Chapter 111: Back at the Academy

Resting against a tree, I watched as the girls streamed out of the Academy building, talking amongst one another excitedly as they approached me.

Another week had gone by since the assassination and retrieval of the Nukenin Kiri Shinobi, and Kurenai and I had thrown ourselves into our classes, wanting to provide these kids with as much of our knowledge as we could.

Anko and Cameia were currently on a mission with Hana Inuzuka, the three women tracking down a lead on a squad of Iron Samurai moving towards our border, while also investigating the activities of the Land of Rice's Samurai, who were potentially helping the Land of Iron.

It shouldn't be anything major; likely little more than the Land of Iron testing our response time before retreating, but with some of the Samurai they have, we needed to take it as seriously as we could; they had two low Kage Level Samurai, and while one was elderly, anyone knew that in a profession like that, sometimes technique simply matters more than raw strenght.

While I was worried about them, I knew they would be fine; Cameia was there, and Anko had lived through this kind of mission a dozen times over, so she would be a damn good leader for the other two.

Turning my attention back to the present, I looked over the assembled girls, all staring at me quietly.

"Good afternoon everyone~!"

This last week had been incredibly fun; watching each of these girls slowly open up to me and grow, even a tiny bit, was so rewarding.

Sakura, as always, was the first to smile back at me, followed by Ami and Midori.

The rest filtered in soon after, with only Ika and Fuki remaining quiet; the taller twin gave me a brief nod, while the girl with spiky red hair looked around, her eyes falling on the bag at my feet.

"Kokoro-Sensei, what's that?"

Hearing her low, dry voice, I smirked at her and opened it.

"These are weights; for those that want to, you can start training with weights before we move over to Taijutsu in an hour. It's not required, but some of you do need to start strengthening your bodies; Ino, I would suggest getting some weight training in, lest your chakra overtake your physical strenght by too much."

The pale blonde girl nodded, her green eyes staring intently at the weights.

"Um..."

Sakura raised her hand, hesitation in her jade eyes.

Nodding at her, I listened to her question, holding in a sigh.

"Kokoro-Sensei, are... are you sure these won't make us-"

Cutting her off, I shook my head.

"If you need proof Sakura, go check out Rock Lee; he's training with weights far beyond what I have here. You won't look muscular; if anything this will help lean you out and compact your muscles when you start using chakra. Besides that, it helps to have an equilibrium between body and mind; physical and spiritual. You need both your muscles and chakra to be a Shinobi, and while you can specialize in one, you should NOT neglect the other."

Everyone nodded, and I started setting out the weights.

"Alright, I kept it simple to start. Since our training is getting more rigorous, the weights are as follows. 1 pound, 2 pounds, and 5 pounds. Whichever you choose, you will strap on four weights to your body in total; one on each arm and leg. I recommend starring off small before going higher. You can also mix and match weights; if you want 3 pounds, you can do so. Now, if you want some weight, come forwards and stand in front of what you want."

I watched as lines formed; most stood before the 1 pound weights, with only four others standing behind others.

Ika, Aki, and Fuki stood behind the 2 pounds, while the ever energetic Ami stood between the 5 pound, a cocky grin on her face.

Of the 10 girls in my class, only two didn't grab weights.

Midori, the green haired shy girl, and Sakura, who was staring at the weights with a mixture of confusion and worry.

Everyone else, being Hinata, Ino, Tenten, and Kasumi stood before the 1 pound weights.

Staring at Ami, I just chuckled as I lifted up a set of 5 pound weights, showing the girls how to attach them.

I couldn't say I was surprised by how this had turned out; the only true surprise had been the twins, as they added an extra pound to go to 3, while everyone else giggled as they started moving around, getting used to the difference.

Ami was actually doing quite good, moving around rather fluidly as she jumped and stretched, the purple haired girl still wearing that cocky grin as she looked around, talking with Fuki.

Getting everyone's attention, I started getting them through the basic exercises, with only Midori remaining off to the side.

The green haired girl was more interested in her flowers, and I found it sweet each time I sat beside her, letting her go on about the new flowers she was growing at home.

Since none of the girls truly needed supervision, I could afford to give Midori this one on one, discussing Flower Language and arrangement with her.

It was during this time that I suggested to her to think about becoming an Herbalist at the Hospital.

Some illness' or wounds needed time and intense care rather than chakra, and Herbalists were the ones to prepare the medicines and treatments for those people, using their vast knowledge of herbs to concoct various medicinal pills or powders for healing.

Conversely, should she be interested, I explained to her how thin the line is between medicine and poison, and how she could also delve into that world; interestingly enough, she didn't seem that opposed to is, once I explained that poisons could be used to heal, and that many were still used by the Shinobi today.

None of the girls seemed to struggle that much with their current weight, which made me happy; it meant that they were already progressing well with their training from previous years.

While nowhere near what Rock Lee and Might Guy trained with, for a bunch of beginners, it was a start.

Letting Midori finish about how large her current batch of Primrose were, I stopped everyone and got them to take the weights off, putting them back in the bag.

I would need to buy some more basic pouches and get Naruto to inscribe a few more with seals...

Cheaper than actually buying real weights, so I needed to get him a few bowls of Ramen as thanks.