Graduation

The next day.

Early morning.

Qian arrived at the Ninja School bright and early.

After listening to a long, utterly empty graduation speech from Sarutobi Hiruzen, he walked into the exam room as instructed.

The ninja exam naturally would not only spot-check the Three Body Technique. Theoretical knowledge in areas like code-breaking, map-drawing, and so on also had to be tested.

So the first few rounds were all written exams.

However, compared to the Chunin Exams, the written portion of the ninja graduation exam was extremely simple. Almost all of it was common knowledge that every ninja had to understand.

Anyone who had spent a few years at the school could basically pass with ease.

Of course, there was no shortage of ideological padding mixed in.

For example, their understanding of the Will of Fire.

Although, counting both his past and present lives, Qian had not written an essay in over ten years, a mere bootlicking piece was still no problem for him.

Ring, ring, ring~

Soon, the whole morning had passed.

There were no exams scheduled for the afternoon, so the students were free to move around.

Qian naturally would not waste time at school. His "Chakra Refining Technique" had already reached lv1 (195/200), and since it was on the verge of leveling up, he naturally had to make the most of his time.

After returning home, Qian immediately began training.

After spending more than six hours in total, Qian completed two rounds of training and finally ground his "Chakra Refining Technique" up to lv2 (1/500).

Although he had expected it, after he truly felt the effects of the lv2 "Chakra Refining Technique," he still could not help feeling somewhat excited.

Compared to lv1, the lv2 "Chakra Refining Technique" had once again doubled the efficiency of tapping into his body's potential.

Now, for every hour he spent refining, he could recover two hundred points of chakra and gain four points to his Chakra Limit.

This meant that his training efficiency would rise by a large margin again.

However, reaching a doubled effect was almost impossible.

As for the reason...

It was very simple. His body had its limits. Even if he had enough Soldier Pills, it would be useless if he could not absorb them.

Not everyone was Uzumaki Naruto, able to eat Soldier Pills like candy. They were, after all, a kind of compressed food, and eating too many would cause indigestion.

Over the past week, Qian had more or less felt where his own limits were.

If he trained at full effort now, he could probably only pull his efficiency up to one and a half times what it had been before.

However, that did not mean the advancement of the "Chakra Refining Technique" was meaningless.

At the very least, it could save him a great deal of time.

If there were any ninjutsu he needed to practice later, he would no longer have to worry about not having enough time.

The second day.

Just like on the first day, the Three Body Technique was still not tested.

Today's assessments were Basic Body Technique and Ninja Tool Throwing.

Because they had to go one by one, the pace was rather slow.

It was not until mid-afternoon that Qian's turn came.

"Uchiha Qian, ten bullseyes, full marks!"

Whoosh—

Immediately, an uproar rose from the surroundings.

As for Qian in the field, his expression did not change at all. He still wore that aloof demeanor of his predecessor.

There was nothing worth being proud of. With his current lv2 (120/500) "Ninja Tool Throwing," hitting this kind of ten-meter target was absurdly easy.

The same went for "Basic Body Technique." He also got full marks.

Or rather, as long as one could reach lv1 (100/200), one could basically get full marks. Those above lv0 (80/100) could pass.

From this, it could be seen just how lax this year's assessment standards were.

The night passed without incident.

The third day.

Compared to the previous two days, the students were clearly much more nervous today.

After all, while the exams over the past two days had been important, they were not enough to decide everything in one stroke.

Today was different. If they failed this assessment, then no matter how well they had done over the previous two days, they would still be eliminated.

In the end, what ninja valued was strength. If one's strength was lacking, then no matter how solid their theoretical knowledge was, it was useless.

As the saying went, the bigger fist was the one that made the rules.

If your fist was not hard enough, no one would listen to a word you said.

And for ninja, ninjutsu was their fist. If you could not even learn ninjutsu, then what use were you?

Of course, all of that only applied to ordinary people.

The Ninja World had never lacked existences that broke common sense.

Take Might Guy, for example. His talent for ninjutsu was complete trash, but his talent for taijutsu stood at the very peak of the entire Ninja World.

A freak like that naturally could not be measured by common sense.

However, the vast majority of people definitely did not have the qualifications to make Konoha break the rules for them.

So today's exam was extremely important to every student who aspired to walk the path of a ninja.

That was precisely why the students were even more nervous than they had been over the past two days.

Sitting in the classroom, watching one classmate after another be called up to the front by Sugi Itto to be tested on the Three Body Technique, Qian's heart was calm.

The level 2 Three Body Technique had given him more than enough confidence.

Not to mention...

"Aoki Ryuko, are you ready?"

Sugi Itto spoke.

"Mm, teacher!"

Aoki Ryuko nodded and replied softly.

"Very good. Choose one of the Three Body Technique and perform it," Sugi Itto said.

That was right. This year's exam was not assigned by the teacher. Instead, the students were allowed to choose one technique from the Three Body Technique to demonstrate themselves.

Clearly, compared with the former, the latter was undoubtedly much simpler, and it was very easy to exploit loopholes.

For example, if someone only knew the Transformation Technique and had not mastered the Clone Technique or Substitution Technique perfectly, then he could choose to demonstrate the Transformation Technique and use that to pass the exam.

In the past, if the teacher happened to assign the Clone Technique, then he would not have been able to pass.

Would Sugi Itto fail to see such an obvious loophole?

The answer, of course, was no.

Since he was doing this, he must have received instructions from above.

Combined with yesterday's deliberately loosened exam standards, it was not hard to guess that Konoha was expanding its reserve forces.

It was just unknown how many of these people would survive the battlefield.

"Uchiha Qian!"

Sugi Itto's voice came from the front.

Qian stood up and walked toward the front at an unhurried pace.

"Once you're ready, you may begin."

Seeing Qian stand in place, Sugi Itto spoke.

Hearing this, Qian nodded. Then he raised both hands, swiftly completed the hand seals, and performed the Clone Technique.

Immediately afterward, two illusory figures appeared on his left and right.

"Three seconds. Not bad!"

Sugi Itto nodded in satisfaction, recorded Uchiha Qian's score, then said, "All right, you may go back."

"Yes, teacher!"

After answering, Qian returned to his seat.

"Wow, Qian-kun is amazing!"

Someone among the crowd, some female classmate, shouted.

In an instant, the classroom grew noisy.

However, none of this affected Qian. Once he returned to his seat, he began reviewing the contents of the Mind Reflection Technique in his mind.

Compared with ninjutsu, Genjutsu was generally more difficult to learn.

Not to mention that this Genjutsu, which imitated the hypnotic ability of the Sharingan, was even more complicated.

The main target of other Genjutsu was someone else. Even if something went wrong, it would not matter much. But the Mind Reflection Technique was different. Most of its effects were on oneself.

The so-called effect of influencing the target's senses was merely an additional ability of this Genjutsu.

Otherwise, its actual effect would not be inferior even to a Rank C Genjutsu.

If not for the Proficiency Panel, Qian would not dare to try this technique so casually.

How could he be like he was now, almost at the point of entry?

That was right. After two days of all-out practice, his Mind Reflection Technique had already risen from lv0 (61/100) to lv0 (92/100).

If nothing unexpected happened, he would be able to reach entry level with it tonight.

At that time, he would know whether it could actually have a positive effect on the awakening of the Sharingan.