Graduation

Konoha, late autumn.

A golden season, a season of harvest, and also a season of graduation.

The Ninja Academy was bustling with excitement.

Parents of the graduating students gathered together, standing or sitting on the school playground, chatting and joking in a lively atmosphere.

Compared to previous graduation seasons, the crowd today was more than twice as large.

In the past, only the parents of the graduates would come to watch their children's final exams, but today, there were not only parents of the graduates but also many parents from other grades, and even a large number of Konoha villagers.

Recently, two things had caused a sensation in Konoha. The first was that Kakashi, who had graduated not long ago, had completed several C-rank missions and met the requirements for the Chunin Exams, preparing to participate at the end of the year. If he passed, Kakashi would become the youngest Chunin in Konoha's history, breaking all of the village's records.

The second was that today, Uchiha Fukuyama's relative, Suifeng, had applied for early graduation and would be challenging Kakashi once again.

Come to think of it, who was Suifeng?

Why "once again"?

Had he challenged Kakashi before?

To most people, they did not recognize who Suifeng was, nor did they know he had once been defeated by Kakashi in a single stroke.

There were plenty of people at the Ninja Academy who challenged Kakashi; for starters, that troublemaker Obito had lost count of how many times he had challenged him, and Asuma had also tried. The results were always much the same, so one more Suifeng was hardly surprising.

However, a large portion of the parents present were ninjas, and as one of the highlights of today's graduation exam, they had naturally gathered a considerable amount of intelligence beforehand.

Some were confused, but there were always those willing to explain—gossip was human nature, and ninjas were no exception.

Soon, information about Suifeng spread among the parents.

Suifeng, a second-year student at the Ninja Academy, a member of the Uchiha clan, defeated by Kakashi in a single stroke.

This was the norm.

However, after his failed challenge, he had unexpectedly awakened the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. He had spent the last month or two training within the Uchiha compound, determined to challenge Kakashi again to prove the excellence of the Uchiha clan.

The declaration, "A moment's brilliance does not represent eternity; before these eyes of mine, he is nothing," had also been passed around.

It was a high-profile statement that successfully raised everyone's expectations.

The requirements for graduation from the Ninja Academy were actually not very high—just shurikenjutsu and the Three Basic Jutsu—but compared to the future, there was one additional requirement: the Genin assessment.

Every student had to spar against a Genin. Victory or defeat was secondary, but they had to demonstrate sufficient combat aptitude during the fight to graduate.

The Uchiha clan had leveraged this point, arranging for Kakashi to be the Genin examiner for Suifeng. There was no need for a formal challenge or acceptance; this was a D-rank mission, and as a Genin, Kakashi had no reason to refuse.

On the playground, several circles had formed. The graduation class students began their exams first. Although these were just fights between students and Genin, they still drew gasps from the civilian parents. Some succeeded, some failed, but there were no major waves.

Although the Second Shinobi World War had ended, the higher-ups in Konoha were well aware that this was only a temporary truce. The major ninja villages were merely using this opportunity to catch their breath; the true conflicts remained unresolved, and war would break out at the slightest spark.

Therefore, the current graduation exams were still quite strict.

The graduation rate was controlled at around seventy percent.

Once the assessments for this batch of graduates concluded, it was the turn of those who had applied for early graduation.

Suifeng was not the only one applying for early graduation. Across the six grades of the Ninja Academy, many upperclassmen applied every year. Kakashi only received such attention because he was the youngest and the son of Sakumo, having been hailed as a genius since childhood.

Among those applying for early graduation this year, Suifeng was also the youngest, being only in his second year. Since his examiner was Kakashi, he naturally received the same level of attention.

Come to think of it, this could be considered riding on Kakashi's coattails.

If Suifeng could defeat Kakashi, he would be stepping over Kakashi to make a name for himself.

Of course, given Kakashi's outstanding performance since becoming a Genin, almost no one believed Suifeng's challenge would succeed this time.

"So, you want me to bet all your pocket money on yourself to win?!"

Uchiha Fukuyama looked at the banknotes in his hand, eyeing Suifeng with a strange expression.

"That's right, the odds are one to ten!"

"You have that much confidence in defeating Kakashi?!"

"To say I'm confident would be a lie, but isn't this just a way to boost my own confidence?!" Suifeng gave a sheepish smile. Although he had rehearsed the scene of fighting Kakashi countless times in his mind, it was a lie to say he wasn't nervous when the moment finally arrived. That was Kakashi, the mountain that would loom over their generation for the next decade. As a little rookie who had transmigrated only a month or two ago, with combat experience relying on fragmented memories, he couldn't fool himself into believing he would definitely win.

Right now, he was merely in a state of trying to fool even himself.

Uchiha Fukuyama looked at him deeply. As an experienced Jonin, how could he not see Suifeng's current state? The boy was genuinely a bit intimidated.

Being intimidated wasn't much of a big deal.

After all, he was just a child, and naturally afraid of messing up adult affairs.

Initially, he had been quite unhappy about being assigned to teach this child, Suifeng. As a dignified Jonin, it felt like a waste, even if Suifeng had awakened the Sharingan at six years old.

He had expected a difficult, bratty child, but Suifeng's performance had exceeded his expectations.

There was none of the impulsive desire to challenge Kakashi he had imagined; instead, the boy possessed a level of rationality rare for his age, and he was very clever.

It completely overturned his perception of the "brats" in the clan.

Most importantly, this was a boy with his own ideas. Whether it was the tactics specifically designed to counter Kakashi's traits or his talent in taijutsu, he had gained his respect.

Although he had wanted to slack off at first, after adapting to the training intensity, he had been quite diligent. In the last month, his progress in that somewhat whimsical taijutsu training had been so staggering it left him speechless.

Iron Body!!

Without a doubt, this was a defensive technique with immense potential. Whether he was testing it himself or training Suifeng, he could feel the effectiveness of this taijutsu. If he continued to develop it along this line of thought, it might even bring him even greater surprises.

A genius!

Not the kind of genius hyped up in school, but a true genius—at least when it came to developing techniques. That an Uchiha could be a taijutsu genius always gave him a sense of cognitive dissonance.

During the later stages of training, he had unconsciously stopped viewing Suifeng as a child and started treating him like an adult. It wasn't until now, seeing the kid in front of him starting to lose his nerve, that he finally caught a glimpse of the bratty child within him.

"Fine, I'll go place your bet!" Fukuyama glanced at him and said, "It's almost time to go on, don't overthink it. Regardless of anything else, you are a genius who awakened the Sharingan at six years old. Even if you lose, the clan won't easily give up on you."