Early Graduation

Time at the Ninja Academy passed quickly; in the blink of an eye, Toru had already spent a full semester there.

The end of the semester brought the graduation season.

The Ninja Academy operated on a five-year system, and Toru's class was only in their first year.

Under normal circumstances, the graduation season of Konoha 42 had nothing to do with them; their own graduation was not expected until Konoha 46.

However, there was one student in this grade who was about to graduate: Hatake Kakashi.

"Kakashi, are you really going to graduate early?" Nohara Rin asked with a look of concern.

"Yes, that's right. The Hokage has already given his approval," Kakashi said with a nod.

"Hmph, what's the big deal?" Uchiha Obito said, full of jealousy.

In reality, the news of Kakashi's early graduation had already spread throughout the entire school.

The son of the White Fang of Konoha seemed to be starting to reveal his extraordinary talent.

If Kakashi truly managed to graduate this time, he would become the youngest genin in the history of Konoha.

Beside Toru, Yuhi Kurenai was also interested in Kakashi's early graduation. "Toru, do you think Kakashi can actually graduate early?"

"With his strength, graduating early is easy," Toru said, speaking his honest thoughts.

In truth, when Kakashi had first entered the academy, his strength had already reached the level of a typical graduate. After a semester of training, his ability had long since surpassed the requirements for successful graduation.

"Then why don't you go and take the graduation exam early, too? Isn't your strength about the same as Kakashi's?" Kurenai asked again.

Toru remained silent for a moment before saying, "Graduating early is not necessarily a good thing."

Kurenai didn't quite understand what Toru meant, but she nodded anyway, half-understanding.

Having spent the semester together, the two had become quite close and had developed an understanding of one another.

Because of this, Kurenai knew that Toru's ideas were often very farsighted; it didn't matter if she didn't grasp them immediately.

In Toru's view, while graduating early would allow Kakashi to become the youngest genin in Konoha's history, there was a price to pay for becoming a genin.

That price was the loss of free time for training, as one would be kept busy with missions of all sizes.

Toru had once visited the mission assignment office in Konoha and seen that most of the jobs waiting to be claimed were meaningless, low-level tasks—things like catching stray cats, feeding puppies, picking up trash, or patrolling.

These tasks were mostly performed by genin and chunin.

The mere thought of spending his time after graduation doing such chores gave Toru a headache; it was simply a waste of life.

Furthermore, no matter what kind of mission he performed, it would occupy time that could be spent training.

One had to realize that Toru's current age was the golden period for training. The foundation for becoming a powerhouse in the future was built during this stage.

If he allowed his training time to be consumed by various missions now, he would have to spend much more time in the future just to make up for the lost foundation.

Therefore, Toru's current plan was to honestly follow the main group and graduate on schedule.

Once he successfully promoted to genin, he would immediately attempt to promote to chunin, which would allow him to avoid those meaningless, low-level tasks as much as possible.

The final exams and the graduation exam were held simultaneously.

After the final exams concluded, everyone in Toru's class gathered outside the graduation exam testing room to wait, as Kakashi was still inside taking his test.

The group discussed the difficulty of this year's final exams while also debating whether Kakashi would pass the graduation exam.

The consensus was that everyone believed Kakashi would pass, simply because he was Kakashi.

There seemed to be only one person who expressed dissatisfaction: Uchiha Obito.

Toru was not very close with his clansman, but he could see that while Uchiha Obito and Kakashi appeared to be on bad terms, it was merely the awkward friction between children.

And the cause of this friction was the young girl standing next to Uchiha Obito: Nohara Rin.

There was one other person who noticed this as well, and that was Sarutobi Asuma.

Unlike Toru, who saw this through the experience and perspective of his past life, Asuma's insight was purely because he felt the same way.

At this moment, Asuma and Obito could be said to be kindred spirits.

Both of them harbored feelings for a girl in their hearts; Obito liked Nohara Rin, and Asuma liked Yuhi Kurenai.

However, the girls they liked both admired a genius. Just as Nohara Rin admired Kakashi, Yuhi Kurenai admired Uchiha Toru.

But unlike Obito's persistence, Asuma had already let go of his longing for Yuhi Kurenai in his heart.

Asuma considered himself a smart person.

After a semester of trying to get close to her only to be met with a cold shoulder, Asuma had clearly realized that there was no longer any possibility between him and Yuhi Kurenai.

Originally, he and Yuhi Kurenai had chatted quite harmoniously and were together every day.

Just when things were going well, Uchiha Toru arrived, and everything changed; Yuhi Kurenai began to ignore him.

Such a stark difference had left Asuma completely disheartened.

Asuma felt great sympathy for Obito in his heart, but he also held a bit of admiration and envy.

The sympathy went without saying, while the admiration was for Obito's sincere and persistent heart toward Nohara Rin—something Asuma felt he couldn't compare to.

As for the envy, he envied the fact that Nohara Rin was actually quite kind to Obito; anyone could see that.

Just as the students outside were bustling and chatting, the doors to the testing room opened.

Kakashi wore a black top and a green scarf, his face mask in its usual place. The only difference was the iron forehead protector now tied around his head.

The forehead protector was engraved with the Konoha symbol, the emblem of a ninja.

Thus, without a word, everyone knew that Kakashi had successfully passed the graduation exam.

Everyone stepped forward to congratulate Kakashi.

The bowl-cut boy, Might Guy, excitedly raised his hands and said, "Kakashi, you truly are my rival! To think you've become a genin so quickly! It looks like I'll have to work twice as hard at my training!"

Rin smiled gently. "Kakashi, congratulations on becoming a genin."

Yuhi Kurenai stood with Toru, silently clapping for Kakashi.

Asuma was also clapping in the crowd, but there was one person who did not offer congratulations: Obito.

Kakashi walked over to Obito's side and looked at him, seemingly waiting for his well-wishes.

However, he was only met with Obito's angry retort: "I'm not going to congratulate you!"

With that, Obito ran off on his own.

Most of the students in the class didn't care about Obito, the class dead-last; they only felt that causing such a scene on an occasion like this was truly inappropriate.

Only Nohara Rin kept her eyes on Obito's retreating figure, a look of concern on her face.

After Nohara Rin offered her congratulations to Kakashi once more, she left early, appearing to go and comfort the Obito who had just run off in a fit of pique.

All of this fell into Toru's eyes, but he did not pay it much mind.

Toru knew Nohara Rin's personality and Obito's attitude toward her; he was certain that Rin would successfully manage to soothe Uchiha Obito.