I became Hokage in Tokyo

Chapter 11 (Bow Return)

Damn it, how could there be such a person? It's a shame he's not bad-looking, and he even looks kind of handsome in hakama. I thought he was someone worthwhile.

Is it true that birds of a feather flock together?

Remembering how Tanaka Hikaru had secretly scrutinized her with the eyes of a scavenger, Yashiki Saki couldn't help but shudder. She was drawing her bow and releasing the arrow prematurely before she could even complete the action, and unsurprisingly, it missed the target.

Looking back, Tanaka Hikaru was sitting slouching against the wall with his legs spread apart, his gaze wandering. Meanwhile, his follower, Uchiha, was playing on his phone with his head down.

Why would you want to use your phone in a sacred place?

Yashiki Saki glanced at the clock in the dojo; it was almost five o'clock. Although it was still early, she had no intention of continuing the performance and just wanted to get rid of those two people as soon as possible.

Putting away her bow and arrows, Saki smiled at the visiting new students and said, "That concludes the archery club's performance today. The archery club will be performing every day after school this week. Those interested in joining can get an application form from me."

Perhaps impressed by Yashiki Saki's elegant archery posture, almost all the visiting freshmen took a watch from Yashiki Saki and left the archery dojo one after another.

Only Uchiha Naruto deliberately stayed at the back, and Tanaka Hikaru also stayed behind.

"Boys, the archery club's performance has come to an end today. I still need to clean up the shooting range and do some tidying up. You can leave now."

"Yashiki-senpai, your wonderful performance made me realize the profoundness of archery and I learned a lot. I'm a little itchy to shoot again, can I?" Uchiha Naruto put away his phone and looked at Yashiki Saki to ask.

You're lying. You were looking down at your phone for the past hour, weren't you?

"But time..." Yashiki Saki seemed a little troubled.

Tanaka Hikaru spoke up in his defense, "Chief Yashiro, it'll only take the time it takes to shoot an arrow, it'll be over quickly. If you keep dragging it out like this, you might waste even more time."

After obtaining Saki Yashiki's consent, he borrowed Hikaru Tanaka's bow and protective gear again and stood on the shooting range once more.

Naruto Uchiha stood at his shooting position, looking at the target 28 meters away. His gaze was cold and stern, and his entire demeanor suddenly became calm and composed, completely different from the impetuousness and novelty he had shown when he first drew the bow. He seemed like a veteran who had been immersed in archery for decades.

The first step of the Eight Methods of Archery, the foot step, made Yashiki Saki's eyes widen as soon as she got into position.

His feet, firm as rocks, treaded on the paulownia wood floor, his upper body straight, his spine and waistline taut with powerful lines.

The actions of nocking the arrow, drawing the bow, and pulling the bow are practiced countless times and performed in one smooth motion.

With a crisp "clang," the arrowhead pierced the bullseye, its fletching trembling slightly.

"puff."

Yashiki Saki's eyes weren't even on the target. With her extensive experience, she could tell whether the target had been hit just by listening. She looked in surprise at Uchiha Naruto, who was maintaining his Zanshin and slowly putting away his bow and arrow.

"How is that possible?"

As mentioned before, the most important thing in archery is the correct shooting posture. Hitting the target can be accidental, but this amazing shooting posture could not be accidental. With Uchiha Naruto's arrow, Yashiki Saki seemed to see a ninth or tenth dan archer who had achieved the highest honor in archery personally drawing his bow and shooting an arrow.

Moreover, Yashiki Saki saw that after Uchiha Naruto fired the bow, it rotated 270 degrees.

"Got it! One shot, one kill! Uchiha, you actually used the Bow Return! Damn, that was so cool. My initial goal in practicing archery was to master the Bow Return, and I haven't succeeded even once in all these months."

Tanaka Hikaru also noticed that Uchiha's shooting posture was beautiful and hit the bullseye, but what he envied most was Uchiha's bow return technique.

The unique wooden structure of the bow determines the trajectory of the bowstring. The bow body is rotated more than 180 degrees in the palm of the hand by the bowstring, and the arrow is deflected from the bow arm at the moment of release to avoid interference. This is the bow return.

Bow return is a profound technique in archery, which is both a practical way to reduce the impact of the arrow and extremely cool.

Experienced archers will deliberately use the technique of bow return, even pursuing the use of bow return at the expense of the fundamentals. However, bow return is merely a result of archery, not the goal. If one has reached the master level in archery, bow return can be used naturally without deliberate effort.

"That was such a beautiful shot, and it was even a bow return! Is this really your first time trying archery, Uchiha-kun?" Yashiki Saki said with a complicated expression.

Could this handsome junior be a wolf in sheep's clothing?

But this is clearly not right. Uchiha's archery posture, power generation method, and bow-drawing gesture were all obviously those of an amateur. Although he taught the Eight Methods of Archery Etiquette, the archery method he used was essentially unorthodox.

How come he changed so much in just one hour? Even the legendary Minamoto no Michiko, who sank a warship with a single arrow, couldn't have done better on his first day of archery practice.

