Standing with his sparring team, Kaiji looked around at the other assembled groups.
He saw that Ren was teamed up with Yuki and Daiki.
Meanwhile, Hiroshi was partnered with Sayo and Mukade.
Kaiji then looked to his right where Maki and Shin were standing. Shin was a blonde-haired boy with a small physique.
Kaiji turned to Maki, "Maki-san" he asked, "what kind of C-rank Jutsu did you choose as your reward?"
Shin also looked at Maki, curious to hear the answer.
Maki looked back at Kaiji and shook her head. "I don't want to share it with anyone just now," she said.
Kaiji shrugged and nodded, respecting her choice.
He didn't think it's going to be out of ordinary anyways.
Shin also started looking around after seeing that Maki didn't want to reveal her Jutsu.
Maki then turned to Kaiji again.
"Kaiji-san" she stated, a slight reprimand in her tone, "don't go around and punching a girl on the face, okay? That's a bad manner."
Kaiji looked at her as if he had heard something completely illogical.
He countered her statement. "Maki-san," he said "we are ninjas. And in real battle, enemies even cut the heads of each other."
He paused a little then said, "And you are complaining about a single punch on the face?"
He added, "And you also beat me afterwards, so we are even now."
Maki opened her mouth to counter his words, but she couldn't think of anything.
It was true that as shinobi, killing was not an unusual thing. What was a punch on the face in comparison to that?
Maki thought for a moment.
"Well" she conceded "that's true. However, I believe it's better to show your strength against real enemies, not the shinobi of our village."
Kaiji chuckled softly, "Said the same person who beat many of our batch trainees in our last Desert competition spar." he pointed out.
Shin also spoke up, "That's right" he agreed. "I was also defeated by you, Maki."
Upon hearing them, Maki blushed slightly.
"I-I" she stammered, "T-that was a competition, and I didn't beat anyone badly, okay?"
Kaiji pointed to the left side of his face.
"On this side" he said, "I have a mark of your punch which didn't recover for two weeks after the spar."
Maki blushed again. "That was your mistake" she insisted. "Don't blame me for that!"
They stopped their conversation and looked towards the ongoing spars on other fields.
Soon, it was their turn. Their match was against a team composed of Kohaku, Ryu, and Shinō.
Since it was a team spar, they had to work together, not individually.
Even though they initially targeted specific opponents, like Maki going against Kohaku, Kaiji against Ryu, and Shin against Shinō, they also helped each other whenever a teammate was at a disadvantage.
Maki, while fighting Kohaku, sometimes provided assistance to Shin and Kaiji.
Though Kaiji felt he didn't need much direct help, getting assistance from a teammate and understanding the needs of your team partner was the main focus of today's spar.
Kaiji attempted to use his Body Flicker Technique against Ryu and supplemented his attack with Shuriken and Taijutsu.
But to his surprise, Ryu was even more proficient in Body Flicker Technique than almost anyone else in the class.
Only Renji was currently said to be very proficient in Body Flicker, if not the same as future Shisui will be.
Ryu easily dodged Kaiji's Shuriken and countered his strikes effectively, thanks to his skilled Body Flicker.
However, Ryu had less physical strength and power in his own strikes.
As their spar continued, Ryu eventually became bruised and fell, unable to continue.
Kaiji quickly went to help Maki and Shin against Kohaku and Shinō. In the end, their team won the spar.
'Maki-san really didn't use her learned C-rank Jutsu in the spar,' Kaiji thought inwardly.
He thought with a slight scoff, 'What's the point of learning high-rank Jutsu if you aren't going to use them?'
After thinking about his conversation with Maki, he remembered her words, she told him to show his strength against real enemies, not the shinobi of their village.
Kaiji considered this. 'Maybe she didn't want to hurt her colleagues badly.'
Then he remembered the bruised mark she had left on his cheek.
'Then why didn't she go easy on me?' he thought, a flicker of confusion.
Afterwards, other spars continued. Ren and his team lost, as they were matched against Renji and Taichi.
Even though Taichi didn't focus on working cohesively as a team with Renji, their individual strength was sufficient to overwhelm Ren's team.
Meanwhile, Hiroshi's team won their spar against their opponent team.
After the Academy day concluded, Kaiji, Ren, and Hiroshi didn't practice Shuriken Throwing today.
They went to Tsumuji Snacks shop. They felt that they had improved in Shuriken Throwing quite a lot.
With the continued training at the Academy, they believed they would become even more proficient.
They were considering replacing their after-Academy Shuriken Throwing practice with something else, but couldn't decide as of yet.
They had some snacks, taking a sip of their drinks.
Walking around the village afterwards, they chatted about the upcoming graduation exam, their voices a low chatter.
Then, they went to their respective residences.
Kaiji followed his routine. He started with his rubber ball training for the Rasengan.
Then meditated before going to sleep.