The Ino-Shika-Cho clans were closely linked, reflecting not only in the overall clans but also in the bonds of their squads, the friendships of the clansmen, and the affection between the wives... Mrs. Nara took Ino's hand with her other hand and led the two little ones around the plaza, listening as they walked. She completely ignored Ino's protests of "I can walk by myself."
Before long, the group arrived at a small stall labeled "Ninja Games," surrounded by about a dozen pairs of parents... They saw a young boy wearing a blue shirt and black shorts with a folding fan on his back. His chubby little hand gripped a shuriken and threw it ten times in a row, all of them hitting a wooden post three meters away, drawing a round of cheers from the children.
The stall owner, looking like he had given up on life, took down a kitten toy and gave it to the boy. He complimented him:
"Madam, your child will surely become a great Ninja in the future. That shuriken throwing was amazing..."
The madam the stall owner spoke of stood to the side, also with a folding fan on her back. Her black hair was gently tied up, secured with a hairclip that looked like a small fan. Though the small fan was simple in design, as a hair accessory, it gave off an air of elegance and dignity. She clapped her hands and said, "Sasuke, you're so great!"
Sasuke... Hearing the gentle "Sasuke," Ino curiously looked over at the mother and son:
She could only see the side of the lady's face, but she looked very gentle.
Sasuke's face was round and very cute. Hearing his mother's praise, his face lit up with a joyful smile, not at all like the cold demeanor in the manga.
Was Sasuke this cute when he was little? That little face made Ino feel an impulse to go and pinch it.
"Restrain! Restrain... This must be that wicked fate. But he's so cute, I really want to pinch him... Heavens, how can he be so cute..."
"Ino, Shikamaru, do you want to try? Look, Shikamaru, if you just walk across those Plum Blossom Poles and hit ten shuriken, you can get a prize of your choice. Look at that Shogi set, how beautiful it is. Don't you want it?"
Shikamaru perked up as soon as he heard "Shogi." He also knew that since his mom had decided, he could only "participate" and not "give up"; it was better to just be obedient.
He climbed onto the Plum Blossom Poles. The distance between the poles made him frown slightly—some were set quite far apart and required a jump to cross. The height itself made jumping difficult; the human fear of heights would be magnified at such a moment, constraining one's legs and feet—if a person could easily jump over two meters on level ground, they would basically jump thirty centimeters less once they were on high wooden poles.
However... barely, he could still manage.
Shikamaru wasn't afraid of heights.
One of his favorite things to do at home was to climb onto the roof and lie flat to soak up the sun. Though he was small, his skills in this area weren't bad... His shuriken throwing was another story. Out of ten shuriken, five hit the post, and the other five touched it but fell to the ground... After that, it was Ino's turn.
"Go, Princess Ino!"
Nana and Kana cheered for Ino with all their might.
Mrs. Nara:... "I'm coming!"
Ino took one step, then two, stepping onto the poles very lightly. Then she walked across them just as lightly, the whole process filled with grace... like a butterfly lightly flapping its wings, elegantly moving from one end to the other, looking more relaxed than if she were taking a stroll.
After finishing the Plum Blossom Poles, Ino leaped down lightly and landed on the ground. She then walked to the throwing point and picked up a shuriken in a very non-Ninja way that was hard to watch—she pinched a small blade of the shuriken with her thumb and the side of her index finger joint, then threw it like a dart.
Thwack—
Although the posture was very non-Ninja and the way she applied force wasn't exactly scientific—it was the way an ordinary person would play.
But the shuriken actually stuck into the wooden post, and quite deeply at that.
One shuriken!
One-tenth of the progress complete.
When it came to the second shuriken, Ino's technique changed again. With a flick of her small hand, she threw the shuriken using a technique for throwing playing cards or toothpicks—if the previous throw was amateur, then this card-throwing or toothpick-throwing technique was absolute professional level—she had specifically practiced this in her past life!
Who hasn't had a martial arts dream? When short videos featured an Eastern Depot Eunuch named Xiao Hao performing a real-life version of the Sunflower Manual, piercing balloons with toothpicks, hitting balloons with playing cards, and having them stick directly into wooden boards after being thrown... it was truly shocking.
She had followed the breakdown of the tutorial videos and practiced step by step for a long time before learning it, even reaching the point where she could pierce hard foam boards with toothpicks.
Now, the toothpicks and playing cards had become shuriken—the material had changed from small wooden sticks and stiff paper to steel. The weight was at least equivalent to a box of playing cards, feeling heavy in the hand, and the four blades were very sharp—even if they weren't honed, they were much better than paper.
Swinging her left and right arms like she was plucking a zither, two dull thud sounds were heard. The shuriken that Sasuke and Shikamaru had just thrown were actually shaken off... Ino's first shuriken didn't stay for long either, falling at the second sound.
But the two newly thrown shuriken were exceptionally stable—
They definitely wouldn't fall.
One shuriken sliced vertically into the post, one blade completely wedged in and deeply embedded. If not for the two adjacent blades and the center blocking it, it likely would have gone even deeper.
Another shuriken was slightly higher, stuck at a seventy-degree angle to the ground, and just as deep.
The wooden post seemed to have been kicked twice with heavy force, and dust even shook off its surface.
This power... anyone among the onlookers who knew even a little bit was astonished—shuriken were meant to have unpredictable trajectories, and it was hard for a Ninja to throw a shuriken with much power. Even for an adult, with just a shuriken... A series of gazes fell on Ino, as if looking at a little monster—this power was too terrifying.
Ino curled the corner of her mouth slightly, feeling secretly proud: "Let me show you the mysterious power from Douyin—"
If she could stick playing cards into wooden boards in reality, even cards with four corners torn off, then it went without saying in this Ninja World:
The cell count was three times that of people on Earth!
"Do you have any Kunai? I want to try a Kunai!"
Ino really wanted to know how deep she could throw a Kunai.
The stall owner wiped some sweat and said with a forced smile... "This little miss, would you like to try the Senbon? If you can stick Senbon into the wooden post as well, I'll give you three gifts—you can choose whatever you like!"
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