Team Shinku is Formed

The week-long graduation exam finally came to a complete end, though the results were far from optimistic.

In particular, following the consecutive accidents during the exams of Nawaki and Touma, many students chose to forgo the exam entirely, voluntarily forfeiting their eligibility just to delay their graduation by a year.

Out of nearly three hundred graduates across the fifth and sixth grades, only fifty-four students possessed the strength of a genin and were accepted by a supervising jōnin.

A graduation rate that made the academy lose face could certainly not be made public. Therefore, after consulting with the honorary principal, the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, the school decided to hold an additional supplementary exam for each class.

This time, there would be no combat assessment; instead, the test would focus directly on three areas: taijutsu, the Three Basic Jutsu, and shurikenjutsu. Passing any two of these would grant them graduation.

Naturally, because this was a supplementary exam, their supervising teachers could not be jōnin assigned from the jōnin squad; they could only be selected from experienced chūnin.

Those with good luck might be assigned to chūnin like Kizashi Moku, Tobitake Tonbo, Dokuraku, or Seishi Dairyo—individuals on the verge of promoting to special jōnin or jōnin.

Those with bad luck might end up with ninjas who only managed to promote to chūnin in their thirties or forties, under whom there was essentially no path to rapid advancement.

After all, without the status of a special jōnin or jōnin, one lacked the authority to recommend subordinates for the Chūnin Exams.

The reason Kizashi Moku fought so hard to become a jōnin was precisely because his former teammates remained trapped as genin, never having received a recommendation letter for the Chūnin Exams.

Yes, you read that correctly. The recommendation letters for the Chūnin Exams, which seemed insignificant in the era of the Fourth Shinobi World War, were exceptionally precious in this age; without one, you couldn't even participate in the exams.

This policy was originally established by Senju Tobirama to provide benefits to civilian geniuses, encouraging civilian ninjas to gather under their command to balance the power of the ninja clans.

The idea was sound, but most people would never follow the script as intended.

Once the ninja clans noticed this secret, they began to actively seize the recommendation quotas held by civilian jōnin. These civilian jōnin had no choice but to comply, as the clans, possessing numerous industries within the village, could make life impossible for them.

Unless you could directly or indirectly link yourself to the Hokage's faction and use them as your backing, you could not escape the encirclement of the ninja clans.

According to Orochimaru's statistics, nearly sixty percent of the recommendation quotas in the hands of civilian jōnin were snatched away by the ninja clans, leaving the remaining forty percent insufficient for the other civilian genin.

For civilian ninjas with mediocre talent, like the former teammates of Kizashi Moku, it was unlikely they would even receive a quota out of pity from the clans.

Most importantly, not everyone could pass the Chūnin Exams on their first try. Touma's late father, Dou Huan, was able to take the exam three times entirely because his supervising teacher was a special jōnin from the Mitokado Clan.

This Mitokado jōnin felt that Dou Huan had potential, so he reserved a fixed quota for him every year—a windfall, essentially. If one were to buy such a spot with cold, hard cash, it would likely cost seven figures in ryo.

Don't think the price is too high; even if you truly had one million ryo, it's not certain anyone would sell you that quota. After all, a chūnin can take on B-rank missions and even has the opportunity to participate in A-rank missions, making the increase in income very tangible.

Shibi's intelligence was indeed correct; he, along with Touma and Zhao, were assigned to Team 9, with the special jōnin Shinku Yuhi as their supervising teacher.

Special jōnin are not necessarily inferior to ordinary jōnin; they are usually dubbed "special" because they possess an outstanding, specialized skill in a particular field.

The real difference lies with the elite jōnin in the core circle of the jōnin squad, who are not only extremely well-rounded in all aspects but also possess excellent command and management capabilities.

Figures like Dan Katō, Hatake Sakumo, and the Sannin of the Hiruzen squad could all be called elite jōnin!

Shinku Yuhi had originally served in the illusion unit on the front lines of the border, and it was Orochimaru who specifically approved his early discharge so he could return to serve as a supervising teacher.

Orochimaru did this for Touma's sake, of course, but Shinku Yuhi was also very grateful to Orochimaru. After all, being able to return before his daughter was born and witness her first moments in this world was a memory no father would want to give up.

In fact, according to standard allocation guidelines, an illusion-type ninja like Shinku Yuhi should have been assigned subordinates with sensory and illusion capabilities.

Before the assignment, supervising teachers were also allowed to investigate their students' backgrounds and had the right to reject them once. However, upon seeing Touma's family connections, Shinku Yuhi raised no objections.

This was entirely because Shinku Yuhi actually knew Touma's late father, Dou Huan, and could even be considered close to him; the two illusion techniques Dou Huan had mastered were taught to him personally by Shinku Yuhi.

The two were essentially comrades-in-arms, having fought side-by-side during the Battle of Hot Water after the First Shinobi World War, where they had saved each other's lives.

Unfortunately, while Shinku Yuhi successfully promoted to special jōnin, Dou Huan failed the Chūnin Exams three times in a row and eventually passed away due to an accident during a mission.

Although there was a significant age gap between them, their mode of interaction was similar to that of peers, with no generation gap to speak of.

Shinku Yuhi had once wanted to take Dou Huan on missions to help him quickly accumulate the necessary mission quotas to promote to chūnin, but Dou Huan refused. He felt that if he promoted to chūnin without passing the exam, he would surely regret it later in life.

Now that he could be the supervising teacher for the posthumous child of his former brother, Shinku Yuhi would not decline; instead, he would do his utmost to protect the boy.

However, during the practical exercises after the formation of Team Shinku, he discovered that given this child's strength and combat intelligence, it seemed he didn't need his protection at all.

Especially when Shinku Yuhi heard from the other child with the pink, star-shaped hair that Touma had taken down a Hozuki Clan jōnin one-on-one during the graduation exam, he felt completely unsettled.

During his years of service at the border, Shinku Yuhi had claimed the lives of many enemy ninjas, but very few of them were at the jōnin level. After all, no matter how poor an enemy jōnin's strength might be, they would always have some means of escape.

Facing a vast border line, with the slower combat rhythm typical of illusion-type ninjas, it was truly difficult to pursue fleeing ninjas, as it was easy to fall for a feint and leave a gap in one's own defense.

Of course, there were many coincidences in that battle involving Touma.

The coincidence of discovering the opponent's identity as a member of the Hozuki Clan...

The coincidence of encountering an opportunity to use the opponent's chakra volume to suppress the core of the barrier...

The coincidence of knowing the Hozuki Clan's weakness and possessing the corresponding means to exploit it...

Furthermore, Hozuki Mitsuki had been able to enter Konoha unimpeded and remained undetected for a long time after tampering with the Barrier Pillar.

At that time, he was at his most arrogant, never believing that a child graduating from the ninja academy could pose any fatal threat to him.

It is worth noting that when Touma went to the Intelligence Division to provide his statement after the match, he learned that this Hozuki Mitsuki had actually prepared a "Reverse Summoning Scroll" in advance.

Had he activated the "Reverse Summoning Scroll" early, he could have returned to the Hozuki Clan's base in Kirigakure at top speed. Unfortunately, he believed he had plenty of time, so he hadn't activated the scroll before the match began.