Strategies

Nine groups.

Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Suzuran form one group; Naruto Uzumaki, Choji Akimichi, and Kiba Inuzuka form another group; Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Shino Aburame a third group; Hyuga Hinata, Uchiha Miki, and Rindou Uzumaki Hinata Hyuga Miki Uchiha; and others, etc.

Well, to be honest, Iruka's class is one of the most difficult elite classes to deal with.

Apart from a handful of students, almost all the students in the class were from wealthy families. Even children from ordinary families like Sakura only got into the class because of their outstanding talents.

Sakura always ranked first in academic subjects; if it weren't for her lagging performance in practical training, Shuyuan wouldn't have been number one.

There are basically no cannon fodder here. If your teammates are not good, no matter how strong you are, you can't turn the tide. Shuyuan, Sasuke, and Naruto have all cleaned up trash in the Naka River bend.

"One more person from each group will continue drawing lots."

Shuyuan shook the box in her hand.

According to the usual rules of the test, the nine groups competed against each other in pairs. The four losing groups and the group that received a bye drew lots again. The group that received a bye for the second time got on base safely, and the remaining four groups competed against each other again. The last two losing groups became the garbage cleaning group.

"No matter how many times I see these rules, they're always the same... This is terrible!"

Holding the box, Shuyuan let everyone draw lots, muttering to herself.

The competition rules were indeed riddled with flaws, but they were something Tong came up with in ten minutes. They were rules designed to filter out losers, so they were barely acceptable. Moreover, as a practical training instructor, she had absolute authority over her classes, and the course content had been approved by the school's higher-ups.

To be precise, it was His Highness the Principal who overruled the dissenting voices and forced through this absurd testing method.

"Dad, you're such a jerk!"

Shuyuan looked up at the office building in the distance, a cryptic smile playing on her lips.

"Interesting, is this going to be a competition?"

In the grove of trees next to the training ground, the Sand Ninja delegation stopped and quietly observed the students who were making a commotion on the training ground.

"Those... Whirlpool, Fire Fan Clan, Ino-Shika-Cho... they're basically disciples of major clans!"

Scorpion stood beside Rasa and spoke softly.

"I see! Then let's take a look."

Rasa raised an eyebrow, showing interest.

The dean of academic affairs, who was leading the way, scratched his head and didn't say anything. Anyway, there were no secrets in the Ninja Academy, so these Sand Ninjas could look at whatever they wanted. Some things couldn't be learned just by looking at them.

Most of the students, except for a handful, didn't notice the people in the woods. Those who did notice didn't take it seriously since the teacher didn't react. Right now, the most important thing was to tear up their tickets to the losers' bracket.

"Number One! We are Number One!"

Ino unfolded the note and showed it to Shikamaru and Suzuran.

"Number One? I wonder which group the other Number One belongs to?"

Shikamaru rested his left hand on his right elbow and his right hand on his chin, scrutinizing the other groups.

"Sasuke and Shino are both formidable opponents, especially Shino's insects... Miki and Rindou are also troublesome... Naruto and Kiba, those two single-minded idiots, are getting harder and harder to fool. Ahh!! They're all very troublesome opponents!"

He glanced at Suzuran out of the corner of his eye. He knew his and Ino's strength; the problem now was Suzuran. He wondered how strong this girl who transferred from Amegakure was...

"Number One, we're number one!"

"Huh!? Naruto, you idiot, what does this have to do with first place? We don't have a first place in our quizzes, do we? We only have the group that gets ashore and the group that falls into the water, okay?"

"Click click click~~~"

The sound of eating potato chips is very crisp.

Are our opponents the "idiots" group?

Ino frowned as she looked at the two noisy idiots and the gluttonous fat boy.

Don't underestimate the "idiots" group. Although Naruto's academic performance is terrible and his emotional intelligence is pitifully low, his combat ability is extremely high. In terms of pure strength, he is definitely in the top three of the class. Even Shuyuan wouldn't dare to say that he can win every sparring match. Kiba also has the Inuzuka Clan's Secret Technique and the help of the ninja dog Akamaru, making him quite difficult to deal with.

Choji is the one who's easier to deal with. His weaknesses are obvious; he's easily defeated in a one-on-one fight.

"Are you all in your groups? I'll give you five minutes to prepare, and then the test will begin. No sharpened ninja tools are allowed. Explosive Tag and Flash Tag are strictly prohibited. Anyone who breaks the rules will have to clean up the garbage in the Naka River bend for three months."

Tong, acting as she pleased, gave orders and instructed Shuyuan to bring her a deck chair and a parasol. She then buried herself in the deck chair, preparing to enjoy the show in the most comfortable position.

The clouds were quite thick today, and the sun wasn't too strong, much better than yesterday's heat. But as time went by, my clothes were still soaked with sweat.

"Hey, Shikamaru, what's the order of deployment?"

Ino stared longingly at Shikamaru. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had an unusual relationship. She was quite close to Shikamaru and Choji in private. Although she was sometimes annoyed by Choji's gluttony and Shikamaru's laziness, they were usually very good friends.

She had great faith in Shikamaru's wisdom.

"I reckon Naruto will be the first to fight on the other side. That idiot loves to charge ahead, and neither Kiba nor Choji are good at planning. Well, Kiba should be the second to go, Choji the last. Those two muscle-bound idiots probably don't expect Choji to do anything; they're probably hoping to finish the battle in the first two rounds."

Shikamaru pointed at the three idiots opposite him without any politeness. Naruto, that moron, saw this and waved his hand with a grin, then started arguing with Kiba, grabbing each other's collars, looking like they could fight at any moment. Choji ate potato chips and watched coldly from the sidelines.

"Wow, what a bunch of idiots."

Ino was amazed.

"The problem is that these idiots are hard to deal with!"

Shikamaru gave a wry smile.

As classmates who had taken similar tests many times, they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. Naruto and Kiba, those two idiots, were the ones he wasn't very good at dealing with, especially Naruto. His Shadow Jutsu caught Kiba off guard the first time, but he didn't succeed the second or third time.

"I can try to deal with Kiba, but that idiot Naruto..."

Shikamaru genuinely has no way to deal with Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, if my jutsu misses on the first hit... then we're doomed." Ino said helplessly, her face full of worry.

"Um... if possible, I'll deal with Naruto-kun."

Suzuran raised her hand and whispered. (To be continued)