Early Graduation

Hanzo's strength was no less formidable than that of any of the Five Kage throughout history. Setting aside the First Hokage, the God of Shinobi who had pacified the warring era, Hanzo would still rank among the very strongest of all the Five Kage.

"Don't worry, Old Man!"

Jiraiya thumped his chest.

"We'll be the ones to bring this war to an end!"

At this moment, Uchiha Meikyō had no idea that he would soon be graduating early.

Even if he had known, it would have been useless. He was merely an ordinary Ninja Academy student—at most, his grades were a little better, and he possessed Uchiha blood and had awakened the Sharingan. Whatever the important figures in the village wanted to do was beyond his ability to interfere with.

At the moment, he was still diligently studying the ninjutsu his parents had left behind.

Uchiha Style shuriken techniques required powerful Eye Power and sufficiently nimble fingers. The former was fully covered by the Sharingan; the latter could only be trained.

But this body's talent truly was exceptional. Moreover, the Uchiha seemed to possess extraordinary talent with shuriken in general. In just a few days, the shuriken in Uchiha Meikyō's hands had already been made to perform all manner of tricks.

Thus, Uchiha Meikyō soon turned his attention to those ninjutsu and the Uchiha Style sword techniques.

As for swordsmanship, he had no suitable ninja blade at hand, so he could only put it aside for now.

With the Sharingan, even if it was only a Single Tomoe, learning those C-rank ninjutsu would normally be quick. However, he had no one to demonstrate them for him to copy. Uchiha Meikyō also had no idea how effective his Sharingan's copying ability truly was, so he could only teach himself.

In the original story, Uchiha Itachi had learned the Great Fireball after watching Uchiha Fugaku demonstrate it once. Uchiha Sasuke was not quite that outrageous, but after one look, he could still breathe out a few sparks, and after training hard for only an afternoon, he successfully learned it.

Uchiha Meikyō did not know how his talent compared to those two.

Uchiha Itachi's talent was absurdly high, but Uchiha Sasuke had also been the top graduate of his year. His aptitude was unquestionably exceptional as well.

With no one to demonstrate and no one to teach him, Uchiha Meikyō could only rely on his own guesses, constantly experimenting during the morning and evening hours when he had no classes.

Yet even so, a few days later, Uchiha Meikyō successfully performed a complete Great Fireball for the first time.

"So... this is the power of ninjutsu!"

Uchiha Meikyō stood before the pit scorched out by his Great Fireball Style, his face full of amazement.

The sand at the bottom of the pit had already been turned into crystal by the High Temperature.

"It's about time. I should head to the Ninja Academy."

After checking the time on the watch on his wrist, Uchiha Meikyō turned and left the training ground.

This watch was actually the Reincarnator's Wristwatch he had brought over from the Reincarnation Space. But now, even the Reincarnation Space itself was gone, and Uchiha Meikyō had yet to figure out what use this watch had.

Fortunately, it could still serve as an ordinary timepiece. In the current Ninja World, watches were rare, but wearing one on his wrist was not particularly conspicuous and would not arouse anyone's suspicions.

After returning home to pick up his lunch, Uchiha Meikyō arrived at school and discovered that the atmosphere there seemed somewhat off today.

Their homeroom teacher, Kuroda Ofune, wore a grave expression, as did the other Chunin instructors.

Could some higher-up be coming to inspect the school?

The Hokage, or one of the village's other senior officials?

Once everyone in the class had arrived, Kuroda Ofune walked straight to the podium.

Only then did Uchiha Meikyō notice that Kuroda Ofune was not carrying a textbook under his arm as he usually did.

"Ahem. Students, there will be no class today."

The students were about to cheer when Kuroda Ofune pressed both hands downward, silencing them.

"Because the Hokage's Office issued an order last night, this year's Fourth-year students and Fifth-year students will undergo their graduation assessments early."

The classroom immediately erupted. Even though Kuroda Ofune still had more to say, he could not stop the students' chattering.

At the age of ten or so, people loved to fantasize. Especially these students, who did not understand the cruelty of reality and always held some impractical expectations for the future.

It was like how some people, when they were around ten, would agonize over whether Tsinghua University was better or Peking University.

"Early graduation? Last year, they only had the students about to enter their graduation year graduate one year early. This year, they're making students from two grades graduate early. It seems Konoha is under immense pressure on the front lines and urgently needs Cannon Fodder."

Uchiha Meikyō muttered to himself as he watched the classroom descend into chaos.

Inuzuka Tsume was curiously wondering what this year's graduation assessment would be.

With one foot planted on his desk, Itai shouted loudly and declared to the entire class that graduating to become a Genin was merely the first step toward becoming Hokage.

Others worried that they might fail the assessment.

However, Meikyō considered that this was an advanced class. The students were either from Ninja Clans or possessed good talent and considerable potential, so they probably would not fail to graduate.

After a long while, once the students' excitement finally subsided, Kuroda Ofune pulled a document from his pocket.

"Because this is an early graduation, this year's test questions were also set at short notice and differ somewhat from those of previous years."

"There will be no written exam this time. The assessment will mainly focus on practical combat. Two test questions will be drawn. The first will be one of the Three Jutsu, which you will demonstrate before the examiner. The second will be the key part of this graduation assessment and will, to a large extent, determine your subsequent class assignment."

"For the second question, you will battle Genin who graduated a year ago and draw the same serial number as you. Your assessment score will be judged based on your performance in combat."

But at this moment, the excited students still had not really taken in what Kuroda Ofune was saying.

"Two test questions?"

Uchiha Meikyō considered it silently.

The first question was a standard test, not much different from those of previous years. Passing it should be enough to graduate successfully and become a Genin.

The purpose of the second question was therefore obvious.

It was meant to separate them into different streams.

It was like how, during an exam, teachers setting the questions would include a certain proportion of basic questions so that most students could pass. But to identify which students performed better, they would also include difficult questions, allowing them to assess the students' learning outcomes more comprehensively.

The second question required them to fight Genin who had already graduated for a year. Those opponents had undergone a year of training under Jonin Instructors or Chunin Instructors. Not only were they more physically developed, but they also had greater combat experience. The vast majority of Ninja Academy students would likely find it difficult to defeat them.