Ding! Received 99 Shock Value from Sasuke

"Uchiha Kei and Uzumaki Naruto failed the exam. Everyone else passed."

The exam teacher shook his head.

He had thought he was about to witness the birth of another genius. Who could have guessed that one of them would turn out to be a loser just like Uzumaki Naruto?

"Hahahahaha..."

The peers around them burst into laughter, mocking the two.

"Teacher, I think you should give us another chance!"

Uchiha Kei held his head high, looking defiant.

"Exactly! You should give us another chance!"

Though Naruto had no idea why Uchiha Kei wanted to try again, as his only friend, he felt he should support him.

"It'll be the same no matter how many times you try. Why embarrass yourselves?"

"Exactly. Wasn't humiliating yourselves once enough?"

"I think he'd make a great comedian. What a joke."

Their peers pointed and whispered, treating them like monkeys.

Sasuke Uchiha was upset too. He strode over to Uchiha Kei. "Uchiha Kei, haven't you embarrassed the Uchiha Clan enough? Go home right now!"

Uchiha Kei gave him a sidelong glance. "Listen, young master Sasuke, your father may be the clan head, but that doesn't mean he gets to meddle in my business."

"Exactly! What gives you the right to boss us around?"

Naruto was clearly eager to stir things up and fanned the flames from the side.

"You—you're a member of the Uchiha Clan! When you embarrass yourself, you embarrass the Uchiha Clan! Why shouldn't I interfere?" Sasuke said, his face and neck turning red.

"Yeah, right."

Uchiha Kei wasn't buying it. He turned to the exam teacher. "What do you think, teacher? Should we get another chance?"

"Well..."

The exam teacher was in a bit of a bind. Everyone had seen how poorly the two had done, and another try would probably end the same way.

"Just go home already!"

When Uchiha Kei ignored him, Sasuke flew into a rage. He grabbed Kei, intending to drag him away by force.

Uchiha Kei's gaze turned cold. A kunai appeared in his hand as if by magic, flashed through the air, and came to rest against Sasuke's throat.

"Listen, Uchiha Sasuke, you don't get to decide what I do. Understand?"

Sasuke stared at the kunai, uncertain what to make of it.

"Fine, I'll let you take the exam again."

Seeing this, the exam teacher hurried to smooth things over.

There was no harm in letting them try again. At worst, they'd embarrass themselves once more—and it wasn't him who'd be embarrassed.

Uchiha Kei lowered his kunai and gave Naruto a victory sign.

Naruto went first.

Everyone's eyes converged on him. Naruto had been shunned ever since he was little, so being the center of attention made him uncomfortable. His movements grew stiff.

"Don't be nervous, Naruto. Just imagine everyone here is a gravestone. Then it'll be just you and me."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone's faces darkened. Gravestones?

Who said something like that?

Ugh, what a terrible thing to say!

Naruto nodded firmly and took a deep breath.

"Whoosh!"

The shuriken left his hand, tracing an irregular arc through the air.

"Pfft, what kind of throwing technique is that?"

"Is this a joke? That trajectory is obviously just a wild throw!"

"Hahahahaha! We told them not to try again, but they just had to embarrass themselves one more time."

Watching the shuriken in the air, everyone below wore mocking smiles.

Everyone except Uchiha Kei.

Ever since he had acquired Ninja Tool Mastery, he had felt that he understood shuriken instinctively.

The moment Naruto's shuriken left his hand, Kei knew it would hit the target!

Though it would be close.

"Thunk!"

The sound of metal striking wood rang out, stunning the crowd.

The shuriken had lodged in the very edge of the target. If it had veered just a little farther, it would have missed again.

"I did it! I did it! I hit the target!"

Naruto stared at it in disbelief.

"Congratulations, Naruto!"

Uchiha Kei stepped forward and gave him a big hug.

Naruto felt like he was about to cry and hugged him tightly.

"Uzumaki Naruto... Uh, hit the target. Pass."

The exam teacher looked at the target, at a loss for words.

How could he see it as anything but luck?

Uchiha Kei was up next.

As he toyed with the shuriken in his hand, his mind raced.

If Shock Value could earn him ninjutsu, shouldn't he take this great opportunity to rack up some Shock Value?

"Are you going to hurry up or not?"

Sasuke was getting impatient and couldn't help urging him on.

Hearing Sasuke's voice, an idea came to Uchiha Kei.

"Uchiha Sasuke, do you think I can hit the target?"

Uchiha Kei lowered his hand and turned to look at Sasuke.

"I don't care whether you hit it or not," Sasuke said, turning his head away haughtily.

"How about we make a bet?"

Uchiha Kei looked like a shady old man trying to lure a kid into trouble, a smile on his face.

"A bet?" Sasuke paused. "What do you want to bet?"

"Whether I can hit the bull's-eye!"

"I'll use three shuriken. If I hit all three bull's-eyes in one go, I win. If I miss, you win. How about it?"

"Three bull's-eyes?"

Sasuke stared for a moment, then burst out laughing. "You're on! Hitting the target at all would be luck. And you think you can hit three bull's-eyes at once? Hahahahaha!"

Their peers snickered too.

Had this guy gone crazy?

He really thought he could hit three bull's-eyes at once?

"If I lose, I'll call you big brother."

"If I lose, I'll call you big brother too!"

Sasuke followed Kei's lead and made the same wager.

"Deal!"

Uchiha Kei gave him a strange smile. Three shuriken appeared in his hand. Without even looking at the targets, he tossed them out casually.

"Hahahaha, is he just giving up?"

"Looks like it. If those hit, I'll eat a pile of crap right here!"

"Same!"

To them, the shuriken looked limp as they flew, their trajectories zigzagging all over the place. There was no way they'd hit the targets, let alone the bull's-eyes.

A gleam flashed in Uchiha Kei's eyes as he watched the three shuriken.

Just as they were about to pass the targets, one of them veered off course and struck another shuriken.

"Clang, clang."

Two crisp impacts altered the flight paths of all three shuriken.

"Thud, thud, thud!"

Three sounds of metal striking wood rang out.

The training ground fell silent.

Everyone stared at the three targets, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

Three shuriken were embedded in the targets.

Every one of them had hit the bull's-eye!

"Holy crap!"

"Holy crap!"

"Holy... holy crap!!!"

Everyone rubbed their eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing.

He... he hit them?

All three had hit the bull's-eyes!

"Ding! Received 20 Shock Value from Tanaka Koya."

"Ding! Received 99 Shock Value from Uzumaki Naruto."

"Ding! Received 99 Shock Value from Uchiha Sasuke."

"..."

In an instant, Uchiha Kei gained 1,000 Shock Value.

Naruto and Sasuke alone had contributed nearly 200!