Before Uchiha Naruto could speak, Tanaka Hikaru objected.

"Senior Yashiro, you also came directly from junior high, so you must have heard of the 'Witch of the Kendo Club.' She only started practicing kendo in her first year of junior high, and she dominated the entire country back then. She was so strong that junior high schools were banned from participating in competitions. There are geniuses in this world who are beyond the imagination of ordinary people. I think the Uchiha are geniuses of that level. Don't use ordinary people's perspectives to understand talented people."

A talented person?

I also have a kyudo rank, and all my instructors have called me a talented person since I was a child, but no matter what I do, I can't do this. Is there really such a big difference in talent between people?

Yashiki Saki bit her lip, looking somewhat disheartened.

"Uchiha-kun is truly a genius."

"genius……"

Being called a genius felt novel to Uchiha Naruto. However, Uchiha Naruto knew his own limitations. Although he was a transmigrator, he was actually just an average person.

Even though he knew it was a cheat code enabled by the Sharingan, it still felt great to be praised, especially by a beautiful girl.

"Uchiha-kun, you absolutely must join the archery club." Yashiki Saki solemnly extended an invitation to Uchiha.

The archery club at the private Jinguji Temple is not particularly outstanding, especially the men's archery club, which struggles to even gather five qualified members for team battles.

The team format of archery competition means that no matter how strong an individual is, they cannot turn the tide. However, in addition to the team competition, there is also the individual competition. With the shooting posture and accuracy that Uchiha showed with that arrow earlier, winning the national championship will not be a problem.

If we can achieve good results, we can make the Jinguji Archery Club famous, which will make it much easier to recruit new members or ask the school for funding.

Most importantly, Yashiki Saki carefully examined Uchiha Naruto.

Uchiha's demeanor is exceptional; he looked incredibly handsome in his archery hakama uniform. It would be a waste for someone like him not to practice archery. Uchiha is no longer a rough diamond, but a meticulously crafted gem that shines brightly, just waiting for the right stage to unleash his dazzling brilliance.

"I'm sorry, Yashiro-senpai, I have no intention of joining the archery club."

Unexpectedly, Naruto Uchiha shook his head and handed the bow to Hikaru Tanaka, who was standing to the side.

"Why don't you join the archery club? It's such a waste not to use your talent properly. Do you hate archery?"

"My senior's archery posture is very graceful, which I really like. I'm not completely uninterested in archery either. But I don't think the archery club is right for me. I'd like to try other clubs." Uchiha Naruto was telling the truth. Although archery seemed a bit flashy and impractical to him, it was still cooler than kendo.

Don't be fooled by the cool look of kendo practitioners wearing protective gear and carrying bamboo swords. Wearing those things isn't pleasant, especially in the sweltering summer. After training, taking off the mask reveals a strong stench of sweat, which even handsome young men can't avoid.

However, Naruto Uchiha had no intention of joining the archery club.

The cost of Kyudo is not low. The bow, arrows, and armor required for Kyudo are not cheap, and a complete set will cost at least two or three hundred thousand yen.

Naruto Uchiha was only slightly interested in archery, and felt it wasn't worthwhile to buy equipment for it.

Most importantly, Naruto Uchiha didn't have time to waste on these trivial matters.

Naruto Uchiha didn't want to spend too much time on club activities, but the private Jinguji High School's motto was "both academic and athletic prowess," and they took club activities very seriously. Simply staying in a club without actually joining would be too conspicuous, so Naruto just wanted to find a relaxed club to be a ghost member, continue his training and studies, and develop his skills discreetly.

But judging from the expectant look on the archery club senior, Yashiro, towards Uchiha Naruto, she clearly wouldn't let him slack off.

"Senior Yase, thank you so much for your guidance. I have benefited greatly from it. I'll take my leave now."

As Uchiha Naruto was about to change back into his school uniform, he was grabbed by the cuff by Yashiki Saki.

For the elegant and poised Yashiki Saki, such a gesture was quite daring. A blush rose to her cheeks, but she still spoke earnestly:

"I hope Uchiha-kun will reconsider. It's such a pity that talented people can't walk the right path."

Naruto Uchiha regretted it a little. He shouldn't have chosen those few white-haired archery practitioners when he copied archery techniques with his Sharingan. They were just too eye-catching.

But having more skills is never a bad thing; if you're going to learn something, you should choose the best one.

Then she quickly let go, bowed, and said, "Please think about it again."

"Uchiha, you really are an iceberg type. Even a pitiful and beautiful girl like Yashiro-senpai begged you like that, and you still refused without any politeness."

As he walked out of the archery dojo, Tanaka Hikaru kept nagging Uchiha Naruto.

"Besides, there are more girls than boys in the archery club, and there's a beautiful girl like Yashiki-senpai. It would be a real shame if you, Uchiha, didn't join. Given how much Yashiki-senpai values ​​your talent, there will definitely be plenty of opportunities to practice together in private. In that kind of atmosphere, you can win it over with just a little effort."

(End of this chapter)