Premature Graduation from Ninja School, Mysterious Bounty Ninja Group

The 'rat race' of summer vacation has quickly passed, and today is another day for the ninja school students to return to school.

Ninja School, First Grade.

Uchiha Akihime, Kageka Maple, Kitamura Yuusuke, Takano Takezo, and a group of other students entered the classroom one after another, all sitting in their seats.

After a long while, as the class bell rang, Ootani Yuuto slowly walked in from outside.

As a teacher who loves teaching students, Ootani Yuuto hadn't seen these adorable students much during the summer vacation, and he did miss them a bit.

Therefore, as soon as Ootani Yuuto entered the classroom, he greeted the students kindly and brought some small gifts, distributing them to the students present. Then, everyone began a simple chat session, a precious interaction between teacher and students...

"Ootani-sensei!"

Suddenly, Akihime stood up, frowning as she looked at Ootani Yuuto, calling out somewhat urgently.

"Akihime-san, what's wrong?"

Ootani Yuuto looked towards Akihime, his gaze subtly sweeping over the empty seat next to her, and then asked knowingly.

"Why isn't Hyuga Yuzuru here at school today?"

Akihime pointed to the empty seat next to her and asked Ootani Yuuto. She originally thought Yuzuru was just late, but she didn't expect him to be absent altogether!

Hearing Akihime's words, Kageka Maple's face was calm, as if she had already heard about Yuzuru not coming to school.

As for the other students, most of them showed puzzled expressions, because during the summer vacation, most of them had heard about #Hyuga Yuzuru#, and he had become the 'neighbor's kid' in their parents' mouths. It was precisely because of Hyuga Yuzuru that they had spent an 'extremely competitive' summer vacation. What should have been an enviable summer had become a nightmare memory they would never forget...

But such a 'celebrity' in the ninja school was absent today, which seemed quite abnormal.

"Yuzuru-kun, he completed his graduation exam ahead of schedule during the summer vacation, so he is now officially a Genin. Therefore, he doesn't need to come to school anymore."

Ootani Yuuto's words immediately stunned Akihime, who regarded Yuzuru as her 'lifelong rival'. After being stunned, she was filled with anger. That guy actually graduated secretly behind her back!

Was he trying to get rid of her?

Damn Hyuga!

The students in the class were also stunned at first, but then they realized that with Hyuga Yuzuru's strength, he was more than capable of being a Chuunin. It was only natural that he could graduate from the ninja school early and officially become a Genin.

"Ootani-sensei, then I want to apply for early graduation too!"

Akihime, whose face was obviously much gloomier, immediately said to Ootani Yuuto. In her heart, she had to do what Hyuga Yuzuru could do!

"..."

Ootani Yuuto looked at Akihime, this Uchiha, and fell silent. If her strength was the only factor, becoming a Genin would be natural. However, her personality didn't seem very mature, and sometimes her emotions would become extreme, like now. As soon as she heard about Hyuga Yuzuru graduating from the ninja school, her emotions couldn't help but fluctuate, as if she couldn't control herself at all...

"Okay."

After a moment of silence, Ootani Yuuto still agreed to Akihime's application, but he only submitted the application to the principal. Whether it would be approved or not was beyond his control.

"Ootani-sensei, if that's the case, please include me as well."

Hearing that Ootani Yuuto had accepted Akihime's graduation application, Kageka Maple slowly stood up, looking serious.

"Maple-san, you..."

Ootani Yuuto looked at Kageka Maple and immediately wanted to say something, but was stopped by the latter.

"Ootani-sensei, if we're talking about true strength, I shouldn't be weaker than you, so don't worry about me not being able to complete the graduation exam."

"..."

Black lines immediately appeared on Ootani Yuuto's forehead. Why was this little girl so annoying today? If she was going to make a comparison, why drag him into it?

"If Ootani-sensei doesn't believe me, you can look behind you."

Kageka Maple spoke, her gaze falling behind Ootani Yuuto. The surrounding students also looked over in surprise. As for Akihime next to her, she showed a look of apprehension, her gaze involuntarily scanning Kageka Maple. In just one summer vacation, she had mastered Shadow Release so skillfully!

"Wh-what?"

Ootani Yuuto was still a little confused. After hearing Kageka Maple's words, he turned his head back in confusion. This one look immediately made him break out in a cold sweat, because behind him appeared a 3D-like human shadow. It was currently holding a jet-black shadow sword against his neck. The faceless face gave people an extremely terrifying feeling, the deep, hollow black like an abyss that devoured everything...

Gulp...

