“Minato!
Today I’m definitely going to beat you to your knees!”
As soon as he arrived at the Ninja Academy training field, Natsuki instinctively glanced over at the arrogant little boy standing in front of Minato.
His name was Onodera.
His talent wasn’t bad.
In class, his performance was second only to Minato’s.
But his personality was awful—the textbook definition of an obnoxious Konoha brat.
As far as Natsuki knew, he often went around with two lackeys, bullying classmates they didn’t like.
Natsuki even suspected they might be the same group who bullied Kushina in the original story.
Bullying was common in Konoha.
In the original work, Uzumaki Kushina, Might Guy, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Hinata, and Haruno Sakura had all been bullied.
“Natsuki.”
The moment Minato saw him, he immediately walked over.
He had no interest in Onodera.
Even though Onodera ranked second in the class, for some reason Minato felt that Natsuki—who had never even made the top ten—was the more dangerous one.
“Damn it!
You’re actually ignoring me?!”
Seeing this, Onodera snapped in anger.
“Just you wait!”
“Looks like he’s got his eye on you now.”
Natsuki said it with a smile.
“Don’t worry about him.”
Minato shook his head, clearly unconcerned, then asked, “How did your written exam go this morning?”
“I filled in every answer, but how many I got right is up to heaven.”
Natsuki spread his hands helplessly.
Everyone had their specialty.
The knowledge he had learned in his previous life was basically useless here.
Still, there was one subject he felt he’d done pretty well in.
The Will of Fire.
At nine in the morning, Ishida Yuu arrived at the training field.
That marked the official start of the practical exam.
“We’ll begin with the ninja tool throwing test.”
Ishida Yuu explained the rules.
The ninja tool throwing test had two parts: stationary targets and moving targets.
Rankings would be based on how many times a student hit the bullseye.
The stationary targets needed no explanation.
As for the moving targets, Ishida Yuu himself would throw them by hand.
There were ten of each.
“I’ll go first!”
Onodera said impatiently.
Ishida Yuu knew what kind of personality he had, so he said nothing and simply nodded.
“First place is definitely mine!”
Onodera hurled out his shuriken with complete confidence.
Ten throws, ten hits on the stationary targets.
He immediately looked toward Minato, his eyes full of provocation.
But Minato remained as calm as ever.
“Now for the moving targets.”
Ishida Yuu picked up a round target from the ground and threw it into the air.
Onodera’s gaze locked tightly onto it.
At the highest point of its arc, he snapped his wrist and released a shuriken.
“I hit it!”
“Continue.”
Ishida Yuu threw out the remaining round targets one after another.
In the end, Onodera landed nine hits out of ten on the moving targets.
“Your turn, Minato.”
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Onodera forced himself to sound calm.
“I hope you can give me a real fight.”
Scoring nine out of ten on moving targets was already beyond his usual level.
Based on how everyone had performed over the last month, moving targets were far harder than stationary ones.
Most students couldn’t even manage a fifty percent hit rate.
Minato looked at Ishida Yuu.
Ishida Yuu immediately revealed a satisfied smile.
Now this was what a truly respectful student looked like.
“Minato.”
Ishida Yuu called.
Minato stepped into the field.
He drew out his shuriken, and then the repeated sounds of impact rang out one after another.
Onodera froze where he stood.
Whether it was the stationary targets or the moving ones, Minato hit every single shot.
He clenched his fists unconsciously, a wave of frustration rising in his chest.
Was he destined to be second place forever?
“So cool!”
“That’s what a real genius looks like!”
“Minato, that was amazing!”
Minato’s little fans immediately burst into cheers.
“Looks like first place is Minato’s for sure.”
Ishida Yuu nodded and gave Minato full marks.
Time passed slowly.
One student after another from Class 1-A stepped up to take the ninja tool throwing test.
Unfortunately, no one else managed a perfect score.
More precisely, no one even managed nine out of ten on the moving targets.
The best anyone got was eight out of ten.
Yakushi Nono scored nine out of ten on the stationary targets and seven out of ten on the moving ones.
Since enrolling, she had followed Natsuki’s instructions and maintained a level that was above average, but not too eye-catching.
In truth, if she went all out, no one in the class except Minato would be able to beat her.
“Natsuki.”
Ishida Yuu glanced at the class roster and called his name.
Natsuki nodded and stepped into the field.
Watching him, Minato felt a flicker of curiosity.
He had always felt that Natsuki was anything but ordinary.
But ever since school started, he had never shown anything especially remarkable.
Maybe this practical exam would be different.
A moment later, Minato let out a soft sound of surprise.
Natsuki had hit every stationary target.
Still, a perfect score on stationary targets wasn’t all that rare in their class.
At least five students could do that.
The real point was the moving targets.
Minato kept his eyes fixed on Natsuki’s movements.
Ishida Yuu casually tossed the first round target into the air.
Natsuki calmly raised his hand.
Thunk.
The shuriken struck the bullseye.
A crisp impact rang out.
Natsuki hit the bullseye again, looking perfectly relaxed the whole time.
A surprised expression appeared on Ishida Yuu’s face.
He remembered that Natsuki’s usual hit rate wasn’t nearly this high.
Was this just luck?
“That’s impossible!”
Onodera’s eyes widened like bells.
In his mind, only Minato was worthy of being his rival.
Where the hell had this Natsuki come from?
Minato’s spirits lifted.
So his intuition hadn’t been wrong after all.
The ninja tool throwing test continued.
As the round targets kept hitting the ground one after another, Class 1-A gradually fell completely silent.
“H-He actually hit all of them?”
Onodera instinctively took half a step back.
Ishida Yuu’s eyes lit up.
Now this was what you called a surprise.
A teacher’s performance was tied directly to the results of their students.
The more geniuses he had, the better his record looked—especially when one of them was a talent on Minato’s level.
Of course, one ninja tool throwing test alone didn’t prove everything.
But at the very least, it gave Ishida Yuu hope.
“I will now announce the rankings for the ninja tool throwing test!”
Ishida Yuu raised his voice.
“First place: Namikaze Minato and Natsuki!”
“Natsuki.”
Minato looked puzzled as he asked, “Have you been holding back this whole time?”
“I just got lucky today.”
Natsuki answered casually.
[Congratulations, Host.
Shirou Emiya Template Ability Two, Reinforcement Magecraft, has been unlocked.]
A flood of information poured into Natsuki’s mind.
He quickly grasped Shirou Emiya’s Reinforcement Magecraft.
The moment he heard that answer, Minato’s face made it clear he didn’t believe a word of it.
No matter how lucky you were, there was no way luck alone could get you ten straight bullseyes.
“Still, congratulations on taking first place in the ninja tool throwing test.”
Minato smiled.
“We’ll settle this next time.”
“Next time for sure.”
Natsuki nodded.
Once the ninja tool throwing test ended, it was time for the physical fitness test.
Ishida Yuu felt a bit disappointed.
Because Natsuki, who had taken first place in ninja tool throwing, only placed eighth in physical fitness.
A genius in only one niche area couldn’t truly be called a genius.
Ninja tool throwing alone was not enough to become a true powerhouse.
[Congratulations, Host.
Conan Template Ability Three, Golden Right Leg, has been unlocked.]
Natsuki had no idea what Ishida Yuu was thinking.
He just looked at the line of text in front of him and couldn’t help smiling.
At this point, he had fully fused with the Conan template.
All three abilities had now been unlocked.