Recent Achievements

Not long after Teacher Mitsui finished explaining the assessment, the dismissal bell rang right on time.

The students began packing up to go home. Unlike usual, though, dismissal was far less boisterous today. Most of them simply packed their things in silence before leaving the classroom together in small groups.

These six-year-olds had studied together for over a month and had formed no small amount of affection for one another. Now that they had suddenly been told that some of them would leave the class next week, they all felt rather uneasy.

Most of those with average ability, who might be eliminated, were anxious because they knew what it meant to leave Class A.

It basically meant being cast out of the so-called "elite group," and possibly having to face the disappointed looks of their parents.

Even those who were not worried about being eliminated were concerned for the friends they had just made. If their good friends dropped to Class B, would their friendship simply come to an end?

Hoshi had just finished packing and was about to stand when he noticed that Jiraiya was still sitting there in a daze. Naturally, he knew what Jiraiya was worried about. He patted Jiraiya on the head and comforted him, "Don't worry. With your current strength, you'll definitely have no problem staying in Class A."

As if he had suddenly grabbed onto a lifeline, Jiraiya seized Hoshi. "Really? There's really no problem?"

Jiraiya might usually act carefree, but deep down, he had always felt somewhat inferior.

The delayed start caused by not receiving early education had always been a hurdle in his heart, making him worry that he would end up at the bottom during the Combat Assessment.

He had only just become friends with Hoshi and Sakumo, and he did not want to be separated from them like this.

Seeing this, Hoshi poked Jiraiya in the arm and teased, "Just look at your build. You're huge, like you've been pumped full of steroids. Based on physical fitness alone, you probably surpass who knows how many people in the class. There isn't even a Written Exam for this Combat Assessment. You'll definitely be fine."

At that moment, Sakumo appeared beside him and said, "You may not be my match, but you're not bad enough to be eliminated."

Hearing that, Jiraiya's worries eased considerably. Reinvigorated, he bared his teeth and claws as if ready to fight Sakumo to the death. "Screw you! I'll admit it'll be hard to surpass Hoshi, but you, you smug bastard—I'll stomp you under my feet someday!"

Seeing Jiraiya return to his usual self, Hoshi and Sakumo exchanged a glance, both with amusement in their eyes.

After school, the three of them practiced taijutsu together as usual for a while before heading home separately.

When Hoshi got home, his mother had not returned from work yet. After entering the house, he thought it over and decided not to rush out to practice swordsmanship.

Instead, he found a spot to sit cross-legged and roughly reviewed the results of his training over the past month or so.

During this time, Hoshi had made considerable progress in Ninja Tools, ninjutsu, and swordsmanship.

Hoshi had always placed great importance on throwing Ninja Tools.

For one thing, he had always believed that in the early stages of the Naruto World, precise Shurikenjutsu combined with a little creativity could work miracles in many situations.

For another, the flashy Shurikenjutsu displayed by Uchiha Sasuke and Itachi in the Original Story was just too cool. It made Hoshi itch to learn it himself.

After all, whether you were strong or not only mattered for a while, but whether you were cool or not mattered for a lifetime.

Combined with the godlike Weapon Mastery skill, which helped Hoshi quickly master throwing techniques, it was only natural that he had made tremendous progress in throwing Ninja Tools.

Hoshi could now use Kunai to kill small animals moving at high speed. Over the month and a half that the three had trained together, they had often enjoyed meals made from the small animals Hoshi caught.

If he kept working at it for another two years, pulling off fancy tricks like curving shuriken should not be a problem.

As for ninjutsu, Hoshi had completely mastered the most basic Three Basic Jutsu, and he could also easily use the Shadow Clone Jutsu he had received from Mito.

The Shadow Clone Jutsu was not particularly difficult to begin with. It only took Hoshi a few days to fully master it.

The first thing Hoshi had his shadow clone do after successfully using the technique was practice swordsmanship alongside him.

After several tests, he discovered that training with shadow clones did indeed grant extra experience, but there was a limit to the bonus. At most, only two clones could receive additional experience.

In other words, the maximum experience bonus Hoshi could gain was triple experience. Even if he created a hundred shadow clones to practice swordsmanship together in the future, he would gain no more experience than he would from training with two shadow clones.

However, Hoshi could currently create only one shadow clone for daily training. It could not be helped—he was still too young, and his stamina was truly limited. Training with one shadow clone and his Main Body was already his limit.

He had also greedily tried training with two shadow clones at once. The result was that Hoshi could not even get out of bed the next day, and it took him two whole days of rest at home to recover.

By his estimate, he would have to wait until he was at least twelve before he could train swordsmanship with two shadow clones at once. Before then, forcing himself to train with two shadow clones would just be asking for suffering.

Lastly—and most importantly—there was Hoshi's swordsmanship. Over the past month or so, his swordsmanship had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Sparring with Sakumo every day, combined with the experience bonus from the Shadow Clone Jutsu, had multiplied the speed at which he gained experience several times over.

In just a month and a half, his experience had reached: Introductory Swordsmanship 70/100.

At this rate, he should be able to break through Introductory Swordsmanship and reach the level of Basic Swordsmanship soon after the class placement assessment.

Looking solely at these three abilities combined, Hoshi could now unleash combat power close to Chunin level in short battles.

However, due to his physical condition and stamina, he would not be able to handle a prolonged fight. If a battle lasted longer than three minutes, Hoshi might not even be a match for a Genin.

What he needed to solve most urgently was his stamina problem, but that could only be addressed through age and breakthroughs in his Swordsmanship Level.

If Hoshi wanted to reach true Chunin level in a short time, he could only place his hopes on Basic Swordsmanship. Increasing his Swordsmanship Level would also improve his physical fitness and Chakra reserves.

He estimated that once he reached Basic Swordsmanship, his physical fitness should be roughly on par with that of a normal Genin. With Genin-level stamina and these three abilities, fighting a Chunin would be a sure thing.

If the skill he drew upon reaching Basic Swordsmanship was strong enough, then with his Transparency Release, it might even be possible for him to ambush and kill a Special Jonin.