Before Graduation

The siblings hadn't spent much time together before Orochimaru received a mission from the Hokage and hurriedly left the village with Jiraiya and Tsunade.

After resting at home for a full ten days, Touma suddenly received notice that the fifth- and sixth-graders would be graduating early.

Normally, they wouldn't begin assigning teams until the end of the year. Clearly, the news Orochimaru had brought back to the village leadership hadn't been good, forcing them to speed up the rebuilding of the Genin forces.

Each year at the Ninja Academy had six to eight classes, with around thirty-six students in each. That was just enough to form twelve Genin teams.

Of course, not all twelve teams would pass their instructors' evaluations. If an instructor decided that the three students on a team couldn't work together or follow orders, they would dismiss the entire team.

Those dismissed Genin would either return to the Academy for another year of training before being reassigned, or be sent outside the village to Mount Nara's Genin training camp, where intensive training would build their combat abilities.

One of Touma's childhood playmates, a boy named Kenta, had been sent to the training camp. The once cheerful, lively chubby kid had come back lean and muscular, and quiet and withdrawn.

Touma hadn't seen him in more than half a year. From what he'd heard from their other friends, Kenta had already been sent out on a special intelligence mission.

"Special intelligence missions" meant undercover work and espionage. Of course, as a Genin, Kenta wouldn't be assigned to an important intelligence post. Usually, he'd be used as a decoy to take the fall for an important intelligence operative. It was a perfectly normal practice in the Shinobi World.

Still, compared with other hidden villages, Konoha showed a little more humanity. If Kenta was used as a decoy, he'd still have a chance to be commemorated on the Memorial Stone, and his family would receive compensation.

If he'd been in the Land of Water, which was extremely hostile to Kekkei Genkai users, or the impoverished Land of Wind, he wouldn't have received even that much. Being listed among the casualties would have been lucky; most cannon fodder simply vanished beneath the endless sea or the shifting sands!

Touma wasn't worried about the team assignments at all.

Though the graduation exam was harder than it had been during the Shippuden era, it still wouldn't exceed the average Genin's abilities.

According to his big sister Orochihime, Touma had to be careful about using Wind Release Ninjutsu. The examiner randomly assigned to him might not be able to withstand his techniques.

Orochimaru thought that even a Special Jōnin might be caught off guard by Touma and lose.

Besides, the examiners for the practical test could only be Chunin and Genin who weren't out on missions. Some of the more experienced Chunin and even Special Jōnin had been temporarily assigned to prepare for the war and sent to the front lines.

Orochimaru had advised Touma to stick to Taijutsu. That would let him control his strength and reveal less information. After all, nearly ten months had passed since last year's "Great Purge," and there was no guarantee that enemy shinobi hadn't infiltrated the village.

The great nations always carried out special operations to eliminate enemy forces behind their lines before going to war. The aim was to remove potential threats.

Talented Academy students like Touma and Minato, who had already seen real combat, had probably made the hit lists of the great nations long ago.

Otherwise, Touma's mother wouldn't have been moved straight into the Kan-Kuri-Kan shop. The school was watched by shinobi from the Konoha Military Police Force, and it wasn't far from the Sarutobi Clan Compound. Any Sarutobi shinobi who heard a commotion could rush over to help as quickly as possible!

With no one at home, Touma didn't go back to stay there. He boarded at the Academy instead. He didn't bring lunch, either; once he left school, he could go into the Kan-Kuri-Kan and enjoy his mother Takako's cooking.

In the days before the exam, clan shinobi like Shibi had already returned to their clans for intensive training.

Touma wasn't worried about Shibi, though. The guy wasn't very noticeable in class, but he was definitely capable. He'd caught Touma's habit of holding back, too, and learned to control his scores until both teachers and classmates completely overlooked him.

The friend Touma was more concerned about was Haruno Kizashi, the boy with the pink star-shaped hair—and the biological father of "Betsuten Sakura," the strongest genjutsu user of the Shippuden era.

Kizashi had no real weaknesses as a shinobi; he was equally balanced in ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and genjutsu. He knew three or four Water Release and Earth Release techniques, one or two practical genjutsu techniques, and was quite skilled with ninja tools.

The one truly bizarre thing about him was that he'd suddenly zone out in the middle of battle. His body would freeze for a second or two, leaving a glaring opening for his opponent.

Touma had discussed the problem with Kizashi. According to him, he'd be analyzing how to defeat his opponent, but because he thought too much, his plans would end up contradicting each other. Then he'd get stuck choosing which one to use.

It was a textbook case of an overactive brain. He thought too much, causing his mind to overheat during battle. Put simply, his "CPU had burned out"!

But solving his problem was easy for Touma. The simplest, most direct solution was to keep him from thinking. Touma could set up combat templates for him in advance, drill them until they became muscle memory, and then Kizashi could call them up directly during a fight!

But to get Haruno Kizashi through those grueling drills, Touma had to give him a little incentive.

Touma offered a set of Medical Ninjutsu notes in exchange for hiring Kizashi's childhood friend, Mebuki Kazamatsuri, to cheer him on.

He'd gotten the notes from his big sister Orochihime. They contained Tsunade's early insights into the fundamentals of Medical Ninjutsu, and they were an irresistible temptation to Mebuki, who was determined to become a medical ninja.

"Kizashi, get up! Mebuki's cheering you on!"

"Kizashi, quit slacking! You don't want Mebuki to look down on you, do you?"

"Kizashi, control your movements! You look ridiculous from this angle. You don't want to ruin your image in Mebuki's eyes, do you?"

"Kizashi, one last round of Shuriken practice! I've already bought tickets for you and Mebuki. When you're done training, you can go watch a show in the pleasure district!"

"..."

Under Touma's relentless psychological manipulation, Haruno Kizashi's progress was astonishingly fast. He'd already drilled all five of his prepared combat templates into his muscle memory.

Of course, there was one small flaw: Kizashi couldn't choose the templates himself. Touma had to decide for him in advance for him to switch smoothly into combat mode.

But that was good enough. Before the graduation exam began, Shibi told Touma that according to inside information, if all three of them passed, they'd be assigned directly to Team 9. Their instructor would most likely be the genjutsu specialist Shinku Yuhi, who'd just been promoted to Special Jōnin!

Teacher Shinku was as famous in the village as his name suggested.

The Yuhi Clan was a small clan known for its skill with genjutsu. If a clan like that produced a talented shinobi who'd inherited its traditions, it was bound to promote him enthusiastically.

On top of that, Shinku Yuhi was very handsome. The clans that specialized in genjutsu had taken notice of him—especially the Uchiha and Kurama, two great clans with Kekkei Genkai that granted them a talent for genjutsu. They'd even gone straight to the Yuhi clan head to ask for Shinku Yuhi to marry into their families!