Ninja Academy

That was right—the Ninja Academy had an Advanced Class.

When Yichen learned yesterday that the Ninja Academy was enrolling students early, he had heard about it from a well-informed classmate.

Students who graduated from the Advanced Class were highly likely to be assigned to a Jonin Captain, while most ordinary classes could only be assigned a Chunin Captain.

A Jonin Captain... Yichen was very tempted. He had misjudged his own standing before, but now that he had a relatively accurate assessment of himself, his goals naturally differed from before.

A Mental Power test... after all, he was the fusion of two souls.

Putting everything else aside, he could tell from how he felt while reading these past few days that his energy was obviously much better than in his previous life.

As long as he slept around five hours a day, he could remain energetic all day.

Of course, that came with one condition: he could not engage in strenuous exercise.

In the days since transmigrating, Yichen had trained every day. The main exercises were running and squats. The intensity was not high, since it had originally been preparation for this year's official enrollment.

He had thought that although he was underage, he would shamelessly participate in the test anyway. As long as he met the standards, the Ninja Academy Teacher presumably would not refuse him.

Now that the Ninja Academy was enrolling students early, it had given Yichen an opportunity, but not enough time to train.

Furthermore, this body had not exercised much before. It had only just begun adapting to prolonged physical activity.

That was why Yichen lacked confidence. The memories of his previous life had frightened him; he always assumed everyone was a monster like the Konoha 11.

In fact, many ninja clans had already begun all kinds of training when their children were even younger than Yichen.

Although they did not practice refining Chakra, their physical constitutions far surpassed someone like Yichen's.

Combined with vastly better diets and the guidance of famous teachers, they truly could leave Yichen and his peers far behind.

As for someone like Yichen, with average talent and an ordinary family—whose Chunin father had only recently become a Chunin—his starting line was unquestionably far behind the children of major clans.

If he encountered no extraordinary opportunity later in life, the end of his path would be Chunin at best, and only the kind who barely became a Chunin as an adult by relying on experience.

If war came, he would only be relatively high-ranking Cannon Fodder.

Now Yichen had encountered an extraordinary opportunity. He had no old grandpa or system, but at least he possessed a mature soul. Perhaps he had some talent in areas like Genjutsu.

As for hiding his abilities? Heh!

How could that be possible? Ninja training could not be accomplished through talent alone. It required countless resources along the way.

Foods and medicinal herbs that enhanced the body, all kinds of ninja tools for cultivation, and various Ninjutsu inheritances all required payment.

It could be said that ninja were both high-income and high-consumption people. Thus, although Yichen's parents had been ninja, they had not left him many resources.

Yichen had searched through his home and found two Ninjutsu Scrolls in his parents' room.

One was Earth Release—Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall, while the other was Earth Release—Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear. One for offense and one for defense.

At this point, some might say that having two ninjutsu was already quite good. Yichen had initially thought so too.

But after carefully reading them, he was utterly dumbfounded. Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall required seventeen hand seals, while Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear required fifteen.

In other words, even if Itachi Uchiha used them, it would take two or three seconds. That was enough time for someone to stab him several times.

In his memories from his previous life, apart from the two oddballs Kakashi and Zabuza, no one used so many seals to perform offensive or defensive ninjutsu.

Speaking of which, it was necessary to mention the relationship between hand seals and ninjutsu.

First of all, performing ninjutsu did not necessarily require hand seals. Their purpose was to mobilize Chakra more smoothly.

Other than that, the only use of hand seals might be looking cool.

After reading the descriptions of the two ninjutsu, Yichen learned that at the beginner stage, one needed to practice hand seals in order to perform ninjutsu.

These hand seals were not the same as the ones Yichen had practiced alone before. His practice had only improved the flexibility of his fingers.

True hand seals allowed each seal to mobilize the Chakra within the body. Guided by the various seals, the Chakra traveled along the route needed to perform the ninjutsu before being released outside the body.

Therefore, at the beginner stage, hand seals were necessary to mobilize Chakra and perform ninjutsu.

After repeated use, both body and soul adapted to that Chakra flow route, making it possible to simplify the hand seals to a certain extent.

That was why Naruto needed eight hand seals when he first learned the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, but only needed one later.

It was because Naruto possessed an enormous Chakra Amount. After casting the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu countless times, his Chakra had long since grown accustomed to that flow route.

Furthermore, the ninjutsu recorded in Konoha's Scroll of Seals had long been simplified by countless great masters. Perhaps the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu had once required over a dozen, or even dozens, of seals.

After forming that guess, Yichen believed that others definitely possessed simplified versions of Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall and Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear. Even if they could not be reduced to one seal, there were surely versions requiring only three or five.

Naturally, those versions would cost far more than the common goods Yichen possessed.

Returning to the present, all the children before them had left. At last, it was Yichen's group's turn to be tested.

The first round was the simplest: it tested perseverance and endurance. Everyone had to run long-distance.

During the run, a Chunin Teacher would pursue them from behind at an unhurried pace. Any student caught by the Teacher would fail.

They would not be eliminated directly, but they would certainly have no hope of entering the Advanced Class. Those who were not caught would be scored according to their speed.

Quite a few children in Yichen's group clearly had physiques much stronger than ordinary people's.

