Talent

"Hmph, Mirai, this time I will definitely defeat you!" Sato pointed his finger at Mirai and shouted loudly.

Mirai's expression was slightly blank as he looked at Sato and said, "Do we know each other?"

"You jerk! At least remember the names of your classmates! Sato, my name is Sato, the one you defeated during the first strength test!" Sato yelled at Mirai.

"You still remember something from that long ago? With a memory that good, your grades must be excellent," Mirai said, his expression appearing quite earnest.

The other students in the classroom let out soft laughs. Sato's family had some money, making him a sort of "second-generation rich kid." Because he was combative and aggressive, his skills weren't weak, and it seemed that in order to seek revenge on Mirai, he had trained even more than the average student, placing his strength in the upper-middle tier of the class.

However, his academic grades were at the bottom of the class. In Sato's own words, ninjas were meant for fighting, not for studying, so he never studied at all. That his grades were at the bottom was common knowledge to everyone in the class, so in the eyes of these students, they naturally took what Mirai just said as a deliberate mockery of Sato.

Sato thought the same as the others; he clenched his fists and said with an ugly expression, "Are you playing me for a fool?"

Mirai raised an eyebrow and said, "Where would you get that idea? Did I say something wrong?"

"You don't know who I am?" Sato asked, staring at Mirai.

"Sorry, I don't have any impression of things that aren't beautiful," Mirai said with a wave of his hand.

"You jerk!"

Teacher Nakamura spoke up, interrupting the conversation between the two: "Alright, stop chatting. If you want to talk, do it after you go back. Don't keep so many people waiting. Begin!"

"Yes!"

Sato clenched his fists and grinned hideously: "I'm going to make you see what I'm capable of!"

"Then please, enlighten me," Mirai said with a smile. To him, these children posed no challenge, and the system shop hadn't issued any tasks. Clearly, it felt that with Mirai's current strength, dealing with these guys didn't even count as an F-rank task. Since F-rank was the lowest level, not even reaching that meant there was absolutely no pressure.

"Take this!" Sato shouted, jumping up. He pulled several shuriken from his hand and threw them toward Mirai. The shuriken sliced through the air, spinning rapidly as they flew toward Mirai. Mirai jumped backward, dodging all of them, and the shuriken embedded themselves into the ground.

"It's not over yet!" Two kunai were fired over. Mirai dodged to the side again. The kunai had accuracy, but lacked variation, posing no threat to him whatsoever.

By this time, Sato had also rushed in front of Mirai, wanting to engage in a direct confrontation. In the Ninja Academy, they were taught basic ninjutsu, but those techniques weren't very useful in head-on combat, so it was faster and more effective to just engage in a direct melee with kunai.

Mirai also took out a kunai to clash with him. Mirai stood his ground without moving, while Sato kept shifting his body position due to Mirai's attacks, trying to find a breakthrough. Unfortunately, no matter how Sato attacked, Mirai was able to easily block him; the gap in their fundamental strength was obvious.

For Mirai, dealing with a contestant like this was too easy—a hundred times easier than dealing with Uchiha Itachi. As expected, the gap between a genius and an ordinary person in the Naruto world was truly immense.

Mirai had no intention of continuing the fight. He thrust his dagger toward the front of the rushing Sato. Sato was startled, thinking Mirai was finally launching an attack, and quickly retreated to dodge out of Mirai's attack range.

But when he looked up to look forward, Mirai was already gone. "Where did he go?" Sato felt a panic in his heart. His opponent had actually vanished. According to the textbooks, this was a major disadvantage, and he should be hiding and waiting for an opportunity to act.

A cold sensation appeared at his neck, and his body involuntarily stiffened. Mirai had appeared behind Sato at some point, holding a kunai to his throat. "You lost."

"Damn it!"

Teacher Nakamura announced: "Mirai wins!"

Seeing Mirai's performance, Minato's eyes lit up as he said to the Third Hokage, "Lord Third, Mirai is performing quite well."

The Third also nodded and said, "Although this batch of students is a 'blank period' with very few children of the right age from the ninja clans, the top students among them even surpass any previous batch."

There were many ninjas in Konoha; these ninjas were usually Genin or Chunin, not of high rank. There were also clan-based ninjas, such as the Hyuga Clan, Aburame Clan, and Uchiha Clan, which were the main sources of supply for the Konoha Ninja Academy.

However, Konoha had been in a period of war, and ninjas were constantly sent out to complete missions, so there weren't many children of the right age. Mirai's generation happened to be a gap for every clan; there were no children of the right age, so there were very few students in the class with such outstanding talent.

Minato was slightly surprised to hear the Third Hokage's assessment. The Third Hokage had been the principal of the Konoha Ninja Academy for many years and had seen many geniuses. The world-renowned Legendary Sannin were all disciples of the Third Hokage, yet the Third actually said this batch surpassed any other.

Minato glanced at all the remaining students and then asked, "Is it Mirai and Itachi?"

The Third nodded and said, "Yes, both are super geniuses. Especially Mirai; he awakened his Sharingan half a year ago, and it was a two-tomoe Sharingan right from the start. Itachi also has extraordinary talent."

Minato was truly surprised now. Half a year ago, Mirai would have been only four years old. A four-year-old child awakening the Sharingan—this couldn't be described as just "extraordinarily talented"; it was almost monstrous.

Mirai returned to his spot. Among the few people who had a good relationship with him, Uchiha Itachi had undoubtedly advanced. Mikazuki Sora and Hyuga Hiben had both entered the final round. Mirai understood Hyuga Hiben; after all, she was from the Hyuga Clan. Although she was from a branch family, the Hyuga Clan was a great family of ninjutsu.

Possessing their own inherited ninjutsu, every member of the Hyuga Clan had to train in them, and their strength was much stronger than these ordinary students. Mikazuki Sora surprised Mirai; he hadn't expected such a quiet girl to have such a solid foundation. It seemed she hadn't put in any less effort in her training, and many boys couldn't compare to her.

Shiba Bun and Cunxia Ye had been eliminated in the third round. Since they couldn't compare to Mirai and Itachi, let alone the two girls, they both felt embarrassed and, for once, were quiet and stopped bickering.