Placement Assessment

Today was the first day of school. Hoshi was woken early by his mother and, at her insistence, changed into a brand-new outfit she had just bought him.

It had to be said that clothes made the man in any world. Hoshi had already been quite the looker, but after changing into his new clothes, he looked even more handsome.

After looking himself over in the mirror, even Hoshi could not resist narcissistically remarking, "Nice. Too handsome for words. Even Uchiha Sasuke would fall silent after seeing this face."

After saying goodbye to his mother, Rie, Hoshi arrived at the Ninja Academy just a few minutes before the opening ceremony began.

The Ninja Academy in Year 16 of Konoha was vastly different from the one in the Original Story. During Naruto's era, any child of the appropriate age could attend and spend six years studying ninja knowledge.

But now, due to a lack of educational resources, the academy's program lasted only three years. It also admitted only one hundred students each year, so there were not many students in the school at present.

Upon arriving outside the auditorium, Hoshi specifically straightened his clothes before happily pushing open the doors.

Lbw—no, Hayate Hoshi made his dazzling entrance.

Yet the imagined scene of fangirls screaming about how handsome he was and passersby feeling inferior did not appear. Over a hundred children in the auditorium had formed little groups, chattering excitedly among themselves. No one noticed Hoshi's arrival at all.

Emmm, pardon the interruption. After a brief silence, Hoshi quietly picked up a small stool and blended into the crowd, lowering his presence. That embarrassing chuunibyou just now definitely wasn't me.

After a speech by the newly appointed Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, three teachers led Hoshi and the others to their respective classes. The Ninja Academy currently had only three classes per grade—A, B, and C—and students were assigned entirely according to their rankings.

Of course, class rosters were not permanently fixed. To prevent students from hogging resources without making progress, the school held a Combat Assessment every three months, pitting the bottom ten students in the rankings against the top ten students from the lower classes before reassigning them based on the results.

This was also meant to optimize the use of teaching resources. With limited resources, this was the only way to cultivate truly outstanding talent.

The homeroom teacher of Hoshi's Class A was Uchijima Mitsui. After leading the thirty Class A students out of the auditorium, he did not head straight for the classroom. Instead, he brought them to the school training grounds. As the children stood around in confusion, he pulled a small box from behind his back, cleared his throat, and explained his purpose. "Before classes officially begin, I need to assess your foundations. Therefore, I've arranged a Placement Assessment. Come up and draw your lots.

"The winners will receive a reward. The reward is that the winners may choose their seats first."

The moment Teacher Mitsui finished speaking, someone stepped forward and drew a number. The boy had silver hair and exaggerated face paint. With that carefree manner, there was no need to ask—it was definitely Jiraiya.

As Jiraiya stepped forward to draw his lot, he howled out his "declaration of certain victory." "No matter who my opponent is, they'll only fall at the feet of the great Jiraiya! Because I, the genius Jiraiya, am a man destined to become the strongest ninja!"

Jiraiya's flamboyant declaration drew snickers from quite a few people. Even Hoshi rolled his eyes speechlessly. Most of those who could enter Class A were elite descendants of the major clans, the sort of second-generation heirs whose identities could be recognized at a glance.

For someone like Jiraiya, who was plainly a commoner from the look of his shabby clothes, to boast so loudly here was simply asking for trouble.

After Jiraiya, the students went up one by one to draw lots. Hoshi casually drew a number as well, but upon seeing it, his expression turned strange.

His number was twenty-seven. According to the rule matching the first and last numbers, his opponent was Jiraiya, who had drawn number four.

Hoshi glanced at Jiraiya, who was still resentful after being mocked, then scratched his head helplessly. This was a little awkward. Should he give Jiraiya a beating, or spare his pride and deliberately lose?

Just as Hoshi was debating what to do, the first group had already decided its victor. A boy named Uchiha Iwa defeated an unknown clan descendant in just two moves.

The Uchiha Clan was, after all, a major clan. And judging by how the other Uchiha children subtly treated him as their center, Uchiha Iwa seemed to hold no low status within the clan.

It was nothing unusual for such a second-generation heir to defeat his opponent in two moves.

Hoshi did not pay much attention to Uchiha Iwa. What interested him was the name Teacher Mitsui announced for the next match. "Second group: Tsunade versus Nakakura Kuri."

Upon hearing the name Tsunade, Hoshi instinctively raised his head and saw a little girl with a golden ponytail walk to the center of the field.

Even at six years old, Tsunade was already visibly a beauty in the making. Her doll-like, delicate features caused quite a stir the moment she appeared.

That Nakakura Kuri fellow was so stunned that he just stared blankly at Tsunade even after Teacher Mitsui called for the match to begin. By the time he came back to his senses, Tsunade's fist was already right in front of him.

With nowhere to dodge, he could only raise his arms in a panic to block. But how could Tsunade's fist, blessed with Hashirama's innate strength, possibly be resisted head-on?

The instant Nakakura Kuri was struck by Tsunade's small fist, he staggered back several steps. After landing on his butt, he clutched his arm and kept sucking in cold breaths.

Teacher Mitsui clearly knew Tsunade's general abilities. He simply shook his head and declared her the winner.

Tsunade tilted her head at Nakakura Kuri, who was sitting on the ground, unable to understand why he was reacting so dramatically. Still, she obediently returned after listening to her teacher.

Seeing Tsunade's adorable head tilt, Hoshi internally screamed, Aww, I'm dead! At that moment, he stopped hesitating. Sorry, Jiraiya. At worst, I'll treat you to ramen after school. No need to be polite between bros.

The two extras in the third group fought quite earnestly, exchanging blows for a long while before one finally won by a narrow margin. Once they stepped down, it was Jiraiya and Hoshi's turn.

Hoshi slowly walked to the center of the field and gave the still-displeased Jiraiya a friendly smile. Jiraiya froze slightly at the sight of it. He had assumed that this pretty boy across from him would be another one of those people who mocked him.

Before Jiraiya could say anything, Hoshi spoke first.

"Let's agree on this first. We'll be classmates from now on, so let's stop short of hurting each other and keep things friendly."

Mitsui looked at Hoshi in surprise upon hearing that. He suddenly realized that this little fellow seemed rather interesting.

Hearing this, Jiraiya also felt that this guy was not so irritating after all. He nodded at Hoshi, agreeing to his suggestion.

At Teacher Mitsui's command, their match officially began. Without saying a word, Jiraiya charged forward. Though Jiraiya had previously looked like he was not the sharpest tool in the shed, once the fight began, he clearly understood the value of catching his opponent off guard.

Having spent years roaming the streets, he knew how important it was to seize the initiative in a fight. Against an opponent who had received systematic training and might even have already extracted chakra, disrupting the opponent's rhythm first gave him a better chance of winning.

The distance between them was not great to begin with. In the blink of an eye, Jiraiya had closed in on Hoshi, his clenched fist shooting straight for Hoshi's face. Some of the girls in the class could not bear to watch and even closed their eyes.