Top Student

Although he had not gotten a drop of the Sage Body, Izayoi felt somewhat disappointed.

Still, getting the Uzumaki Bloodline as a drop was already incredibly lucky.

Like the bloodlines of the Senju Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Kaguya Clan, this bloodline was a branch of the Otsutsuki Clan.

As descendants of the Sage Body, both the Uzumaki Clan and the Senju Clan possessed immense vitality and astonishingly large chakra reserves.

Moreover, besides excelling at Sealing Techniques, the Uzumaki Clan possessed three powerful unique abilities.

These three abilities were: Mind's Eye of the Kagura, Adamantine Sealing Chains, and Physical Stamina Healing.

Mind's Eye of the Kagura was one of the strongest sensory techniques in the Ninja World.

Adamantine Sealing Chains combined offense and defense, and could also be used to create Barriers and perform Sealing Techniques. Even Tailed Beasts found it difficult to break free once bound.

Physical Stamina Healing could consume chakra to heal one's own or others' injuries, with remarkably powerful results.

All three abilities were top-tier support skills.

However, just as not every member of the Uchiha Clan could awaken the Sharingan, not every member of the Uzumaki Clan could awaken these three unique abilities.

In the original story, Naruto Uzumaki had not awakened a single one of them before gaining Kurama's recognition.

After gaining Kurama's recognition, he did gain the same ability as Mito Uzumaki to sense good and evil.

As for why he did not awaken the other abilities, either the genuine Sage Body was simply too powerful, or the original author did not want to give him any more cheats.

But there was no denying that Naruto Uzumaki not only possessed the Uzumaki Bloodline, but as the reincarnation of Asura Chakra, the purity of his bloodline was also very high.

Now that Izayoi had gotten the Uzumaki Bloodline as a drop from Naruto Uzumaki, if he was lucky enough, he might be able to awaken one of the three unique abilities as well.

If he awakened all three unique abilities at once like Karin, then whether in sensory perception, sealing, or healing, he would stand at the very top of the Ninja World.

Even if he failed to awaken a single unique ability, he would still inherit the powerful vitality passed down through the Sage Body, so it would not be a loss either way.

In high spirits, Izayoi put away the Light Screen and watched the sparring matches on the field.

As round after round of matches decided their winners, the Taijutsu Sparring soon came to an end.

Next came the final exam: the newly added Survival Exercise.

Before the Survival Exercise began, however, Iruka Umino first led the students to the Medical Room, where doctors treated their injuries.

He then took the students to the Props Room and let Izayoi and the others pick out equipment.

This equipment was essential for using the Invisibility Technique.

Unlike the bell-grabbing Survival Exercise for genin, the Ninja Academy's Survival Exercise was mostly hide-and-seek. It primarily tested the students' mastery of the Invisibility Technique, the Body Flicker Technique, and the Three Body Technique.

Those who performed well would receive high scores or even full marks.

Those who performed poorly would be given another chance, just like in the Chunin Exams. If their performance was still too awful to look at afterward, they would be dragged out.

Naturally, this kind of exam posed no difficulty for Izayoi, who had long since mastered the Three Body Technique.

He lasted until time ran out without any suspense, earning another perfect score.

Although the results would not be announced until the new semester in April, the title of Top Student was already Izayoi's for the taking.

"Hinata, see you at the Old Place tomorrow."

"Mm!"

After school, Izayoi and Hinata parted ways at an intersection, making their usual arrangement.

Although Izayoi would not take Hinata to the abandoned Training Grounds again before the Uchiha Clan's destruction, he had not stopped training with her.

It was just that their training location had changed from the abandoned Training Grounds to the school's field, or the courtyard at Izayoi's home.

The Nine Tails' Rampage had not destroyed Izayoi's home.

His parents had both been ninja, and among the inheritance they left him was a two-story detached house with a small courtyard.

Compared with Naruto Uzumaki, whose entire inheritance had been confiscated and even Kushina Uzumaki's scarf had been tossed into a storage room to gather dust, Izayoi's circumstances were simply far better.

Fortunately, his parents in this life had both been ordinary ninja, so the village had not behaved quite so shamelessly.

There were three terms in a year. Aside from the relatively long summer break, the Ninja Academy's other holidays were all very short.

In the blink of an eye, April 1 arrived.

The Ninja Academy began a new school year.

The sixth-years had already graduated, and the genin who had earned their Guidance Jonin's approval had already begun taking missions.

As for those genin who had not earned approval, they had either returned to school for further study, been specially recruited by other departments, or repeated their studies several times before deciding they lacked the talent to become ninja and dropping out to live as ordinary people.

First through fifth year moved up a grade and began changing classrooms.

The now-vacant first-year classrooms also welcomed new students who had passed the entrance exams.

That day, students filled the area in front of the bulletin board.

The new first-years were checking their assigned classrooms.

Students from the other grades were checking their respective exam results.

"Hey... Izayoi-kun, have you checked the results on the bulletin board?"

"That's amazing, Izayoi! You became the Top Student of our grade!"

"No wonder it's Izayoi. Even Sasuke wasn't a match for you."

"Izayoi is the Top Student, and Hinata is second. You desk mates took the top two spots—you're seriously incredible!"

"..."

The moment Izayoi arrived at the new classroom, he was surrounded by his classmates, both boys and girls.

Izayoi did not grow impatient. Instead, he stood there with a smile and chatted with them for quite a while.

From what they said, he learned that he was the Top Student, while second place had gone not to Sasuke Uchiha, but to Hinata.

Izayoi was not surprised by this.

Hinata had always ranked near the top in academic subjects.

In the first exam of the original Chunin Exams, among the four girls of the Rookie 12, only she and Sakura Haruno had not needed to cheat.

With his help, Hinata had learned Tree Climbing and Water Surface Walking in her first year. She was no longer timid, no longer held back in battle because she worried about others, and struck with decisive force. If she could still lose to Sasuke Uchiha, Izayoi might as well smash his head into a block of tofu.

Sasuke Uchiha should be glad that he had not faced Hinata in Taijutsu Sparring. Otherwise, he would not even have been able to hold onto third place.

After all, Shino Aburame was no pushover.

Izayoi chatted with his classmates until class was nearly starting, then finally returned to his seat.

"Izayoi-kun, good morning."

"Morning, Hinata."

As usual, Hinata had arrived before Izayoi.

After greeting each other, the two began chatting casually.

"Izayoi-kun, congratulations on becoming the Top Student."

Hinata had clearly gone to see the results on the bulletin board as well.

Izayoi smiled. "Congratulations on taking second place. Now your Father will be even less likely to stop you from going out."

"Mhm, mhm..."

Hinata nodded repeatedly, a happy smile appearing on her face.

Clearly, she had also realized that her and Izayoi's plan had long since been seen through by her Father.

Yet Hinata had not been confined to the house and could still go out freely. That meant her Father had tacitly approved of her spending time with Izayoi.

Thinking of how she had practiced Water Surface Walking at home and been discovered several times without being questioned, Hinata felt it was probably related to her improvement.

Now she had taken second place in the grade, while Izayoi, who taught her, was the Top Student.

If her Father learned of it, he would surely approve of Izayoi even more.

At that thought, Hinata could not stop the joy welling up in her heart.