Taiichi's Early Graduation (Seeking Monthly Votes, Follow-ups, and Recommendation Votes)

Kakashi's early graduation greatly stirred everyone's enthusiasm for studying. From that day on, Taiichi clearly felt that everyone trained much harder. Even Obito had unusually stopped being late.

But enthusiasm always faded, and laziness was human nature. Unlike Taiichi, no one else had a panel that let them check their progress at any time and constantly kept them motivated. Naturally, after more than a week of hard work, everyone gradually returned to their old routines. Those who should be late were late, those who should sleep slept, and those who should snack snacked.

Taiichi trained as usual, only resting after he had nearly exhausted all his energy each day. These dull, repetitive days continued until the end of the second grade term.

That day, Taiichi also submitted an application for early graduation. This once again caused a stir throughout the school, and the application was quickly placed on the Hokage's desk. Hiruzen Sarutobi merely sighed as he looked at it. "They are all Konoha's young shoots." Then he readily signed it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew Taiichi's strength. Over the past year or so, Tsunade had helped Taiichi apply for a hospital internship permit during every break. After his internships, Taiichi would occasionally train with Tsunade or Jiraiya.

Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi often used the Telescope Technique, so he naturally saw Taiichi and Kakashi sparring frequently. Kakashi had already graduated early, so how could Taiichi, who was evenly matched with Kakashi, not do the same?

Once the school received approval, it quickly arranged Taiichi's graduation assessment, hoping he could graduate alongside the normally graduating sixth-years of this class. That way, during the subsequent team assignments, he would not have to wait a whole month after graduating like Kakashi had before finding a suitable team to join.

Taiichi breathed a sigh of relief when he received the assessment notice. Once he graduated, he could change his ninja class. Being stuck here every day had wasted quite a bit of class experience.

More than a year of training had greatly improved Taiichi's strength. It was no exaggeration to say that he could now handle an ordinary Chunin with ease.

Name: Taichi Matsushita

Class: Genin Lv10 Max Level

Talents: Diligence Makes Up for Mediocrity, Academic Overachiever

Age: 7

Constitution: 18 (increased by 1 point through long-term training)

Strength: 19 (increased by 1 point through long-term training)

Agility: 17 (increased by 2 points through long-term training)

Spirit: 22

Chakra: 12000 (14200)

Attribute Points: 12

Skill Points: 13

Fire Nature Transformation Lv6 (823/1000)

Wind Release Nature Transformation Lv6 (363/1000)

Water Nature Transformation Lv5 (574/800)

Yang Release Nature Transformation Lv6 (454/800)

Skills: Advanced Taijutsu Lv0 (844/1000), Advanced Meditation Lv0 (867/1000), Hatake Style Kenjutsu Lv10 (634/2000), Body Flicker Technique Lv6 (536/1000)

[Fire Style: B-rank Fire Dragon Flame Bullet Lv7 (753/1200), B-rank Searing Migraine Lv3 (321/400)]

[Wind Style: C-rank Air Palm Lv8 (683/1400), B-rank Pressure Damage Lv3 (321/400)]

[Water Style: B-rank Water Formation Wall Lv8 (653/1200), C-rank Water Prison Lv5 (221/800), C-rank Water Clone Lv5 (432/800), B-rank Water Dragon Bullet Lv3 (221/400)]

[Medical Ninjutsu: Mystical Palm Technique Lv9 (323/1600), Delicate Illness Extraction Technique Lv8 (463/1400), Chakra Scalpel Lv6 (464/1000)]

[Max Level: Ninja Tool Throwing, Three Body Technique, Flame Bullet, Phoenix Sage Fire, Great Breakthrough...]

Evaluation: You are about to graduate. The true Ninja World awaits you.

Taiichi felt gratified as he looked at the new panel, but the one thing that frustrated him was how difficult Advanced Taijutsu and Advanced Meditation were to train. A whole year had passed, yet neither had reached Lv1. Thinking about the progress ahead gave Taiichi a headache. Fortunately, he had not used any of his previous Skill Points. If leveling became truly difficult later on, he could only use Skill Points when needed.

In the blink of an eye, assessment day arrived. Sarutobi Matsuya, the Jonin from last time, was once again Taiichi's proctor, while the examiner had been changed to a Chunin named Nagashima Hikaru. The process was the same, but since it was also the school's examination day, there were no students watching. Quite a few teachers had come, though.

