Class Assignment

For a child like Shangguan Yue, who lacked any family crest on his person, they wouldn't pay him the slightest bit of attention.

To them, he was just a commoner—the kind that could be found in Konoha by the handful, nothing more than cannon fodder. By comparison, it was the children of other clans who were worth their notice.

Whether it was for the continuation of clan relations or for future team dynamics, priority was always given to selecting from within those circles.

Bonds, after all, were of the utmost importance.

Now that Shangguan Yue had fused the God-Slaying Art into a Kekkei Genkai, his basic spiritual perception had completely evolved.

Wherever his heart turned and his thoughts reached, the slightest movement of the wind would be fed back into his mental web, and the energy consumption for this had been drastically reduced.

He could treat his spiritual power as a tool and his chakra as fuel; his spiritual power was inexhaustible, truly inexhaustible.

Why is this group staring at me? Forget it, better not be too flashy. I'll keep an ace up my sleeve.

Over this period, thanks to his passive devouring ability, just the act of eating had made his body increasingly strong, not to mention the Senju-style taijutsu and Diamond Style that Tsunade had given him.

The derivative techniques of Diamond Style taijutsu were Tsunade's own Strength of a Hundred Fist, Heavenly Foot, and other such combat skills.

They were specifically designed to develop physical strength and the fusion between chakra and the body; once mastered, one could directly utilize Nintaijutsu.

Currently, the strongest known Nintaijutsu was the "Lightning Release Armor" and its derivative techniques, used by the Raikage's faction in Kumogakure.

During this time, under Tsunade's grueling training, Shangguan Yue's body had improved by leaps and bounds. If Tsunade hadn't felt it was going too far and refused to increase the intensity, he could have become even stronger. Unfortunately, that woman was terrified of hurting him and forced him to stop.

Returning to the scene, Shangguan Yue and Senju Nawaki began to gradually pick up their pace, while the others were already running out of steam.

Shangguan Yue and Senju Nawaki soon began to overtake the others, arriving in front of Uchiha Fugaku.

"Yo, who is this? Do you recognize him?"

"Huh? Who? Don't know him!"

"Hahaha, me neither. Where did this little weakling come from?"

Shangguan Yue and Senju Nawaki sang in harmony as they accelerated away. Uchiha Fugaku's face turned livid; he wanted to charge forward, but his body's feedback made it difficult for him to increase his speed.

This was, after all, the world of ninjas. Physical strength was not the only point; without the reinforcement of chakra, even if one's body was stronger than an average person's, there were still limits.

Just like that, Shangguan Yue eventually lapped Uchiha Fugaku several times, while Senju Nawaki looked at Uchiha Fugaku with a smug, triumphant expression.

Uchiha Fugaku finally collapsed to the ground in exhaustion; no matter how unwilling he was, it was to no avail. Shangguan Yue looked down at Uchiha Fugaku from above.

"Trash."

Once finished, he took Senju Nawaki to remove their weights. Uchiha Fugaku's face flushed red, his eyes widening until they almost turned crimson.

Seeing that the students had all collapsed, with only Shangguan Yue and Senju Nawaki still standing, the teacher formed hand seals and whispered, "Multi Shadow Clone Technique."

A large number of clones appeared, went to the track, picked up the children, and brought them all before him.

"What a nuisance. Fine." He pointed to one of the clones. "You, go call the medical team to come and treat them."

Shangguan Yue and Senju Nawaki approached, and upon hearing this, Shangguan Yue called out.

"Teacher, there's no need. I know medical ninjutsu; let me do it."

"You... very well, give it a try."

Shangguan Yue split off his own shadow clones. He couldn't learn the Multi Shadow Clone Technique yet; he still lacked the chakra density and control required for an A-rank ninjutsu.

Shangguan Yue leaned over, his hands glowing with green light. "Self-Healing Technique." Soon, the children who had fainted from exhaustion began to wake up.

"Ugh, where am I? Eek!!! Why are there so many teachers?"

A child was startled by the sight of the multiple shadow clones. Seeing that Shangguan Yue was indeed capable, the shadow clones all vanished, turning into white smoke.

Seeing that everyone could stand, the teacher clapped his hands. "Little brats, the assessment is over. I will now read the names of those who failed; everyone else has passed."

"Inoue Matsuda, Matsushita Sae..."

They were mostly children of commoners. Afterward, those whose names were called left in tears; that reluctance and unwillingness to accept the result were truly heartbreaking.

"Why? Why did I fail? I can work hard, I can spend more time training—can't I enter the academy?"

"Little one, you can go back, persist in your physical training, and come back next year."

"However, the ninja world is cruel. Your body is too weak; becoming a ninja would only become a burden on your life."

"So, it's not that we don't want you, but that we are thinking of your lives."

"Little ones, my name is Sarutobi Hinai. I will be here waiting for you. Strive to climb higher, and come see me."

"Fine, you wait for me. Even if it costs me my life, I will become that fleeting brilliance."

Sarutobi Hinai led the successful students into the Ninja Academy. "Next, we will divide the classes..."

Shangguan Yue listened to the order of the class divisions and compared it to his own performance on the field.

I didn't expect the class divisions to be based strictly on strength. Still, Class A is pretty much what I expected.

"Class A: Shangguan Yue, Senju Nawaki... Uchiha Fugaku... Hyuga Hiashi, Hizashi Hyuga..."

"Class B:..."

"Class C:..."

"Class E..."

"I've never even heard of this Class BCE; they must all be nobodies and cannon fodder."

After the class assignments were finished, Shangguan Yue and the others followed Sarutobi Hinai to the first classroom in the row.

"Hello students, I am your teacher for the next six years at the Ninja Academy. My name is Sarutobi Hinai, and I am a Jonin.

Everyone, please come up to the stage and introduce yourselves. Let's start with you."

Sarutobi Hinai pointed at Shangguan Yue, signaling for him to go up to the stage.