Graduates

The start of the school year was always busy. The newly enrolled kids needed testing, evaluation, and class assignments.

Students preparing to graduate needed exams and a graduation ceremony.

GOOGLE search TWKAN

This kind of situation only happened with collective early graduation. Under the normal six-year system, the ceremony would have been held at the end of the previous semester, around mid-March, when other classes were still on spring break and new students hadn't enrolled yet.

So when all these things piled up together, there weren't enough teachers. They even had to follow procedure and issue a few D-Rank Missions, calling in some Genin squads to help maintain order.

Even though they were in the middle of a war, nothing could be simplified. On the contrary, it had to be more grand. Only with that grandeur could the freshly graduated new leaves feel a stronger sense of mission and ceremony, igniting a blazing Will of Fire.

The April opening day these years was destined to be a stage for the new students and the graduates.

As for students like Higashino Makoto, who were in their Second Year or above and hadn't applied for early graduation, they were temporarily set loose. Today, they only had half a day of class, and it was self-study—do whatever you want.

The classroom was noisy. Some people stood in the hallway watching the new students' entrance tests, critiquing those eager Junior Students.

Others chatted inside the classroom, talking about the classmates who had applied for early graduation.

Higashino Makoto sat quietly in his seat, staring out the window at the scenery.

His left index and middle fingers held a leaf. The poor leaf was first enveloped in chakra, turning into wildly writhing seaweed, but it was tough—no matter how it bent, it wouldn't break.

Then its color deepened, becoming rock-hard, like a piece of black stone carved into the shape of a leaf.

Finally, this stone-like leaf was split in two by chakra. The two halves continued to split as they fell, until they turned into a pile of fine powder, scattering with the wind.

This was the result of Higashino Makoto training his Wind, Water, and Earth Chakra Natures to an extremely high standard.

Water's flexibility, Earth's heaviness and hardness combined with decomposition, and Wind's cutting power.

As the leaf disappeared, Higashino Makoto's fingers twitched. From the pile of leaves under his desk, another one floated up lightly, landing precisely between his two fingers, repeating the same transformation process again.

For him, any time was training time. Even sitting in the classroom like his Classmates, seemingly idle, the Nature Transformation in his hands never stopped for a moment.

Compared to loud talk, he was more absorbed in training. His ever-growing Chakra Amount supported this kind of effort—most people couldn't even learn it if they wanted to, lacking the Connections.

After all, he was an adult. He couldn't really chat with those Kids who liked to brag and stare at Handsome guys. He'd already done that kind of thing in his Previous Life when he was young.

Living a second life, only training to Become Stronger in this world could keep him endlessly entertained. Becoming a ninja was just one of the incidental interests along the path of training.

Beside him, Uzuki Yugao lowered her head, struggling with the leaf in her hand. But for now, she could only manage to split an ordinary leaf twice, not cut it into a pile of powder like Higashino Makoto.

Her Chakra Nature was Wind, only one type—just like Naruto would have later.

Hayate Gekko's natural attributes were Wind and Water.

It was a coincidence—they all had Wind. Even Shisui had it. His natural attributes were three: Wind, Fire, and Lightning. Plus, being from the Uchiha Clan, he also counted as having Yin Release.

The Wind attribute was very common in Sunagakure, but Konoha actually had plenty too. For example, all three of Higashino Makoto's close friends had it.

Since everyone naturally possessed Wind Release Chakra, Higashino Makoto naturally didn't hoard his knowledge. He often shared his training methods and insights with them.

But their progress was nowhere near his level. Only Uchiha Shisui was a bit better, but he was still far from reaching where Higashino Makoto was now.

That was the pace of a Regular Ninja training in Nature Transformation.

They couldn't use Naruto's thousand-person cheat mode to compress years into days, nor did they have Higashino Makoto's conditions of being bathed in Natural Energy every day to reshape his body. They could only grind it out with time.

"Hey, hey, Makoto Brother, isn't there a better way? It's been two years, and I can still only do this much. When will I be like you?"

Uzuki Yugao tossed the broken leaf aside and started her daily complaint.

