Graduation

Although many students in the class liked to sleep during lessons and could be a little mischievous at times, Iruka did not consider them bad students. They simply were not very good at learning in class.

Today's practical exercise had also helped him understand some of the trainees' strengths and advantages.

With the practical exercise over, Ye Wuyue's life settled into a stable routine. Whenever he had classes, he went to the Ninja Academy to meditate. Whenever he had no classes, he found somewhere to practice swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, movement techniques, and kido. He checked in once every year.

He spent six years like that at the Ninja Academy, never truly revealing his strength or skipping any grades. After the incident in which Uchiha Setsuna had tried to assassinate him, he never encountered any more danger. It had been smooth sailing.

The rewards he received from checking in over those six years included the Flesh-Replenishing Agent, a black cloak that concealed Spiritual Pressure, the Cross Star Badge, the Gigai Creation Method, an Asauchi, and the Zanpakuto Senbonzakura.

Some of those rewards were useless to Ye Wuyue, at least completely useless in this world. For example, the black cloak that concealed Spiritual Pressure and the Cross Star Badge. While the Cross Star Badge could steal other people's Bankai, nobody in the Naruto World besides him possessed a Zanpakuto, so its ability to steal Bankai was pointless. He could hardly use it to steal his own Bankai, could he?

The remaining rewards were all more or less useful to him. The Flesh-Replenishing Agent could restore incomplete flesh and might come in handy someday. The Gigai Creation Method could create a physical vessel capable of housing a soul. It was not useful for now, but if he acquired an item like the Soul Glove or a Mod-Soul Pill that could let his soul leave his body, he could use the Gigai Creation Method to make himself several alternate bodies and roam the ninja world as he pleased.

The Asauchi was of little use to him personally, because the system said that his Zanpakuto was originally the Flowing Blade, Like Fire it had given him. Any Zanpakuto abilities he gained afterward would reside within it. If he wanted to switch Zanpakuto, all the Zanpakuto abilities he had obtained before would disappear.

That was completely unacceptable to him. He did not even know whether he had any talent as a Shinigami. What if he replaced it with an Asauchi and awakened some utterly trashy Zanpakuto ability? Besides, his current Zanpakuto already possessed three powerful abilities. There was no need to risk switching to a Zanpakuto with unknown powers.

Although the Asauchi was useless to him, he could give it to someone else. If they had a sufficiently powerful soul, they might even become a Shinigami.

As for Senbonzakura, it needed no introduction. It was practically an essential Zanpakuto for showing off. Its abilities were gorgeous, and even its Bankai was an incredibly spectacular sight. It was a fine Zanpakuto ability for Ye Wuyue, and it had likewise been incorporated into his original Asauchi.

As for his current strength, he estimated himself to be an elite Jonin. He had yet to achieve Bankai, but he already possessed the basic conditions needed to develop it.

One day in the sixty-third year of Konoha, inside Ichiraku Ramen in Konoha

Ye Wuyue wore a black Deadly Armor, with an Asauchi at his waist and a Konoha forehead protector on his head. Just yesterday, he had graduated from the Konoha Ninja Academy, though his teammates and team leader had yet to be decided. He did not know whether he would still be placed on a team with Naruto and Sakura, led by Kakashi.

"Uncle Ichiraku, one bowl of tonkotsu ramen to take away."

Ye Wuyue took out a lunch box and spoke to Uncle Ichiraku. The customers around him who had come for ramen looked curiously at what he was doing. Ye Wuyue himself felt a little awkward, but there was no helping it.

"Huh? Did you say you want to take the ramen away?" Uncle Ichiraku asked again, afraid he had misheard.

"That's right. Sorry to trouble you." Ye Wuyue nodded helplessly.

"Packing it up is possible, but if ramen isn't eaten right away, its flavor will suffer a lot. Are you sure you want it packed in a lunch box?" Uncle Ichiraku reminded him.

"Um... ahem. I have a friend who's bedridden. She really wants to eat the ramen you make, but she can't move around easily, so she asked me to bring it to her." After thinking for a moment, Ye Wuyue spoke with a serious expression.

After hearing Ye Wuyue's words, Uncle Ichiraku fell silent for a moment before suddenly becoming fired up.

"So that's how it is! Don't worry! I'll make the most delicious ramen possible for your friend! Just wait!"

Uncle Ichiraku adjusted his chef's hat and left Ye Wuyue with an invincible back...

After leaving Ichiraku Ramen, Ye Wuyue went to a dango shop on the eastern side of the village and bought quite a few sweets. By the end, both his hands were full of food.

Avoiding crowded places, Ye Wuyue slipped into a secluded grove within Konoha.

"Heart of the south, eye of the north, fingertip of the west, toe of the east, gather with the wind and scatter with the rain! Bakudo No. 58: Tracking the Sparrow."

Ye Wuyue used Kido No. 58 to sense his surroundings and found no other Spiritual Pressure nearby. Although there was no method of cultivating or using Spiritual Pressure in the Naruto World, every person with a soul possessed it, though only in very small amounts. Ye Wuyue could use Spiritual Pressure to sense whether anyone was nearby.

"Flowing Fire, come out. I've bought basically every delicacy available in the village for you."

As soon as Ye Wuyue finished speaking, the Asauchi at his waist trembled a few times. Then, a long-haired woman dressed in red suddenly appeared beside him and snatched the food from his hands.

"This is already getting cold. It's all your fault! You wouldn't let me eat at the shop and insisted on making things complicated!" Flowing Fire scolded Ye Wuyue while eating. It was unclear how she could even speak like that.

"You really can't blame me for that. If anyone found out I was bringing someone from outside the village around, our entire clan would probably suffer. Some people in the village are watching us very closely." Ye Wuyue complained to Flowing Fire.

The Uchiha Clan had been doing fairly well these past few years. Perhaps because many radicals had left Konoha, the Uchiha had lost much of their violent edge and gotten along better with the village. However, Danzo and the others still had not given up a single chance to harm the Uchiha Clan.

"Hmph! You're still too weak. Otherwise, couldn't you just cut down everyone keeping an eye on you?" Flowing Fire said to Ye Wuyue with slight disdain.

"Then how about you acknowledge me and let me achieve Bankai, Flowing Fire?" Hearing that, Ye Wuyue edged closer to her and spoke ingratiatingly.

Flowing Fire was holding a skewer of Tricolor Dango. She had already finished a bowl of ramen, two servings of oden, and two skewers of grilled squid, yet her eating speed had not slowed in the slightest. No one knew just how large her stomach was. From her appearance alone, it was impossible to imagine that she could eat so much. Her waist was barely as wide as a sheet of A4 paper.

Flowing Fire bit all three dumplings off the skewer in one bite, then waved the skewer before Ye Wuyue's eyes. "That won't do. Bankai training isn't just about earning my acknowledgment. More importantly, you need to become familiar with me and understand my characteristics. Otherwise, even if you can use Bankai, it will be incomplete, and its power won't even reach one-third of a true Bankai."