“What kind of swordsmanship is that?”
Shock spread across Ishida Yuu’s face.
As a chunin, he knew quite a few sword styles, but none of them matched what Natsuki had just used.
And where had he even learned such powerful swordsmanship?
“Minato lost?
Am I under a genjutsu?”
“He beat Minato that easily?”
“When did Natsuki learn swordsmanship?
That’s terrifyingly strong!”
“So cool!
I just realized Natsuki is even hotter than Minato!”
After a brief stunned silence, Class 1-A erupted into chaos.
Quite a few girls even started screaming.
When Ishida Yuu snapped out of it, what followed was sheer delight.
Class 1-A had suddenly gained another genius—and not just any genius, but one who had defeated Namikaze Minato.
This was basically free performance credit falling into his lap.
Though the brat had hidden himself way too well.
He hadn’t used his full strength even once before and had completely fooled him.
“Winner: Natsuki!”
Ishida Yuu shouted excitedly.
“Minato.”
Natsuki walked over, helped Minato Namikaze to his feet, and asked, “You’re not hurt, are you?”
“I’m fine.”
Minato shook his head.
Natsuki had used a wooden sword, so there wasn’t any actual wound on him.
Of course, pain was unavoidable.
“You’re way stronger than I thought.”
After steadying himself, Minato looked at him, disbelief still lingering in his eyes.
He had always thought that even if Natsuki had been hiding his strength, he couldn’t have been hiding that much.
At most, Minato had figured they would be about evenly matched.
But he hadn’t expected Natsuki to beat him so easily.
The gap between them had been absurdly large.
“I’ll work hard and catch up to you.”
Minato took a deep breath, his gaze firm.
That was where he was completely different from Onodera.
After losing, he didn’t react with anger or jealousy.
He simply resolved to catch up.
“With your talent, you’ll definitely catch up to me soon.”
Natsuki smiled.
Minato nodded.
The two of them stepped off the field, and the combat exam continued.
At the same time, in the Hokage’s office—
A crystal ball sat on the Hokage’s desk, its surface rippling like water, reflecting the images of Natsuki and Minato.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the crystal ball, deep in thought.
As the headmaster of the Ninja Academy, he naturally knew that today was the final exam for every grade.
After finishing his paperwork, he had used the Telescope Technique to watch the matches.
But he had never expected Natsuki to give him such a huge surprise.
He had many titles, and one of them was Professor of Ninjutsu.
That was because he had mastered all seven basic nature transformations.
But he could say with certainty that the swordsmanship Natsuki had just used was not any known sword style.
In other words, it was most likely self-created swordsmanship.
At that thought, Hiruzen couldn’t help feeling a surge of anticipation.
There were many geniuses, but very few geniuses capable of creating their own techniques.
If another Senju Tobirama could emerge, Konoha’s strength would increase dramatically.
After all, a village’s true foundation lay in its ninjutsu.
“Minato is excellent too.”
Hiruzen said with a smile.
In that brief fight, he had also noticed Minato Namikaze’s greatest strength: his terrifying reaction speed.
It immediately made him think of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Maybe Minato really could learn it.
The Flying Thunder God Technique was a strategic-level jutsu.
If Minato could master it, it would create invisible pressure on every other hidden village.
An enemy who could appear in your headquarters anytime, anywhere was terrifying no matter how you looked at it.
Hiruzen took a pull from his pipe.
A thought surfaced in his mind.
Once Minato and Natsuki graduated, he could have Jiraiya and Orochimaru take them as students.
There weren’t many ninja in Konoha who specialized in swordsmanship.
Aside from Hatake Sakumo, there was Orochimaru, and at most maybe the eternally genin Maruboshi Kosuke.
Orochimaru was Hiruzen’s student and also part of the Hokage side.
Naturally, Hiruzen hoped the benefits would stay within his own circle.
Then he thought of Yakushi Nono.
With her talent as a medical ninja, she was more than qualified to become Tsunade’s student.
That way, all three of his students would each have a student of their own.
The only problem was that under normal circumstances, a squad leader was supposed to have three students, so finding the other two would be difficult.
Still, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade were all the Hokage’s students and held special status anyway.
Making an exception for them wouldn’t be a big issue.
He could even put Minato, Natsuki, and Yakushi Nono on the same team in the future.
By noon, Class 1-A’s combat exam finally came to an end.
“I will now announce the rankings for the combat exam.”
Ishida Yuu declared loudly.
“First place: Natsuki!”
[Congratulations, Host.
Zoro Template Ability Two unlocked: One-Sword Style: 36 Pound Phoenix.]
A smile immediately appeared on Natsuki’s face.
At this point, every ability in his Zoro template had been unlocked.
After reading out the combat exam rankings, Ishida Yuu also announced the rankings for the written exam and the final overall standings.
Although Natsuki had taken first place in the combat exam, he had crashed badly in the written exam and only placed third.
In the end, Minato Namikaze took first place overall, while Natsuki came in second.
But Natsuki didn’t really care.
In the ninja world, where strength ruled above all else, the ranking in the combat exam obviously carried far more weight than the written exam ranking.
Minato felt the same way.
So a strange scene appeared: even though he had taken first place, his expression looked more like he had come in dead last.
[You have awakened the Shiba Tatsuya Template.]
Natsuki froze for a moment.
Shiba Tatsuya?
The male lead from The Irregular at Magic High School?
Why had he suddenly awakened Shiba Tatsuya’s character template?
After thinking it over carefully, Natsuki felt it was probably connected to the fact that he had only placed second.
Because Shiba Tatsuya was the textbook example of an academic monster—top-tier in every subject, a genius in both theory and combat.
And yet when he enrolled, he had been labeled a Course 2 student, an “irregular.”
In that sense, he was actually quite similar to Natsuki: the classic type who hid his strength and played the pig to eat the tiger.
“Looks like second place isn’t so bad after all.”
Natsuki quickly looked over the newly awakened Shiba Tatsuya template.
[Name: Shiba Tatsuya.]
[Stage: Enrollment Arc.]
[World: The Irregular at Magic High School.]
[Rank: C-rank.]
[Ability One: Weight-Type Magic: Water Spider — Unlocked.]
[Effect: Grants the ability to walk or run on water.]
[Ability Two: Weight-Type Magic: Weight Reduction — Locked.]
[Effect: Slightly reduces your body weight and improves mobility.]
[Unlock Condition: Complete tree-climbing training.]
[Ability Three: Non-System Magic: Psion Shockwave — Locked.]
[Effect: A pure psion impact wave.
On hit, it creates the sensation of a concussion, rendering the target unable to fight.]
[Unlock Condition: Obtain first place in a final exam at least once.]