During the short recess, Yama refrains from speaking to anyone. Around him the class clamors and lightly plays around, he notices Aori getting approached by a few other classmates. A slight surge of jealousy rushed through his body but he pays it no mind, continuing to look around the room he notices the majority of the classroom has flocked around the Twins. Taking immediate notice of their exotic beauty, the children lose track of time in their interest in them. At this point, nobody is taking to Yama, keeping the 5-minute break in the back of his mind Yama readies himself to leave; before he is quickly stopped. Harime Juso breaks her stealth and silence by asking Yama what he thinks of the school, initially Yama was shocked as he completely forgot she was there; but he presently answers her with an enthusiastic tone.
They continue their small-talk before the internal timer in Yama reaches its climax, around 3 seconds before it’s time to go, Yama, the Twins, Aori, Juso, and a few others notice a presence had left the room. Seeing this, Yama and the rest immediately dash outside the classroom, running through the halls quickly as they avoid each other and obstacles. The training ground is 180 seconds away from the classroom moving at about a light jog pace of 5mph. The students make it out of the Academy building with 40 seconds to spare, at this point the presence that initially left the room can be felt 9 seconds ahead according to Yama.
The road to the training ground is shrouded in boulders and tall trees, because of the intensity of physical training; Daimond Field must be located as far away from other civilians and property as possible. Yama, the Twins, Aori, and Juso are keeping up with each other, at this point they are now 7 seconds behind the anon, as they enter the forest. The remainder of the students can be heard running loudly 15 seconds behind Yama and the rest. Entering the forest Yama makes sure to avoid tripping on the various rocks and tree stumps, without a word Juso quickly takes to the trees and passes Yama.
He looked surprised but interested in the challenge, he recalls Kokkuri-sensei never mentioning the non-use of jutsu in order to get to Daimond Field. Upon this realization, Yama casts “Gale Shot”(ゲイルショット) from the palms of both his hands and shoots himself ahead of everyone else on the ground level. At this point, there are 28 seconds left, Yama is now 4 seconds behind the anon, the rest of them notice Yama and wonder why they didn’t think of it themselves. Ryukyuko casts “Physical Art: Near-Lightning”(物理芸術：雷の近く) using this Ryukyuko is able to increase his base speed and stamina upwards of 10%, considering he was holding back this entire time Ryukyuko flashes by everyone and is the first to make it to the training grounds. Ryukyuka follows suit and casts “Physical Art: Shadow Walk”(物理芸術：シャドウウォーク) and creeps into the vastly shaded area of the route before quickly passing Yama and the anon.
Juso does the same, “Physical Art: Hot Feet”(物理芸術 :ホットフット) Juso's feet glow red and burning, leaving scorching marks on the branches as she quickly zooms through them tailing Yama. While Juso was performing her art however, Aori had already been flying through the forest on a branch thanks to her natural Wood Manipulation. Seeing a light at the end of the forest, Yama sees 3 faces, and to his surprise, he doesn’t recognize one of them. He gazes upon the anon, a short but thick-haired boy, with a large scar running from his left eye to his neck. Ryukyuko looks to Yama with a big grin, while Kokkuri-sensei stares excitedly. At this point, there are only 5 seconds left until the 60-second assignment is over. One after the other Ryukyuka, Aori, and Juso make it with just 3 seconds to spare. The final 3 seconds felt like a day had passed; 12 more students make it to the finish line marking the end of the race. After the time-limit, 7 students arrive, Kokkuri-sensei looks to them disappointed.
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“Congratulations! You 18 have made it on time!” Kokkuri shouted excitedly.
“However.” He says dramatically.
“Those who did not make it on time will have to face punishment.”
[Fully unbeknownst to Yama and the team, Ishinnoji has one of the strictest and harshest training regimens in all of the 5 Nations.]
Kokkuri takes his battle stance.
“It seems some of you aren’t taking the Academy too seriously.” He says in a weighty tone.
“I’m going to have to beat the importance into you.”
“Come at me.” He says seriously.
The students stare at him confused and still, the air is quiet and no one makes a sound. Looking at his surroundings and everyone else's faces, Yama sees that everyone is confused. Kokkuri-sensei waves at them to come forward before immediately appearing behind one of the lesser-known students with scruffy and gold hair. Noticing his presence change Yama and his friends along with Juso and a few others quickly back off, on-alert. The remainder of the students are too late to catch on and witness Kokkuri-sensei devastatingly strike the gold-haired student to the ground with a chop, leaving small cracks in the dirt. The loud crash of the students' fallen body sends a chill through Yama and the others spine. “This isn’t a game..” Yama says to himself before making eye contact with Ryukyuko. The two of them know what the other will do and they regroup with Aori and Ryukyuka. Juso and the rest regroup with other students who have noticed the severity of the punishment.
