The start of the school term was always busy. Newly enrolled children needed to undergo testing, evaluation, and class assignment.
Students preparing to graduate needed to take exams and hold a graduation ceremony.
This situation only occurred when a group graduated early. Under the normal six-year system, the ceremony would be held at the end of the previous semester, around mid-March. At that time, other classes were still on spring break, and the new students had not yet enrolled.
As a result, when all these matters converged at once, the teachers were somewhat understaffed. They even had to follow procedure and issue several D-rank missions, assigning a few genin squads to help maintain order.
Although the village was in a state of war, nothing could be simplified. On the contrary, everything had to be conducted with even greater formality. Only through such solemnity could the freshly graduated new leaves experience a stronger sense of mission and ritual, inspiring a lofty Will of Fire.
In recent years, the April opening day was destined to belong to new students and graduates alike.
As for students like Higashino Makoto, who were in their second year or above and had not applied for early graduation, they were temporarily set free. There were only half a day of classes in the morning, all self-study—free to do whatever they pleased.
The classroom was noisy and bustling. Some students stood in the corridor watching the new students' entrance tests, commenting on those energetic juniors.
Others chatted inside the classroom, discussing classmates who had applied for early graduation.
Higashino Makoto sat quietly at his seat, gazing at the scenery outside the window.
Between the index and middle fingers of his left hand, he held a leaf. The poor leaf was first enveloped in chakra, transforming into wildly writhing strands like seaweed, yet it was extremely resilient and would not break no matter how it was bent.
Then its color deepened, becoming incomparably hard, as though a piece of black stone had been carved into the shape of a leaf.
Finally, this stone-like leaf was split in two by chakra. As the two halves fell, they continued to divide, until they became a cloud of tiny powder that scattered with the wind.
This was the result of Higashino Makoto training his three chakra natures—Wind, Water, and Earth—to an extremely high standard.
Water's flexibility, Earth's heavy solidity and disintegration, and Wind's cutting power.
As the leaf vanished, Higashino Makoto hooked his fingers slightly. From a pile of leaves beneath the desk, another light one drifted out, flew neatly into the space between his two fingers, and precisely landed there—then the same transformation process repeated again.
For him, every moment was training. Even when he sat in the classroom like his classmates, seemingly doing nothing, the nature transformation of the chakra in his hand never stopped for an instant.
Compared with loud talk and grand speeches, he was far more absorbed in training. His steadily expanding chakra reserves also supported him in doing so—most people wouldn't even have the means to learn like this.
In any case, he was an adult, and he couldn't really fit in with that bunch of kids who liked bragging and watching handsome boys. He had already done that sort of thing when he was a child in his previous life.
Living again, the only thing in this world that could keep him tirelessly engaged was training and becoming stronger. Becoming a ninja was merely one of the side interests along that path of training.
Beside him, Uzuki Yūgao kept her head down, struggling with the leaf in her hand. At present, she could only split an ordinary leaf twice—she couldn't cut it into a pile of powder the way Higashino Makoto could.
Her chakra nature was Wind—only one—just like Crown Prince Naruto in the future.
Gekkō Hayate's innate natures were Wind and Water.
Coincidentally, they all had Wind—even Shisui did. His innate natures were also three: Wind, Fire, and Lightning. And since he was an Uchiha, that also counted as a Yin affinity.
Wind was extremely common in Sunagakure, and Konoha actually had quite a lot as well—for example, all three of the boys around Higashino Makoto had it.
Since everyone was born with Wind-nature chakra, Higashino Makoto naturally did not keep his methods to himself, and he often shared his training approach and insights with them.
However, the group's progress was not on the same level at all. Uchiha Shisui was a bit better than the others, but if he wanted to reach Higashino Makoto's current level, he still had a long way to go.
This was the normal pace of training nature transformation for ordinary ninja.
They couldn't use Naruto's "thousand-people cheat mode" to compress years into days, nor did they have Higashino Makoto's conditions of enjoying natural energy to reshape his body every day. They could only grind it out with time.
"Hey, hey, Makoto-nii, isn't there really no better method? It's already been two years, and I can still only reach this level. When will I be able to be like you?"
Uzuki Yūgao tossed the shattered leaf aside and started the usual round of complaints again.
