72 - Second Year 12

[Sandaime POV]

I heard a knock on my door.

"Enter."

I saw Daikoku entering.

"Daikoku, I was waiting for your prided class's report. So, how is it going with your class?"

Daikoku: "We have started with Shinobi Kumite. Many clan kids are showing quite nice progress. They are also getting used to hitting and being on the receiving end of it. For the next two years, I plan to let them develop Taijutsu. Afterwards, I will allow them to use Jutsus in Kumite. Ahh, here is the current win-loss count of last month for all the kids."

I checked the win-loss ratios of all the students. But as I scanned the results, I couldn't find Ikki's name in the top ten. He was located at the 15th position, in the middle. What the heck! Is he really this bad at Taijutsu?

Daikoku must have seen the shock look on my face.

Daikoku: "You must be thinking about Ikki's results, right?"

I looked at him and nodded.

"What's happening? Even if he doesn't specialize in Taijutsu, he should still be strong in it."

Daikoku: "He never took any match seriously. Initially, he might have, but afterwards, he was trying a new technique in every match, which requires him to get close to his opponent. So every kid found mistakes and patterns in his fighting style. Still, civilian kids lost, but clan kids easily found the patterns and mistakes, so they beat him. But it was never a serious knockdown. He still achieved 50-50 results in those matches."

"So he was never serious in fights?"

Daikoku: "Yesterday, I made him serious after a silly fight with Hinari Hyuga, in which he lost. I reprimanded him and told him, 'I need to present the progress of every kid to Hokage-sama.' So I told him to fight again with Hinari. The fight dragged on for three minutes. Afterwards, he was able to perfectly replicate Hinari Hyuga's moves. Scarily so."

"What do you mean?"

Daikoku: "It was scary, actually. It looked like I was seeing two Hinari Hyugas fighting each other. And no, it was not a clone vs. clone fight visual. It was like Ikki was predicting every move of Hinari."

"What!!"

Daikoku: "After two minutes of fighting like this, he changed palm to a knuckle fist, where he points his index finger knuckle ahead. He was also concentrating chakra in his index finger knuckle. At that time, he was so focused that he forgot this technique could hurt Hinari seriously. So I intervened and stopped the fight."

"It was that dangerous?"

Daikoku: "I am sure, Hokage-sama. If that attack had hit Hinari, she might have needed to be hospitalized for a month, for whichever part it would have hit."

"He has the best chakra control I know. But it's becoming like Tsunade's strength."

Daikoku: "Hokage-sama, as far as I recall, Tsunade-sama releases her chakra at the point of contact, so it gives crazy power to her fist. But the fist's surface area is still large. If someone can concentrate that on just the knuckle, it will be devastating."

I know how scary Tsunade can be.

"Anything you observed in this fight?"

Daikoku: "First, he was able to understand and replicate Hinari's fighting style. It looked like he was analyzing her style, then started copying it. But afterwards, he improved it. I could see his vision of his fighting style in it. Second, his Taijutsu style. He is concentrating on punch speeds. He is using half punches. Like this."

Daikoku showed me.

"Rotating punches, huh! Say, Daikoku, if he adds chakra control to these half punches, what will happen?"

Daikoku seemed to understand immediately.

Daikoku: "If he gets close to someone, he would be devastating to any opponent."

I nod at that.

"He is progressing nicely. And quite scarily at that. Continue to observe. Anything else to report?"

Daikoku: "No, Hokage-sama. I will take my leave."

He saluted and left the office.

Ikki is progressing nicely. And that technique where he's trying to get close to the opponent—he must be trying to replicate that zero-distance sword strike in hand-to-hand combat. He is progressing quite nicely. And with these results, I don't need to worry; he's going to be noticed by Danzo. Nice.

---

[MC POV]

Two months have gone by since the battle with Hinari. I continued my battles with all the kids. Half the time, I was practicing Blade Steal; the other times, I was practicing Rekkou in hand-to-hand combat. Regarding my Taijutsu, I have fully integrated half punches and normal punches into it. Now what remains are kicks. Practice makes perfect. In the last two months, I made sure the transition between full punches and half punches is as smooth as possible.

Regarding my personal training, I was able to master Body Flicker to a nice level half a month ago. What comes next is constant use and a seal-less version of it. I started practicing the seal-less version, and it was quite easy, actually. For the past half month, I have been constantly practicing the seal-less Body Flicker technique. It was quite enjoyable. But now comes the main part: integrating it with Traceless Steps. Traceless Steps and Body Flicker complement each other, scarily so. One can make you enter an opponent's subconscious, and the other makes your speed extremely high. If combined, they can become a deadly ninja technique.

After one hour,

"It's easier said than done. Why is this so hard?"

Chikako: "Why are you shouting?"

"I am trying to combine two techniques." I explained to him how the techniques work and the issues I am facing. After all, he is a Nara. Even at the same age, he has more brains than me.

Chikako: "Why not deconstruct one technique and include it in the other?"

"Fuck... You're right. Why didn't I think about that?"

I don't need to perfectly combine both. Traceless Steps involves moving after adding myself to the enemy's subconscious. If I can integrate Body Flicker after adding myself into the enemy's subconscious, that will be a perfect merger. But Traceless Steps movements are also good. If we exclude adding oneself into the enemy's subconscious, these movements are like assassin moves. They are silent and mostly ground-based. Body Flicker has disadvantages in that part. So I decided to discard Body Flicker's movements. I will keep the initialization of Body Flicker, which is vitalizing the body with chakra.

As I have mastered the vitalizing body method to a no-seal level, it was quite easy to practice with Traceless Steps movements. I continued practicing them for the next three hours. Today, I discarded my schedule to practice this technique. But soon I realized one more issue with this. Sensor ninja can easily sense these movements. I need to ask someone about this. For now, let's try this technique on someone.

"Chikako."

Chikako: "What is it?"

"I want to try this technique on you."

Chikako: "Okay."

I stood opposite Chikako. I initialized the technique. After five seconds,

Chikako: "What the fuck kind of technique is this?"

"Nice, right?"

Chikako: "Nice? You just vanished and stood beside me. And I swear, after standing right beside me, I could still clearly see your afterimage for three seconds. And I couldn't even hear or sense anything until you stood right beside me."

"It still requires some touch up. But this technique has both speed and silence, so I am happy."

Chikako: "What is it called?"

"I just merged this techniques now, so I don't know what to call it."

Chikako: "Can I suggest?"

"Go ahead."

Chikako: "Seishuku Shunshin no Jutsu (Silent Body Flicker Technique)."

"Let's go with that."