Because school had started, Mikami Yu could no longer spend seven or eight hours a day training like he had during vacation. Still, he raised the affinity of several Ninjutsu by chatting with them whenever he had the chance.
While he was at it, he also discussed "transformation templates" with the Transformation Technique.
Amid this intense atmosphere of exam preparation,
He was the first to raise the Healing Technique's affinity to the next stage:
[Healing Technique (Affinity: 50/100 (Intimate))] (Phase rewards obtained twice: Constitution +2, Trait · Healing Wound Mark: Wounds you have treated will retain a subtle "Healing Wound Mark." For three weeks after treatment ends, the mark will continuously repair the tissue surrounding the wound until it returns to its original, uninjured state.)
There was not much change. The only difference was that the time needed to repair wounds had been reduced by a quarter.
Additionally, based on Mikami Yu's tests on small animals, the Healing Wound Mark had an unstated hidden restriction: the wound had to remain within a certain size. Injuries such as severed limbs, blindness, or being bisected at the waist could not be fully healed.
After all, it was only a C-Rank Ninjutsu.
Even the Strength of a Hundred Technique supposedly could not regenerate severed limbs. That required Hashirama Cells.
Then,
The second technique to advance was the Substitution Technique!
As the second of the Three Techniques to reach maximum affinity, her trait naturally changed after advancing, and the description looked particularly impressive—
[Substitution Technique (Affinity: 100/100 (Heart-to-Heart))] (Phase rewards obtained four times: Constitution +4, Trait · Simulated Realm Instantaneous: Your Substitution Technique has reached perfection. You can use any object within 80 meters as a substitution medium and exchange it with your body within 0.2 seconds. When the target is a living creature with chakra or is excessively large, additional chakra will be consumed.)
"!"
On the very day he unlocked this trait, Mikami Yu ran to the training grounds and conducted several tests.
In the end, all he could say was, "Holy shit."
This really had become a "Miniature Amenotejikara."
Although the range of Simulated Realm Instantaneous had not increased much compared to Seal-less Instantaneous, the objects he could exchange with had changed from substitution media he had to carry himself into any object within an eighty-meter radius. Rocks, clumps of dirt, wooden stakes...
Even fish in the river and birds in the sky could be pulled over directly as long as he focused.
Within eighty meters, this was practically a conceptual god called "Substitution"!
Of course, it had flaws as well.
One was the increased chakra consumption. In particular, pulling living creatures over consumed several times more chakra than usual.
The other was that the range was a little too short.
But considering that the Substitution Technique originally required very little chakra and had a short cooldown, there would still be another eighty meters after the first eighty. Unless he encountered a wide-area Ninjutsu like Deidara's "Patrick Star," or a ninja as blindingly fast as Namikaze Minato, he would have a chance of escaping most dangerous situations.
Taking it a step further, if he really encountered people like that...
Forget eighty meters—even eight hundred meters would not be enough to escape.
Considering how vastly different Simulated Realm Instantaneous was from a conventional Substitution Technique, Mikami Yu decided to keep it hidden for now. For the time being, he would only use the version that required a substitution medium.
This kind of special effect had to be saved for a critical moment.
He had originally wanted to raise the Clone Technique and Water Release: Water Shockwave to their advancement stages in one go as well.
But the graduation exams arrived first.
The first test was the written exam.
This was Mikami Yu's comfort zone, and he handled it with ease.
One noteworthy part was the essay prompt about the Will of Fire.
Suppressing his embarrassment, Mikami Yu wrote a long, flowery little essay. Using language as childlike as possible, he laid out the central message: "The Hokage's kindness can never be repaid," and "Konoha is my home; protecting it depends on everyone."
Judging by Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression whenever he gave speeches at the Ninja Academy, this essay would probably keep him pleased for quite some time. If he got into a particularly good mood and assigned Mikami Yu to the Hokage's office specifically to write this sort of thing, that would not be a bad outcome either.
After the two-day written exam ended,
It was time for the practical exams.
Kunai and Shuriken throwing, the Three Techniques, a five-kilometer obstacle run, identifying wild ingredients...
These basic individual tests were certainly unavoidable.
The most important part, naturally, was the practical PvP confrontation.
The Ninja Academy's graduation policy at this time was stricter than it would be in Naruto's era. Merely testing the Three Techniques was definitely not enough; there generally had to be a major competitive event. The formats ranged from one-on-one fights and three-person team battles to wilderness survival training... almost none were repeated from year to year, rotating through different formats.
Therefore, Mikami Yu had no idea how this year's test would be conducted.
However, some well-connected students with connections in the school began showing off their abilities at this time, trying to find out the format of the practical exam and whispering about it in the classroom:
"Did you hear? This exam might use a free-for-all format!"
"A free-for-all? What does that mean?"
"Uh, it means a big brawl. Didn't they already test three-person team battles last year? Logically, they should change the evaluation direction this year."
"There's no rule saying they have to change it. Haven't one-on-one matches been used for several years in a row before? I think this may be the teachers' smokescreen, testing our intelligence-gathering abilities. The real exam actually started right now..."
Over here,
Nohara Rin had heard those discussions too. She nudged Mikami Yu and whispered, "Yu, what do you think? About the assessment rules?"
"...We'll win."
Mikami Yu smiled.
"?"
Naturally, Nohara Rin did not understand the Sukuna Continent joke. She merely tilted her head, her face full of confusion.
Mikami Yu added, "It doesn't matter. We'll find out when the time comes."
He had already prepared thoroughly. No matter what format the assessment took, he was confident he could at least place second and contend for first, so there was no need to think too much about it.
"Rin, why don't you ask me?"
Obito poked his head out from the back row.
"...I think that, with your adaptability, Obito, you probably won't be affected by these objective conditions."
Nohara Rin said.
Well... the truth was that even if Obito paid attention to the assessment rules, it would not help. He had always been remarkably consistent at being the dead last. Even if his actual strength was worth seventy points, he could only bring out thirty. Passing the exam smoothly would already be a blessing.
The time reached ten in the morning.
Mikami Yu and the others followed Teacher Oki out of the classroom and onto the field outside.
A large area had already been cleared, and Ninjutsu had been used to create obstacles such as earthen slopes, artificial hills, raised platforms, and puddles. It looked quite convincing, as though it were simulating a real battlefield.
At that moment,
A familiar head of white hair appeared in everyone's sight.
"...Huh, is that Kakashi?!"
Before you continue