Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Battle of Focus
"Candidate number 37, Isamu Akasaki, and candidate number 38, Shisui Uchiha, please enter the testing area."
Isamu Akasaki froze for a moment when he heard that his opponent was Shisui. Without a doubt, Shisui was definitely the opponent all the students of Class 1-1 least wanted to face. There was no other reason than Shisui being simply too strong. In the previous exam, Shisui had overwhelmingly taken both first place in the class and first place in the grade. Even Anko, who was second in the grade, was completely outmatched by him.
The score for the practical exam was determined by performance during the battle. If a student was instantly defeated, the proctor wouldn't see their performance, and their score would be relatively low. However, since he had drawn Shisui as an opponent, Isamu Akasaki could only accept his bad luck and enter the testing area.
Once Muyue announced the start of the exam, Isamu Akasaki didn't care about anything else and immediately used all three basic jutsu to demonstrate his proficiency.
"This student seems to have a good understanding of the exam scoring rules," Aya Ueda nodded and said, not finding anything wrong with Isamu Akasaki's approach.
Shisui quietly watched Isamu Akasaki's performance. When he felt it was sufficient, he directly threw two shuriken to eliminate the clones, then charged forward and defeated Isamu Akasaki with two punches.
"The strength difference between the two is too great." Aya Ueda temporarily couldn't discern any changes in Shisui's strength compared to last time. Isamu Akasaki's strength was too far below Shisui's to reveal anything.
When the battle between student number thirty-nine and student number forty ended, Aya Ueda completed the first round of scoring. She quickly scanned the results: out of forty students, not a single one had a ninjutsu score below 8 points, and the average score was incredibly high.
"This exam, Muyue, you'll probably receive praise from the Third Hokage again. If I report these scores, I'll probably be called in for questioning," Aya Ueda said jokingly.
"Then we'll probably be questioned together," Muyue showed Aya Ueda his scores, which were similar to hers. Although they were his own students, excellent performance was excellent performance, and he didn't need to deliberately give low scores to avoid suspicion.
As the battles continued, it was inevitable for students to face their friends. Izumo Kamizuki tearfully eliminated Kotetsu, and Anko tearfully eliminated Izumo Kamizuki.
"Hahaha, Kotetsu, your Deception Technique is no good at all!" Izumo Kamizuki, having defeated his friend, used laughter to mask his sadness and comfort his good brother.
Kotetsu: ... He swore he would train every day during the holidays and definitely defeat Izumo Kamizuki next semester to regain his pride.
"Hahaha, Izumo, Kotetsu, how could two ninjutsu prodigies like you be a match for me, the genius Anko?" Anko, who had reached the class practical final, stood with her hands on her hips, extremely pleased. The two exchanged glances, deciding that on the day the theoretical exam results were released, they would definitely hit Anko hard.
"Candidate Anko Mitarashi and candidate Shisui Uchiha, please enter the testing area." The class practical exam entered its final stage.
Aya Ueda watched the battle seriously. Anko was the second-best in the grade in the previous exam, arguably the strongest first-year student after Shisui. She should be able to make Shisui demonstrate more.
Anko knew Shisui was tough to deal with, so she immediately used the Deception Technique at the start of the battle. However, this time she made some changes. She first created seven Shisui clones, and while the clones interfered with Shisui, she used the Transformation Jutsu to turn herself into Shisui's appearance, then created another clone of herself. But Shisui wasn't as easily fooled as ordinary students. Even with numerous illusions constantly interfering with his vision, he still didn't lose sight of the real Anko. He used the Body Flicker Technique to reach Anko and defeat her with a single blow.
"The Body Flicker Technique, I guess we'd have to put him in a fourth-year grade practical exam to see more of what he can do," Aya Ueda thought to herself. Shisui and Anko's battle was also one-sided, but Shisui showed a little more. With Shisui winning the class practical first place, the second day of the exam's class practical concluded.
As Muyue and Aya Ueda walked back to the office together, they encountered Isami Ikeda, who was shouting loudly.
"Why are Might Guy and Obito Uchiha so strong?" Isami Ikeda couldn't understand. He hadn't seen them as particularly outstanding in class. This time, he also proctored his own class and watched Might Guy and Obito Uchiha's performance all day. He felt that even Hiruzen Sarutobi might not be able to defeat them. Isami Ikeda felt very strange. How did two famous dead last students become so powerful under his watch? Could he be a hidden teaching master? Isami Ikeda, who had some self-awareness, quickly dismissed this idea because he also taught Class 3-1, and the overall level of that class was only average.
Isami Ikeda saw Muyue and Aya Ueda and told them about the situation.
"Perhaps they've been accumulating strength and are now showing it?" Aya Ueda said uncertainly.
"No matter what, isn't it a good thing that the students are strong?" Muyue said with a smile. Isami Ikeda felt that Muyue made a lot of sense. There was no need to worry about why they were so strong this semester; the bonuses from the school were real.
...
The third day, the grade-wide practical exam began. The teachers scoring the grade-wide practical exam were randomly selected from the proctors of that grade. Aya Ueda was selected, but Muyue was not. However, as a first-year teacher, Muyue still went to watch for a while.
Aya Ueda graded one round and then realized that some of the top two students sent by other classes were not as strong as the ninjutsu prodigies in Muyue's class.
"This restriction of two students per class needs to be changed. If it weren't for this restriction, Class 1-1 would have at least six students in the top eight of the grade," Aya Ueda thought to herself. She felt that such a rule was a bit unfair to a class like Class 1-1, which was exceptionally excellent overall. Even if they were strong enough, they couldn't participate in the grade practical competition.
Muyue left after watching the first round and went to the fourth-year grade practical exam venue. Shisui getting first place in the grade was without any suspense; he was more concerned about the situation in the fourth year. Might Guy and Obito both had training missions to achieve first place. With two months of hard training as a foundation, Muyue felt that the rewards from the training mission settlement would definitely be excellent, and he was very much looking forward to it.
When Muyue arrived, the fourth-year students had also just completed their first round and were proceeding to the eight-to-four matches.
"Candidate number one, Hayato Hyuga, and candidate number four, Might Guy, please enter the testing area." As the proctor's voice rang out, the surrounding students began to discuss quietly. Judging by the results of the last exam, this battle was undoubtedly the focus of this grade practical exam, as the two combatants were precisely the first and second place from the previous exam.