"Not for now. When I find a way, I'll tell you." Higashino Makoto glanced at the empty seats beside them as he spoke, then continued, "It's about time. Let's go check on Hayate and the others in the General Classroom."

"Right, right, let's go welcome them."

The two of them left the classroom. Quite a few Classmates who had the same idea followed behind them.

The General Classroom was a huge lecture hall, usually used for school-wide assemblies, capable of holding several hundred people at once.

Right now, its doors were tightly shut, and the Graduation Exam was being held inside.

The exam wasn't difficult. Usually, they picked any one of the Basic Three Body Techniques as the test subject. But since it was wartime, the requirements were higher—they might test all three.

On the open ground outside the classroom, quite a few students stood around, waiting for the exam results. They wanted to see who had successfully graduated early and who had become a pitiful failure.

After a while, the classroom door opened. The students who had taken the exam filed out in twos and threes. Unlike when they went in, each of them now had a brand-new Konoha Headband tied around their forehead—or, for some, worn on other parts of their body.

This was the mark of becoming an official ninja.

From now on, these people were no longer Ninja Academy students. They were ninjas. Some of them kept touching their headbands, smug expressions on their faces. When they looked at the watching students, they seemed to have naturally aged a few years, as if looking at Juniors.

In truth, their ages weren't that different.

"Wow, so cool. I want one too." The watching students let out envious sighs in unison.

Everyone recommended for graduation was basically a good student. No one had failed.

This gave many Same Age students the illusion that early graduation wasn't all that hard.

"I could do that too.jpg."

"Hayate Brother, Shisui, we're over here."

Uzuki Yugao called out to the Crowd.

At this time, Hayate and Shisui were the same—they simply tied their forehead protectors across their foreheads, not yet wrapping a headband around their entire heads like they would later.

Hearing the voices, both of them smiled and walked over. Graduating smoothly was indeed something worth celebrating.

Higashino Makoto's gaze passed over them, looking at the students who had graduated early this year. Aside from a few, most of them he didn't recognize.

In his class, there were seven or eight people, including Uchiha Shisui, Hyuga Tokuma, and Aburame Muta. Most of the others who had applied for early graduation from other classes were also clan disciples, with fewer Commoner Ninja.

That would thin out the class a bit, but it wasn't a big deal—they'd merge classes later.

Among those in Hayate's year, he only recognized two familiar faces. They looked like they'd become the future gate guards, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane.

So they were in the same year as Hayate Gekko, but they didn't seem very close, probably not in the same class.

There was also a girl following behind Hayate, and the two seemed to get along well, but she was just there to welcome him, not a graduate.

Higashino Makoto asked curiously, "Hayate, is this... your Classmate?"

"Yeah, she's my Classmate. Her name is Tsubaki."

Then Hayate introduced his friends to Tsubaki, and they all officially got to know each other.

Higashino Makoto glanced at the girl. Her face wasn't familiar—the difference between the real world and the anime character designs was huge.

But from her name, she seemed to be Mizuki's future Girlfriend.

Checking the time, Higashino Makoto waved his hand grandly. "It's about time school's out. Let me treat you all to a meal, to celebrate you and Shisui graduating smoothly."

Uchiha Shisui and Hayate Gekko smiled. They'd been hanging out together for so long that there was no need to be shy. Even Shisui had long since loosened up, no longer as stiff and polite as when they first met.

Tsubaki looked a bit embarrassed, but Hayate said, "Come on, join us. This guy, Makoto, always has more allowance than us, and he doesn't waste it—he's saved up quite a bit."

Tsubaki blushed and nodded.

Uzuki Yugao suddenly threw an arm around Hayate Gekko and extended her right pinky. "Hey, Hayate Brother, this couldn't be your... hehehe."

"Cough, cough, cough!" Hayate Gekko forced a few coughs and, as usual, gave Yugao a light punch on the head. "You idiot, don't talk nonsense."

Tsubaki's face turned even redder, while Shisui and Higashino Makoto wore knowing grins.

The empty space outside the classroom suddenly filled with a lighthearted atmosphere.