School and Assessment

Senju Nawaki had become a perfect politician; he could lie without changing his expression, even while facing a crowd of children with their innocent gazes. Not only did he feel no guilt, but he was actually filled with joy after harvesting their Wish Power and adoration.

"I don't know what he's saying, but it sounds really impressive." This was a background character with average intelligence.

"Is he really only two years old? How is he taller than me?" This was a smarter one who spotted the main point, though still a background character.

"So handsome!" "So cool!" "I love him!" These were the fan-girls.

"He actually publicly announced he wants to become Hokage? The young clan heir has great ambition!" These were the members of the Senju Clan.

"The Will of Fire? What a magnificent belief! I must work even harder!" These were Hiashi and Hizashi, who had been completely swayed.

"Tch! What's there to be proud of? What a show-off brat! How could I ever be friends with a kid like that? I'll show him sooner or later!" This was, of course, the father of the Second Pillar—Big Pillar.

From that day on, Nawaki became the center of attention in class. However, once lessons began, he found the learning at the Ninja Academy far too simple. He understood the so-called theory better than the teachers; it was a complete waste of time.

Therefore, starting the next day, he created a Shadow Clone to attend school in his place, while he began practicing ninjutsu of various elemental natures and continued his taijutsu training.

Because his body had not yet fully developed and his chakra was insufficient, he did not rashly attempt the other forbidden techniques in the Scroll of Sealing. Instead, he began practicing various levels of ninjutsu across the five elemental attributes to train his hand-seal speed and one-handed seals. He could now perform four seals per second, but he had yet to master one-handed seals, which still couldn't compare to the speed of Itachi, whose movements were too fast even for the Sharingan to track. Nawaki speculated that the younger one was, the easier it was to improve hand speed; in the original story, very few people ever made a breakthrough in seal speed, as it was essentially set in stone.

Seal speed was the foundation for the vast majority of ninjutsu. Aside from a very small number of seal-less techniques and taijutsu, even bloodline limit techniques required seals. Thus, he needed to increase his speed, striving to cast all Wood Release techniques within one second. As far as he knew, the ninjutsu with the most seals was the B-rank Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique, which required forty-four seals. Although the Second Hokage could simplify it, it still took several seconds to complete. Fortunately, Wood Release required at most six seals, so as long as he mastered one-handed seals, he could cast any Wood Release technique within a second.

At the same time, he began training in nature transformation. Although his innate affinity for all seven attributes allowed him to cast ninjutsu of any nature, some seal-less techniques required a high level of nature transformation, so he still needed to train to master them completely. Since he could only maintain a few Shadow Clones, his progress wasn't very fast, but he would eventually succeed in mastering all nature transformations.

"So, the principle of the five elements' mutual restraint is as follows..." Matsushita Ida, the chunin in charge of the elite class, noticed that the youngest student, Senju Nawaki, was slumped over his desk staring blankly. He asked, "Student Nawaki, if you were attacked by Fire Style, which ninjutsu should you choose to defend?"

"Matsushita-sensei, specific situations require specific analysis. If it is a C-rank Fire Style like the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique, which has a small range, it is best to use taijutsu to dodge or use the Substitution Technique. There is no need to waste chakra on defensive ninjutsu. Of course, if the goal is to protect others, it is best to use the C-rank Water Style: Water Wave to extinguish the opponent's technique."

"If it is a large-scale B-rank Fire Style like the Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon Technique, and you cannot use the Substitution Technique to dodge, it is best to use the Water Style: Water Formation Wall for defense because that technique requires seals to be performed quickly."

"If it is an A-rank ninjutsu like the Majestic Destroyer Flame, an ultra-wide-range Fire Style, such a technique is most likely to appear on the battlefield. Therefore, it is best for multiple people to cast the Water Formation Wall together. If alone, one should use the Water Wall Technique for defense, or use the Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique to extinguish it in advance. As for S-rank Fire Style, it has never appeared in the Shinobi World, so it need not be considered."

"Matsushita-sensei, do you think I am correct?"

What could Matsushita say? He hadn't even heard of some of those techniques; he was just as confused as anyone.

"Oh... very good! You may sit down." He felt as if he had just been given a lesson by this two-year-old student. Was this what a genius was? Was this the foundation of a prestigious clan? Wasn't this a bit too exaggerated? Matsushita's confidence suffered an unprecedented blow.

"So impressive!"

"So handsome! He feels even more capable than the teacher!"

"Tch, showing off again!"

The students in the classroom were buzzing with discussion, and Matsushita was so shaken and distracted that, well... the lesson could no longer continue.

After this class, Matsushita never interfered with Nawaki's behavior again. He let him do whatever he wanted—staring blankly or sleeping—as long as he didn't disrupt the teaching. Once Nawaki discovered Matsushita's bottom line, he ordered his Shadow Clone to practice nature transformation using leaves during class. Even Matsushita couldn't figure out what he was doing, assuming he was just spacing out while holding a leaf.

Soon, half a year passed. The Ninja Academy only taught students how to extract chakra, the Three Basic Techniques, and Shurikenjutsu; all other training was left to the students themselves, and there were never any formal ninjutsu training classes.

However, there would be an assessment at the end of each semester. The content of the assessment consisted of the Three Basic Techniques, Shurikenjutsu, and actual combat.

First was the assessment of the Three Basic Techniques. Since a Shadow Clone could not cast the Clone Technique, Nawaki had to come to school in person to take the exam. (This sentence is truly awkward.)

"Nawaki, it's your turn." As Matsushita called his name, everyone's eyes focused on Nawaki.

Nawaki's hands moved rapidly through different changes. In less than a second, he had completed the casting of three ninjutsu in succession. With three distinct "poof" sounds, a chair appeared where Nawaki had been standing, and Nawaki was sitting on it, motionless.

Matsushita saw at a glance that the person sitting on the chair was a clone, but he could not find the real Nawaki. "Nawaki, come out?"

With another "poof," the chair beside Matsushita turned into Nawaki.

Cold sweat broke out on Matsushita's forehead. "He completed three ninjutsu in less than a second? He used the Substitution Technique to swap places with the chair while simultaneously using the Transformation Technique to become the chair, and the clone was already sitting on it. The three ninjutsu were completed almost simultaneously; even I, a chunin teacher, couldn't spot the flaw. His mastery of the Three Basic Techniques has reached perfection, even stronger than me! This is no longer something that can be described as genius; he is simply a monster!"

The surrounding students only understood what had happened in that instant after hearing Matsushita's explanation.

"So cool! Nawaki-kun is the best!"

"So... so impressive!"

"Even the teacher feels inferior? Is this the power of belief, Nawaki-kun?"

"Damn it! This brat is actually this strong? Once I awaken my eyes, I'll definitely be able to see through it!"