Entrance Exam

After pouring all his energy into improving his strength, life became plain and ordinary. Although every day was exhausting, Ito Makoto felt that his current life was more fulfilling than before.

In the blink of an eye, a year passed in an instant.

Ito Makoto and Sakura welcomed the day of the Ninja Academy entrance exam.

"A-Cheng, are you ready?" Mika called out to Ito Makoto from the living room.

Today was the day of the Ninja Academy entrance exam, and she had specifically taken leave from the hospital to accompany her child to handle the enrollment procedures.

"I'm ready."

Ito Makoto walked out of his room wearing a black tracksuit and a pair of sunglasses.

Mika looked at Ito Makoto's outfit and said with dissatisfaction, "Honestly, you're just a little kid, why do you always love wearing sunglasses?"

Ito Makoto felt helpless; he didn't like wearing sunglasses either, as they obstructed his vision too much.

However, he couldn't expose his Sharingan yet. During the Ninja Academy entrance exam, there might be ninjas using ninjutsu he hadn't learned yet. If he wanted to use the Sharingan to copy those techniques, he had to use sunglasses to hide his eyes.

Seeing that Ito Makoto was ready and the agreed-upon time had arrived, Mika took him out the door to meet up with Haruno Mebuki and Sakura, and they headed to the Ninja Academy together.

Along the way, Sakura appeared very nervous, her gait even looking quite stiff.

Ito Makoto couldn't help but comfort her, "Sakura, it's fine. The Ninja Academy entrance exam is very simple; you only need to refine chakra to pass. You refined chakra half a year ago, so passing the test will be a breeze."

"A-Cheng, I know." Hearing his explanation, Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Although she still looked like she was facing a formidable enemy, the stiffness had vanished.

"Relax, relax. It'll be fine." Ito Makoto said with a smile, "But, Sakura, you used to call me Brother Xiao Cheng, why did you suddenly start calling me A-Cheng a while ago?"

Sakura's face flushed red.

"Who told you to wear green spandex every day and run around with a perverted old man?"

"Hey, hey, Sakura, I wasn't just running around, that was training." Ito Makoto hurriedly explained; the thing he feared most had happened. He didn't want to be labeled a pervert.

"The green spandex is a necessary condition for training in taijutsu with that perverted old man. Pfft—that old man isn't a pervert, either. You should know he is a legendary figure in the world of taijutsu—Might Guy."

"A legendary figure? I've never heard of him."

Sakura clearly didn't believe him; as she grew older, she was becoming harder to fool.

"The current Ninja Academy entrance exam is actually related to his father." Ito Makoto began to recount history to prove himself.

"Back in the day, if you couldn't perform a ninjutsu at the time of enrollment, you couldn't get into the Ninja Academy. The green-spandex-wearing Might Guy and his father Might Duy happened to be the type who couldn't use ninjutsu."

"But they both relied on their outstanding performance in taijutsu to get the Ninja Academy to make an exception for their enrollment. After that, Might Duy even single-handedly fought seven opponents, killing four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen from the Land of Water. You have to realize, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were the peak combat power of Kirigakure, a village of a Great Nation."

"It was also after that incident that the Ninja Academy realized that even if a ninja only knew taijutsu, they could possess powerful combat strength. Because of this, the Ninja Academy abolished the rule that one must master ninjutsu to enroll, changing it so that as long as one's physical fitness met the standard and one could refine chakra, they could successfully enroll."

"So that's how it is." Sakura nodded, "But what does that have to do with you wearing green spandex?"

To be honest, it didn't have much to do with it. Might Guy hadn't explicitly said he wouldn't teach him taijutsu if he didn't wear the spandex; it was just that the atmosphere was right, and to prove his sincerity and get closer to Might Guy, he couldn't very well not wear it.

Ito Makoto suddenly felt he had no way to refute her. He didn't know why, but Sakura had become harder to fool lately. She had been so cute before.

"That was a great story, even I hadn't heard of these things. I wonder where you learned this, A-Cheng." Mika suddenly interjected.

Hey, Mom, don't stir up trouble right now. Ito Makoto looked resentfully at the smiling Mika. This mother of his was also becoming less serious, thinking only of watching him make a fool of himself all day.

He had deduced it from the original plot. How could the ninja village just casually make such specific political inside information public? Although he couldn't guarantee it was one hundred percent accurate, it was likely close enough. He just hadn't expected his own mother to undercut him directly.

"Even Auntie Mika doesn't know, so how do you know? You really were lying to me, you little liar A-Cheng." Sakura said, pouting. Compared to Ito Makoto, she naturally trusted Mika, an adult, more.

It's over. If this keeps up, his image in Sakura's eyes will really become that of a pervert.

Ito Makoto continued to explain, attempting to reverse Sakura's negative perception, but it only made things worse.

Mika and Mebuki watched the two interact with smiles on their faces; they both loved watching this kind of drama.

After bickering all the way, before they knew it, the group had arrived at the Ninja Academy.

Although Ito Makoto had become a pervert in Sakura's eyes during that short walk, Sakura had indeed lost her nervousness. She was completely relaxed.

At this moment, thousands of people had gathered in front of the Ninja Academy, packing the area in front of the gate.

The Ninja Academy recruited students once a year, and each class admitted hundreds of age-appropriate children.

Right now, in front of the Ninja Academy, there were over a thousand children alone. Adding the parents who were accompanying them, thousands of people were crowded in front of the school gate.

"The number of participants this year is still so high!" Mika looked at the sea of people before her and sighed.

"There's no help for it. This is the only chance for people in Konoha Hidden Village to change their own destiny. Ordinary people like us would never let this opportunity go." Haruno Mebuki said; she had seen scenes like this several times before.

She had come to participate in this kind of test when she was young, but unfortunately, she hadn't passed.

In Konoha Hidden Village, ninjas were the main source of the village's economy, and all industries were built around them. Therefore, ninjas held the highest status and earned the most money. In the eyes of ordinary people, ninjas were already high-and-mighty big shots.

The group waited outside for a while until the scheduled time for the entrance exam arrived.

The gates of the Ninja Academy opened, and over twenty ninjas walked out.

"Quiet!" The lead ninja shouted through a megaphone, his voice carrying across the entire field.

The field instantly fell silent.

The lead ninja pulled out a notebook and shouted through a megaphone, "I will now read the names of the examinees. When you hear your name, come forward."

"Doma Taiga—"

As each name was called, one examinee after another stepped out of the crowd and stood before the lead ninja. He continued calling names for seventy or eighty people before finally stopping.

He handed the megaphone to another ninja and led a group of examinees into the school.

Just like that, group after group of examinees entered the testing grounds to take their exams.

It wasn't until half the examinees had entered the testing grounds that Ito Makoto finally heard his name and Sakura's. Since they had registered together, their names were called one right after the other.