidgeting with her hands, and yet it was her to make the first step and break the ice. “Eh, ...”


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    “Eh, ... what are you doing there?” Kurenai offered a weak smile to greet her new student. Clearly, she wasn''t the best choice to serve as an instructor. Shecked the necessary experience, and her social skills were also subpar. And yet Kurano had chosen her. Her mother trusted her with her precious little daughter without a second thought.


    To be honest, shewas tempted to decline the mission, but her heart was unable to reject such a loving and caring mother such as Kurano.In the end, she thus epted.


    “...”Kurenai sighed. She was far too kind for her own good, wasn''t she?


    And to make matters even worse, Asami was supposed to be a veritable prodigy, a genius in the making. At least, her mother imed so. Whether her daughter was the real deal, was another question entirely. Only time would tell. She had seen many of these so called prodigies before. Few deserved the title, even fewer fulfilled the expectations that came with it.


    Kurenai approached the girl. “What are you doingthere?”


    Asami tilted her head, oblivious to her own cuteness.“I am doing my daily stretching exercises.I am preparing myself for my lessons with my sensei.”


    “Oh, you have a sensei?” Kurenai smiled.


    “Yes, Okaa-santold me that she is supposed to visit me today, but she hasn’t arrivedyet...” Asami crossed her arms like the pampered little princess she was. Her cute pouting face warmed Kurenai’s heart.


    Kurenai merelyughed. “Well, I am a bitte, but here I am.”


    Asami blinked, ying the part of a cute girl perfectly. “So you are my sensei?” Her eyes sparkled.


    Kurenai smiled. ”Yes, I am. My name is Yuhi Kurenai, and I will be your sensei from now on.”


    Asami offered a slight bowin return.“Mine is Minami Asami. It''s a pleasure to meet you, sensei.”


    “...”Kurenai beamed. What a lovely and polite girl. Maybe tutoring her was the right decision, after all.“I am impressed, Asami-chan. The majority of academy students don''t show much enthusiasm when ites to their training, even when training is an integral part of ninja life. But you seem different. Your exercisesare admirable. They are asmall step, but a step, nevertheless.”


    Asami nodded. “I suppose that is true.”


    Kurenai continued, “Pleasetell me, what do you know about ninja in general, Asami-chan?”


    Asami tilted her head, contemtingthe question for a while. “Very little.I don''t know very much, but the impression that I have got so far is that the majority of ninja are beyondipetent. They are an undisciplined, disorganised, careless, overly cockybunch, who having nothing better to do than fooling around the whole day long.


    Theyperform strange missions like rescuing cats from treetops and searching for missing pets. They help olddies with their groceries. They even do house cleaning, weeding, and cooking.I suppose that ninja are not much different from personal servants ...”


    “I see, that is a rather interesting view you have, Asami-chan.”Kurenai wore an uneasy smile. Her words cut like obsidian, hurting her professional pride. After so many years of hard training, the girl made her sound likea simple errand girl.


    Kurenai regained herposure.“I assume then that you have never received any formal training, right?”


    “...”Asami nodded.


    “I also assume that you have never heard about the concepts of chakra or jutsu either?”


    “...”Asami nodded again, confirming Kurenai’s suspicions.Asami’s family wasn’t rted to any n. Her ess to any form of training was thus limited. The girl was a nk te.


    “...”Kurenai sighed. This wasn''t going to be an easy task. She would have to start fromplete scratch with her.


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    Kurenai was a bitch. A sadistic and scrupulous bitch.There was no other exnation. Her training was hellish. Was she trying to kill her, or what? Who did she think she was to treat her like this? She was only a little girl! She was cute, adorable, and cuddly like a doll. She wasn''t made for such arduous physical training.


    How it was possible that Kurenai could consider her routine gruesome torture sessions perfectly normal was beyond her. Was Kurenai crazy? Probably. No normal child could or should survive this kind of training. She did, but only because she cheated with her chakra.


    Behind her always friendly smile, Kurenai was hidingher true nature. In truth, she was an inhumane ve driver without remorse.Her sensei was puttingher through a training regime that bordered on insanity. Brutal marches to increaseher endurance and stamina. Sparring matches with the sole purpose to make her eat dirt. Impossible target practises.


    Running miles, and miles, and miles, and miles withher tiny shoulders were forced to carry a heavy backpack. Stupid endurance. Stupid stamina. Stupid physical strength.Her frail body could be considered rather, rather, rather petite, and that was unlikely to ever change due to the strong Yinponent of her chakra.


    For now, she was able topensated for herck of physical strength with her chakra. She possessed plenty of chakra to spare, but little actual strength. It wasn''t the best solution, but it was a solution.


    The sparring matches were an equally terrible experience. They typically ended with her kissing the ground. Kurenai was really lucky that her weak body didn''t allow her to repay her kindness and give her some of her own medicine.


    Hertarget training meanwhile was more fun. Throwing some knives and metal stars wasn''t much of a challenge, even though it was her first time doing it. Kurenai praised her. Apparently, she had a natural talent for using kunai and shuriken. Quite an unexpected turn of events.


    Kurenai unearthed talents that she had never known about.Judging by herincredulous look, she had exceeded her expectations by a wide margin. Shehit the bull''seye over and over.She never missed, not even once.


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