“Is he really doing this?!”
“Didn’t we make it on time?!!” Yama asks shocked.
As Yama and Ryukyuko talk for a second they witness Kokkuri-sensei systematically knock-out each of the 7 students who arrived late. Kokkuri then begins to assault the remainder of the students who made it before the time-limit.
“Looks like it.” Ryukyuko says in a plain yet actionable tone.
“This is crazy!” Ryukyuka shouts.
“What are we going to do? Fight him?” Aori asks in a tense tone.
“I don’t know…” Yama replies in thought as he looks around erratically.
Yama and the rest instinctively retreat into the woods. In the background, crashes, screams, and groans ring loudly, “Good thinking on hiding kids!” says Kokkuri in a cheerful tone.
“We should just fight him.” Ryukyuko says, breaking Yama’s train of thought.
“But you saw- or I guess I should say, didn’t see him move! He’s too strong.” Yama says erratically.
“That means nothing.”
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“With our combined skills, we can at least avoid harsh punishment. Like the fodder out there.” Ryukyuko says in a plain yet prideful tone.
Yama thinks to himself a bit longer. Before he quickly begins to sweat, “Why is it so hot?” he says aloud. Peering through the trees and shrubbery, Yama notices raging flames from where the instructor is supposed to be. He soon realizes the Chi signature belongs to the anon who beat him there, he becomes charged up at this point.
“You’re right, his punishment is probably nothing compared to Mother’s anyways.”
Yama and his team quickly dash out and enter the open grounds again, to their surprise they see nearly every student collapsed on the ground. “Juso!” Yama says to himself in sympathy as his eyes meet her unmoving body. However, they are unable to see or notice the presence of Kokkuri-sensei, as the signature of the anon has rested. They look around in a frenzy increasing their guard. Quickly the ground beneath their feet begins to shake and split apart. They jump from the epicenter and end up on the edge of the woods before they notice the presence of their teacher.
Immediately Kokkuri-sensei appears behind, yet, between Aori and Ryukyuko and attempts to strike Ryukyuko with his right fist. Ryukyuko feels a tingle in his horns and quickly blocks the heavy punch with both of his forearms before he is sent flying by the force. Aori and the rest instantly react by dispersing in separate directions, Ryukyuka immediately goes to her brother's aid. “Brother, are you okay?!” She says worriedly as she lifts him up from the dust and rubble. “Yeah… that bastard packs a punch.” He says slightly wincing in pain.
Yama and Aori began to feel a little anxious at the situation, “Is this guy for real?” Yama says to himself as he places his back against Aori’s. “This guy is serious isn’t he.” Aori says in an occupied tone. As she finishes her question, rocks begin pelting them rapidly. They take cover behind one of the large boulders and rest for a second; before they can catch their breath they hear the Twins call out their names. “Yama! Aori!!” Both of them instantly realize their mistake, “Fuck.” Yama says to himself.
Without saying a word to each other they both run out to the center of the Twins voice. Upon reaching where they thought they heard them calling out from they are greeted by Kokkuri-sensei, and behind him are the twins who are now unconscious.
“What have you done!??” Yama shouts.
“Everyone here is fucking crazy!”
Aori remains calm and ready.
“We even made it before the time ran out!” he yells.
“SILENCE!” Kokkuri thunders.
“Every single one of you and your classmates should have made it with 10 seconds to spare.”
“Instead you all chose to fight each other for the first spot as if there would be a medal or praise at the finish line.” He pauses.
“The Academy is a tool to mold young Shinobi into mighty warriors for the coming wars.”
“The sheer fact that none of you could work together, is all that is needed for such punishment.”
“Now, receive your penalty with valor.”
“Tch.” Yama voices.
“It’s the first day, its unconscionable to expect everyone to work together!” He pauses.
“I refuse to take this beating without a fight.” Yama readies himself.
After he finishes, the Twins begin to get up, “Yama’s right.” Ryukyuko says. “We just met these people, you can’t expect us to get things right on the first try.”
Kokkuri-sensei smirks.
“Well then, let’s find out, shall we?”