Ootani Yuuto couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva. Although he knew that the Shadow Warrior behind him wouldn't really hurt him, he still subconsciously felt nervous and scared.

"M-Maple-san, then count you in as well."

After a moment, Ootani Yuuto sighed and said.

"Thank you, Ootani-sensei."

Hearing Ootani Yuuto's words, Kageka Maple revealed a sweet smile, her adorable tiger teeth and charming dimples appearing on her face.

"Return, Shadow Warrior."

Afterwards, Kageka Maple spoke softly. The Shadow Warrior behind Ootani Yuuto directly turned into a line of shadow, quickly sliding across the floor, and then burrowed into her shadow, disappearing from sight.

Seeing this scene, Ootani Yuuto suddenly understood. No wonder Kageka Maple didn't have much chakra fluctuation when she created the Shadow Warrior. It turned out that she had already created the Shadow Warrior and hid it in her own shadow...

Just from this one ability, he knew that Kageka Maple had greatly developed her Kekkei Genkai and mastered her Shadow Release more skillfully, so much so that Ootani Yuuto, this 'veteran Chuunin', didn't even have time to react to the Shadow Warrior's surprise attack...

"Ahem, are there any other students who want to apply for early graduation?"

Since there were already precedents, Ootani Yuuto didn't mind submitting a few more names.

Hearing Ootani Yuuto's words, the classroom suddenly fell silent. They weren't geniuses like Hyuga Yuzuru, Uchiha Akihime, and Kageka Maple, and they didn't dare to guarantee that they could smoothly pass the ninja school graduation exam.

What's more, graduating from the Ninja Academy early would be more harmful than beneficial for most of these commoner students. Even if they could pass the graduation exam, they wouldn't apply...

"Since there aren't any, let's officially start the class. As for Akihime and Kageka's graduation applications, we'll discuss them after class."

After Ootani Yuuto finished speaking, he directly gestured for Akihime and Kageka Maple to sit down.

Akihime and Kageka exchanged a glance and then sat down one after the other, though the point where their gazes met seemed to spark with electricity...

"Today's lesson is..."

Soon, Ootani Yuuto entered teaching mode and began lecturing on the content of the textbook.

"As expected, very few members of the Hyuga main family leave Konoha..."

Kakuzu, carrying several bloodstained bundles, thought to himself as he slowly walked towards an underground exchange. Since he had accepted that 90 million ryo bounty mission, he had been operating in the area near Konoha, completing some 'side hustle' missions along the way.

Soon, Kakuzu entered the underground exchange, handed the 'bundles' in his hand to the person in charge, and then, as usual, received the corresponding bounty money, which he meticulously counted.

Shortly after, Kakuzu sealed the bounty money into a storage scroll and prepared to take on more 'side hustle' missions.

"Lord Kakuzu, all the recent million-ryo bounty missions are here. Please take a look..."

The person in charge of the underground exchange respectfully handed the bounty list to Kakuzu.

"Hmm? Why are there so few bounty missions on this list all of a sudden?"

Kakuzu frowned. A little over a month ago, he remembered there being quite a few appealing 'side hustle' bounties. Why did most of them seem to have disappeared today?

"Lord Kakuzu, those missions have already been completed, so the bounties have naturally been canceled."

The person in charge said to Kakuzu, then added, "And they're completing them much faster than you, Lord Kakuzu..."

"They?"

Kakuzu's dark green eyes looked at the person in charge of the underground exchange, the killing intent in his gaze enveloping him, making even this person who was used to seeing life and death feel uneasy, with fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead and cold sweat running down his back.

"Yes, they belong to a small group. Each of them wears a mask with a vicious, grotesque pattern of an unknown beast painted on it. They suddenly appeared not long ago, taking on many accumulated bounty missions as wandering bounty ninjas..."

The person in charge quickly explained. He knew a little about the Kakuzu in front of him and knew that he had an almost 'obsessive' attachment to money. On normal days, those bounty ninjas who dared to 'steal' his bounty missions became 'items' for him to exchange for money. It was clear that this suddenly appearing mysterious bounty ninja group had touched a nerve with Kakuzu.

"Give me their information!"

Kakuzu said coldly.

"Lord Kakuzu, that's not really in accordance with the rules... and since they only appeared recently, we haven't collected any specific information about them yet, we only know their codenames..."

The person in charge said with difficulty.

"Codenames?"

"Tell me about them."

Kakuzu asked.

"It seems like they're called 'Suzaku', 'Tengshe', something like that..."

The person in charge said, looking like he was thinking hard.

"Suzaku? Tengshe?"