Entrance Exam

On the day of the Entrance Exam, the weather was clear.

Children gathered at the Ninja Academy in groups. Less than half were examinees' parents; most were villagers who had come to watch the excitement.

With so few forms of entertainment in Konoha, the Entrance Exam, Graduation Exam, and Chunin Exams were all rare major events that drew the entire village to watch.

The examinees' parents gathered together to observe the examination process. A small portion wore forehead protectors and were ninja, while the rest of the dense crowd were civilians.

Sarutobi Hiruzen silently smoked as he watched the lively stands. He liked scenes like this and looked around with a smiling expression.

After the Second Hokage died, Sarutobi Hiruzen officially took control of the Hokage's authority, while also bearing pressure from the war and the ninja clans.

At that time, the Second Hokage had been seriously injured in an attack by Kumogakure rebels. Combined with the Second Raikage's death in battle, Kumogakure, whose people had muscles for brains, gritted its teeth and continued the war.

Having only just ascended to the position of Sandaime, he could not fully mobilize Konoha's strength. He had no choice but to adopt aggressive measures, graduating large numbers of civilian ninja early and sending them to the battlefield. He won the war at the cost of their lives and forced Kumogakure to surrender.

Victory brought the Sandaime enough prestige, but it also severely damaged the foundation of his power.

Among the Konoha Ninja who survived countless battles after the war, half were ninja clan members. Moreover, three-quarters of the Chunin and ninety percent of the Jonin were ninja clan members.

With such an overwhelming advantage in numbers, especially the absolute superiority among high-ranking ninja, the ninja clans naturally gained power and hollowed out the Hokage's authority.

The Hokage was still the Hokage, after all, and possessed the moral high ground in political struggles. Sarutobi Hiruzen adopted a strategy of dividing the ninja clans. The clans led by Ino-Shika-Cho soon joined the Sandaime's camp and became his core force.

Besides gaining support from some ninja clans, the Sandaime Hokage also expanded the Anbu's authority and numbers, recruiting elite Chunin from the ninja clans and winning supporters by reshaping the thinking of Anbu ninja.

This policy effectively expanded the Hokage's power, but it also gave the ninja clans opportunities to infiltrate the Anbu.

Thus, Sarutobi Hiruzen authorized Shimura Danzō to establish the "Anbu Training Institution," namely Root. It recruited orphans and orphaned children of ninja clans to train ninja, ensuring that at least part of the Anbu could not be infiltrated.

Under the two men's leadership, the Anbu and Root worked closely together. They used every possible overt and covert method without restraint, winning over young ninja and removing opposing ninja from important positions. At last, they regained control of power.

Of course, throughout this process, both the Anbu and Root rapidly expanded. The problem was that under Danzo's dark nature, Root's methods grew increasingly sinister.

Having secured great power, Sarutobi Hiruzen naturally began making bold moves.

"I propose that the number of students admitted to the Ninja Academy this year be doubled."

Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped ash from his pipe and spoke quietly.

"Agreed." ×4

Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, Shimura Danzō, and Torifu Akimichi voiced their approval together.

Seventy percent of the ninja in the school stands were ninja clan members, but clan-born examinees did not make up such a large proportion. No clan would send all of its children.

The ninja clans sent their most outstanding and most mediocre descendants. The outstanding ones sought honor, while the mediocre ones sought their own paths.

Even the most mediocre ninja clan descendants had received basic ninjutsu education. Their foundations far surpassed those of civilians, and their exam scores were all among the best. They would certainly pass.

Doubling admissions at this time meant that all the additional students would be civilian children. A few years later, the Genin would all be civilian ninja.

"Oh? How interesting." Orochimaru suddenly spoke. "We've been noticed."

"It should be a child from the Aburame Family. Such keen perception... does he possess a talent for sensing?"

"Perhaps not." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. What an interesting Insect.

Aburame Tetsumaru was especially eye-catching today. A jelly-like Slime was stuck to his head.

Soft, springy, candy-colored, semi-transparent, and with huge watery eyes, the Slime perfectly embodied cuteness. Its mount naturally became the focus of the entire venue.

Aburame Tetsumaru was concentrating on investigating the ninja responsible for security around the examination grounds, completely ignoring the awkward atmosphere.

He picked out the hidden ninja around the testing grounds one by one, then distinguished their strength. There were Genin, Chunin, and even suspected Jonin.

Aburame Tetsumaru had only discovered his sensing ability over the past two days. The Chakra Grand Circulation was extremely stable, and by using Insight to observe the Chakra within the circulation, he could detect traces of Chakra interference.