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After finishing his words Kokkuri-sensei dashes to Ryukyuko at high-speed and attempts to strike him again but this time with his left fist. The punch is fairly deflected by Ryukyuka as she uses her Dark nature to reinforce her body and grabs his hand using both of hers. Kokkuri-sensei quickly notices and grabs onto both of her hands before throwing her out of the way. Ryukyuka flies towards the woods and doesn’t move upon crashing into the trees. Kokkuri's movement was quickly followed by a downward chop with his right hand towards Ryukyuko.
However, before he can land his attack he notices that Ryukyuko has vanished. After boosting his physical abilities with his Light nature Ryukyuko has increased his base speed. Yama sees Kokkuri in slight confusion and uses this opportunity to entrap him in quicksand. The ground below Kokkuri’s feet begins to warp, knowing what is going on Kokkuri jumps out of the way. While he is doing this, Aori quickly shoots large arrows of wood at him. Kokkuri dodges the projectiles with ease and lands out of harm's way without breaking a sweat.
“This!”
“This, is teamwork!”
“Show me more.”
Kokkuri-sensei rushes at the students again but this time aimed at Yama, seeing this Yama decides to take him head-on as he is presently backed by Aori.
[At the time of Aori’s attack, Ryukyuko moved to go recover Ryukyuka.]
Yama jumps high in the air before axling his body and forcing his right leg down in a heavy strike, Kokkuri blocks with his left forearm, albeit slightly feeling the force of the attack. Aori attempts to come from behind with a similar move but she is immediately deflected by a kick. To Kokkuri's surprise, however, Aori blocked his kick with a wooden barrier which allowed her to quickly charge him again. As his attention is slightly focused on Aori, Yama uses this moment to send a flurry of kicks towards his head as he is still in the air. Kokkuri dodges each of them without moving from his spot. “Damn.” Yama thinks to himself. The instructor immediately disappears, leaving Yama to land on the ground. “Where did he go?!” Yama thinks hurriedly.
“This is a dropkick.”
Yama hears those words in a slight echo before quickly realizing the voice was coming from above. Faster than he can make a move, a thundering heel drop strikes Yama on the back of the head. In a reflexive action Yama casted a slight barrier of sand around the area of his head to soften the blow. The attack was too heavy however and Yama is knocked out.
Aori becomes slightly angered and performs a jutsu, "Ygg Hardening"(イグ硬化), the skin of Aori becomes rough and dense like a hundred-year-old tree. She quickly sprints at Kokkuri-sensei and throws several strikes at him. Kokkuri easily dodges until he is caught from behind with a weighty yet light force. A beam of light had struck him in the back, Aori uses this moment to charge up all her strength for one final attack. A few more beams of light are shot at the instructor who is quickly susceptible to the attack.
“How fast are those things moving?” he wonders to himself.
Completely unaware of a large amount of energy in front of him, he is suddenly struck by a heavy fist to the abdomen; causing him to slide a few inches away from where he was standing. Aori is quickly out of breath, and Kokkuri is in shock, unable to move because of it. Presently recovering from the sudden attack, he lets out a slight laugh.
“Aha...haha...hahahaha.”
“This is great!”
“I haven’t had a student hit me like that in years.”
Aori looks to him still angered yet confused. Ryukyuko quickly regroups with Aori, carrying Ryukyuka at his side.
“The blow actually knocked me into a good mood!” Kokkuri says dusting off his clothes.
“Wake everyone up and have them return to the Academy, the real training hasn’t even begun yet, haha!”
Ryukyuko looks at him bemused yet, silent before Kokkuri-sensei quickly vanishes leaving the children behind.
“What...was that.” Aori says.
“I don’t know…”
“That guy is insane.” Ryukyuko replies.
A few seconds after the exchange a couple of students begin to rise, including Yama.
“Owww… what happened.” Yama says while he rubs the back of his head.
Quickly remembering the moments before his knock-out, Yama guards up.
“Where is he?!” He says angrily.
“Calm down.”
“He left.” Aori answers.
“Left? What do you mean.” Yama looks around.
“He left and told us to meet him in the classroom.” Ryukyuko replies.
“After all of that, he just leaves?... wait."
“Why are you two awake?” Yama says.
“Aori gave him a pretty good punch.” Ryukyuko replies.
Slightly blushes Aori says nothing.
“Well...good!” Yama says.
“I cannot believe that guy, what is it with everybody in this village.”
“They all go overboard with training!”
“Yeah well…” Aori says tiredly.
“Let’s just go back to class.”
Aori begins sluggishly heading back first as they notice other classmates slowly coming to. Staying a few feet behind her, Yama and Ryukyuko along with his sister are making their way back to class. “Is it going to be like this every day?” Yama says groaning as they slowly make their way behind Aori for the remainder of the day.