An Elementary Schooler's Skill Level

Minato turned out to be the teacher for the graduation assessment. That truly caught Ying Shu off guard.

But with the arrow already on the string, he had no time to think too much about it.

Ying Shu made a gesture, and the three-man team immediately gathered into a circle, heads lowered and arms draped over one another's shoulders for one last pre-battle pep talk.

"He's fast. So fast he has no friends. We definitely don't stand a chance in close combat."

Ying Shu spoke with a grave expression.

Obito also recalled that day's "accident" and nodded with deep feeling. "I'm afraid we won't even get a chance to use ninjutsu. That'd be bad."

Ninjutsu required hand seals and chakra manipulation, yet that day, Minato had stopped him before he could even throw a bottle.

"Then what do we do?" Kakashi, who had finally managed to get a word in, looked utterly confused.

Actually, Kakashi considered himself somewhat familiar with this cropped-haired senior. After all, his father had mentioned him plenty of times.

But now, it looked like these two knew him even better than Kakashi did?

And judging by Obito's expression, he was clearly still shaken by something.

So... what exactly had these two gone through?

"We're not without hope, everyone," Ying Shu said in a low voice.

If this had been a fight to the death, Ying Shu would have chosen to surrender. There was no shame in losing to Minato, nor was there any shame in joining him.

But this was only an assessment.

And they did not need to win. They only needed to hold out for five minutes...

The three began quietly discussing their battle plan.

Minato stood with his arms folded, his smile unchanged as he waited silently.

Eyes all around swept across the field, while the discussions in the spectator stands grew increasingly noisy.

Meanwhile, at the Hokage Building.

An old man stood before a crystal ball, watching the live broadcast.

"This child... is no simple one, is he?" Hiruzen Sarutobi murmured as he took a puff of smoke, utterly absorbed.

The weak compared; the strong appreciated.

When looking at the three examinees, some saw only the disparity in their bloodlines and starting points, while others saw something else.

The White Fang's son, as well as that Uchiha child, both seemed to follow the child named Ying Shu.

That made Hiruzen Sarutobi curious, because his impression of Ying Shu had still remained at the stage of "possibly a genius."

But then, he suddenly noticed that half a mummy was standing before him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi froze. "When did you get here?"

Shimura Danzo said nothing. His one eye was fixed intently on the crystal ball—or rather, on one particular figure within it.

At that moment, the three boys lined up side by side, fully prepared.

Guangtai, the teacher at the edge of the field, raised a hand high before bringing it down.

"Assessment begins!"

Minato still smiled, but his folded arms naturally fell to his sides. Though he did not draw a weapon, that alone counted as respect for this assessment.

Minato was polite, well-mannered, and graceful.

But the three examinees had a very different style...

"Get him!"

Ying Shu shouted at the top of his lungs, and the three immediately launched a direct charge!

"Hey! They're really fired up!"

Quite a few people in the spectator stands laughed aloud.

Three apprentice ninjas dared to attack an Elite Jonin, and they had even chosen close-range taijutsu.

Whether that was courage or foolishness depended entirely on one's perspective.

Bang! Bang bang bang bang—

Fists and legs collided, and muffled impacts rang through the arena.

Minato seemed not to be holding back, merely stopping short of real harm. Yet in truth, the three could not get close to him at all and were continuously driven back.

After roughly a hundred exchanges, the three split apart in perfect coordination, forming a triangular encirclement around Minato.

The boys panted heavily, forming a stark contrast to the calm and composed Minato.

Yet the spectators broke into applause. Leaving everything else aside, being able to exchange a few moves with Minato at their age was already quite impressive.

Perhaps they were still far from deserving the title of ninja, but most people who had come to watch today were merely here for the spectacle.

In a quiet corner of the noisy crowd, a couple sat together. The woman was at the most radiant age of her life, and her gentle smile carried a trace of charm.

Her lower abdomen was swollen, suggesting she was around six to eight months pregnant.

