Clash of Youth and Noble Clans

The day of the Ninja Academy entrance exam was truly bustling.

A vast crowd of parents all led their own children there to register.

Eight out of ten inside were from civilian families.

Those proper ninja clans, who bothered with this stuff?

They had their own paths. Just like Sasuke Uchiha, who hadn't even entered the school yet, but had already mastered his ancestral Fireball Jutsu.

You had to know that when Sasuke used this C-rank ninjutsu upon graduation, how many civilian Genin stared in utter shock.

In the Naruto World, ninjutsu was strategic goods counted on one's fingers.

Those folks who watched anime in his past life always felt that when ninja fought, they just put their hands together and whatever jutsu they wanted came out.

That was a skill only those few people at the apex of the pyramid possessed.

Plus, the story started right off the bat following Kakashi Hatake, the Konoha copy ninja who had copied thousands of ninjutsu, so many people took it for granted and thought ninjutsu was just like cheap cabbage.

Over the years, Naruto had also pried out quite a few real facts about the Ninja World from Might Guy's mouth.

If a civilian Genin could clutch one or two C-rank ninjutsu, they were considered top-tier among them.

Many people relied on doing missions little by little to save up a family foundation, and only after reaching Chunin did they have the means to apply to learn new ninjutsu.

How dangerous was that place called the ANBU, yet why did a crowd of Chunin still fight tooth and nail to get in.

The direct subordinates of the Hokage couldn't even be compared with the benefits ordinary numbered Chunin received.

Why else would they say that the Ninja Academy established by the Second Hokage actually only taught the most foundational stuff—how to refine chakra, the Three-Body Technique, paired along with taijutsu and throwing shuriken.

Students spent most of their time just like those examinees from his past life, soaking in textbooks and cramming theory.

That pile of stuff wasn't simple at all.

How ninja ranks were graded, how many types of genjutsu were divided into, how to calculate the throwing angle of kunai, how traps were set.

Every single subject was petty to the extreme.

These things were all chewed-over old history to the ninja clans, so those famous, prominent clans looked down on this bit of stuff at the Ninja Academy.

Most of the time they just went through the motions, shoving in one or two insignificant disciples to put up a front.

Neji Hyuga from the branch family was a prime example.

What truly made up the bulk of the school were civilian kids who wanted to be ninja, and those whose parents were minor ninja yet hadn't reached the level of ninja descendants from the ninja clans.

They didn't have that much family backing, and after graduating from the Academy, the Hokage would assign a Jonin to specifically lead them through missions, which was an incredible path upward for them.

Even though after this they would have the label of the Hokage faction slapped onto their heads, civilians naturally had to listen to the Hokage, so nobody felt awkward in their hearts.

In all these years since the school was built, everyone truly had never seen such a terrifying lineup as today!

Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shino.

The direct descendants of every family in Konoha, as if they had discussed it, were all crammed into the exam room for the exact same year.

The people all around stared at this group, and their mouths didn't stop moving.

No way! Aren't all these people from noble clans? People like this actually came to attend the Ninja Academy too?

There's no mistaking it. That pineapple head is said to be the son of the Nara Clan head. My mom even bumped into him when she went to get medicine.

Isn't that Hinata Hyuga? The young miss of the Hyuga Clan! Good heavens, this is from the main family, so how come even she was sent over? Don't tell me she really plans to go out and be a ninja after graduation?

Who knows? Doesn't the main family not go to the front lines?

Hehe. You guys are ignorant. I heard, though, that the Hyuga Clan added a little miss again...

Over here, the adults were still gasping in astonishment at this noble-clan formation.

Over there, the girls had already clustered together and started squealing.

Quick, look! Sasuke~ so handsome! The second young master of the Uchiha Clan~ the way he keeps his hands in his pockets is really dashing!

I'll put my words right here, Sasuke belongs to me! No matter what, I have to bag him these next few years!

Tch, with that homely look of yours, you still want to chase Sasuke, keep dreaming! I think the chubby guy from the Akimichi Clan over there looks quite pleasing to the eye.

Get lost! You're the one who took a fancy to the fatty!

Amidst this crowd of people, a girl with a wide forehead was pushed to the outer fringe by a bunch of girls, shrinking behind her parents and not daring to make a sound.

This was Sakura Haruno, the one who fell under a genjutsu in the Fourth Great Ninja War and felt she could stand side-by-side with Naruto and Sasuke again.

Lately, her parents were still just civilian Genin, and her own looks weren't eye-catching either, plus her big forehead, so she didn't miss being squeezed out by other girls.

Ino among the rookie nine happened to spot little Sakura hiding in the back, and she waved her hand.

Her family ran a flower shop, close to Sakura's house, and usually she was the one who protected Sakura.

"Come quickly, Sakura, look! How handsome Sasuke is, even his parents didn't tag along when he came to register!"

Ino raised her voice and called out to Sakura.

As soon as Sakura caught sight of Ino, her eyes lit up in a flash, and she trotted over eagerly.

At the side, Shikamaru rolled a massive pair of eyes.

"Why do I have to come study this stuff! I don't want to be any kind of ninja at all."

Choji chewed on his potato chips and chimed in vaguely.

"I heard from my old man, the Hokage-sama is the one who told us to come."

Shikamaru felt even less enthusiastic upon hearing that.

"What a drag~ I guessed as much already..."

Kiba Inuzuka glanced sideways at Shikamaru, glaring at him with a hostile expression and snapping back.

"If you knew, then why are you asking stupid questions?"

Shikamaru couldn't be bothered to waste even half a sentence on these two numskulls.

Right at that moment, a sudden commotion broke out behind the crowd.

Everyone split apart to both sides in unison, as if they had just laid eyes on some bad luck.

"One, two, three! This is what you call youth! After finishing the entrance exam, we'll run ten solid laps around Konoha again!"

A green-clad, bowl-cut boy doing a handstand shouted at the top of his lungs.

The youth in front of him, who was the absolute spitting image of the Fourth Hokage when he was a little kid, let out a helpless sigh.

"Guy-sensei, I'm just here to take an entrance exam, you really didn't have to follow me..."

"Nonsense! This is my very first disciple's burning hot youth!"

Naruto clamped his mouth shut and couldn't say a single thing anymore.