Graduated Against His Will

The next day, Kirito woke up to discover that he had been graduated.

Early that morning, as he left the Senju Clan Compound, an Anbu came to find him and handed him a graduation certificate, along with an appointment letter assigning him to intern at the Medical Unit.

"What's going on here?"

Holding the two documents, Kirito asked the Anbu ninja before him in confusion.

"The items have been delivered. Farewell."

The Anbu ninja did not waste words with Kirito. After handling the matter in a businesslike manner, he formed a hand seal and vanished.

"Kirito, why did you graduate? Didn't you say you would wait until you were twelve so we could graduate together?"

Noticing the graduation certificate in Kirito's hand, Nawaki immediately snatched it over to examine it closely. His eyes gradually widened, and he complained unhappily.

Two years ago, he had kept insisting that they would graduate together at twelve.

Who would have thought that Kirito would shamelessly sneak ahead?

"How would I know? This wasn't my decision. I never planned to graduate this early."

Kirito immediately protested his innocence.

Heaven knew, how could he possibly do something as stupid as graduating early? Even if his strength had long since reached graduation level, he would never graduate ahead of time.

Once he graduated from the Ninja Academy and officially became a Konoha Genin, it meant he would have to obey the arrangements of that rotten old man, the Third Hokage.

He was still young, only eight years old. He did not want to be dragged onto the battlefield to fight enemies so soon.

"This was Mito-sama's decision."

Just as Kirito was preparing to head straight to the Hokage's Office Building and protest to the Third Hokage, Momoka suddenly appeared and explained why.

"So it was Teacher's decision. Then it's fine."

After hearing Momoka's explanation, Kirito calmly took the graduation certificate back from Nawaki and smiled.

If it had been the Third Hokage's idea, he definitely would not have accepted it. But if it was Mito-sama's idea, he only had to comply. He knew his teacher's personality well—when it came to her own people, she was fiercely protective.

Most likely, having him intern at the Medical Unit was a measure Mito-sama had taken to protect him.

Still, there was one thing he did not understand. What did having him intern at the Medical Unit have to do with graduating early?

Could he not intern at the Medical Unit without graduating early?

"What about me? I want to graduate early too."

Seeing that Kirito had graduated, Nawaki looked at Momoka eagerly.

If Kirito was no longer going to the Ninja Academy, what was the point of him continuing to stay there?

Besides, without Kirito, he would have to face off with that troublesome girl Chizuru, whom he never got along with, every day. Just thinking of her vicious tongue and terrifying strength made him feel that his good days at school were over.

"You? Keep attending class obediently. Let me ask you this: how many of your Theory Classes have you passed?"

Hearing Nawaki's request, Momoka mercilessly shattered his hopes and struck right at his weak point.

Nawaki was still the same old Nawaki—a complete academic failure. His Practical Combat Class grades were excellent, but he had always ranked among the bottom students in Theory Class.

Nawaki desperately wanted to argue that he already had the strength of a Chunin, so there was no need to bother with mere Theory Classes.

But he did not dare say that in front of Momoka. She usually doted on him, but the way she spoiled him was no different from his grandmother. If he dared talk back now, she would definitely drag him home after school and force him to make up his lessons. He could forget about going out to play.

With no other choice, Nawaki fell silent dejectedly, wearing an expression of utter despair.

Momoka did not care in the slightest about Nawaki's suffering over having to attend school. After delivering Mito-sama's message, she immediately formed a hand seal and turned into a puff of white smoke, disappearing from the spot.

"No way! I don't want to go to school! I want to graduate early too! Grandma, you're confused!"

The moment Momoka left, Nawaki erupted. He threw his head back and howled at the sky, venting the grief and indignation in his heart.

Unfortunately, before Mito-sama's decree, Nawaki could only obediently carry it out.

"Alright, alright. Can't you just send a Shadow Clone to class? What's the big deal?"

Unable to bear watching any longer, Kirito suddenly said this.

Nawaki's eyes immediately lit up when he heard that, and he thought it was a fantastic idea.

Why had he never thought of that before? He had been so focused on using Shadow Clones to train in ninjutsu and taijutsu. He really did love learning too much—he had never once used a Shadow Clone to attend class.

"Thank you, Kirito."

Nawaki thanked Kirito gratefully, and his frustration at being unable to graduate early vanished without a trace.

The next moment, he immediately formed hand seals and used the Shadow Clone Jutsu, creating a Shadow Clone. Then he said to it, "I'll leave class to you."

But to Nawaki's utter surprise, his clone did not react to the order at all.

Picking its nose, Nawaki's clone looked at him disdainfully. "Why should I? I don't want to go to school."

"You're my clone, so of course you have to listen to me."

Nawaki said blankly.

Nawaki's clone immediately covered its ears with its hands, acting completely unfazed, and refused to go to school.

Left with no choice, Nawaki used the Shadow Clone Jutsu again and created another Shadow Clone.

Yet the newly created Shadow Clone still refused his request.

For a while, Nawaki angrily began bickering with his two Shadow Clones.

"Looks like studying really is the thing Nawaki hates most deep down. Even his Shadow Clones would rather die than comply."

Kirito could not help laughing at the farce before him.

He decisively said goodbye to Nawaki and left first, heading alone toward the hospital.

However, after walking some distance, he successfully used the Shadow Clone Jutsu without forming hand seals, creating three Shadow Clones in one go. Then he said with a smile, "I'll leave today's matters to you."

Having Shadow Clones assist with his training was something Kirito did every day.

Through persistent practice, he had developed a deep understanding of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. On the Attribute Panel, this ninjutsu had already reached Level 4.

The benefit of deeply understanding this ninjutsu was that he could cast it Hand Seal-less. He only needed to expend a small amount of Chakra to create Shadow Clones, rather than dividing his Chakra equally among them.

Just like now, relying on his powerful Chakra control, he had left each of the three Shadow Clones with enough Chakra to act for an entire day.

Previously, one of the three Shadow Clones would go to the Orphanage basement to conduct experimental research; one would go to work at the Sealing Unit, slack off, and study Sealing Jutsu; while the last would go to the basement of a Yakushi Gourmet House branch to study pharmacology and learn how to make medicine.

Now that he had graduated from the Ninja Academy and his original body no longer needed to attend class, he planned to have his last Shadow Clone go fishing from today onward.

The three Shadow Clones had long understood what Kirito wanted and all nodded. But just as they were preparing to split up, four masked Anbu ninjas suddenly appeared and surrounded Kirito and his three Shadow Clones.

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