Selection

At noon, inside the Clan Head's Main Hall.

Masahiko stood before the eleven children with a dark expression.

He had just used various Wind Release and Fire Release techniques to dry his bedsheets and was about to take a nap when the Clan Head summoned him here.

Aside from Nanako, whom Masahiko had personally named, the other ten children had all been recommended by the clan's Jonin. Eight were boys and two were girls. The oldest was only ten, while the youngest had just turned six.

Seeing Masahiko's expression, the Clan Head asked, "Second Uncle, are you dissatisfied with these children?"

Only then did Masahiko come back to his senses. Looking at the children's nervous faces, he saw that the youngest girl was on the verge of squeezing out two tears.

"I'm not dissatisfied. It's just that I have my own selection method, and eleven people are a little too many. I'll be eliminating a few."

The Clan Head sighed in relief. "No problem. It's only normal to test them."

"In that case," Masahiko turned to the eleven children, "there will be three tests tomorrow. The first will test your physical strength! Go back and prepare. Gather at Training Ground 4 at seven tomorrow morning!"

The children all responded and went back to prepare, but Nanako hesitated for a moment and stayed behind.

"Grandpa Masahiko, my... talent isn't very good. Tomorrow..."

"It's fine. There's no harm in taking the test. If you're not good enough, you'll be eliminated tomorrow. Go prepare..." Masahiko said with a smile. "Show the spirit you had when you dumped that bucket of water on me!"

Nanako blushed crimson and awkwardly left.

"Second Uncle, isn't a test of physical strength somewhat unfair to the younger ones, and to the three girls?" the Clan Head asked doubtfully after Nanako left.

Masahiko rolled his eyes at him. "I know what I'm doing!"

"I'm going back to catch up on sleep. If anyone disturbs me again, I'll fight them to the death!"

At seven the next morning, Masahiko arrived at Training Ground 4.

The eleven children had already been waiting there, while quite a few adults and children gathered around to watch.

So many people are interested in me taking disciples now. I've finally become a respected elder... Masahiko thought happily.

But when he approached, his face darkened again.

"So that's the legendary Uzumaki Masahiko. When I was little, my parents told me..."

"They're handing these children over to him..."

"Shh, he's the Clan Head's Second Uncle. He's the First Elder now..."

"Begin the test!" Masahiko shouted, startling not only the eleven children but also the watching adults.

Seeing the surroundings fall silent, Masahiko nodded in satisfaction.

"The first test is physical strength. Shadow Clone Technique!" As he spoke, Masahiko created eleven clones. "My clones will supervise you as you do push-ups. Give it everything you have—the more you do, the better!"

The surrounding crowd erupted in an uproar.

"As expected, this is unreliable. The children are different ages, and there are two girls. How could this possibly be fair?" The crowd began discussing it heatedly.

Masahiko ignored them. Watching the children begin their push-ups under the Shadow Clones' supervision, he nodded with satisfaction.

But just two minutes later, Masahiko had a headache. The youngest girl, who had only just turned six, managed only forty-three push-ups before she could no longer continue and burst into tears.

Masahiko scratched his head and hurried over to comfort her.

A young man and woman rushed out from the spectators, pushed Masahiko aside, and comforted the little girl. They were presumably her parents.

More than ten minutes later, the ten-year-old boy who had done the most push-ups also stopped, having completed a total of 1,237. Meanwhile, the little girl finally stopped crying under her parents' comfort.

Masahiko swept his gaze around and saw that all the children were sitting and catching their breath. He nodded slightly.

"Rest for one hour. Then we'll conduct the second half of the physical strength test."

The young couple hurriedly looked up. "Uncle Masahiko, our Iko is still young. The physical strength test..."

Before they could finish, Masahiko interrupted, "The second half is still push-ups! Your final score will be how many more you do the second time than the first."

The crowd finally understood. So it was a test of perseverance.

Several children who had done especially well immediately regretted it. If they had known, they would have held back...

"While you rest," Masahiko continued, "we'll conduct the second test."

"The second test is memory. Watch my hands carefully and memorize the hand seal sequence. Your ranking will be determined by the order in which you can reproduce it."

"Tiger—Rabbit—Snake—Horse—Goat—Rooster—Tiger—Rabbit—Snake—Horse—Goat—Rooster—Tiger—Rabbit—Snake—Horse—Goat—Rooster—Dog—Rat, Sealing Jutsu—Seal Evil Law Seal!" In only four seconds, Masahiko formed twenty hand seals.

"Did anyone memorize it?" Masahiko asked casually, preparing to form the seals a second time.

"Sniff... I memorized them, sniff, Grandpa Masahiko," the still-sniffling little girl answered.

Sure enough, although the little girl's hands were not fast, she successfully formed all twenty seals.

Masahiko nodded slightly. No wonder someone had recommended such a young child. This kind of memory was very uncommon.

"Then let's continue..."

The other children regained their composure. Not until the fourth time did people gradually begin answering.

The last to answer was Nanako, her face flushed red. Standing before these genius little brothers and sisters made her feel awful...

"Alright, an hour has almost passed. You've recovered your strength, right? Let's finish the first test."

Masahiko once again created eleven Shadow Clones to supervise the children as they did push-ups.

The final winner was an eight-year-old boy. He had done 670 the first time, then exceeded 800 the second time... Besides him, three people had negative scores: the boy who had come first previously, the six-year-old girl Iko, and one other person.

That last one was Nanako, who was gritting her teeth and glaring at Masahiko. She felt that Masahiko was plainly getting back at her for that bucket of water, making her embarrass herself so badly in front of everyone.

Masahiko smiled at it all.

The surroundings were once again filled with discussion. The watching Uzumaki Clan members had basically stopped objecting to Masahiko's first two tests and were all discussing what his third test would be.

"The third should test actual combat. Though they're different ages, ninja still have to be judged by their combat ability..."

"It should test Chakra control..."

"It should be a test of the basic Three Body Jutsu..."

Masahiko watched their discussion and shook his head slightly. They could never guess what he had in mind.

"The third test will assess thinking ability! There are five questions in total. The more you answer correctly, the higher your ranking!"

"First question: There are two buckets, one that holds three pounds of water and one that holds five pounds. You have unlimited water. How can you measure exactly four pounds?"

"Second question:..."

"..."

"Fifth question: There are ten birds in a tree. You kill one with a Kunai. How many birds are left?"

What the hell was this?

Masahiko nearly burst out laughing as he watched the crowd around him stare blankly...

Let them experience the logical reasoning problems that send elementary school students into misery!