The other students thought completely differently. They cheered and jumped for joy, shouting in excitement.
Some even asked Sugiki Keitai whether it was true, thinking they must be dreaming.
Yechen could not share their enthusiasm.
Becoming a Genin meant facing war and slaughter. They were all children who had barely experienced the world. If they really went to the battlefield, how many would survive?
Yet what mattered to them was not whether they could become Genin, but whether they could fight for the village.
Yechen did not understand that, nor could he relate to it.
While they were still cheering, Yechen quietly left the classroom. Rather than stay and say things that meant nothing, he might as well go home and improve himself.
Over the next three days, Yechen trained his Three Body Technique to level 9.
Although a level 9 Three Body Technique did not increase his strength, it gave him a reliable means of staying alive.
Even some Chunin could not see through his Transformation Technique, except for those with special abilities, such as the Sharingan Kekkei Genkai.
That gave Yechen plenty to be proud of, though he was a little disappointed that he still had not met the requirements to activate his Sharingan.
One day, on a sudden whim, Yechen went into the room belonging to his body's original parents. According to his memories, they had left him several Ninjutsu scrolls.
His memories had been muddled before, so he had not remembered them. The thought suddenly came to him today. Once he graduated, the battlefield would not be far off. Learning a few more Ninjutsu would certainly help.
After rummaging around, he actually found them.
"Let's see what Ninjutsu we've got."
Excited, Yechen opened the first scroll. The words "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique" greeted his eyes.
This was a standard Ninjutsu of the Uchiha Clan, and for a Genin, it could serve as a trump card.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique was a C-rank technique in terms of learning difficulty. It used fire-nature chakra, one of the five basic nature transformations.
The technique gathered chakra in the throat, then used hand seals to unleash powerful flames from the mouth to attack.
Yechen read for a while but did not rush to practice. Instead, he set the scroll aside and picked up the others.
Two of the techniques were Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu and Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique.
They were all just ways of playing with fire, differing only in how difficult they were to learn.
Yechen pursed his lips. They had really dressed up a single Fire Release in all sorts of ways. Weren't the only differences their shapes and power? They were still Fire Release techniques of the same rank.
In his view, there was little difference between these three Fire Release Ninjutsu. What mattered most was proficiency and the strength of the user's chakra.
Madara Uchiha could destroy half a village with a single Great Fireball Technique. It was not about how strong or weak a Ninjutsu was, but who cast it.
Yechen picked up the final scroll: "Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique."
This was a Genjutsu cast through the Sharingan. It used the Sharingan to construct a mental space, creating the illusion that stakes had pierced the target's limbs.
Genjutsu was not to be underestimated. It could inflict psychological trauma, and once that happened, recovery was even harder than healing a physical injury.
Yechen was very interested in this Genjutsu. Once he awakened his Sharingan, he would be able to use it.
Taking the Shackling Stakes Technique and Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, Yechen left the room. As for why he did not take the other two scrolls, he considered the three Fire Release techniques much the same. Rather than waste time training them all, he would be better off improving his strength.
Of course, if there were higher-rank Fire Release Ninjutsu available, he would certainly be willing to learn them.
Over the next few days, Yechen added another subject to his training: Fire Release.
Naturally, he could not practice this Ninjutsu within the clan grounds. Each time, he chose a secluded lakeside to practice the Great Fireball Technique.
Through hard work, Yechen mastered the Ninjutsu and raised it to level 2.
Seven days quickly passed...
Yechen arrived at the Ninja Academy as usual. After listening to a long, empty speech from Sarutobi Hiruzen, his class entered the examination grounds.
As for the results, they were already decided. Today was nothing more than a formality.
The Genin exam tested more than the Three Body Technique. It also covered setting up an area and coded language.
The first few tests were therefore written exams. Compared with the Chunin exam, graduating as a ninja was much easier. Nearly everything tested was basic knowledge taught at the Ninja Academy.
Anyone who had paid attention in class could pass easily.
Yechen had long since grown sick of hearing pompous rhetoric like the Will of Fire.
He deliberately got a few questions wrong, hoping to see whether the academy would fail him.
What a shame!
Things did not go as he hoped. His efforts were wasted, and he still passed with a high score.
Although he had known this would happen, Yechen was still irritated.
Of course, he could only keep that irritation to himself. He did not dare show it.
He was not Naruto, who could run wild in the village.
An expendable Uchiha could be killed without anyone noticing, and there would be nowhere to turn for help.
Rather than risk that, he would graduate first and slowly build up his strength. Only when he reached the pinnacle one day would he be able to control his own fate.
That afternoon, the first tests covered basic Taijutsu and Ninja Tool Throwing.
Since they had to take turns, an hour had already passed by the time Yechen was called up.
"Next, Yechen Uchiha."
Yechen slowly walked to the center of the field. With a casual sweep of his hand across his waist, a Kunai appeared and spun in his hand like a dancing flower.
He tossed it casually, and it struck with a thud.
The ninja checking the target immediately called out, "Bull's-eye!"
An uproar broke out across the field, but Yechen remained unmoved. He threw ten times in succession and passed with a perfect score.
He was not trying to show off. Hitting a stationary target was simply too easy. Given his usual performance at school, deliberately missing or scoring poorly would only make others suspicious.
He might as well show off this once and let everyone think he still had something he excelled at.
That alone showed how lax today's exam standards were. Even if he wanted to fail to graduate, he could not!
By the time the tests ended, the afternoon was over. The remaining sections would have to wait until tomorrow.
He trained hard through the night.
Yechen's Three Body Technique reached level 10, meaning all three skills had reached level 10.
Yet after reaching level 10, he noticed that the progress bars had slowed down, as though he had hit a bottleneck.
"System, what's going on? Can the Three Body Technique only reach level 10?"
Although his level 10 Three Body Technique was already faster to cast than those of most Chunin, Yechen was not satisfied. If he could reach greater heights, why should he stop here?
"Ding-dong! A level 10 Three Body Technique is the limit of your current abilities. There are two ways to break past it: become a Chunin or awaken your bloodline. When you do, an unexpected breakthrough awaits. Keep it up, working stiff! You're the best!"
Yechen was speechless. Did the system think he did not want to activate his bloodline? His constitution simply refused to improve.