Under Konoha’s Shadow

Chapter 42: The Graduation Assessment

On the day of the graduation assessment, Nara Shikagen first tested the students who had not applied to graduate early. There weren't many, only about a dozen or so. The rest of the students had all passed the final exams.

Nara Shikagen looked at the results and nodded, clearly satisfied. He then said to the group of students taking the early graduation exam, "This time, your examiners will not be me, but the Chunin behind me. The test is on practical combat. If you can last ten minutes against them, you pass the exam. Those who fail will return to the school to continue their studies. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" Yamamoto Ryusei and the others answered in unison.

Nara Shikagen nodded and then walked off the field. The Chunin examiners all took a few steps forward to stand in front of their respective assessment targets. One of the Chunin spoke. "We'll give you one last chance. If you want to back out, do it now. We will not be holding back in this assessment. Although we can't kill you, crippling you is still a possibility."

After a moment of silence, the Chunin, seeing that no one had backed out, revealed a ferocious smile. "Very good. I admire you all. Then let's begin!"

Ryusei's examiner was a Chunin from the Uchiha clan. He activated his Sharingan, drew a long sword, and said, "Kid, watch out. I'm coming."

Clang! Clang! Clang! A series of metallic clashes rang out.

Ryusei drew his own sword, Aurora, gripped it with both hands, and began to exchange sword blows with the examiner. After a few minutes, the examiner suddenly leaped backwards, planted his sword in the ground, and formed hand seals. "Kid, your taijutsu is pretty good. But I'm getting serious now. Prepare for the end of this fight."

Ryusei gripped his sword with both hands and raised it high. "It is indeed time to end this."

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" The Uchiha examiner spat out a fireball over five meters in diameter, which rushed straight towards Ryusei.

"Break for me!" Ryusei swung his sword down with all his might. A crescent-shaped slash directly split the fireball in two, then continued towards the Uchiha Chunin with undiminished force. Seeing the slash cut through his fireball, the Chunin quickly formed hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!"

Boom! The slash slammed into the mud wall in front of the Uchiha, instantly kicking up a cloud of dust and sending rocks flying.

Ryusei charged directly into the still-settling dust cloud. He held his sword in his left hand and thrust his right hand towards the mud wall. "Shigan!"

He broke through the wall with his finger pistol and continued to thrust towards the Uchiha Chunin. The Chunin that was hit turned into a log with a poof.

"A Substitution Jutsu? But you can't escape." Seeing the examiner's body reappear, Ryusei immediately used Soru to charge forward and punched the Uchiha Chunin in the stomach (he had wanted to hit his face, but he wasn't tall enough).

"You... how... are you so fast..." the Uchiha Chunin stammered, clutching his stomach as he bent over.

Ryusei held his sword to the examiner's neck. "Have I passed?"

The Uchiha examiner looked at the blade on his neck with a complicated expression. "Yes. You've passed."

Ryusei sheathed his sword and then went to watch Komiya Yuki's fight.

Nara Shikagen announced loudly, "Yamamoto Ryusei passes the assessment!"

"What? So fast? It hasn't even been ten minutes!" The students all turned their heads to see that Ryusei had defeated his examiner.

"Damn it! So there's another way! We have to finish off the examiner as quickly as possible!"

"Since I've already marked him with Rōmaru's urine, then... Inuzuka Style Man-Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf!" Inuzuka Rō and Rōmaru transformed into a giant wolf with two of Rōmaru's heads.

"Fang Wolf Fang!" The double-headed giant wolf spun violently into a horizontal tornado and charged at the examiner.

The examiner used the Body Flicker Technique several times in a row but was still unable to shake off Rō's jutsu. He raised his hand and said in a flat tone, "I surrender."

Boom! Rō shot past the examiner and slammed hard into the ground nearby, blasting a large crater in the earth.

Rō's examiner saw the crater and broke out in a cold sweat. He ran over to the still-dazed Rō and slapped him hard on the head. "You idiot! Don't use a jutsu you can't control! If you hadn't veered off course just now, you would have killed me!"

Rō, despite being hit, wasn't angry and just chuckled foolishly.

Nara Shikagen announced again, "Uchiha Kagami, Hyuga Natsuki, and Inuzuka Rō pass the assessment."

