It was clear that Iruka-sensei wasn't very strong. Like Yashui, he couldn't withstand the killing intent of that Anbu.
But he truly lived up to his name as a teacher, Umino Iruka. For his students' safety, he was willing to risk his life to protect them.
To be honest, Iruka-sensei only taught a few supplementary classes to Yashui's class, and he wasn't very familiar with the students. Yashui hadn't expected Iruka to step forward this time.
Even though Iruka-sensei didn't have the kind of overwhelming strength that Naruto and Sasuke did, his courage alone made him a ninja worthy of respect.
Yashui was deeply grateful to Iruka. If Iruka hadn't stepped forward, Yashui had nearly thought he was going to die right there.
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," Yashui said gratefully.
"Protecting students is a teacher's duty. Here." Iruka handed Yashui his sunglasses.
Yashui put them on, feeling that he owed Iruka a huge favor.
By then, Iruka had caught his breath. He glanced at Yashui and began to reprimand him. "Why didn't you come to class today? If something came up at home, you should have come by and asked for leave first. Luckily, you were at the training ground near the school just now. Otherwise, who knows what might have happened..."
"I've been looking for you for ages today." Iruka-sensei smiled. "But as long as you're all right..."
Remembering Iruka-sensei's character and the kindness he'd just shown him, Yashui thought to himself, I'll protect that smile.
After this incident, Yashui began taking even greater care to protect himself. It seemed that what had happened last time wasn't over yet. Somewhere in Konoha, there was surely someone powerful enough to control the Anbu who wanted him dead.
He'd been lucky to escape with his life this time. His encounter with the Anbu had given him the most useful clues for analyzing what had happened.
Yashui realized that the Anbu didn't seem like the sort who wanted to make a scene. If he had truly been desperate to kill Yashui, then even ten Iruka-senseis couldn't have stopped him.
Another thing was that, at the very beginning, the Anbu could have killed Yashui simply by adjusting the angle and force of his punch slightly. But all he did was knock off Yashui's sunglasses. Then he seemed to say that he wanted to see Yashui's eyes.
When that Chunin Anbu attacked him last time, he also seemed to have said something like, "Blame the Uchiha bloodline." It seemed Konoha's Anbu knew that Yashui's real surname was Uchiha.
Then the reason that Anbu had knocked off Yashui's sunglasses this time was to see his Sharingan!
Yashui felt a shiver of fear. The Uchiha Clan had already been wiped out, and no more Sharingan would be produced. That meant the value of each new Sharingan would rise dramatically. The rarer something was, the more valuable it became.
Thinking more carefully about the Third Hokage's actions made Yashui even more frightened. Why had the Third Hokage given him sunglasses that concealed the color of his eyes the day after Yashui awakened his Sharingan...?
At the thought of it, Yashui was overcome with dread. Konoha's political struggles were terrifying. He felt as though his life was being controlled by the powerful figures at the top. The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it got.
It seemed that from now on, Yashui would have to be careful about everything he did.
When he returned to school, he was punished by having to attend class standing on his head for the entire day. But that kind of physical punishment was nothing to the students of the Ninja Academy; their regular training was already quite intense.
That evening, Yashui returned home, ready to take Asuma's test.
"Yashui, you're finally back. I heard you missed class?" Asuma was remarkably well-informed. If even he knew, then the Third Hokage must have known too.
"Never mind. If you pass this test, you won't have to go to school for the next month. All you have to do is pass the graduation exam a month from now." The Third Hokage took a puff of his pipe.
"My test is strict. Yashui, don't think you'll pass me easily." Asuma took a puff of his cigarette too.
"Yashui-nii, do your best!" Konohamaru ran over to cheer Yashui on.
"Okay." Yashui nodded.
After dinner, Asuma led Yashui into the courtyard at the Third Hokage's home. As the Hokage, the Third had the powerful Sarutobi Clan behind him. With such immense wealth, it was hardly surprising that his home had a courtyard as large as a training ground.
Asuma and Yashui stood in the middle of the courtyard, while Konohamaru and the Third Hokage watched the test from the side.
"Yashui, do you know what the graduation requirements were at the Ninja Academy in our Hidden Leaf Village during the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars, many years ago?" Asuma asked first.
"Is this a history question?" Yashui asked in return.
"Back then, students who had trained for a year had to fight ninjas returning from the battlefield. They could graduate only if those ninjas approved of them." Asuma answered his own question. "Students with a talent for combat could become ninjas quickly, while those without it left the Ninja Academy for good and never had the chance to enter the ninja world."
"Are we using wartime graduation standards today?" Yashui asked.
"Yes." Asuma lit a cigarette and said, "I won't deliberately test you on things like the Transformation Technique or the Clone Technique. To agree to let you graduate early, I only need one simple thing: for you to earn my approval."
"I see. Asuma put a lot of thought into this," the Third Hokage said with a smile around his pipe.
"Then let's begin." Yashui nodded. He didn't think he could win.
In fact, there was no way Yashui could win this battle. Asuma was extremely strong. According to the official rankings in Naruto, his overall score remained among the top five all the way through the Chunin Ninja Exams. Against an expert like him, Yashui had no chance.
Asuma himself had also said that the goal of this battle wasn't to win, but to earn his approval.
Yashui had taken plenty of tests like this in his previous world.
Various elective physical education finals often required students to spar with one another. But when teachers graded them, they didn't give the highest marks to whoever won. They looked at whose movements were correct. It was similar with the driving test: examiners cared less about driving skill than about safety awareness.
This test had something in common with those exams. In other words, as long as Yashui performed the right combat movements and showed sound combat awareness, he could pass.
After thinking it over for a while, Yashui charged straight in and engaged Asuma in a Taijutsu match.
Asuma was a well-rounded ninja in every respect, and his Taijutsu was naturally among the best of the many ninjas.
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