After breakfast, as usual, Natsuki escorted Yakushi Nono to the entrance of Konoha Hospital.
“Natsuki.”
After taking a couple of steps, Yakushi Nono turned around, clenched her little fist, and said, “Good luck!”
Natsuki smiled and nodded.
Today was Class 1-A’s final exam, but Yakushi Nono would not be taking part, because she was already a student in the medical ninja training class.
Of course, the medical ninja training class would have exams too.
But since it had only been established recently, there still hadn’t been any tests yet.
Training medical ninja was an extremely difficult process.
In a short period of time, there simply wasn’t much to assess, so there was no real need for exams yet.
Natsuki soon arrived at the Ninja Academy.
Instead of going to the classroom, he headed straight for the training field.
Class 1-A’s first real combat exam was being held there.
“Natsuki.”
The moment Minato Namikaze saw him, he walked over with a smile and greeted him.
“Good morning, Minato.”
Natsuki replied.
“For this first combat exam, what rank do you think you’ll get?”
Minato looked at him and asked.
Over the past year, Natsuki had followed his plan and steadily raised his ranking.
By now, he had stabilized at third place.
“First place.”
Natsuki blinked and answered.
“First place?”
Minato didn’t react for a moment.
He had asked Natsuki similar questions before, and Natsuki’s answer had always been to just do his best.
This was the first time he had given such a direct answer.
Why was he suddenly so confident about taking first place?
Over the past year, Natsuki had only mastered the Substitution Jutsu, while Minato had already learned all three of the basic techniques.
“So you really were hiding something before.”
After a pause, Minato said seriously, “For the first real combat exam, as your friend, I want to see your true strength.”
“As you wish.”
Natsuki nodded.
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Minato felt the pressure.
But as a genius, he had his own pride.
If Natsuki wanted first place, he would have to get past him first.
At nine in the morning, Ishida Yuu arrived on the training field right on time.
Without any unnecessary preamble, he began explaining the rules for Class 1-A’s first combat exam.
First: only wooden ninja tools could be used.
Second: stop before causing serious harm.
No killing.
Third: he would arrange the matches according to the roster, with each student fighting in pairs through three rounds, after which the final rankings would be decided.
Once the rules were explained, Class 1-A’s first combat exam officially began.
Natsuki stood at the edge of the field and watched.
Just as he had expected, it was basically a bunch of weaklings pecking at each other.
Other than him and Minato, the rest of the students only knew the Substitution Jutsu, basic taijutsu, and ninja tool throwing.
With that kind of lineup, the fights were naturally doomed to be unimpressive.
Ishida Yuu called out loudly.
The clash between first place and second place immediately sent Class 1-A into an uproar.
Minato was incredibly popular in class, and quite a few students shouted encouragement for him in unison.
The scene was pretty spectacular.
“What are you all yelling for?”
Onodera stepped onto the field with a dark expression.
But no one paid him any attention.
“Minato!”
Onodera glared at him and ground out through clenched teeth, “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.
First place is definitely mine!”
Minato said nothing.
He simply formed the Seal of Confrontation.
Onodera’s face turned livid.
After completing the seal, he immediately flicked both hands and threw out six kunai.
All six flew toward Minato’s vital points.
Minato glanced at them once, then charged forward.
“What?”
Onodera’s heart jolted.
In the next second, something happened that left him dumbfounded.
Minato kept his speed unchanged, weaving and shifting effortlessly as he dodged all six kunai.
By the time Onodera came back to his senses, Minato was already right in front of him.
In a panic, Onodera lifted his leg and kicked at Minato.
Minato sidestepped, avoided the kick, and in the same motion brought his right fist around behind him.
Bang!
His punch landed squarely in Onodera’s back.
Onodera didn’t even have time to retract his leg before he was sent rolling several meters away by that one punch.
“As expected of Minato, first place really is a monster!”
“Onodera didn’t even last half a minute?”
“So cool!”
The students of Class 1-A burst into cheers.
Ishida Yuu smiled in satisfaction.
Minato hadn’t even needed to use any of the Three Basic Techniques to defeat Onodera with ease.
Natsuki inwardly thought, Just as expected.
But what he meant wasn’t Minato defeating Onodera.
It was Minato’s terrifying reflexes and dynamic vision.
With the same basic taijutsu, Minato was simply faster and stronger than Onodera.
No wonder he would be able to master the Flying Thunder God Technique in the future.
Flying Thunder God was a space-time ninjutsu, and its defining feature was speed.
Not only could enemies fail to react to it, even the user could fail to react to it.
That meant the user needed extraordinarily high reflexes and dynamic vision.
And those two traits alone gave a huge advantage in combat.
“Winner: Namikaze Minato!”
Ishida Yuu announced.
A sunny smile immediately spread across Minato’s face.
He raised a hand and waved to the classmates cheering for him.
In stark contrast, Onodera’s face was blacker than the bottom of a pot.
But aside from fuming uselessly, there was nothing he could do.
A loss was a loss.
A win was a win.
Ishida Yuu called out, perking up.
As long as Minato defeated Natsuki, it would confirm him as first place in this final exam.
But he didn’t think much of Natsuki’s chances.
Even Onodera, the second-ranked student, had lost.
Could the third-ranked Natsuki really turn things around?
After stepping onto the field, Natsuki walked over to the weapons rack and took a wooden practice sword.
“A sword?”
Minato and the others were immediately puzzled.
They had never seen Natsuki use a sword before, and they hadn’t even known he had learned swordsmanship.
With a serious expression, Minato completed the Seal of Confrontation.
The wind stirred.
He pulled out four kunai and hurled them.
Compared to the kunai Onodera had thrown, Minato’s were faster and much trickier.
Natsuki moved.
His wooden blade traced an arc, precisely knocking away all four kunai without losing momentum, then slashed toward Minato’s wrist.
Minato was shocked.
Natsuki’s strength had far exceeded his expectations.
Fortunately, his reactions were fast.
Almost instantly, he pulled out two more kunai and used them to block Natsuki’s blade.
One-Sword Style: Demon Bear!
Natsuki’s gaze sharpened.
A heavy, steady force exploded from his blade as it crashed downward!
“What?!”
Minato’s pupils contracted, and then came a burst of searing pain.
Natsuki’s wooden sword shattered both of his wooden kunai and swept across his chest.
If Minato hadn’t reacted so quickly—if that hadn’t been a wooden sword—he would have been split in two.
Minato looked at Natsuki with lingering fear.
Natsuki remained where he was, not pressing the attack, simply watching him in silence—but an immense pressure suddenly filled the air.
Minato gritted his teeth and immediately formed hand seals.
Clone Jutsu!
Another Minato appeared.
The two Minatos moved in overlapping patterns as they rushed Natsuki together.
The Clone Jutsu wasn’t the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
It had no real combat ability and served only as a visual feint.
Minato’s tactic was simple: attack Natsuki with basic taijutsu while mixing himself together with the clone.
If Natsuki picked the wrong target, the real Minato could use the opening to land an effective blow.
One-Sword Style Iaijutsu: Lion’s Song!
But Natsuki made no choice at all.
The moment the two Minatos overlapped, he vanished from the spot.
Like a gust of wind, he passed through both of them.
Bang!
Minato’s clone burst into smoke and disappeared.
As for Minato himself, his body shook, a pained grunt escaped him, and he collapsed to the ground.
In an instant, the entire training field fell silent.
“What just happened?”
A confused look appeared on Onodera’s face.
He hadn’t even seen Natsuki’s sword strike clearly.