With a little thought, he could distinguish information about the source of interference. By combining the frequency, intensity, amplitude, and angle of the interference, he could learn a great deal about its source.

Finally, the Slime on Aburame Tetsumaru's head confirmed it. Those huge watery eyes possessed infrared vision and dynamic vision, as well as telescopic capabilities.

After sensing the Chakra source and roughly locating it, he could directly observe through the Slime's vision by linking it with the Aburame Secret Technique, easily locking onto the target.

The Slime had been discovered by Aburame Tetsumaru in the Aburame Clan's forest.

The Aburame Clan had played with insects for centuries and collected countless bugs. They had gathered an unknown number of species from all over the world, then released them all into the forest.

Bound by the Aburame Secret Technique, all kinds of insects crowded into woodland of less than five square kilometers. The struggle for survival was exceptionally brutal. Every insect that survived until Aburame Tetsumaru came to collect them had its own special talent.

To Aburame Tetsumaru, it was a super treasure trove. He could casually discover surprising insects, and among these bugs might lie a path capable of changing his destiny.

When the Slime was discovered, it was only the size of a grain of rice. It was a soft Amoeba that looked more like a mutated Katsuyu.

Because it had happened to be discovered at night, he had fortunately confirmed that the Insect possessed both dynamic vision and night vision. Aburame Tetsumaru had been thrilled.

What were Konoha's strongest Kekkei Genkai? Naturally, the Byakugan and Sharingan.

Aburame Tetsumaru definitely could not awaken red or white eyes, but he could make eyes himself.

After cultivation, the Amoeba grew larger, its eyes became rounder, its vision clearly improved, and it could even focus through transformation.

Since its appearance increasingly resembled a certain cute-selling monster, Aburame Tetsumaru named the Amoeba Slime.

Using the Slime as a starting point, Aburame Tetsumaru formulated the Eye of Truth Project, copying the mask upgrade plan of a certain wizard.

The Eye of Truth would combine telescopic vision, X-ray vision, dynamic vision, Chakra vision, infrared vision, ultraviolet vision, low-light vision, Genjutsu attacks, Genjutsu defense, and other functions.

The final version of the Eye of Truth would combine supernatural vision related to electromagnetic force, Attractive Force, particles, vibrations, souls, and more.

The Slime on Aburame Tetsumaru's head had now successfully added the dynamic vision of a Single Tomoe Sharingan on top of night vision, magnification, and telescopic vision. It was only missing the Byakugan's X-ray vision to complete the first phase of the Eye of Truth Project.

Aburame Tetsumaru lowered Insight's observation frequency to sense farther away. He discovered several powerful ninja watching from distant rooftops and treetops, then detected powerful Chakra coming from the direction of Hokage Rock.

Eight streams of Chakra overlapped one another, shining with the intensity of the sun.

Aburame Tetsumaru was a little stunned. These were powerful ninja he had never encountered before, clearly surpassing the standard he had guessed for Jonin.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, he ordered the Slime to activate its telescopic ability. It twisted its body and squeezed its huge eyes into olive shapes, then clearly saw the source of the Chakra.

Eight people stood in three rows. At the front was the Sandaime Hokage, easily identified by his Hokage hat and haori.

The three people in the third row were the Hokage's three disciples. The characteristics of the yellow, gambling, and poison trio were extremely familiar from his memories and easy to recognize.

Of the four people in the second row, three should have been the Hokage's assistants. They looked rather different from the decrepit old figures in his memories.

Holy crap, Danzo was actually a handsome middle-aged man.

Utatane granny was actually decent-looking too, though she had a harsh, mean face.

Those two had aged terribly over the next few years. Time had been especially ruthless to them.

The bespectacled middle-aged man should have been Mitokado Homura. Nothing special about him.

There was one person he was seeing for the first time, but that round body was far too distinctive. He was from the Akimichi Clan, so he had to be Torifu Akimichi.

Aburame Tetsumaru secretly compared his Chakra reserves to those of the eight people and was horrified to discover that his Chakra was equivalent to one-tenth of the Sandaime's.

Aburame Tetsumaru knew his Chakra was growing quickly. He had even worried about it enough to research methods of concealing it. But he truly had no idea how much Chakra he possessed. He could only blindly guess that it equaled the Senju Clan's? Or perhaps the Uzumaki Clan's?

