Then he said, “Alright, let’s do it again. Only this time, I’ll throw a small stone at you, and you retreat to dodge it.”
Hodaka made Hand Seals, then clapped his hands on the ground.
Feng Zheng waited for the Ninjutsu to complete. As soon as it was done, he threw the stone at Hodaka.
Hodaka quickly dodged backward. Feng Zheng nodded and said, “Good, that’s fast enough.”
Mieko asked, “So what’s this grand plan?”
Feng Zheng replied, “I’m thinking we two should also learn this Ninjutsu. If we learn it, then when Hodaka uses the Ninjutsu and jumps away, one of us can create another Rock Shield behind him and repeat the process. Another idea is, if all three of us can inject Chakra into the same Rock Shield, it would become stronger and larger. If this is feasible, it would be very useful.”
Hodaka and Mieko both nodded in agreement. They started brainstorming again and came up with more methods.
At 11 AM, Renjiro appeared again. He asked, “Have you come up with anything?”
Feng Zheng began, “We came up with the idea of a multi-layered defense. The basic idea is for me to use Wind Whirlwind Shield Technique and Hodaka to use Rock Shield Technique to create another rock shield behind my wind shield. Then we can create more layers by having Hodaka move backward immediately after creating the Ninjutsu, and then Mieko can create another Rock Shield and repeat the same operation.”
Renjiro was quite surprised by this idea and asked, “What exactly are you trying to defend against?”
Mieko and Hodaka looked at Feng Zheng, who replied, “Uh… a very strong Ninjutsu?”
Renjiro reprimanded, “If the enemy uses a Ninjutsu so powerful that it requires you to do this, then you are already out of your depth and should retreat. Moreover, it’s never a good idea to have everyone in the squad participate in defense. Also, Rock Shield Technique is not the best defensive Ninjutsu; there are many other Ninjutsu that can do better. For now, a combination of Wind Whirlwind Shield Technique and 1 Rock Shield Technique is sufficient. However, if you and Mieko want to learn Rock Shield Technique, go ahead. This Ninjutsu is still quite useful in combat.”
Feng Zheng nodded, sighing in his heart, “It seems too much defense isn’t a good thing either.”
He said, “Another combination idea we had was for Hodaka to use Stone Shuriken Technique, and I would use Projectile Control Technique to control them.”
Renjiro nodded and said, “That should work. Anything else?”
This time Mieko replied, “Teacher, I came up with the idea of putting Wind Blast Technique into my Fireball Technique so that the explosion range of my Fireball Technique will expand. The wind generated when Wind Blast Technique explodes will also make the flames of the Fireball fly randomly in all directions.”
Renjiro nodded again and said, “That’s a good idea. However, Feng Zheng, if you want to help Mieko succeed, your Wind Blast Technique must become stronger.”
Feng Zheng nodded and said, “Yes, Teacher.”
Hodaka suddenly said, “Teacher, I also came up with an idea. My idea is to throw Stone Shuriken into Feng Zheng’s Great Breakthrough Technique or Mieko’s Fireball Technique, which can create more chaos, and the enemy will also have to be careful of the Stone Shuriken in those Ninjutsu.”
Renjiro said, “I understand. But I don’t recommend you throw Stone Shuriken into Fireball Technique. If the enemy dodges the Fireball Technique, your Stone Shuriken will also be dodged. And if the Fireball Technique hits the enemy, it’s enough to cause damage on its own.”
Hodaka nodded.
Seeing that the children had stopped speaking, Renjiro asked, “Any other ideas?”
All the children shook their heads. Renjiro said, “Alright, these combination Ninjutsu are enough for now, start practicing them. Feng Zheng, create a Shadow Clone and have it practice the combination of Stone Shuriken Technique and Projectile Control Technique with Hodaka. Your main body will practice with Mieko.”
The Genin dispersed as instructed by their teacher. Renjiro also created several Shadow Clones to monitor them.
There would be no problems with Hodaka and Feng Zheng’s Shadow Clone, but Feng Zheng and Mieko would definitely cause some fires. Renjiro had no doubt about this.
Hodaka and Feng Zheng’s Shadow Clone moved to another location. The Shadow Clone marked a large “X” on different trees.
They looked at each other and nodded. Both made Hand Seals.
Hodaka launched his Stone Shuriken at the various “X”s marked by Feng Zheng, and the Shadow Clone tried to control those Stone Shuriken to hit the marks.
However, the first problem Feng Zheng anticipated occurred. Hodaka looked at Feng Zheng and said, “So you can only control nine Shuriken.”
Feng Zheng nodded and said, “Yes, as I said. Because these are stone Shuriken, and the craftsmanship is not as good as ordinary Shuriken, they are slightly more difficult to control. Let’s try the second method.”
Hodaka nodded and cast Stone Shuriken Technique again.
This time, Feng Zheng used Projectile Control Technique, manipulating all the Shuriken.
He used it to change the direction of the Shuriken to the left. Hodaka observed and said, “This time all the Shuriken changed direction. However, only three Shuriken hit the target, instead of sixteen last time.”
Feng Zheng nodded and said, “Yes, if I want to control all the Shuriken, I can only make them move in one direction. So the control over each Shuriken is not very good. And, this will also disrupt your aim.”
Suddenly, Renjiro’s Shadow Clone flashed behind Feng Zheng and Hodaka. Renjiro had suddenly appeared behind them many times this month, and they were used to it. Renjiro asked, “In what scenarios would you use which method? Hodaka, you answer first.”
Hodaka began to think. A few minutes later, he said, “If there are fewer enemies, the first method would be more useful. The enemy would first have to dodge my initial attack, and then also worry about the Shuriken controlled by Feng Zheng. The second method is more useful when we face a large number of enemies. The sudden change in direction of all the Shuriken would cause some casualties, and even if the enemies avoid them, they would need to pay more attention, which would buy us more time.”
Renjiro nodded and looked at Feng Zheng. Feng Zheng replied, “My answer is the same as Hodaka’s. It’s just that I should further improve my control. In the first situation, the results might be satisfactory. However, in the second situation, there is still a lot of room for improvement. For example, if after I change the direction of the Shuriken, I can control some Shuriken further to manipulate them, then I can definitely hit some targets, so it’s not all luck.”
