Different Treatment

With a sharp "thunk," Shiranui Genma threw a shuriken at the target, though it did not hit the exact center.

"Your form is fairly standard. Did someone in your family serve as a ninja?" The teacher, who had been watching Genma intently from the moment he picked up the shuriken, asked casually.

"Yes. My father is a Konoha jonin." Genma nodded.

"I see. Have you had any exposure to the Three Body Technique?" The teacher picked up a form and began writing on it as he continued questioning him.

"Clone Technique!"

Hearing the teacher's question, Genma chose to answer it with action.

The teacher immediately spotted the flaws in the clone he created.

"Though it has a few imperfections, it's good enough for someone your age." Nodding, the teacher set his pen back on the desk and gestured for Genma to wait to the side.

"Mitaraishi Anko, correct?" Looking at the girl before him, the teacher pulled out a new form.

"Yes." Usually carefree and boisterous, Anko was unusually well-behaved before the teacher, obediently nodding.

"Yeees~" Kazashiro could not help mimicking Anko's tone in an affected voice from behind her, earning him a sharp glare when she turned around.

It also drew the teacher's attention.

However, the teacher said nothing. He merely gave Kazashiro a long look before turning his gaze back to Anko. "Like the previous child, throw a shuriken and let me see."

After she threw the shuriken with similarly decent form, the teacher routinely asked about Anko's family before testing her talent in ninjutsu and Illusion Techniques.

"Mm, next." Once Anko had completed her test, Kazashiro slowly walked up to the teacher.

"Name."

"Shimura Kazashiro."

"Shimura..." Upon hearing that name, the teacher's hand froze halfway toward the form. He then casually pulled it out and wrote down Kazashiro's name.

At the same time, he recalled his conversation with his colleagues before work that day.

"Did you hear? Among the students registered this time, there's not only the Third Hokage's young son, but also the Hokage Assistant's biological son."

"Really? That Hokage Assistant actually has a son!"

"You didn't know? Didn't he spend his time wandering around the streets with young master Asuma and the others recently? Among those kids strolling around, he was the cutest one."

"Then we'd better be careful. If we accidentally eliminate the children of such important people, the consequences..."

"Teacher?" Seeing that the teacher had fallen silent while holding the form for some reason, Kazashiro cautiously probed.

"Ah, oh, Shimura Kazashiro, right? Let me ask you a few simple questions first." Coming back to his senses, the teacher hurriedly put on a smile.

"When this teacher tested us just now, I don't think he smiled at all, did he?" Anko asked Genma beside her somewhat irritably.

With a toothpick in his mouth, Genma looked utterly unsurprised. "If your dad were the Hokage Assistant, the teacher would smile at you too."

"As a ninja, quick thinking is the most important quality, so I'll test your ability to think." Skipping the shuriken, ninjutsu, and Illusion Technique tests altogether, the teacher gave him full marks in every category on the form before asking his so-called question:

"Which is bigger, eight or four?"

"Uh, eight."

"That's right. Konoha's ninja generally operate in four-man squads, but the other hidden villages do not use the same organization. Iwagakure, for example, prefers large-scale group operations. Therefore, when facing eight people, our four-man squads are indeed at a disadvantage." As he explained, the teacher wrote "quick-witted, exceptionally intelligent" in the remarks section of the form.

"What is four plus four?"

"Uh, eight."

"That's right. Two four-man squads combined make eight. That is the meaning of teamwork." The teacher nodded approvingly and added another note to the form: "possesses strong team spirit."

"..." Kazashiro was speechless.

He now seriously suspected that even if he said four plus four equaled two, this guy would find some way to justify it.

"All right, next." Smiling, the teacher gestured for Kazashiro to wait with Anko. Yet the instant he saw that the next person before him was Might Guy, the smile vanished from his face.

"Teacher, I..."

"All right, go throw a shuriken first." Raising a hand to interrupt Might Guy, the teacher directly wrote his name on the form.

The son of Might Duy, the Eternal Genin? That man spent all day performing strange behavior art around the village. He was truly a disgrace to the name of Konoha ninja.

The teacher shook his head almost imperceptibly. After testing Might Guy's ninjutsu and Illusion Technique abilities, his expression visibly darkened.

This kid... aside from his commendable physical fitness, his ninjutsu and Illusion Technique abilities were simply unbearable to look at...

"Tsk, tsk. Looks like that kid's in danger..." Seeing the teacher's expression, Anko blurted it out, only for Kazashiro to lightly smack her on the head.

"Don't talk nonsense, Anko."

Anko and the others did not know, but Kazashiro did. In the future, Might Guy would use his life to demonstrate what it meant when others paid to win while he paid with his life. With an ordinary human body, he would battle bloodline monsters, nearly kicking the story straight to its ending and letting out the roar of an ordinary man in this world obsessed with bloodlines.

"Okay." Having been smacked, Anko obediently answered and said no more.

"Thank you for the support!" Their voices were not loud, but in the empty room, they carried with exceptional clarity. Might Guy, who had been looked down upon, did not show a hurt expression. Instead, he gave Anko a thumbs-up.

"This kid..." Anko looked surprised.

As the last student left the academy building, this round of admissions had come to a successful conclusion.

Looking at the thick stack of reports before him, Hiruzen gave a helpless smile. "Looks like I'll be busy for a while."

"This is your duty as Hokage." Danzo remained as steady as ever, lifting his teacup for who knew which time.

Seeing Danzo looking so leisurely, Hiruzen somewhat petulantly pulled out part of the forms and placed them before him. "You bastard, did you really just come here to drink tea?"

"I am merely here as a parent, waiting for my son." Danzo glanced at the forms before him and did not even have the motivation to reach for them.

Root was conducting secret reforms for Danzo's ambitions, so he had no intention of recruiting personnel recently. As for the ANBU trained for the Hokage...

Hiruzen could worry about that himself.