Taiichi and Chunin Nagashima Hikaru entered the field and formed the Seal of Confrontation. With Sarutobi Jonin's shout of "Begin," the battle commenced.

Taiichi did not hold back and attacked first. His hands flew through the seals, and in just over a second, he had completed the hand signs for Phoenix Sage Fire. So fast! Every ninja watching had the same thought. Taiichi then spat out twenty-four Fireballs in succession, in pairs, attacking Chunin Nagashima from different directions.

Nagashima had already been startled by Taiichi's hand seal speed. When he saw the twenty-four Fireballs coming at him one after another, he was utterly shocked. "Is this really Phoenix Sage Fire? Why are there so many?" As the thought crossed his mind, he used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge to the side.

The moment he left his original position, the first pair of Fireballs slammed into where he had been standing. Boom! Boom!

"The power of each Fireball is comparable to Flame Bullet!" the teachers at the edge of the field murmured.

Nagashima broke out in a cold sweat when he saw the power of those two Fireballs, but he soon had no time to worry about that. As he moved, the remaining Fireballs subtly adjusted their trajectories and pursued him. This thoroughly frightened him, and he hurriedly continued using the Body Flicker Technique to evade them.

Being able to alter the direction of a ninjutsu after it had been launched was not something just anyone could do.

In truth, this was an ability Taiichi had only recently mastered. When his Nature Transformation reached Lv6, he felt that his understanding and control of the corresponding elemental ninjutsu had reached a certain level. Lv6 Nature Transformation was already Jonin-level, and combined with spiritual power that was no weaker than a Jonin's, Taiichi could finally make subtle adjustments after launching ninjutsu.

Of course, he could only make minor adjustments for now. It was enough to frighten a Chunin like Nagashima, who was seeing it for the first time. Once Taiichi became even stronger in the future, the power and tactical value of this move would become far greater.

As Chunin Nagashima frantically dodged, his attention gradually shifted away from Taiichi. At that moment, Taiichi drew his Short Sword and likewise used the Body Flicker Technique to intercept Nagashima's path of retreat.

By the time Nagashima noticed Taiichi, it was already too late. He could only hastily block Taiichi's descending blade. Nagashima could no longer be described as merely flustered. Having underestimated his opponent and lost the initiative, he was now struggling even to defend himself.

Sure enough, after another five slashes, Taiichi successfully knocked aside the Kunai Nagashima was using to defend, leaving him completely exposed. Taiichi took the opportunity to transfer his sword to his left hand, stepped forward, and drove a right hook into Nagashima's abdomen. As Nagashima bent over from the blow, the long blade was already pressed against his neck.

"Taichi Matsushita wins!" Sarutobi Jonin announced.

It had taken a long time to describe, but the entire match had lasted less than a minute. It had ended far too quickly, and the spectators at the edge of the field only came to their senses after Sarutobi Jonin's declaration, immediately breaking into discussion.

"That was way too fast!"

"That kid is incredible!"

"Nagashima underestimated him too much."

"Don't you think his Phoenix Sage Fire was amazing? He released so many Fireballs at once."

"Exactly. Not only were there a lot of them, but they were incredibly powerful."

"It must be a newly improved technique."

The discussion at the edge of the field left Nagashima Hikaru, standing in the arena, too ashamed to show his face. Losing was humiliating enough, but he had lost so quickly because he had underestimated his opponent. After thinking it over, Nagashima greeted Sarutobi Jonin and hurried away.

Watching Nagashima Hikaru leave, Sarutobi Jonin could not help shaking his head. Nagashima himself did not understand and believed he had lost only because he had underestimated Taiichi. But Sarutobi Matsuya had seen it clearly. At the very least, Taichi Matsushita's mastery of Fire Style had already reached Jonin level. What he lacked now was experience and physical conditioning. So Nagashima Hikaru had not lost unfairly.

With that thought, he turned to Taiichi, who was walking over, and said kindly, "Taichi Matsushita, you have passed the assessment. You only need to graduate together with this year's sixth-years now. Remember to come to school tomorrow for class assignment."

"I understand. Thank you for your trouble, Sarutobi Jonin."