Early Graduation

A week later.

Lying in bed, Shinichi gazed quietly at the new line of green text on his Personal Panel:

[Ninjutsu Proficiency (Green): Your speed at learning and mastering ninjutsu increases. Your perception and application of chakra nature and shape transformation improve significantly, allowing you to learn and reliably perform ninjutsu of the corresponding nature faster.]

The Trait was undoubtedly powerful, and would greatly benefit his future training.

Yet though Shinichi's expression remained calm, he couldn't hide his disappointment.

It wasn't blue. It was only green.

Why? Had the sensation he'd caused not been enough?

Or had too little time passed for people's impressions to take hold?

He quickly dismissed both possibilities.

Afterward, the Konoha High Command had certainly tried to limit the spread of information about the opening ceremony, to some extent, for the sake of security and secrecy.

Even so, the commotion caused by the event itself had been no less intense or widespread than the battle in which he'd defeated Kakashi and established his reputation as a Genius.

So where did the problem lie?

Shinichi's thoughts turned over as his gaze happened to pass over the [Ninja Academy Student] label in his Occupation field. A detail he'd almost forgotten suddenly flashed through his mind—the prompt that had appeared on the panel when the [Ninja Academy Student] and [Swordsmanship Apprentice] Occupation Traits had first manifested:

"Based on the Ninja (Swordsman) Occupation, from this point onward, the impressions others form of you regarding your Ninja (Swordsman) ... Occupation level determines the conversion efficiency of others' recognition of your related talents. When your Occupation level reaches the highest..."

"Occupation level determines the conversion efficiency of others' recognition of your related talents..."

Shinichi understood.

That was right. Unlike [Genius], a Trait that wasn't limited to any particular Occupation, [Ninjutsu Proficiency] clearly belonged to the field of Ninja talent.

And what was his current Ninja Occupation level?

[Ninja Academy Student]—the most basic, lowest-level rank in the Ninja system.

That Occupation level limited how efficiently recognition of his related talents could be converted.

Even if people strongly believed he was a Ninjutsu Genius, his current Occupation platform prevented that immense recognition from being efficiently converted into a higher-tier Blue Trait. In the end, it had only condensed into a Green one.

This also explained why [Taijutsu Basics (White)] had been so slow to upgrade: Taijutsu was part of Ninja talent, too.

As for his battle with Kakashi, people's attention had focused on the sword fight in the second match. So [Swordsmanship Basics (White)], which belonged to the Swordsman Occupation, was also still at the apprentice level.

But thanks to his head-on clash with the legendary White Fang Sword Style, he'd used it as a stepping stone and gained an entirely different quality of recognition. That was why it had broken through to Green in one go.

I'll have to pay more attention to this in the future.

A faint sense of ruefulness passed through Shinichi's mind.

But even if he'd known about this limitation beforehand, would he have made a different choice?

No.

Shinichi's gaze grew calm again. To him, the best power was power he could get his hands on right away.

The tangible improvement brought by the Green Trait [Ninjutsu Proficiency] was immediate. It was far more valuable than some ethereal Blue Trait that might not even manifest if the conditions weren't right.

And realistically, even if he waited until graduation, when [Ninja Academy Student] advanced to [Genin] and his Occupation's conversion efficiency improved, he might never again encounter an ideal catalyst for recognition like the opening ceremony—a moment that had drawn the attention of the entire school and even the Konoha High Command.

By then, it would probably be even harder to cause the same scale of sensation, and he might not gain more than he had this time.

Every gain came with a loss. Though his plan hadn't achieved the ideal outcome, the tangible benefits he'd gained, along with his valuable new understanding of the system's rules, were more than worth it.

Besides, the fact that he'd created the Rasengan at nine was set in stone. The story would keep circulating, continuously bringing him the recognition he needed.

Once enough time had passed, his overall Ninjutsu Trait would eventually advance to Blue.

He closed the panel and shut his eyes.

Green it is, then.

Next, it's time to move forward with graduation.

Three days later, Shinichi formally submitted an early graduation application to the Ninja Academy.

When word got out, the reaction was surprisingly subtle—almost no one was surprised. Instead, people seemed to feel it was only natural. "That's more like it," and "He should've done it ages ago," were common sentiments. Some even muttered among themselves, "Why's he only applying now?"

It wasn't hard to understand why everyone felt that way. In most people's eyes, Higashino Shinichi should've graduated long ago.

"The Genius who beat Kakashi"—that title had been famous for more than two years.

And now Hatake Kakashi, once the loser of that battle, had long since been promoted to Chunin and had spent nearly three years active on missions.

By contrast, Shinichi had remained quietly at school all this time, which seemed rather out of the ordinary.

And that was without even mentioning the Rasengan he'd developed on his own just a few days earlier at the opening ceremony, stunning the entire crowd.

An A-rank Sealless Jutsu with the potential to even reach the S-rank threshold... An achievement of that caliber was far beyond what anyone would expect of a Ninja Academy student.

In everyone's eyes, a monster who kept creating miracles and whose talent and strength were beyond question had no business staying at the Academy and studying the basics. It was a waste of time and talent.

His applying for early graduation wasn't news. The real question was why he'd waited until now.

So when his application was officially submitted, it all seemed to happen naturally, without a ripple—as if it were merely the long-awaited completion of something that should've happened ages ago.

But when the application was formally submitted and placed on the Hokage's desk, one man found himself somewhat troubled by it: Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He had no doubt Shinichi could pass the graduation exam. That wasn't even worth considering.

His original plan had been to cultivate bonds over the long term. He'd observed that Shinichi got along well with his classmates, especially his deskmates, Shizune and Ishizuka Takashi.

He'd planned to put the children together on the same team when their class graduated as usual, allowing the friendships they'd formed in their youth to deepen and solidify through missions. It was in keeping with his long-standing belief in the importance of comrades.

He hadn't expected Shinichi to apply for early graduation. After seeing him behave himself at the Academy for the past two years, he'd assumed Shinichi would complete his studies as planned... Now, the boy had thrown Hiruzen's preliminary plans into disarray.

"What kind of teammates should I assign him?"

The Third Hokage tapped his fingers lightly on the desk, deep in thought.

Kakashi?

The name flashed through his mind, but he immediately dismissed it.

He had other plans for Kakashi. Besides, the boy had become a closed-off, nearly emotionless mission machine.

Putting him on a team with Shinichi would probably do nothing to foster a bond. He might even affect—or taint—the promising young boy's sunny disposition.

Perhaps they could be teamed up much later, after Kakashi had changed.

After some thought, the Third Hokage made his decision. As long as Shinichi hadn't become a Jonin by then and his classmates or others around his age had graduated successfully, he'd find a way to put them together on the same team and personally appoint a reliable Jonin as their instructor.

Until then, he'd find this child—who'd spread his wings too early—an elder with strong political convictions, high ideals, and the steadiness to keep the situation under control and guide him along the right path.

If he couldn't rely on bonds between peers for the time being, he'd make up for it with guidance from an elder.

The Third Hokage reviewed the names on his mental list, until his gaze settled on one in particular.