Early the next morning, the written exam results were posted at the entrance to the Ninja Academy. Even at that hour, children and their parents had already gathered outside to check the scores.
Before long, the entire entrance was packed with people.
"I passed! I passed the written exam!"
"That means I can become a Genin no matter how I do on the Taijutsu assessment!"
Shouts like these could be heard throughout the crowd. Those who had passed were excited and overjoyed, while those who had failed said nothing and walked away dejectedly.
Naruto Uzumaki had just arrived at the school. He glanced at the crowd clogging the entrance, clenched his fists, and walked straight into the grounds instead of joining them.
He already knew how he'd done. There was no way a score of four could pass the Ninja Academy's graduation assessment. From the start, Naruto had set his sights on the Taijutsu assessment.
When Naruto entered the classroom, he found that it was unusually empty. Their Class A had more than thirty students, but at this hour only about half of them had arrived.
Naruto didn't pay it much mind. He went to his seat and sat down, waiting for Iruka. The practical assessment was different from the written exam. Before it began, the teacher would come to the classroom and explain the rules.
A little over ten minutes later, Iruka entered the room briskly with some papers in hand. Only a sparse dozen or so students were seated there. Iruka seemed surprised by the sight, but said nothing and went straight to the front of the classroom to explain the rules.
The Ninja Academy's Taijutsu assessment was simple, and not much different from their usual training. A Chunin examiner would serve as their opponent, while five judges