Entrance Examination

Shuichi had been in Konoha for several months now and could be considered quite familiar with the village. By his estimate, Konoha's total population exceeded one hundred thousand, so at least several hundred children took the Ninja Academy's entrance examination each year.

From what Shuichi had learned, the entrance examination consisted of three stages. The first was a physical fitness test, the second was an academic assessment, and the last tested whether they had talent for Chakra.

Because there were simply too many children taking the examination and the Ninja Academy's field was only a small circle, the children were usually divided into several groups to take turns.

Shuichi looked around and estimated that there were between four and five hundred children participating. Twenty started running at a time, and they had to complete one hundred laps in total.

After roughly half the candidates had been assessed, the ninja instructor called Shuichi's name. Shuichi entered the crowd and swept his gaze over the people beside him, only to find that he knew none of them. He ignored everything else and silently adjusted his condition.

"Start!"

At the command, all the children began to run. Since the Ninja Academy's entrance examination could not possibly be kept secret, most parents had told their children what to watch out for beforehand.

For now, everyone strictly followed their elders' instructions and ran forward at a steady pace. Shuichi had no intention of standing out yet.

He had observed from the sidelines for a long time. The physical fitness test did indeed have a time limit, but the children who came were basically all prepared.

The earlier groups had all made sure they had covered most of the course and secured a passing result before accelerating at the end to display their physical fitness as much as possible.

Soon, everyone had reached fifty laps. Shuichi heard some children already gasping for breath, while even more had begun breathing rapidly.

After briefly assessing himself and finding his stamina still abundant, he directly increased his speed. Within seconds, he went from the middle of the pack to first place. Then he maintained his current pace and quickly widened the gap between himself and the others.

A few laps later, the children in the main group grew somewhat restless when they saw what Shuichi was doing. Shuichi seemed to be running faster and faster, and before long, he would lap them completely.

Although their elders had reminded them, some children still seemed afraid of losing face. Before they had even completed three-quarters of the distance, they began sprinting early.

As the rhythm of the whole main group fell apart, those who had already been struggling immediately found themselves in misery.

During their parents' usual tests, they had only barely managed to meet the target. Now, with many relatives watching from outside and every child their age entering the field with a tense expression, they unconsciously became nervous.

The examiner had been somewhat surprised shortly after Shuichi began accelerating. At this age, the difference in children's physical fitness was relatively limited, and the group included children from four to six years old. The older-looking children should have held more of an advantage.

"Takeda Shuichi, four years old. Father: Takeda Kenta, Special Jonin, deceased. Mother: Takeda Ami, Chunin of the Medical Unit, deceased." The examiner glanced at Shuichi's file. "This child's potential is quite good. If he passes the Chakra test, he can be considered highly worth cultivating."

Konoha stipulated that only children aged six or younger were eligible for the entrance examination. As an experienced instructor, he noticed that Shuichi was still breathing evenly near the end of the run.

In the latter half, because Shuichi stood head and shoulders above the rest, his advantage in controlling his route became fully apparent.

The Ninja Academy was situated between the Hokage's Office and Konoha Hospital. One only needed to look up to see Hokage Rock, which represented how highly Konoha valued it.

When it was first established, the Previous Hokage had actually considered placing the Ninja Academy farther out. That would not only have provided more land for many people to practice on, but also allowed for simulated combat in the forest.

Back when everything was still in its infancy, everyone thought the field was far too small. It was merely a standard circle marked with lines, perhaps too cramped for both students and teachers.

Yet not long after it was put to use, the Second Hokage discovered that this field was better at testing a student's qualities than a large training ground.

For example, when running laps in a single direction, the closer one stayed to the line, the more efficient it was. A clever student would therefore make slight adjustments and lean their body inward.

At the same time, after circling around repeatedly, people would unconsciously feel slightly dizzy. As their strength declined, some students would display unsteady footwork, sometimes stepping on the line and sometimes straying far from the proper route before laboriously moving back toward it.

All of these behaviors could reflect differences in the students' physical qualities.

It was precisely because Senju Tobirama made these unexpected discoveries that most of the Ninja Academy's facilities had remained unchanged to this day.

After receiving the Second Hokage's guidance, the Ninja Academy's instructors carefully observed and recorded every student's performance while running, whether during entrance examinations or daily exercise classes after enrollment.

That was exactly why this examiner had praised Shuichi. After Shuichi overtook the others and accelerated, his footfalls always landed very close to the boundary line.

Combined with his light-looking running posture, which had not changed from start to finish, the examiner naturally noticed how different he was from the others.

Shuichi easily finished the entire course first. He had already forgotten how many laps he had put between himself and second place, but it was at least five.

Because Shuichi had thrown off the pace of the group, his group seemed to have a few more eliminated candidates than the earlier ones. Afterward, he did not feel any resentful gazes from those who had failed.

In truth, because children loved showing off, such things were common throughout the history of Ninja Academy admissions. The parents of the children who failed were merely scolding them for forgetting their instructions.

Once the examiner finished verifying their information, their group entered a classroom for the academic assessment. This stage was not very complicated. Several instructors' desks were piled with books: Ninja Code, History of Konoha Village, History of the Land of Fire, Principles of Chakra...

After each student stepped forward, the examiner would pick one at random, open it to a random page, and have the child in front of him read the contents aloud.

For new students who wanted to enroll, failing this assessment was basically unforgivable.

Soon, Shuichi's group arrived at the classroom for the third stage. This stage would test whether they had talent for Chakra. Shuichi was quite curious about it, because this was his first time coming into contact with Chakra.

"Next, an instructor will send Chakra into your bodies. They will first check whether your chakra pathways are unobstructed. Then just stay relaxed and don't be nervous. It won't take long before you are told the results." Once the third-stage examiner saw that everyone had arrived, he did not waste words and had the children line up to go one by one.

"First, Watanabe Koji."

"Second, Yamamoto Yuta."

"Seventh, Takeda Shuichi."