Admission

The Ninja Academy entrance exam placed no restrictions on the ninjutsu candidates could use.

Rather, the more difficult and powerful the ninjutsu they performed, the better, because the examiners' subjective judgment was also part of the test.

Just as Might Guy and Rock Lee, who had failed to perform ninjutsu, were able to display exceptional physical abilities in the subsequent fitness test and were ultimately specially admitted into the academy.

Subjective judgment like this permeated Konoha's entire ninja system.

The same was true for Ninja Academy students seeking graduation. Even if they failed the exam, they could skip it entirely and become genin as long as their teacher approved their graduation.

Of the two paths for genin to advance to chunin, the Chunin Exams did not assess who was stronger, but something as vague as "overall coordination ability." The other selection method was even vaguer: as long as those above considered you qualified, you could advance.

The same applied when chunin advanced to Special Jonin or jonin. It all depended on their superiors' subjective judgment. A chunin who thought a Ninja Academy student was good enough could directly make that student a genin. A jonin who believed the genin under his command was talented could recommend his subordinate for promotion to chunin. If the Hokage thought a chunin was talented, he could promote them to Special Jonin or jonin.

Under such conditions, there naturally would not be any harsh exam requirements that could not be changed.

Lin Ke silently pondered this when he suddenly heard someone call him in for the exam. He gathered his scattered thoughts and stepped into the examination room.

"Good morning, examiners." He gave a slight bow, then straightened and looked at the two examiners.

"You may begin," one of them said.

Lin Ke bowed again. In such a subjective exam, he had to leave a good impression on the examiners.

Then he formed hand seals—

Very standard, practiced hand seals. The speed was decent too. Clone Technique? Not a bad choice.

Mizuki watched and nodded. Before the ninjutsu was even successfully performed, the kid had already done everything flawlessly. As long as there was no issue with molding chakra, regardless of whether he succeeded or failed, he would definitely be able to cast it.

Lin... Were his parents both ninja who died in the line of duty? What a pity.

As he was thinking this, Lin Ke failed to perform the Clone Technique after completing the hand seals. Mizuki was about to announce the result when—

"?!"

Mizuki watched helplessly as Lin Ke removed his own head, making the exact same motion as his colleague: disrupting the chakra within his body.

"Release!"

When he realized that the scene before him was still that of the candidate holding his own head, the corner of Mizuki's eye twitched. He turned to look at his colleague. The two nearly looked at each other at the same time, and both saw the same astonishment on the other's face.

"?" x2 Both chunin had bizarre expressions written all over their faces and minds. Mizuki turned back just in time to see Lin Ke put his head back on, then remove an arm and wave it twice. "Is this enough?"

"..."

Genjutsu? Some special secret technique? Or some kind of Kekkei Genkai?

Mizuki was not flustered. He made his guesses internally, circled "pass" on the evaluation form, then wrote beneath it:

Successfully performed ninjutsu. Possesses special talent.

"Lin Ke, you've been admitted," he said. --"Phew~"

Walking out of the examination room, Lin Ke let out a long breath, his heart filled with relief. Being admitted to the Ninja Academy meant that, no matter what, he would have a jonin or Special Jonin as his Guidance Jonin.

Whether or not he could become strong, at least he would have a powerful patron. Even if he died, he would not die without knowing why. He had gained a path to rise further.

Next, he needed to find a way to graduate faster and turn the "future" into the "present."

Holding his admission notice, he ran through the many children and parents wearing envious expressions and sprinted home.

There was still one week until classes began. Konoha's Ninja Academy was much like Japanese schools from his previous life: three terms a year, with three breaks, though none of those breaks were very long.

He still had one week to prepare himself before beginning academy life.

After returning home and putting away his admission notice, Lin Ke went out to shop—

Interestingly, attached to the admission notice was a list of essential items used at the Ninja Academy—in other words, the tools a ninja needed.

They included a Scroll Kit, Leg Wraps, a Waist Pouch, a Shuriken Kit, a kunai pouch, and corresponding darts, kunai, shuriken, and other tools.

Besides those consumable items, ninjas actually needed quite a few other things, such as Open-Toed Sandals, Hand Guards, flak jackets, Forehead Protectors, and so on. However, those items were either uncommon or issued after one advanced in rank, so there was no need to prepare them personally.

For example, a Forehead Protector was issued upon becoming a genin, while a flak jacket was issued upon becoming a chunin.

Though the items he needed to buy seemed unremarkable, they were actually a considerable expense. Before Lin Ke's father died, they had owned quite a few similar tools. But after a period of use, and because he had needed to make a living, Lin Ke had not replenished them, leaving very little in the end.

If he did not intend to become a ninja, it would not matter whether he bought them or not. But since he wanted to become a ninja and had entered the Ninja Academy, there was no way to save on essential equipment.

Ninja tool throwing was part of the academy's taijutsu curriculum and could not be skipped.

The Ninja Academy had five graded subjects in total: ninjutsu, taijutsu, individual, team, and tactics. (Taken from Sasuke's report card when he first started school in the manga.)

Ninjutsu and taijutsu needed no explanation. Individual referred to simulated solo combat, while team referred to coordinated simulated combat, followed by tactics involving combat-based thinking.

But that was not all. The Ninja Academy also had a large number of foundational courses:

Physical training, basic knowledge, and academic subjects: team strategy, formations, code interpretation, ninja rules, medicine identification, astronomy and geography, physics, chemistry, history, and even flower arrangement classes specifically for female ninja.

They might not necessarily be tested, or even factor into graduation or a teacher's subjective judgment of a student, but they did indeed exist.

Just reading the appendix in the admission notice was enough to give Lin Ke a headache.

After graduating from school in his previous life, he had barely learned anything. Now that he had transmigrated, he still had to study a large number of academic subjects. It was rather difficult for him.

Fortunately, even if he was bad at academic subjects—or did not study them at all—it would not affect his ability to become a genin.

Uzumaki Naruto, for example, was terrible at academic subjects. Even after becoming a genin, he did not know something as basic as the name "chakra," and he did not learn about chakra nature transformation until Shippuden.

One had to know that even among D-rank ninjutsu, which genin could practice, some involved nature transformation—the ninjutsu prefixed with an elemental Release.

Not understanding such basic knowledge, it was no wonder he remained a genin all along. (Laugh)