In Class Five of the six-year program, dozens of students sat apart from one another, taking the written portion of the Ninja Academy graduation exam.
They were not busy writing or racking their brains as one might have imagined. Many students stared blankly at the ceiling or blackboard, while others simply slept at their desks. There were also a few thieves and rats looking for chances to cheat.
Though there were some poor students among them, they were actually a minority. To advance to the sixth year, everyone needed a certain level of ability. Those who struggled with theory exams were mostly the ones severely "unbalanced" in their subjects—like most of the twelve little Konoha rookies in the back. They were strong and had some skill, but their theoretical grades were terrible.
However, Mirai naturally did not belong to that group. Think about it: Ninja Academy started at age six and ended at age six. In other words, graduating from here was equivalent to finishing elementary school in his previous life. Even if the studies here were a little more intensive, they could not possibly reach high school level. Though the Ninja Academy taught different subjects, it merely applied ordinary academic knowledge to ninja matters, so a high school graduate would have no trouble with these questions.
"Scratch, scratch—" After writing the final two characters, Mirai straightened his back and let out a breath. He set down his pen with his right hand, picked up his paper, and scanned it twice. Finding no problems, he rose from his seat, walked straight to the podium, handed his paper to the proctor, and left the examination room amid the envy and jealousy of every student present.
"That bastard's paper has to be blank, or full of nonsense..." the examinees behind him thought