That was because he had no reference samples. The only people he could observe were his father and mother. His strongest reference, his father, was merely a Chunin, and he had long since surpassed him.

With Aburame Tetsumaru's current status, finding a Jonin in Konoha would not be difficult. But which Jonin would fully refine Chakra in front of a child and let him observe carefully?

Only today, when he unexpectedly saw the Sandaime Hokage, who was currently performing some unknown ninjutsu, did he finally have the chance to closely observe the Chakra of a "strongest" ninja.

The Hokage was theoretically Konoha's strongest ninja. The Sandaime Hokage had become famous for large-scale combination ninjutsu, and his Chakra reserves far exceeded those of Jonin.

Aburame Tetsumaru's Chakra reserves being equivalent to one-tenth of his meant that, in terms of Chakra alone, he had reached the lower limit of a Jonin.

A layer of cold sweat instantly broke out across his back. Fortunately, the Chakra Grand Circulation reduced his dispersed Chakra fluctuations to one-fortieth of their normal level. Otherwise, he would definitely have been exposed once the exam began today.

If someone discovered during the exam that his Chakra was even more outrageous than that of the Senju and Uzumaki, who knew what kind of trouble it would cause? Some Pot Kage would certainly be unable to resist making a move.

The worst part was that the Aburame Clan might not even refuse Root's recruitment. After all, dozens of clan ninja had already served in Root over the years. Joining Root was an Aburame Clan tradition.

While Aburame Tetsumaru was lost in wild thoughts, the Slime suddenly issued a warning that it had been locked onto by gazes. The warning instantly stacked eight times.

The Slime's warning method was to produce bioelectricity, stimulating Tetsumaru's auditory nerves to create auditory hallucinations. It increased the number of warnings by doubling the voltage, but Tetsumaru had never tried the effect of eight times the voltage.

The voltage was so strong that it changed from creating auditory hallucinations into an electric shock. Tetsumaru's hair stood on end, and his head buzzed. He hurriedly pulled the Slime off his head.

Once he disconnected from the Slime's vision, Aburame Tetsumaru directly felt the oppressive gazes.

Was it really that bad just to look?

Looking really was not allowed. Ninja were extremely sensitive combat professionals, and staring was a dangerous provocation. It was very rude. Conflicts over such things were perfectly normal, and killings over them were not uncommon.

The Hokage, the Sannin, and four high-ranking officials all stared over together. They intended to teach this ignorant brat a lesson, lest he be beaten to death someday for casually spying on others.

The staring gazes finally disappeared only when Aburame Tetsumaru was about to take the field for his exam. He swiftly adjusted his mindset. He had promised Elder Shihui that he would get into Class A, so today he had to put on a good show.

After soothing the Slime, he stuck it back onto his head and used the secret technique to reconnect the Chakra link.

He had to update it as soon as possible. The warning method needed to be changed to variable frequency. Increasing the voltage hurt like hell. Aburame Tetsumaru calculated in his mind how to adjust the production order for the new Slimes.

The Ninja Academy's Entrance Exam was very simple: long-distance running, academics, and optional combat as a bonus category.

Aburame Tetsumaru's physical condition far surpassed that of his peers. In the ten-lap, five-kilometer run, he lapped the second-place finisher twice after completing the course.

The academic exam in the afternoon was even easier. It was meant to select civilian geniuses, so it could not possibly be too difficult. If civilian children lacking educational resources could score reasonably well, they were undoubtedly exceptionally talented.

After handing in his paper early, Aburame Tetsumaru sat beneath the shade of a tree on the school field and waited for the final combat examination. He took down the Slime, checked its condition, and fed it.

As a newly cultivated Ninja Insect, the Slime had to be kept on his person throughout the fifteen-day development period after hatching, with the secret technique constantly applied. Otherwise, there was a high chance that the Slime would fail to develop and be unable to sense Aburame Tetsumaru's secret technique.

To avoid wasting the ninety-thousand-ryo cultivation cost, Aburame Tetsumaru could only bring the Slime to the exam.

Not all examinees were required to participate in the upcoming combat examination, but ninja clan children who performed poorly could not enter Class A and would have limited prospects in the future.

The combat exam was a platform for ninja clan competition. Outstanding descendants represented a powerful future, while poorly performing clans would be seen as declining. It was extremely embarrassing and could also result in major losses.

When the time was nearly up, Aburame Tetsumaru began warming up, bringing his body to its best condition. Full of confidence, he arrived at the testing ground and surveyed the examinees around him.

