Graduation Exam

Year 49 of Konoha, July 1, graduation day.

The blazing sun hung high overhead, and the gates of the Konoha Ninja Academy were tightly shut. Parents waiting for the exams gathered in small groups of three or five.

The scorching sunlight made the anxious parents feel even more restless.

Some cast worried looks toward the academy gates, while others casually chatted with strangers beside them to ease their nerves. Even for ninjas who had faced life and death, on this day that concerned their children's futures, they had lost their usual composure.

A middle-aged man in a Ninja Vest, with hair like a hedgehog's spines, stood with his arms crossed. His face paint could not conceal his irritation. Watching his companion hop around, he unusually lost his patience and snapped, "Haiya, stop jumping around. Stay put."

The large wolf-like dog heard his master's rebuke and could only crawl dejectedly to his side, sitting there listlessly.

A sword-bearing ninja chuckled at the sight. "Inuzuka Yū, you're the one who's impatient. Why take it out on Haiya? Besides, what are you worried about? If your Sai can't graduate with her abilities, then hardly any students will graduate today."

Hearing the praise for his daughter, the man laughed twice and hurriedly said, "Your Hayate is pretty good too. He's just a little frail. He needs to exercise more!"

The sword-bearing ninja could not help shaking his head. Hayate's problem was not a lack of exercise. Sigh... he wondered if it had been right to let Hayate walk the path of a ninja in the first place.

While the parents discussed matters outside, the soon-to-graduate students had already completed the first round of testing, finished their papers, and handed them in. They remained in their original seats, waiting for the next round of exams—the final exam, the ninjutsu assessment.

After all, they were ninjas. Being good with a pen meant nothing; a strong fist was what truly mattered.

Before long, a Chunin examiner entered with a roster in hand.

"Next is the ninjutsu assessment. Those whose names are called will follow me to the classroom next door for testing. Those whose names are not called will remain here."

"Yagyū Ichirō!"

A boy wearing a green headband rose to his feet.

"Hyūga Yō!"

A boy with cataract-like white eyes stood up.

"..."

"Uchiha Aozora!"

When Uchiha Aozora stood, every gaze in the classroom focused on him.

Like most Uchiha, he had black hair and sharply defined features. Unlike the other Uchiha, however, he always looked half-asleep, with a smile at the corner of his lips that made him seem harmless.

"The ten of you, follow me!"

With that, the examiner turned and walked out of the classroom. The students whose names had been called hurried after him.

Once the examiner left, the restless students began whispering among themselves. At first, they quietly discussed the possible exam questions. Soon, they were loudly speculating about the results of the ten students who had gone first.

A chubby boy with a watermelon-shaped haircut stood up and declared smugly, "I bet Hyūga Yō will definitely pass!"

From his triumphant tone, anyone unaware of the truth might have thought he was Hyūga Yō himself.

The girl seated behind him punched him back into his seat, put her hands on her hips, and said, "What nonsense is this fatty talking about? If Hyūga Yō hadn't been injured during the Nine-Tails Attack, he should have graduated last year."

The watermelon-headed fatty had wanted to retort, but when he turned and saw the face paint on her face, he immediately sucked up to her. "Big Sister is right!"

Inuzuka Aya ignored the fatty's flattery. Turning to the pale-faced boy beside her, she asked, "Hayate, how many of the ten do you think will pass?"

"Cough, cough!" Gekko Hayate covered his mouth and nose with his hand, coughed lightly twice, then said, "They should all pass, right?"

"Oh?" She voiced her doubt, then tested, "Hayate, do you think they'll loosen the graduation standards like they did last year?"

Gekko Hayate nodded approvingly.

Inuzuka Aya first laughed twice, then added, "Even so, I disagree with you!"

"Is that so? Aya, please explain. Let me hear your insightful opinion," Gekko Hayate said gently.

Inuzuka Aya hummed, then shook her head as she analyzed, "Hyūga Yō, Yanagawa Ichirō... those few will definitely pass. Yoshino and Kuimu have a chance too. Their taijutsu isn't bad, after all."

"But why should Uchiha Aozora pass just because of those squinty eyes?"

"Taijutsu? Just look at his skin. He probably never even leaves his house."

"Ninjutsu? He only extracted chakra this year."

"Genjutsu? Maybe he really knows some. After all, he trains in his dreams every day!"

Inuzuka Aya was not a genius, but she was definitely one of the top students in the class. As the Big Sister, whenever she spoke, the students in the classroom could not help listening closely.

At the words "trains in his dreams," the boys smiled knowingly, while the girls grew somewhat angry and spoke up in his defense.

"Aozora isn't that useless. He's first in Ninja Tool Throwing, okay?"

"Aozora is super nice!"

"You're just jealous. Don't slander our Aozora."

"..."

Under the resentful stares of the girls in class, Inuzuka Aya rolled her eyes.

Konoha had been founded for forty-nine years already, so why had there never been a female Hokage? If female ninjas were all as shallow as they were, how could they ever become powerful ninjas?

She, Inuzuka Aya, was different. She was destined to become a female ninja as powerful as Princess Tsunade. To her, handsome men were nothing but passing clouds.

She pretended to apologize. "Sorry. I forgot. Classmate Aozora is actually quite outstanding, so he still has a chance of passing the assessment."

Just as serene, lovely smiles began to appear on the girls' lips, Inuzuka Aya added, "After all, he's so pretty. If he just smiles, maybe some male ninja won't be able to resist raising his hand and giving him a passing grade!"

"Ah, Inuzuka Aya..."

Gekko Hayate lightly shook his head and stopped paying attention to the argument in the classroom.

His gaze passed through the window, following the ten students heading toward the examination room with the teacher, and settled on Uchiha Aozora, who lagged behind them.

Among the ten, he knew the strength and background of the other nine well. Yet he could not see through Uchiha Aozora, the class's dead last.

His older brother was the Uchiha Clan's most outstanding genius, so every move Uchiha Aozora made had attracted attention when he first enrolled. Unfortunately, during six years at the academy, he had shown nothing exceptional.

He spent all year slumped over his desk sleeping, trained taijutsu without any energy, directly surrendered during sparring classes, only extracted chakra in sixth grade, and aside from inheriting the Uchiha's fine tradition in Ninja Tool Throwing, he was useless at everything else.

He looked as though, aside from his handsome face, he had nothing going for him.

Yet Gekko Hayate felt that this classmate of his was anything but simple. There was no particular reason—only the instincts of a swordsman.

He felt that the other boy was somewhat dangerous.

Gekko Hayate was right. This year was a special period. Although the buildings destroyed in the village had already been rebuilt, the dead ninjas could not be brought back to life.

Even though many ninjas had already been promoted last year, Konoha would still face a severe shortage of ninjas this year and for the years to come. Therefore, the graduation assessment at the Konoha Ninja Academy was extremely simple this time.

Whether it was Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu, as long as one had a particular specialty, one could graduate.

Uchiha Aozora walked into the examination room at an unhurried pace. His narrowed eyes opened slightly, and with a single glance from the corner of his eye, he took in the entire environment.

The chief examiner, Yamanaka Seigetsu, brightened. She examined the elegant young man, a faint smile appearing on her lips as she said, "Next is the ninjutsu assessment. Uchiha Aozora, please prepare yourself."

Uchiha Aozora stopped directly in front of the two examiners, then nodded calmly in acknowledgment.

"Please perform the Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, and Transformation Jutsu in sequence."