Everyone Graduates Early

Two of Might Duy's former teammates mocked him. Might Guy stepped forward to argue with them, only to be humiliated in return.

"Your dad is a useless loser who can't handle ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even taijutsu."

"What part of him looks like a ninja? He'd be better off becoming a private detective who finds lost cats!"

"He's just a comedian who keeps making the same youth jokes!"

After being beaten up by the adult ninja, Might Guy trudged home in despair.

Were the two of them... not even good at taijutsu?

Might Duy had completed three D-rank missions that day, finding two cats and a dog. Exhausted, he returned home to find his son's face and forehead wrapped in bandages.

After asking a few simple questions, Might Duy learned that his son was beginning to doubt the Way of the Hot-Blooded Ninja. His expression grew complicated, and he no longer had his usual cheerful, fiery spirit.

In the middle of the night, unable to sleep, Might Guy wandered aimlessly around near his home. In anguish, he wondered whether, if he kept persisting like this, he would become a perennial genin who was mocked just like his father.

A figure suddenly appeared ahead of him.

Might Duy stopped Might Guy.

"Son, although you're feeling dejected, I can tell that you've improved quickly over this past year.

I know your pain.

There's only one last thing I can do for you.

Watch carefully. This is our true ninja way!"

Might Guy thought his father was about to say something else about youth and passion.

Yet what happened next completely overturned Might Guy's understanding.

The Eight Gates Technique?

His father had actually mastered a forbidden taijutsu?

Might Guy knew how strong the academy teachers were, and he could tell that even all of them combined were no match for his father!

The surging chakra even formed chakra vapor around his body!

Might Guy was relieved. It was not that taijutsu was weak, nor that someone who could not use ninjutsu or genjutsu could not be a ninja. It was that Uchiha Ling had never seen real taijutsu!

Throughout the entire break, Might Guy trained the Eight Gates Technique with all his might.

Once school began, he would give Uchiha Ling a shock he would find hard to accept. He would put pressure on Uchiha Ling!

After the New Year, Uchiha Ling turned eight.

During the first lesson after school resumed, Uchiha Ling saw, somewhat strangely, that all three teachers had entered the classroom.

Yamano, Xia Cha, and Quan Yan swept their gazes over the students.

Teacher Yamano said, "I regret to inform everyone that in the short span of this break, our class has gained twelve orphans."

Upon hearing the news, many people looked around at one another.

Uchiha Ling sat in the last row, and he could roughly tell who had become an orphan.

Those looking around definitely were not orphans, or had already been orphans for a long time. They knew nothing.

Those who remained completely still, even tensing their bodies, had undoubtedly become orphans.

Teacher Yamano continued, "The Third Shinobi World War has been going on for a year. Originally, only the Hidden Cloud Village declared war on the Hidden Leaf Village, but at the end of last year, the Hidden Rock Village also declared war.

The pressure on the front lines is immense. Too many ninja have been killed or injured, and the manpower shortage is severe.

To deal with this situation, the village and the academy have decided that everyone in this class will graduate early!

This time next year, after you have grown one year older and the New Year has passed, return to school for the graduation assessment.

At that time, you will be assigned jonin team leaders and chunin team leaders."

Hearing this terrible news, Uchiha Ling became nervous.

He did not want to graduate.

Useless Konoha Village. It could not even defeat the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Rock Village, yet it was sending children under ten to the battlefield.

Hadn't Hashirama Senju created Konoha Village so that children could grow up safely?

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others—regardless of whether you are good people or bad people, you are at least useless people, so useless that you cannot fulfill Konoha Village's promise to every child.

He swept his gaze across the backs of his classmates' heads in front of him. No, he could not go easy on them anymore. He had to put on more pressure and make more classmates break their defenses.

Every one of them counted. Even if he only gained a bit of chakra from them, it would still mean they had made some contribution.

Quan Yan, the Three-Body Technique teacher, said, "The Substitution Technique was originally part of the curriculum for ten-year-olds. It has been moved up to this semester."

Xia Cha, the theory teacher, said, "From now on, all theory classes will be compressed into these two semesters."

Yamano, the sparring teacher, said, "From now on, there will be less rest during afternoon sparring classes. Everyone must spar at least twice."

When Uchiha Ling heard this, he finally received some good news. At least two sparring matches meant he could put pressure on two people.

"Furthermore, you may use ninja tools such as kunai, shuriken, and ninja swords during sparring classes."

Anko Mitarashi asked, "Teacher, will we be using unsharpened ninja tools?"

"Of course they will be sharpened ninja tools. These next two semesters are not child's play. Bloodshed is allowed, and even death is allowed." Yamano's words carried an icy chill.

"Ninja training is bound to involve blood, and accidents are inevitable.

The ninja academy's rules state that if only one student in a class dies during training each year, the teacher will not be held responsible.

You are this year's elite class. Don't worry, I will coordinate one or two slots from other classes. Even if two or three students from our class die this year, it will still be within what the village and academy can accept."

The students sucked in cold breaths. It was too terrifying.

When Uchiha Ling had attended university in his previous life, he had helped deal with the aftermath of a classmate who jumped off a bridge, so he knew an obscure fact.

Three in ten thousand. As long as the number of students at a university who died each year from accidents or other blows remained below three in ten thousand, no one would pursue the school over its management responsibility.

Once the student body exceeded ten thousand, someone would always die from one accident or another.

He had never expected ninja academies to have such a rule as well. Here, the ratio was one in thirty.

The other teachers left, while Quan Yan remained behind.

"Next, we will learn the final technique of the Three-Body Technique: the Substitution Technique."

He had not expected the pace to be so tight that the students were not even given a chance to discuss or digest it.

Students with good study habits, such as Kurenai Yuhi, hurriedly took out their notebooks and began taking notes.

"The Substitution Technique is actually a kind of visual deception.

Prepare objects such as wooden posts in advance, then use the Transformation Technique to make the post look like yourself.

Just before an attack hits you, quickly switch places with the version of yourself transformed from the post. This causes the enemy to misjudge the situation and creates an opportunity for you to counterattack."

Quan Yan said, "If this were before, I would have designed several questions at this point to guide you. But time is limited now, so I will simply tell you the answers.

The Substitution Technique is highly effective, but its conditions for use are extremely demanding. There are generally two methods of application.

The first is advance substitution.

Prepare the substitute well in advance. When the enemy loses sight of you—for example, when their vision is blocked by ninjutsu or a large tree—you hide yourself and let the substitute act.

That way, the enemy will think the substitute is you and waste their attack.

The second is the speed-based Substitution Technique.

The Substitution Technique is not the legendary Flying Thunder God Technique. It is not a space-time ninjutsu.

When you are fast enough, you can use your speed to switch places with your substitute over a short distance.

The first method is less difficult, but it tests your ability to seize the right moment on the battlefield.

The second is more difficult and relies on overwhelming the opponent with speed. It is generally used against weaker opponents."

Many people in the class were left utterly confused. The pressure of war had finally been tangibly passed on to them.