"Not for now. When I find a method, I'll tell you," Higashino Makoto said, glancing at the empty seats beside the two of them as he continued, "It's about time. Let's go—let's head to the multipurpose classroom and see how Hayate and the others are doing."
"Right, right—let's go welcome them."
As they spoke, the two left the classroom. Quite a few classmates who had the same idea followed behind them.
The multipurpose classroom was an enormous tiered lecture hall, usually used for school-wide assemblies, capable of holding several hundred people at once.
At this moment, its doors were tightly shut, and the graduation assessment was underway inside.
The content of the assessment was not difficult. Usually, one of the Three Basic Techniques was selected at random as the test subject. Now that it was wartime, the requirements were stricter, and all three might be tested in succession.
On the open ground outside the classroom stood many students, all waiting for the results—to see who would successfully graduate early, and who would become the unfortunate failures.
After a while, the classroom doors opened, and the students who had taken part in the assessment emerged in small groups. Unlike when they had gone in, each of them now had a brand-new Konoha forehead protector tied across the forehead—of course, some wore it on other parts of the body.
This was the mark of becoming an official ninja.
From this moment on, they were no longer students of the Ninja Academy, but ninja themselves. Some could not help but touch their forehead protectors from time to time, their faces filled with pride. When they looked at the onlooking students, it was as if they had naturally grown a few years older, like seniors looking at juniors.
In reality, the age difference between everyone was not that great.
"Wow, so cool. I want one too," the surrounding students exclaimed in collective envy.
Those recommended for graduation were basically all students with good results—no one had failed.
This gave many students of the same age a mistaken impression: early graduation didn't seem that difficult after all.
If they can do it, so can I.jpg.
"Hayate-nii, Shisui, we're over here!"
Uzuki Yūgao called out toward the crowd, waving.
At this moment, Gekkō Hayate, like Uchiha Shisui, had simply tied his forehead protector around his brow. He had not yet wrapped his entire head the way he would in the future.
After hearing the call, both of them smiled and walked over. Graduating smoothly was indeed something worth being happy about.
Higashino Makoto's gaze passed over them and fell on this year's early graduates. Aside from a few individuals, he did not recognize most of them.
From his own class, there were seven or eight people, including Uchiha Shisui, Hyūga Tokuma, and Aburame Muta. Among those from other classes who had applied for early graduation, most were also members of clan families, with relatively few civilian ninja.
With that, there were fewer people left in the class, but it was not a problem. The classes would be merged later.
Among those in the same year as Hayate, he only noticed two familiar faces. Judging by their appearance, they should be the future "Gate Guardians" duo—Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki.
So it turned out they were in the same year as Gekkō Hayate, though they did not seem very close, likely because they were not in the same class.
There was also a girl following behind Hayate. The two of them seemed to be on good terms, but she was only there to welcome them and was not a graduate.
Curious, Higashino Makoto asked, "Hayate, is this… your classmate?"
"Yeah," Hayate replied. "She's my classmate. Her name is Tsubaki."
After that, Hayate introduced Tsubaki to his friends, and everyone formally got acquainted.
Higashino Makoto glanced at the girl. Her appearance was unfamiliar to him—the difference between real people and animated character designs was considerable.
Checking the time, Higashino Makoto waved his hand decisively. "It's almost dismissal time. I'll treat everyone to a meal—let's celebrate you and Shisui graduating successfully."
Uchiha Shisui and Gekkō Hayate smiled. They had been hanging out together for so long that there was nothing to feel awkward about. Even Shisui had long since relaxed, no longer as reserved and overly polite as when they had first met.
Tsubaki looked a little embarrassed, but Hayate said, "Let's all go. Makoto's got more pocket money than the rest of us, and he doesn't spend it recklessly. He's saved up quite a bit."
Blushing, Tsubaki nodded.
Uzuki Yūgao suddenly hooked an arm around Gekkō Hayate, stretched out her right pinky, and teased, "Hey, Hayate-nii, could this be your… hehehe."
"Ahem, ahem!" Gekkō Hayate coughed a few times with effort and, as usual, gave Yūgao a light knock on the head. "You little brat—don't talk nonsense."
Tsubaki's face turned even redder, while Shisui and Higashino Makoto wore knowing smiles.
The open space outside the classroom was suddenly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
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