Graduation

Classes, review, hospital internships, emergency rescues.

On the eve of the entire ninja world descending into turmoil once again, Yamada Soji spent an exceptionally busy half-year, successfully ushering in his own Ninja Academy graduation season.

Although Yamada Soji did not receive a personal reception from the Third Hokage or other village leadership for his accidental meritorious service, the letter of appreciation from the Uchiha clan and the instructions from the Hokage Office were enough for him to secure a formal position at Konoha Hospital.

From then on, more medical records were opened to Soji;

More profound medical ninjutsu secrets were unsealed for him;

He was even granted the qualifications to attend and speak at the daily management meetings of the hospital!

Compared to the "nobody" he was a year ago, the youth was now widely revered by teachers and students alike as a genius in medical ninjutsu due to these various privileges.

But in truth, for the person involved, this evaluation from within the ivory tower could no longer stir even the slightest ripple in his heart...

Compared to the adulation of his classmates, he felt more of a sense of participating in history when he learned after the fact that the patient sent in for emergency surgery that day was the father of Sasuke in his youth.

Recalling the scene on the operating table that day, if Soji's hand had slipped, the story of Naruto might have ended right there on the spot!

...Of course, this was just an exaggeration born of subjective emotion.

Due to the intervention of a transmigrator like him, the progress of the ninja world was destined to be led down a completely different path in the future.

Therefore, regarding the so-called "original plot," Soji mostly treated it as supplementary reference for intelligence gathering. He had no intention of following it step-by-step or binding his own hands and feet for its sake.

--In order to change the face of the world, and to live a better life himself, the youth who had lived two lifetimes never hesitated to play the role of an "original work destroyer," thoroughly altering the predetermined future.

In contrast, his classmates graduating in the same cohort seemed somewhat naive and innocent.

Even knowing that the international situation in recent years was trending toward being out of control, youthful sentiment was ultimately hard to suppress...

"Are the team assignments out yet?"

"How could it be that fast..."

"I wonder who the team leader will be."

"I hope it's a powerful Jonin!"

Before the ceremony for issuing graduation certificates and awarding forehead protectors had even begun, the overcrowded small auditorium was already buzzing with chatter.

Compared to being "reserve weapons of war," the classmates before him seemed no different from ordinary elementary school students.

After six years of basic ninja training, these 12-year-old boys and girls had barely reached the basic conditions to become Genin in terms of physical fitness and various combat skills.

But in terms of mentality and worldview, they were still as fragile as unbaked clay, in a highly unstable state.

Actually, if one were to make a horizontal comparison, the energy Konoha invested in ideological education was already quite substantial, but the so-called "Will of Fire" could not be forged in a single day.

Soji had no intention of judging whether this ideological inheritance was good or bad.

But from a practical standpoint, it was indeed the simplest and most effective way to break down clan prejudices and mold Konoha into a unified, violent group capable of combat.

Unfortunately...

As the clouds of war gradually approached, the focus of the Ninja Academy's education had to shift from ideological inheritance to practical combat skills.

It was foreseeable that this lack of "soft power" would inevitably lead to a series of "difficult and complicated cases" after a full-scale war broke out.

But considering that the real world was not a historical simulation game, and the "administrative points" available to the leadership at any given time could not be conjured out of thin air through mission rewards, Soji could actually understand the upper echelons' compromise on educational issues...

Moreover, to a certain extent, this curriculum arrangement that prioritized "technique" over "the way" did indeed give genius children more room to perform.

Students from prestigious clans took the lead in the new evaluation system by virtue of their head starts, while talented commoner children stood out through their own aptitude and talent.

The philosophy of worshipping the strong promoted healthy competition to a certain extent, and among them were many special individuals with precocious minds who began paving the way for their future development early on.

And among this group of genius children, the round little fatty Akimichi Todo was undoubtedly the easiest to overlook.

"Yamada, has your work at Konoha Hospital come to an end?"

The little fatty from the Akimichi clan blinked his single-lidded eyes, sitting at a distance across from Soji, and turned to hand him a bag of biscuits.

"Yes, because of the graduation ceremony, most of today's surgeries were scheduled for the afternoon."

Soji tilted his head and smiled, accepting the snack and the goodwill offered by the other party.

"Thanks, I happen to like salty snacks."

"Really? I'm not that picky; as long as it's delicious, I'll eat anything~"

Akimichi Todo patted his round belly, but the fat accumulated on his abdomen did not ripple like an ordinary fat person's.

--The secret techniques of the Akimichi clan required the consumption of a large amount of chakra, and the Multi-Size Technique had specific requirements for the user's physique and posture. Therefore, members of the Akimichi clan needed to maintain their combat power through heavy eating on a daily basis.

However, since ninjas had a minimum threshold for mobility, the little fatty's physique was clearly the state presented after conscious shaping.

Technically speaking, Akimichi Todo belonged to the mighty and robust "plump" type of combat talent, which could not be mentioned in the same breath as an ordinary, gluttonous fat person.

...Even so, the preconceived first impression and the limitations of using secret techniques still placed Akimichi Todo relatively far back in the first tier.

Even as fellow geniuses, the impression his classmates had of him was only slightly better than "liberal arts top students" like Yamada Soji.

From this perspective, the positions of Akimichi Todo and Yamada Soji were truly somewhat "sympathetic."

It was just that one came from a prestigious clan, and the other was mature, steady, and far-sighted; establishing a friendly relationship certainly wasn't just because they happened to like each other.

In fact, organizing promising students into elite squads for centralized management was a convention that had existed since the founding of the village. Akimichi Todo choosing to curry favor with Soji—with whom he usually had an average relationship—at this moment had implications that were truly obvious.

Although the boy had not received any advance notice, he understood the situation perfectly well.

Under normal circumstances, Yamada Soji, who was already registered and working at Konoha Hospital, should not have been grouped into a standard three-man combat squad like the other students.

However, given the conflict between him and Director Chosokabe, such a unique arrangement was hardly surprising.

--While his profession as a doctor would not change, whether he would be stationed in the rear to maintain stability or dispatched to a Field Hospital to support the front lines was naturally up to the old director to decide.

Once the great war officially broke out, the primary mission of the squad Soji joined after graduation would likely be to provide security for our medical personnel, rather than venturing deep into the front lines for the most dangerous attrition warfare.

From this perspective, it was actually Akimichi Todo and the final, as-yet-unseen teammate who benefited from his presence, gaining a relatively gentle environment for growth during their formative years when their various abilities were not yet mature.

Of course, even though he had never personally experienced war, Soji understood that there was no such thing as an absolutely safe place on the battlefield.

He was well aware of the need to remain vigilant in times of peace; therefore, in addition to the necessary mental preparation, the boy also took this time to fully leverage his strengths, further refining his self-preservation capabilities based on medical ninjutsu and Accio.

--During this period, the injuries sustained by Uchiha Fugaku provided Soji with inspiration.

He utilized the connections he had built at the hospital to commission the logistics department to custom-make a set of "medical instruments" for him. With the help of these new tools, he gained a means of killing enemies at close-to-mid range that was far less restrictive than the Filth-Licking Technique!