New Class

"I didn't understand the current situation at all, Asuma wasn't supposed to be in front of him, was he?" Ryo thought for a few seconds as he noticed who his Sensei was for the year, but couldn't come to any conclusions from the manga, pondering further.

"If Asuma is here, Hiruzen must have moved some pieces for this to happen," Asuma looked at Ryo as he spoke, then moved his hand, pointing to an empty spot in the middle of the room where there was a table with a young girl who seemed to be 10 years old, and a boy with marks on his face and a dog beside him, who was the same age.

"Sit there, Ryo, it's your place for this year." As he did so, Ryo walked over and sat between the two. Each of them looked at Ryo, as did the white dog sniffing him. The girl was the first to speak. She had long hair tied back, green eyes, and a faint smile. "Hello Ryo-kun, my name is Haruka Asahina."

Following this, he heard a bark beside him, and also speech. "That's right, Maru, he's going to be our new classmate, so memorize his scent! Ryo, my name is Inuzuka Yuuto!" Ryo gave a slight smile as the two introduced themselves. "A girl without a clan, and an enthusiastic Inuzuka. Well, that's a good start," he thought before addressing them. "You can call me Ryo, yes, I'll be studying with you this year!"

Seeing that Ryo had settled into his place, Asuma began the class, and Ryo was pleased to see that it was nothing like the first year, especially since this was a class that theoretically was supposed to graduate this year. Asuma began explaining something that Ryo had been wanting to know for a while.

"The academy this year will have more content and training than usual for you all. The goal is for most of you to be ready to graduate by the end of the year. So the first month will be for you to find the specialization area you want."

He then began explaining to everyone about the areas of action for a ninja, such as sensory ninja, taijutsu-focused ninja, ninjutsu and elemental release, medical ninjas, and a few others.

"All the necessary information for you will be in the academy library once everyone is certain of the area they want to pursue. We will then progress with training for you in these specific areas. Choose two areas that you think fit best, and study both to see which you really want. You still have three weeks for this, but remember, the sooner the better."

And with that, the class ended. Asuma wanted to give the students time to go to the library; most of them already had a specification they wanted to pursue, as did Ryo, who already knew what he wanted, but still went to the library.

Entering it, Ryo walked to the end of section D, where there were scrolls about what Asuma had talked about. There he picked up a scroll titled "Medical Ninjas - By Senju Tsunade." Opening the scroll, Ryo began reading about the importance of a medical ninja in a ninja group.

It wasn't considered so much in the past, but with the period of consecutive wars, many ninjas who could be saved ended up dying in battle even after retreating to a safe place due to a lack of medical ninjas to save them. It also described how Tsunade had brought more revolutions to the ninja field, such as ninja ration bars, which literally had everything the body needed, even though they didn't taste so good.

Reading this, he saw more details about medical ninjas, and there was also something that wouldn't leave his mind. Kabuto, he used a form of hand-to-hand combat as sharp as a scalpel, and he could even insert chakra into opponents in combat.

"If I can do that with liquid metal, I can turn it into countless needles, and thus attack the opponent, or even when attacked, I can mold my chakra to counterattack. Even Tsunade was incapacitated against Kabuto, who used something like that, what could a normal ninja do?"

Ryo wanted to have great offensive power, but that wouldn't help if he was poisoned, paralyzed, or something like that, he would just die. Knowing and learning Iryoujutsu would be a new weapon for him. And it would also provide means for him to go on missions even without apparently having great combat power, but the utility he could offer would be great.

After a few hours in the library, Ryo read a few more scrolls and also chose some new ninjutsus, even though he was going to learn Iryoujutsu, he had to have more ninjutsus in his repertoire. He picked up an Earth Release: Stone Wall, a simple jutsu, but it could be very strong depending on who used it and the amount of chakra spent.

The earth release: rock projectile, which was a jutsu that allowed a large stone to be created and launched forward at high speed, Ryo was satisfied with these two already, and with that, he left the library to go practice the new earth release styles.

In the training area:

As Ryo extended his hand forward and completed a sequence of seals, a stone began to form in front of him, not very large, around 5 centimeters. He had been attempting the jutsu for a few minutes now, pondering at this moment.

"The Earth Release: Rock Projectile is intriguing; even if I put in a little chakra, the jutsu will activate, but it depends on how much chakra is applied. Putting in 3% of the total, I can create this small stone."

He then launched the projectile forward, hitting the tree in front of him and then dispersing into dust. Shortly after, Ryo repeated the hand signs, but this time adding more chakra. The seals were a bit slow to make, and Ryo had to look at the scroll he had beside him to get them right.

A few seconds later, the ground in front of him cracked as a portion of it began to rise into the air, accumulating in front of the boy. The stone now measured 30 centimeters in width and 10 in height. Ryo had to apply 25% of his chakra for this, and he felt that was the maximum he could manage at the moment.

With a motion of his hand, the rock shot forward, hitting the same tree as before. However, this time, the tree was impaled by the stone, creating a hole in the middle of the tree, which then fell to the other side, turning into dust.

"It's a good offensive jutsu, at least for now. I still have a lot of work to do on the seals. It would be ideal to be able to perform it with one seal or even without any seals at all, but that won't happen overnight. Still, I guess I can be happy to have achieved it in a day. My earth control training is paying off, especially since my affinity for earth is high."

He looked at the sky, already darkening. His chakra reserves were less than half, and with that, he ended the day there. Returning home, but stopping at Ichiraku for dinner, which, as always, was very good.

Next day at the academy:

During class, Asuma began to talk about how everyone there would have to perform better than they did in the past, and that the exams would be more difficult and challenging, nothing that Ryo didn't really expect. He wanted to train hard all year to get out of the academy quickly and start doing things on his own.

"I'll have more freedom once I become a chunin, but even as a genin, it will be better than spending a few more years in the academy."

At the end of the class, Asuma spoke with them. "So how are you doing with your choices?" Many didn't respond, but some who already had a clan had their answer, as they would follow their own clan's path, like Yuuto, who wanted to be a sensory ninja. Ryo then raised his hand, asking for permission to speak.

"Sensei, I want to train to be a medical ninja." He spoke calmly as he looked at Asuma, who almost dropped his cigarette from his mouth. "My father put me in this class because of him, basically, but I didn't expect him to want to pursue the path of a medical ninja. Was it because of what happened in the Uchiha clan?" Sarutobi didn't know what to think about this, but he nodded.

"Great, since you don't have anyone to help you with this, and I'm not a medical ninja, I'll arrange a teacher for you in this area, Ryo. I hope you've thought carefully before choosing." Asuma then ended the class.

Now, in the Hokage's office after some time, Asuma appeared in the midst of Hiruzen's office, as they were father and son, and no Anbu did anything about it. "Hokage, I've come to talk to you about Ryo."

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