There were not many students participating in the combat examination, and it was soon Aburame Tetsumaru's turn.

"Aburame Tetsumaru, take the field."

"Inuzuka Tsuyoshi, take the field."

As the two children stepped onto the field, cheers outside the arena grew enthusiastic.

"Tetsumaru, go! You're the best!"

"Tsuyoshi, Tsuyoshi, you're the strongest!"

"@#￥%&!!"

His father, who usually worked hard to appear calm and steady, cheered for him at the top of his lungs until his voice cracked.

Aburame Tetsumaru was not touched at all. It was embarrassing, okay?

According to the Entrance Exam rules, controlling Ninja Beasts, Ninja Insects, and Summoning Animals could not be used. This included Kikaichū, and Inuzuka Tsuyoshi had not brought a dog onto the field either.

That was because these creatures possessed independence. Summoning Animals in particular might possess Jonin-level combat strength, and allowing them to participate would make the test meaningless.

By the time of the Ninja Academy Graduation Exam, secret-technique-related Ninja Beasts could be used, and Summoning Animals did not matter either.

Aburame without Kikaichū against Inuzuka without Ninja Dogs—two weaklings pecking at each other.

Inuzuka Tsuyoshi: Great, it's that bastard Tetsumaru. He can't use underhanded tricks here. I'm going to get my revenge.

Aburame Tetsumaru: This unlucky fool definitely thinks he'll win as long as I can't use tools.

"Both sides, form the confrontation seal."

"Begin!"

Inuzuka Tsuyoshi began running rapidly on all fours, tracing an angled arc as he attempted to circle behind from the left.

Aburame Tetsumaru raised both hands before his chest to shield his face and shifted his feet, keeping himself facing forward.

After circling half a round, Inuzuka Tsuyoshi suddenly accelerated. Faster than Aburame Tetsumaru could turn, he swiftly ran into his blind spot, then immediately turned and sprinted forward.

The smug Inuzuka Tsuyoshi did not notice that while Aburame Tetsumaru could not keep up with his circling speed, the Slime on his head had kept its eyes fixed on him.

When Inuzuka Tsuyoshi closed to within two arm-lengths, Aburame Tetsumaru suddenly turned. Catching him off guard, he stepped forward and breached Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's safe zone, while both hands had already risen to shoulder height.

Inuzuka Tsuyoshi had let Tetsumaru enter his dangerous inner range, leaving him without a suitable attacking distance. He instinctively stopped, leaned his upper body back to create distance, and reflexively counterattacked with his right hand.

Aburame Tetsumaru had guessed correctly. His raised hands easily caught the wrist of Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's counterattacking right hand. Borrowing his opponent's force, he turned left with the motion, straightened both arms, and drove his right shoulder viciously into Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's chest, forcing him to protect himself with his left hand.

After feeling Inuzuka Tsuyoshi lose his balance while blocking with his left hand, Aburame Tetsumaru adjusted his footing. He then swung both hands downward, trapping Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's right arm beneath his armpit. He twisted his waist to the left, bent his right knee, and pushed off the ground with his left leg.

With a bang, Aburame Tetsumaru threw Inuzuka Tsuyoshi to the ground.

Using the locked arm to secure him, Aburame Tetsumaru pressed all his body weight onto Inuzuka Tsuyoshi, doubling the impact and knocking him unconscious on the spot.

"Aburame Tetsumaru wins."

The referee calmly announced the end, then called for medical ninja to carry Inuzuka Tsuyoshi away.

Aburame Tetsumaru's parents cheered loudly. The other spectators could not get excited because there had been no thrilling exchange, and only a few people applauded.

Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's skills were quite good, and his tactics had been rather thoughtful, but Aburame Tetsumaru was too strong. He had knocked Inuzuka Tsuyoshi down in a single exchange, giving him no chance to show what he could do. It was hard to say whether he could still enter Class A.

However, the Shinobi World generally recognized that luck was part of strength. During the previous war, many Jonin had clearly been powerful but encountered even stronger enemies and died. Some had even been killed by stray arrows for no apparent reason. Luck was extremely important.

Aburame Tetsumaru had held back. When Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's right wrist was caught, whether he turned left to follow up with an elbow strike or knee strike, or turned right to follow up with a joint lock, it would have caused a severe fracture.

Even in the final throw, if Aburame Tetsumaru had not deliberately laid Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's back flat during the final motion, he would have broken several ribs.

After two more matches, which he won easily, he faced the most significant opponent: Hyuga Tokuma of the prestigious Hyuga Clan.