Kimura Takuya

Konoha Year 62.

June 20, just after dawn.

In a safe house in Konoha's residential district.

A boy was rapidly performing the Three Basic Techniques.

He used Transformation first, then Clone, followed by the Substitution Technique, switching places with his clone.

The boy wore a white training outfit and had black hair and eyes.

He was young, only twelve, and his name was Kimura Takuya.

He didn't even have a Forehead Protector, so he was clearly still a student who hadn't graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Yet he performed the Three Basic Techniques instantly, without hand seals!

He was far more skilled at them than many jōnin.

He practiced the Three Basic Techniques continuously for more than two hours.

He still had plenty of energy left and didn't look tired at all.

"About enough for today. It's the Ninja Academy graduation exam.

I should save some chakra. I can't overdo the act."

Kimura Takuya put together a simple meal, ate, and then headed out.

Once he'd eaten, there was no one else in his family to feed.

His parents had died during the Nine-Tails' rampage years ago.

The house had originally been destroyed by the Nine-Tails, too.

It had been rebuilt later, and Kimura Takuya, a "surviving" orphan, had been given a home.

This showed that ordinary people in Konoha lived fairly well.

After all, Konoha was the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, and its citizens benefited from that.

When he left the residential district, the shops lining the street had just opened for business.

Pedestrians came and went, and traveling merchants passed by now and then, hawking their wares as they walked.

Kimura Takuya couldn't help but marvel.

This place was as prosperous as some modern cities.

And they still insisted on calling it a village? Was it Huaxi Village?

Konoha was more than just a little bigger than it had been in the anime he'd watched.

Its population exceeded a hundred thousand, and more than five hundred students were in the same Ninja Academy class as Kimura Takuya.

The grade was divided into ten classes.

That made more sense.

Without a population base like this, where would the Five Great Shinobi Nations have gotten an Allied Shinobi Forces of eighty thousand during the Fourth Shinobi World War?

"Takuya, wait for me!"

Huh? That girl again. Women only slowed down my hand seals. I barely used them, but she still couldn't get in my way!

Besides, I was an adult on the inside. I wasn't interested in a little girl.

Maybe when she grew up.

But right now? No thanks.

Run!

Kimura Takuya took off, and the girl behind him chased after him.

The girl wore purple and had blond hair and blue eyes, tied into a high ponytail.

As she ran, her ponytail swayed, full of youthful energy.

"Takuya, you have your graduation exam today. I made you a love-filled lunch box. Eat it and you're sure to pass!

Go on ahead. Ino will bring it to you at noon!"

When she realized she couldn't catch up, Yamanaka Ino didn't insist.

After all, it was the sixth graders' graduation exam today, so students in the lower grades had the day off.

He could run for now, but he couldn't run forever!

"Takuya is so hardworking. He's in such a hurry to get to school, he must be going to review for the exam."

The girl consoled herself.

Ninja Academy.

Inside the classroom.

"This morning, you'll take exams in Ninja Knowledge and the Will of Fire. This afternoon, you'll be tested in Taijutsu. You must pass all three subjects to graduate. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes, we understand."

The teacher didn't waste time and handed out the papers.

The exam covered basic information about the shinobi villages of different nations, their areas of expertise, and the use, maintenance, repair, and crafting of ninja tools.

There were also bonus questions on battlefield tactics and strategic thinking.

The six years at the Ninja Academy covered quite a lot.

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Most of it was basic knowledge, though. The ninjutsu, taijutsu, and ninja tools they learned were limited to the Three Basic Techniques, basic taijutsu, and basic tool use.

Even so, the six-year curriculum was still demanding.

In a real-world elementary school, students mostly learned basic skills like arithmetic, phonetics, reading, and memorization.

But in the Ninja World, on top of ordinary school subjects, they also had to learn a whole range of combat skills.

The workload was truly heavy.

Fortunately, Kimura Takuya had an adult's soul, and none of the lessons over the years had been difficult for him.

For the first exam, Ninja Knowledge, Kimura Takuya answered at lightning speed.

He kept his score above eighty and finished the exam without turning it in early.

But when it came to the second subject, the special topic of the Will of Fire, he was extremely cautious.

This subject was called a graduation exam, but in reality, it was a test of loyalty.

The questions were full of traps. You might think your answer was righteous, when in fact it didn't meet the requirements.

To answer correctly, you only needed to follow one basic rule: Konoha's interests came above all else!

If your answers didn't meet the Konoha High Command's standards, failing was the least of your worries.

You might even end up with a black mark in your file.

Your advancement would be blocked, and there'd be no chance of joining the village's High Command.

But you couldn't do too well, either.

If you stood out too much, you could be assigned to Anbu or even recruited by Root.

He precisely kept his score at eighty-five!

Not too high, not too low. Just right.

After the two morning exams, the students ate their lunch boxes.

"Kimura, have you really made up your mind? Are you sure you don't want to burn with youthful passion alongside me?"

A boy in an off-white training outfit walked toward Kimura Takuya.

The boy had thick eyebrows and big eyes. When he spoke, his teeth seemed to flash with light.

Wow, so bright! So dazzling!

Kimura Takuya narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his head as he explained.

"I was recommended to the Ninja Academy by the hospital. After graduation, I'll become a medical ninja. I've already been promised a position as an assistant physician in the emergency department."

The thick-browed, big-eyed boy looked disappointed and muttered something strange about medical ninjas lacking youthful passion.

This boy was Lee, who hadn't yet become Might Guy's student.

He didn't have his signature green jumpsuit yet.

But his personality was already showing.

Had Might Guy already taken an interest in him and started spending time with him?

In the original story, Lee had no talent for ninjutsu. He was even weaker than the others at taijutsu while he was at the Ninja Academy.

He was poor at everything—ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu—a truly hopeless case in all three areas.

But his willpower was extraordinary. While everyone else played, he worked harder than the rest, spending all his time practicing taijutsu.

In the end, he caught Might Guy's attention.

He graduated as a taijutsu specialist and became a student of Might Guy, Konoha's Taijutsu Emperor.

But during his time at the Ninja Academy, being worse than everyone else and getting bullied and mocked had left him deeply insecure.

Even after defeating a genius like Uchiha Sasuke at the Chunin Ninja Exams,

he felt no pride at all. All he wanted was to earn the approval of his teacher, Might Guy.

But things were different now because Kimura Takuya was there.

Although people still mocked and excluded Lee, he now had Kimura Takuya by his side.

To conceal his true strength,

Kimura Takuya used up all his chakra before school every day, so that no one with the Byakugan could see how strong he really was.

As a result, he looked like a sickly, exhausted boy every day.

Maybe that was one of the reasons Ino was attracted to him.

But why hide his strength?

Wouldn't it be great to show what he could do, crush everyone in his class, and enjoy all the perks of being a genius?

It would be pretty great.

If not for what happened when he was young, Kimura Takuya might not have hidden his strength.

Besides, he had other special abilities that certain people couldn't be allowed to discover.

At least not until he was strong enough.