110. Philosopher Zoro

Among the 4 kids that Zoro taught for a while, only Kiba failed to pass to the final. His opponent was unfortunately the Main Character of this world, Naruto.

Kiba has surely improved a lot after training with Zoro. But Naruto was the most persistent kid in the whole Chunin Exam. He could break his hands and would still fight, that's the kind of person Naruto was and Kiba stood no chance against that.

Plus, the current Naruto was more skillful than he was in the original story. He might still be dumb, but he has people who taught him properly and supported him, so he could learn more things and didn't just depend on himself for everything.

Shino passed to the final after defeating a ninja from Otogakure, just like in the original story. He didn't even need to show all his cards in his fight because his opponent was defeated quite easily by his insects.

The other matches went similarly as in the original story. Lee has become stronger too now, but he still couldn't defeat Gaara's absolute defense. Though his power and speed were very surprising and he managed to hit Gaara a few times before getting defeated.

*****

The result of the preliminary round surprises Zoro a bit. He isn't surprised that Tenten and Hinata win because he knows their growth as their short-time instructor.

What surprises him is how the participants of the preliminary round were the same as the original story and the matches were also the same even though some of the results were different.

It makes him think that some events from the story can't really be changed. Or maybe it was because he didn't do anything that could change this event up to the preliminary round that nothing changed.

Anyway, it makes him worried about a few things now, especially the attack on Konoha. After all, there are Otogakure ninjas too in the exam. Which means Orochimaru is involved and probably would truly attack Konoha.

Zoro himself doesn't really care about these shinobi's conflicts. But right now, he is in Konoha and Hiyori might be put in danger because of their conflicts. So now he needs to prepare for the incoming danger.

Though he himself is actually quite curious to see how this big event will unfold. While he hates troublesome things and gets involved in others' conflicts, he's also someone who likes to fight, so he sure will enjoy the incoming fights.

Well, it won't happen that soon because the event will happen on the final exam day and the final is in a month. They are giving the finalists time to prepare thoroughly for the finals after seeing their opponents' skills in the preliminary round.

So as Zoro thought, the kids who pass to the final are asking him to help them train again. Tenten, Hinata, and Shino agree that they have improved so much after training with Zoro even if it wasn't that long, so they think they need to keep training with him until the finals.

"You are not wrong for thinking like that, but I don't think you are right either. The training you did with me before the exam was mainly just to help you polish the skills that you already learned and gain more battle experience. However, as you know, your opponents in the final have seen your skills during the previous rounds. So they will prepare ways to face the skills you've shown. I think that right now you need to learn more skills first. A month is plenty of time to learn some more tricks. But I can't teach you any ninjutsu, so you need to ask your teachers. Then if you want, you can try your new skills on me in the last week. I can't teach you new skills, but I can surely help you test your new skills. How about that?"

"I see. While we've learned more about our opponents, the same also applies to them. Also, the 3 of us are opponents now, so training together is surely not a good thing."

Shino reminds Tenten and Hinata that they will be opponents in the final because it's an individual round. If all of them train with Zoro together, then they will see each other's skills, which is disadvantageous for them.

In the end, they decide to train by themselves for the final. Though as Zoro suggested, they will test their skills with him before the final and get some advice from him.

The next day, someone suddenly comes to his training ground again. It's someone Zoro doesn't expect to come to him, Neji. He thought this kid would not even want to meet him after losing to Hinata, so this is surprising.

"How did you make her that strong?" Neji doesn't even chitchat first.

"So that's what you are curious about?"

"Yeah. Everyone knew she was weak and lacked talent. She didn't even dare to look at me in the eye before. But she suddenly became so brave and strong after training with you. How did you do it? People don't change that quickly."

"You're right, people don't change that quickly. For me, Hinata didn't change. She was originally brave and strong. I don't even think she actually gets stronger that much after training with me."

"DON'T LIE TO ME! I KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE." Neji is really mad.

"Whoa, whoa, chill kid. Listen to me first. When I said that Hinata was originally brave, I wasn't lying, that's my honest opinion. She was brave, but she was kind, so she didn't want to hurt others. It made her look timid to the people around her, her family in this case, because you people from the Hyuga Clan thought that hurting others is normal, even if it's your family members. But Hinata thought differently and it made them think she was just timid even though she simply has too much kindness. Being called timid and treated as a failure all the time by her family obviously could make a child like her lose confidence in herself, making her think that those people were right, so she started being timid as they made her out to be. Being called talentless made her believe that she doesn't have talents and struggle to learn what should be easy for her. For me, she wasn't timid, she simply hasn't found her courage. She wasn't talentless, she was simply being taught wrongly. The way the Hyuga Clan taught her doesn't suit her. That's why she couldn't learn much from them."

Neji widens his eyes hearing Zoro's complicated yet sensible explanation. He is smart, so he can understand what Zoro means with that long explanation.

"So you were using the correct way to teach her? Is that it?"

"Nah, even I don't know the best way to teach her. What I did was simply help her find her own way, her own correct path. I believe that everyone is different and has their own path. You also have your own path, just like me and everyone else. But sometimes, we are restricted too much by rules, by people's opinions, by our minds, by fate. Like how birds in the cages or frogs in the wells or dogs tied with leashes can't even dream far and step out of their zones to see the vast world, people who are bound by those restrictions can't reach far ahead. They can't even dream of touching the sky, climbing the mountain, or crossing the sea. Their whole world is just their house, their cages."

Neji is stunned again by philosopher Zoro.

"Are you saying that we should break rules?"

Zoro realizes that he might have said it wrongly a bit there.

".... That..... depends on the rules, I guess. Like if there's a rule saying we should cut our hands when we turn 20, then I would surely break it."

"Isn't that rule too extreme?"

"It was just an example. I'm not good with rules. Why do you think I don't join any force and be a bounty hunter? It's because I don't like to follow rules and law. Anyway, my point is, you shouldn't restrict yourself by being narrow-minded, yes, that's the word. Open your mind and see from different perspectives. Number 6 becomes 9 when seen from the other side."

Zoro smiles smugly because he thinks he just says something cool.

"What if it's fate? Can we break free from it?"

"Breaking our fate, huh? Well, I don't know."

"..... What?" Neji doesn't expect that answer.

"Truthfully, I don't really care about fate because as I said, I don't want to be restricted by anything, including that nonsense fate. For me, fate depends on our actions. After all, if you stab your heart with a knife, then you are fated to die. But if you use that knife to cut an apple, then you can eat a tasty fruit. What you do determine what you get, you reap what you sow, it's as simple as that for me. Only those who don't even want to try will blame fate for everything. The weak blame fate, the strong blame their wrong choice."

Zoro nods in satisfaction, thinking that he's really cool today.

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Chapter: 160. Ready for War

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