Later in training ground 14.
Izumo, Kotetsu, and Shintoki were gathered with their jōnin sensei, Tsume.
Right now, Izumo and Kotetsu were moving in the woods.
Tsume appeared suddenly before Izumo, attempting to hit him. But Izumo's sharp senses allowed him to dodge and counter with his weapon—striking nothing but air.
Tsume reappeared behind him, launching a punch toward his back, but Kotetsu intercepted the strike. Of course, Tsume was holding back a lot; she purposely lowered the strength of her strike so the team could handle it.
She had been training them like crazy to make sure they wouldn't be as helpless again if they ran into dangerous foes like in the chūnin exam.
Meanwhile, Kotetsu started to launch shuriken at Tsume to assist Izumo in a coordinated combo to gain the advantage, but all in vain.
Tsume pulled out her own kunai and quickly diverted the shuriken away easily, while also kicking Izumo, sending him flying toward Kotetsu.
"Aaaahhh!" he screamed while crashing into Kotetsu, who was too late to dodge, unable to move or react in time.
A blur flashed before Tsume—several slashes cutting through the air, closing in on her instantly.
Boom!
Only the mangled remains of a log remained.
Tsume reappeared where Shintoki had launched his sneak attack and struck him.
Shintoki had channeled his chakra into his blade to block Tsume's "Fang," but even then he was sent flying several steps back. The difference in strength was overwhelming, but not as helpless as against the sannin.
Izumo rushed forward, ready to launch a volley of kunai.
Shintoki got ahead of him and engaged Tsume directly to create an opportunity.
Tsume caught a moment of imbalance in Shintoki's stance and punched him. But instead of Shintoki being sent flying, the hand punched a hole straight through him, sending water splashing everywhere. The now-revealed water clone then grabbed her, trying to suppress her movements. Tsume immediately increased her strength, trying to free herself and break the clone's grip.
Meanwhile, the original Shintoki slashed at Tsume, razor wind flying toward her, wind bursting outward and sending dust and stones flying, leveling the ground of the field.
The now-free Tsume had her senses temporarily clouded, but she still managed to detect some glinting paper in the fog around her. Explosive papers fluttered around Tsume—her eyes widened for a brief instant.
She prepared to leap away using her jōnin-level strength, but the ground beneath her suddenly turned slippery—Kotetsu had used the remaining water from Shintoki's clone to hinder her escape.
BOOM!
The explosion, enhanced by the wind-infused kunai, leveled a good portion of the training field.
"Hehe… Shintoki, maybe we overdid it," Kotetsu muttered.
"It's fine. Sensei is strong. This little blast can't take her down," Shintoki replied confidently.
He knew how powerful jōnin truly were—monsters of combat, second only to the Five Kage and S-ranks, and Tsume wasn't just any jōnin. She was a true veteran. The idea of a few genin defeating one was almost comedic. A true jōnin could treat several lower-ranked shinobi as nothing more than a nuisance.
When the smoke cleared, Tsume was nowhere in sight.
She reappeared on the left side of the training field.
"Not bad. You three have clearly improved. If not for my quick reflexes and fast thinking, I might have taken some damage."
Kotetsu eyed her, astonished. "Sensei… how did you escape?"
Tsume had no scratches on her body, but her clothes were dirtied a bit; the last explosion had genuinely surprised her. These kids are growing fast.
Instead of answering, a perfect clone of Tsume appeared beside her.
"I used a clone, of course," she said.
Shadow clones were incredibly useful, Shintoki thought… but with his chakra barely at chūnin level, learning them now would be more trouble than benefit.
"That's enough for today," Tsume announced. "You all did well. We continue tomorrow."
She left, followed shortly by Izumo and Kotetsu—leaving Shintoki alone.
After testing himself a bit more, Shintoki finally headed toward Ebisu's home.
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Shintoki went to deliver something to a nearby farm. Seeing people struggling to work the land, he decided to help using ninjutsu.
"Hahaha, thank you."
The farmers were genuinely pleased. A helping hand is always welcomed. The more help they get, the faster they will get things done.
As for Shintoki, he was fully focused, his concentration maximized.
After all, the principle of using chakra to help others was the foundation of ninshū—its original purpose.
The Rikudō Sennin must be sickened to see what his chakra, spread to humans, had led to. Such is the nature of humans—totally unreliable in the long run.
He gathered chakra and transformed it into water. Water particles formed over the soil to soften it and make farming easier. For a moment, everything was fine.
It was working, but suddenly fatigue struck. The water that had been moving with grace under Shintoki's calm manipulation grew in disarray. The flood of water splashed everywhere wildly, unleashing a wave of destruction upon the field.
Shintoki lost control.
The water surged wildly—and destroyed the entire farm.
Shintoki froze.
Farmers: "..."
"What the hell…?" Both Shintoki and the farmers thought in unison.
One thought about the absurdity of it all, while the others thought about their work being ruined. The farm they had been working on had been leveled, and now they had to redo everything.
The farm owner exploded with anger and refused to hear his explanation.
"You'll replant everything or pay back every coin!"
Shintoki was at a loss. He genuinely wanted to help, yet things had collapsed into disaster.
He sought out a friend—Obito—for advice on farming.
Obito burst into laughter.
"Shintoki! How do you get yourself into this kind of mess, huh? Hahahaha!"
Shintoki's face twitched at Obito's smug expression. How can one progress when they are surrounded by useless people like that? Only wanting to kick you down even harder when you are already finished.
But in the end, Shintoki decided to return to the farm. It's not like he had many options. These farmers wouldn't let him go.
He would use ninjutsu to regrow everything. It would be training—hard training—but worthwhile.
Shintoki worked tirelessly, creating several water clones.
Together, they dug new holes, planted seeds, and used chakra to create tiny droplets of rain over each one.
He repeated the cycle again and again until the sun dipped below the horizon.
Meanwhile, Ebisu had learned from Obito about Shintoki's "trouble." He couldn't help laughing—someone as strong as Shintoki getting into such a ridiculous situation was unbelievable.
"Hahaha, what was he thinking, using ninjutsu to farm?" While it was an amazing idea, it was indeed inviting trouble on oneself. For Shintoki to have destroyed the field, he must have used a far-range-level technique.