The monthly exam for Class 1-A came to a smooth close.
Other than Natsuki’s sudden breakout performance, where he took first place in the ninja tool throwing test, everyone else performed more or less as expected based on their usual results.
“The full rankings will be announced next Monday.”
After giving that reminder, Ishida Yuu hurried off.
Natsuki and Yakushi Nono headed to the training ground closest to the Konoha Orphanage.
“Nono.”
After a moment’s thought, Natsuki said, “No matter what happens next, don’t be scared, and don’t tell anyone.”
Yakushi Nono didn’t understand, but she still nodded.
Natsuki pinched her cheek, then walked over to a tree.
Golden Right Leg!
He aimed at the trunk and kicked with all his strength.
Bang!
The trunk took the hit head-on and shook violently.
A huge number of leaves were blasted loose by the force and scattered into the air.
Yakushi Nono froze, her little face going blank.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Natsuki casually caught one of the falling leaves.
Reinforcement Magecraft!
A surge of chakra flowed out.
He looked toward another tree in the distance, then flicked the leaf from his hand.
With a sharp tearing sound, the leaf shot forward like a shuriken and embedded itself deeply into the trunk.
Next, Natsuki pulled out two kunai.
One was wooden.
The other was iron.
When he struck them together, the wooden kunai immediately dented badly.
Reinforcement Magecraft!
Natsuki tightened his grip on the wooden kunai and poured chakra into it.
Then he slashed the iron kunai again with the wooden one.
The dent was still there, but unless you looked closely, it was hard to see.
That meant the wooden kunai’s sharpness and hardness had been brought almost to the same level as the iron kunai.
Almost, but not completely equal.
After all, his Reinforcement Magecraft was only C-rank.
Natsuki put both kunai away and dropped down to sit on the ground.
Using three C-rank techniques in a row was too much of a burden for him.
Fortunately, Golden Right Leg was taijutsu, so it didn’t consume much chakra.
“That just now…”
Yakushi Nono finally came back to herself and couldn’t help asking in curiosity.
But halfway through, she remembered what Natsuki had said earlier and stopped herself.
“My own original jutsu.”
Natsuki answered with a perfectly straight face.
It wasn’t entirely nonsense.
Once his character template abilities were exposed in the future, “self-created jutsu” would be both the only excuse and the best excuse.
Yakushi Nono didn’t doubt him at all.
Instead, her eyes filled with admiration.
He was the goal she wanted to chase.
“Come sit here.”
Natsuki patted the grass beside him.
There was still one more idea he wanted to test, but he needed to rest first and recover some chakra.
Yakushi Nono walked over and sat down right beside him.
Tilting her head slightly, she leaned against Natsuki’s shoulder.
The two of them sat there quietly for more than ten minutes before Natsuki finally stood up and looked at the tree he had kicked earlier.
Reinforcement Magecraft!
Golden Right Leg!
With a sweeping kick, Natsuki struck the tree hard.
Crack.
Right in front of Yakushi Nono’s eyes, deep fractures spread across the trunk.
It hadn’t snapped in half, but it was still enough to leave her stunned.
She could easily imagine what would happen if that kick landed on a person.
If it didn’t kill them, it would at least leave them badly injured.
Admiration lit up Yakushi Nono’s face.
Everyone said Minato Namikaze was a genius, but from the looks of it now, Natsuki was no worse.
“Let’s go.
Time to head home for dinner.”
Natsuki said it with satisfaction.
At this point, he could already be considered to have the strength of a genin.
But he knew perfectly well that in the ninja world, this level of strength wasn’t even close to enough if he wanted real freedom.
For now, the plan was simple: stay low.
Natsuki and Yakushi Nono returned to the Konoha Orphanage.
“Natsuki, we were waiting for you.
Come make dinner.”
The moment Mayu saw him, she called out.
She wasn’t trying to exploit child labor.
Originally, she had been the one cooking for the orphans at the Konoha Orphanage.
But after they’d tasted Natsuki’s food once, they immediately started favoring the new over the old.
Hearing that, Yakushi Nono unconsciously licked her soft red lips.
The moment she thought about Natsuki’s cooking, unworthy tears began welling up at the corner of her mouth.
“Got it.”
Natsuki headed into the kitchen.
The reason his food tasted so good was because he had inherited Shirou Emiya’s cooking skills.
If he ever got a character template from Food Wars!, wouldn’t his dishes become so good they made people’s clothes explode off?
After dinner, Natsuki and Yakushi Nono began their usual training.
Natsuki trained in ninja tool throwing.
He had already reached beginner level with kunai and shuriken, so now he was practicing senbon.
Yakushi Nono, meanwhile, took out the medical book Chiwa had given her and started reading.
After learning how to prepare anesthetics, Natsuki had stopped spending extra time on medical knowledge.
Because once he got the right related character template, he could skip straight to the finish line.
Another new day began.
At nine in the morning, Hiruzen Sarutobi entered the Hokage’s office right on time. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
After sitting down, he looked toward the files on his desk.
“So the Ninja Academy’s first monthly exam is over?”
He pulled out the academy reports.
Whether as Hokage or as principal, he cared deeply about the Ninja Academy.
Because the students were Konoha’s future.
Especially the geniuses—they could be called the village’s pillars.
His own three students, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, were already the best of the younger generation.
Barring any surprises, the Fourth Hokage would be chosen from among them.
After a brief thought, Hiruzen decided to look at the first-years first.
They were the new students, and he didn’t know much about them yet.
As for the upper grades, he was already well aware of which ones had real talent.
He opened the file, and the first name he saw was Namikaze Minato.
A trace of surprise crossed his face.
Most geniuses came from ninja clans.
Talented civilians were much rarer.
But he liked civilian geniuses more.
Clan prodigies sometimes put their clan first—like the talented members of the Uchiha or Hyuga clans.
Civilian geniuses didn’t have that problem.
With the right guidance, they could become the perfect heirs to the Will of Fire.
Hiruzen suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise.
Minato had ranked first in every subject—but in the Will of Fire class, he had placed second.
First place had gone to Natsuki.
Now Hiruzen was interested.
He checked Natsuki’s overall record.
Overall rank: seventh.
Only ninja tool throwing and Will of Fire had placed first.
Hiruzen immediately pulled out Natsuki’s exam paper.
He quickly flipped to the questions related to the Will of Fire.
Then he started reading.
A moment later, his eyes widened.
Natsuki had fully taken advantage of the only real strength his past life had given him—he had written an answer centered entirely around the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, overflowing with loyalty and devotion.
In short, the boy was desperate to rise through the ranks.
Hiruzen couldn’t help thinking: Brilliant.
Ever since becoming Hokage, he had been promoting the Will of Fire.
Natsuki’s answer had given him a few new ideas.
“Konoha needs talent like this.”
Hiruzen nodded and placed both Namikaze Minato and Natsuki on his watch list.
Of course, not just them.
The top ten students of Class 1-A were all on his radar.
Barring surprises, the best students of this year’s intake would come from that group.
Among them, the one he valued most was still Namikaze Minato.
With the ninja world trapped in a long era of war, what Konoha needed most was a genius among geniuses.