Sarutobi Hiruzen was suddenly anxious. Among his close friends, only he and Komiya Yuki hadn't defeated their examiners yet. This was a huge blow to his pride.

Hiruzen unleashed a major move, creating two shadow clones. The three Hiruzens began to form hand seals simultaneously.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Hiruzen's examiner was trapped in the swamp. Seeing the combined fire and wind ninjutsu rushing towards him, he had no time to escape and formed his own hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"

A river of water surrounded the examiner, blocking Hiruzen's combination jutsu, but he was still stuck in the swamp.

Nara Shikagen looked on and announced, "Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo pass the assessment. There is one minute left. If you can hold out, you pass."

"Heavenly Transformation!" Akimichi Torifu, hearing that there was only one minute left, immediately activated his Expansion Jutsu and sent his examiner flying with a single punch.

Akimichi Torifu had defeated his examiner in the final minute, achieving the feat of defeating a Chunin.

"Time's up! All fighting cease!" Nara Shikagen stopped the assessment. "Yamamoto Ryusei, Uchiha Kagami, Hyuga Natsuki, Inuzuka Rō, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, Akimichi Torifu, Komiya Yuki, Nara Shikamei, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura have all passed the graduation assessment. From now on, you are all Genin."

Genin? The examiners who had been defeated by these Genin had very complicated feelings.

Nara Shikagen turned his head to Yamanaka Seisen. "Yamanaka Seisen was defeated by the examiner in five minutes. Fail. You must return to the academy to continue your studies."

Seisen said indignantly, "This assessment isn't fair at all! My jutsu are useless against them!"

Shikagen reprimanded her sternly, "Don't make excuses! You couldn't do it because you are weak! And you still try to act tough despite being weak. On a battlefield, you would already be dead. Go back and re-learn!"

Seeing the stern Nara Shikagen, Yamanaka Seisen was so frightened she fell silent.

Shikagen took out a pile of Konoha forehead protectors and handed them out one by one. "Starting tomorrow, you are all ninjas of Konoha. You must all work hard and study ninjutsu to become the pillars of the village. Come to the classroom tomorrow to await your team assignments. Alright, you are dismissed."

"Thank you, Teacher Nara!" everyone said, bowing to him in gratitude.

"Wait." Hyuga Natsuki's voice stopped everyone who was about to leave. He said to Ryusei, "After we part ways this time, who knows when we'll meet again. So, Ryusei, I want to challenge you one more time."

Uchiha Kagami also walked over. "Then I want to challenge you too."

Inuzuka Rō chuckled. "Ryusei, I still haven't gotten revenge for you hitting me in the face last time. I'm going to make your face swell up too."

Sarutobi Hiruzen also said, "Ryusei, I still have one trump card left just for you."

Shimura Danzo said grimly, "Ryusei, I told you I would defeat you."

Nara Shikamei and Akimichi Torifu exchanged a glance and both stepped forward. "We want to challenge you too."

Ryusei looked at the fire in their eyes and felt a long-lost surge of excitement. "Are you sure? If you lose this time, it won't be as simple as a swollen face... Koharu, Homura, do you two want to join in?"

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura looked at each other, completely unable to understand why their classmates were so keen on challenging Ryusei. They had no idea that defeating him was the surest way to become the Hokage's disciple.

Both of them shook their heads and refused.

Ryusei nodded, looked at his challengers, and grinned arrogantly. "You guys should all come at me together. Otherwise, you're not even enough for a warm-up."

Hiruzen and the others exploded. "Ryusei, you're too arrogant!"

"A youth who isn't arrogant is a youth wasted," Ryusei said, drawing his sword, Aurora. "You all know that one-on-one, none of you are my match. Only by coming at me together do you have a chance of winning."

"This is bad," Nara Shikagen said, looking at the imminent melee. He said to the examiners next to him, "When they're in danger later, you have to help me stop them."

One of the Chunin rolled his eyes at him. "Shikagen, are you kidding me? We were all beaten by them. How are we supposed to stop them? Go get a Jonin!"

The Hyuga Chunin stopped Shikagen, who was about to go find a Jonin. "No need to go. I just used my Byakugan and detected two very powerful chakra signatures nearby. It should be Lord Hokage and Lord Tobirama."