Determination

Upon learning the point totals of Shinji's squad, all the participating cadets stared in utter disbelief.

This was not a gap of a hundred or two hundred points; it was a massive margin that outpaced Yakumo's squad by several multiples.

In the face of such a disparity, any excuse appeared utterly feeble!

Yakumo opened her mouth, but ultimately fell silent.

She had a multitude of questions at the bottom of her heart, but as the words reached her lips, she realized that no matter what she asked, it would sound like she was making excuses for her own incompetence.

Even the habitually indifferent Kimimaro could not conceal the astonishment on his face at the moment.

He truly had not paid much attention to this assessment, but that did not mean he did not know its difficulty. Therefore, upon learning the score of Shinji's squad, he was genuinely somewhat baffled.

"Shinji, how did you guys pull this off?"

In the end, Shikamaru was the one who voiced this question.

Shinji smiled.

Elsewhere.

Having finished handling the aftermath of the battlefield, Jiraiya and Tsunade temporarily interrogated the Root operatives who had participated in the attack on Shinji, learning the circumstances of that time from their mouths.

After listening, the two of them looked at each other in dismay.

In the process of treating these Root operatives, they had already completed the verification of the identities of these Root operatives. While confirming that all the attackers were indeed Root members from the village, they also verified that this group of Root operatives matched the description in the intelligence report—a small shinobi force composed of five Jonin and a dozen Chunin.

Yet just such a shinobi force had actually been defeated by three Ninja Academy cadets.

The most crucial part was that they had