There was practically no one around them, as though they were not watching the same match as everyone else.

"They really are wonderful children... Our child will be just as outstanding, won't he, Fugaku?"

"Of course. He is the son of the Uchiha clan head, the child of you and me," Fugaku said gently.

The Uchiha clan head and his wife exchanged smiles, sweetness filling the air between them. Just like Konoha's exclusion of the Uchiha, the distance maintained by those around them gave the couple ample space.

Uchiha Fugaku looked again at the spiky-haired boy in the field.

His eyes held undisguised admiration, but another kind of light flickered within them as well.

The Uchiha of today...

They had grown accustomed to external threats and Konoha's exclusion. The clan's various elders had each formed their own factions, and there were faint signs of internal strife.

As clan head, before realizing that greater ambition, he had to let the Uchiha be reborn.

Fugaku's thoughts drifted, and his gaze grew increasingly intense, as though he had placed enormous hopes on Obito.

Unfortunately, Obito could not sense it. Otherwise, he would have entered an instant frenzy of excitement on the spot.

But that was also a good thing. Obito needed to stay calm now, because in a moment, he would be the protagonist.

The three boys exchanged glances and nodded in tacit understanding. Under everyone's watchful eyes, they began circling Minato as they repositioned themselves!

"Oh?"

Shikaku Nara in the spectator stands noticed something, and his eyes lit up.

"This... they even prepared a tactic? No... they must have come up with it just now. Interesting."

As the three boys kept moving, each one took smoke bombs from his ninja tool pouch and threw them down!

Before long, Minato was wrapped in thick smoke. The smoke formed a ring around him, leaving only the faint outlines of the three boys running around it.

The battle instantly became more sophisticated.

The spectator stands erupted in surprise. The adults had been watching with the mindset that children were merely playing house, but they had not expected the little ones' skill level to be so high.

Of course, some people were already completely dumbfounded, such as Guangtai, the three boys' teacher.

Guangtai had already been shocked speechless during their taijutsu exchange. He had even begun thinking that if the three still failed to graduate, he himself would soon lose his job.

But now, there was only one question in his mind: where had they gotten those smoke bombs? They had not stolen them from the Ninja Academy, had they...

Normally, stealing some smoke bombs from the Ninja Academy would not be a big deal. If the three children could graduate, Guangtai would be happier than anyone.

But the problem was, if smoke bombs had appeared, then what about Explosive Tags...

Guangtai did not dare think any further. He had the feeling that whether the three graduated or not, he was not far from unemployment.

Naturally, Guangtai's worry was completely unnecessary.

Ying Shu and the others had not stolen anything from the Ninja Academy. Kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs, Explosive Tags, and the rest had all been taken from Kakashi's home.

They did not know whether such things would be prohibited during the exam, but it never hurt to be prepared!

The three boys continued repositioning within the smoke.

And Minato, after waiting briefly, finally began forming hand seals.

Yes, Minato had been waiting all along.

The Third Hokage had not sent him here merely to serve as an examiner. He wanted Minato to become the three boys' guiding Jonin, so he needed to understand his future students' abilities and compatibility beforehand.

Expecting three apprentice Genin to last five minutes against an Elite Jonin was inherently a false proposition.

The reason Minato had waited was to see what kind of strategy the three possessed.

And now, he had seen enough. It was time to strike back!

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

A basic Wind Release ninjutsu was the most suitable choice for blowing away the smoke.

Minato's hand seals were crisp and fluid, and exceptionally pleasing to watch.

A violent wind rose, instantly blowing away more than half the smoke surrounding Minato. However, it did not blow out any of the boys.

The corner of Minato's mouth lifted as he immediately turned, taking an attacking stance toward his rear.

Then, in the next second, shock suddenly appeared in his azure eyes!

"I'm getting serious now, Senior Minato!"

Three identical figures rushed at Minato in a triangular formation, each rubbing a blue chakra sphere between both hands!

They were all Ying Shu! And every one of them controlled a sphere with both hands!