Whether in explosive strength or endurance, they far surpassed Yichen and the others.

They took a huge lead from the start. In the three-thousand-meter run, they used less than half of Yichen's time. It was not that Yichen was hiding his strength; the gap in physical hardware was simply too great.

Even so, that was thanks to his intensive training over the past while.

Otherwise, Yichen was certain that even if he managed to finish, he would definitely be caught by the Chunin Teacher jogging behind them at an unhurried pace.

What upset Yichen most was not losing to those ninja clan children, but that even among the many ordinary students, his physique was merely average.

Standing at the finish line, Yichen braced his hands on his knees and gasped wildly. Although the test pace had not been much faster than usual, the pressure from the Chunin Teacher had drained far more stamina than normal.

Especially during the final sprint, the Chunin Teacher had shouted for them to speed up. Yichen and the others had been so frightened that they used every ounce of strength they had. Now, it felt as though their throats were on fire.

Watching several clan children competing against one another Not far away, Yichen pursed his lips and did not rashly cause trouble.

Those people were not his competitors.

He turned his attention to the Teachers and noticed that they were observing students like him.

After thinking about it, he understood. The entrance examination posed no difficulty for those clan children, and they would certainly enter the Advanced Class.

The real purpose was to assess students like them from ordinary ninja clans or Civilian Ninja backgrounds. The Teachers wanted to select those with potential for special attention.

After observing for a while, Yichen was somewhat disappointed. The Teachers were barely paying attention to him. Their focus was on several better-performing children among the civilian students.

Yichen stopped looking at the Teachers and instead turned his gaze toward the other testing grounds. The strength test would likely be even worse than the endurance test. He did not even know whether this scrawny body of his could pass.

His advantage was Mental Power, but how could he demonstrate it?

After a while, once everyone had rested enough, the Teachers arranged the second test for Yichen and the others. Stone blocks of varying sizes had been placed around the testing ground.

A Chunin Teacher explained, "There are thirty stone blocks of different sizes. You pass if you can lift one of the first fifteen. Everyone else fails. Your exact score will be ranked by weight. You may attempt them multiple times, and your best result will be recorded."

Yichen's lips curled upward. He somewhat understood the intention behind the test.

In the previous round, the Chunin Teacher's pursuit had not actually meant much. Whether someone was caught or not did not affect their final score. Their results were ultimately determined by speed.

But having a Teacher chase them from behind had clearly disrupted everyone's rhythm, including Yichen's.

The second round was the same. Before anyone could use Chakra, everyone's physical strength was fixed, as was the maximum weight of stone they could lift.

At this point, the test was not only assessing strength. It was also assessing the students' judgment.

If someone had an inaccurate assessment of themselves and repeatedly attempted stone blocks beyond their ability, they would not only waste their already limited strength, but also affect the Teachers' evaluation of them.

After all, if a ninja misjudged his own strength, the consequences would be disastrous. Of course, having protagonist plot armor like Uchiha Sasuke would work too.

After the Teacher finished explaining the rules, while everyone else was still hesitating, Yichen was the first to step forward and stand before the fourteenth stone block.

Taking a deep breath, he followed the weightlifting methods he had seen in his previous life and lifted the stone block step by step.

The instant he raised it, Yichen stepped back and released his grip, allowing the block to fall to the ground and kick up a cloud of dust from the dirt.

Yichen did not try the thirteenth stone block. He turned directly toward the open area and waited for the others to be tested.

Because Yichen was deliberately paying attention, he clearly sensed that many Teachers were watching him. Their attention was not because he had stepped out first, but because they were surprised by how well Yichen understood himself.

"That kid's not bad. I didn't notice him during the physical test just now. Senior Toru, how did he do earlier?" a Chunin Teacher asked.

The Chunin named Toru, who was responsible for keeping records, flipped through his notebook and said, "His physical test results were average. Even among Civilian Ninja, he's only slightly above average. He probably has no hope of entering the Advanced Class."

As he spoke, he flipped through Yichen's file again, then let out a surprised sound.

Another Chunin beside him asked curiously, "What is it? Is there something wrong with that kid?"

Toru smiled. "There is indeed something unusual about him. This kid is the reason for this early enrollment. It was because he wanted to enroll early that the matter was reported to Lord Tsuchikage. Lord Tsuchikage and the Advisor Elders then decided to hold early enrollment."

"Oh?" The people around them were somewhat surprised. They had heard of this matter but had not paid much attention to it. Now that they had encountered the person in question, they could not help giving Yichen a few more looks.

Yichen naturally noticed the Teachers observing him, and inwardly rejoiced. Ninety points for that performance. Outwardly, he remained calm and turned his gaze toward the other students.

Perhaps unwilling to let Yichen steal the spotlight, a guy a head taller than him walked to the tenth stone block and lifted it in one go.

Then, with a provocative look at Yichen, he gritted his teeth and lifted the ninth one as well.

After thinking about it, he tried the eighth one. This time, he fell just short and failed. Yet he was not discouraged, and even looked smugly at Yichen.

Yichen laughed when he saw that. Contrast was what made the difference hurt.

If this fellow had started with the eighth block, he might actually have lifted it. But after that childish display, Yichen immediately raised his own self-evaluation to ninety-five points.

And he silently said to himself, Thanks for the assist.