The Exceptional Few

Final exams.

Uchiha Ling looked at the returned theory exam paper and frowned in thought.

The tallest tree in the forest catches the strongest wind. His chakra reserves were now 1.8 Kakashi, higher than even many ordinary jonin. If he did not hide his talent, someone would surely tell him to graduate early again.

Graduating early was out of the question.

He might as well play dumb in certain areas and put on an act for them.

The theory exam was the perfect opportunity.

The first question: A kunai was thrown at an initial speed of 40 meters per second. The target was 50 meters away. At what angle should the kunai be released?

The correct answer was an elevation angle of around 9 degrees—throw it slightly upward and allow enough lead for the drop.

Watch me fake it. After a calculation riddled with errors, he got a depression angle of 9 degrees.

The second question: A full squad had 64 members, each consuming four soldier pills per day. Based on Hidden Leaf Village's average mission casualty statistics, the casualty rate was 3.2 people per week. How many soldier pills were needed for a mission lasting five weeks?

To calculate it correctly, they needed to account for linear attrition at a constant rate.

Watch me fake it. () x 4 = 192 pills.

Bring 192 soldier pills for a five-week mission? Starve you killing machines to death.

The third question: Suppose your mission was to lie in ambush in the grass. You were bitten by a venomous snake. How would you handle it?

The correct answer was to kill the snake and bring it to a medical ninja. Different snake venoms required different antivenoms.

Watch me fake it. Immediately find the nearest female ninja and have her suck out the venom.

The fourth question...

After answering all ten questions on the exam, Uchiha Ling's mammary glands felt completely unblocked. It felt great!

That afternoon, Xia Cha graded papers in the classroom, and her mammary glands felt completely blocked with anger.

"Yamano, that sparring genius you mentioned, Uchiha Ling! He only scored nine points!"

Yamano had been drinking tea. A mouthful went down his windpipe, and he started coughing violently.

"How much? Cough, cough... how much did you say?"

Yamano took Uchiha Ling's paper and examined it carefully from front to back before sighing.

"It seems Uchiha Ling's theoretical ability is poor. He lacks the ability to command.

A squad on a five-week mission, and he would bring fewer than two hundred soldier pills? Wouldn't everyone starve to death?

They would have to steal and rob halfway through. The nobles of the Land of Fire would not be a problem, but it would sound rather bad and damage Hidden Leaf Village's reputation.

How could he even get the kunai drop calculation wrong?

I understand now. Uchiha Ling throws kunai by feel and instinct, not calculations.

Forget it. Do not make him calculate anymore. If he believes his calculations are correct, it might even affect his kunai throwing."

Xia Cha abruptly snatched the paper away and continued grading the others.

Yamano thought that he needed to report Uchiha Ling's terrible theory grades to Team Leader Huìdài.

With grades like these, forget early graduation. Even if Uchiha Ling were given another three years, he might not pass.

Before the sparring exam the next day, theory teacher Xia Cha clicked into the classroom in her high heels, her beautiful face full of displeasure.

"Rin! Hand out the papers!"

Seeing how unhappy the teacher was, Rin Nohara knew someone in the class must have done poorly. Could that person be Obito Uchiha?

She hurriedly distributed the papers.

Teacher Xia Cha stood at the podium with a dark expression. "A very few people in our class scored only single digits! Reflect on yourselves! Do these very few people think they are worthy of all the writing I put on the board this semester?"

Uchiha Ling thought, There are several other exceptional people? Could there be geniuses like me?

Once he received his paper, Uchiha Ling saw that he had actually scored nine points.

That can't be right. I acted that dumb, and I still got nine points?

Looking closely, Teacher Xia Cha had really gone all out. She had actually found several process points amid all those wrong equations and nonsense, forcibly giving him nine points.

She was far too conscientious, but Uchiha Ling did not really need that.

The students looked around at one another's scores.

After Teacher Xia Cha left, Obito Uchiha learned Uchiha Ling's score from Rin.

He excitedly ran to the last row of the classroom.

"Uchiha Ling! So even you have a day like this! Hahaha! You only got nine points?"

"Oh? What about you, Obito Uchiha? You came to mock me, so how many points did you get?"

"Me? I got seven!"

"No, you got seven, while I scored 28% higher than you. What are you laughing about?"

Obito Uchiha wanted to argue, but he could not figure out how much higher Uchiha Ling's score was than his. His brain crashed.

It was too hard. Math was too hard.

Might Guy also came over, looked at his own paper, then at the other two papers.

"Good, good. At least I'm not last. Obito, I got one point more than you!"

Uchiha Ling said happily,

"I never expected there to be as many as three of the exceptional few Teacher mentioned!

Mud that cannot be plastered onto a wall—we make up an entire pond.

Sticks for stirring shit—we have a whole row of three.

The three of us are not rat droppings that fell into a pot of soup. We are a huge pot of rat-dropping soup that has been boiled for an hour!"

"Stop insulting us! Uchiha Ling! Stop! I can't take it..."

After receiving their papers, the students quickly headed to the training field for the sparring exam.

The first match was Uchiha Ling versus Might Guy.

Yamano thought that these two were bottom-ranked in theory but the top two in sparring. When the God of Shinobi opened a door for someone, he would surely close a window.

Neither of them had what it took to be a squad captain, but they were gold-medal fighters in a team, elite vanguards.

Uchiha Ling entered the field and said to Might Guy,

"Might Guy, Kakashi became a chunin and left you far behind.

Let me tell you some bad news. I improved quickly recently, and I have left you far behind too.

If you do not improve, you will no longer be qualified to spar with me. I will challenge other people instead."

Might Guy snorted. "I improved too. Stop trying to provoke me with your trash talk. I have heard it so much that I am no longer afraid of it."

"Oh? You are not afraid of my trash talk?" Uchiha Ling raised his fist. "Then are you afraid of this little sandbag-sized fist of mine?"

Might Guy was even less afraid. He formed the Opposing Hands Seal and charged forward.

Half a second later, he flew sideways and crashed back where he had started.

He sat up from the ground and stared at Uchiha Ling in shock.

Uchiha Ling had not been bragging. He had truly gotten stronger—much stronger!

His punches were faster than Might Guy's, his fists were hard, and his strength exceeded Might Guy's by a whole level.

"See, Might Guy? Work hard during the break, or you will not be qualified to challenge me anymore.

You brag that you can still become an excellent ninja by specializing in taijutsu. Stop deceiving yourself.

That is just an excuse because you cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu. In truth, you are not even good at taijutsu."

When school ended for the term, Might Guy felt terrible.

He was second to last in theory, and his sparring performance had been mediocre as well. He had not even gotten the chance to show anything; he could not take even one punch from Uchiha Ling.

Already in a foul mood, Might Guy heard someone mocking his father on his way home.

"That Might Duy still thinks he is a child. He talks about youth and passion all day long. It is ridiculous."

"Someone like that becoming a chunin would be a joke. Even giving him a ninja forehead protector would be a disgrace to Hidden Leaf Village."

After being tempered by Uchiha Ling, Might Guy had long become immune to trash talk directed at him. But when he heard trash talk about his father, he immediately exploded.