In less than three months, Naruto completed both the Wind Style: Unloaded Shuriken Technique and the Wind Style: Loaded Shuriken Technique, which completely covered the functions of his technique where even flying flowers and falling leaves could wound.
Compared to the more than three years he had spent developing that original technique, this speed could practically be called miraculous.
Of course, that was because both of these techniques had been built on the foundation of the flying-flower-and-falling-leaf technique.
And once Naruto successfully mastered the flying-flower-and-falling-leaf technique, the Wind Style: Unloaded Shuriken Technique, and the Wind Style: Loaded Shuriken Technique, another technique unexpectedly underwent a transformation while standing on the shoulders of those three.
That technique was none other than—
Chakra Enhanced Strength!
Naruto had already grasped a trace of its essence five years ago.
After successfully mastering the flying-flower-and-falling-leaf technique, Naruto’s chakra control had reached an almost abnormal level.
And after completing the Wind Style: Unloaded Shuriken Technique and Wind Style: Loaded Shuriken Technique, that abnormal level of control advanced yet another step.
Although it was only a tiny step, at Naruto’s current level, that tiny difference was like heaven and earth.
Chakra Enhanced Strength fundamentally relied on extremely precise chakra control to unleash explosive power in an instant.
Naturally, Naruto had now mastered it.
He had only realized this by accident.
After experimenting over the past few days, Naruto discovered that his mastery of Chakra Enhanced Strength was probably second only to Tsunade’s.
Even Sakura from Shippuden would only be fit to carry his shoes when it came to Chakra Enhanced Strength.
In fact, if Naruto had actually witnessed Tsunade’s Chakra Enhanced Strength firsthand, and if not for the natural humility ingrained in him from his previous life in China, he might not even have believed himself inferior to her.
Then there was his mental cultivation.
Five years ago, Naruto had already reached the stage of constant absorption.
Five years later, he was still at constant absorption.
Although both his mental energy and physical strength had continued growing rapidly, his inability to break through into the stage of perpetual absorption still left Naruto somewhat disappointed.
After all, the shinobi world was different from his previous world.
There were no cultivation manuals from his old life for Naruto to study.
He could only make deductions based on his limited understanding of mental cultivation.
Naruto suspected that the state of perpetual absorption should resemble remaining completely unshaken even if Mount Tai collapsed before one’s eyes.
In his previous life, Naruto had been an ordinary person.
Although his current life was far from ordinary and he was constantly under surveillance, he had never truly faced mortal danger.
After all, among all possible paths, safety came first.
Naruto had always avoided standing beneath a crumbling wall and refused to do unnecessarily dangerous things.
But if one had never witnessed Mount Tai collapsing before them, how could one truly understand the shock and mentality of such a moment?
Without understanding that overwhelming shock, how could one grasp the difference between such a state of mind and one’s normal mentality?
And without understanding that difference, how could one achieve perpetual absorption?
So although Naruto was disappointed, he could still understand why he had failed to advance.
In fact, if his guess was correct, then he had already found the key to entering the stage of perpetual absorption.
As the plot continued developing, as long as Naruto himself did not succumb to fear, sooner or later he would step into that higher realm of mental cultivation.
And with the flying-flower-and-falling-leaf technique finally perfected—
“Tomorrow is the Ninja Academy graduation exam. To help everyone review, we’ll test the Transformation Technique again today.”
Iruka looked over the class.
“Everyone line up and transform into me.”
He had said those words more than a dozen times already.
For the past ten days or so, the students had been repeatedly reviewing everything that might appear on the graduation exam.
The two graduation exams Naruto had supposedly failed in the original story referred to this kind of review-style examination.
“Ugh…”
After more than ten consecutive days of reviewing graduation-exam material, the students were mentally exhausted and groaned in unison.
Unfortunately, their groaning did nothing to change Iruka’s decision.
Everyone obediently lined up and began reviewing.
“Transformation!”
Sakura formed the hand seal and transformed into Iruka.
“Good. Excellent.”
Iruka recorded the result while giving his evaluation.
“Did you see that, Sasuke-kun?”
After receiving an excellent rating, Sakura immediately turned toward Sasuke and proudly showed off.
The cold and aloof Sasuke did not react at all.
He merely stepped forward silently.
Before Iruka could even say to begin—
Poof!
Sasuke had already transformed into Iruka.
Both his speed and the quality of his transformation far surpassed Sakura’s.
“Uh… very good. Next, Naruto Uzumaki.”
Iruka sounded genuinely impressed.
He did not call Sasuke’s performance “excellent.”
He said “very good,” because he felt that merely calling it excellent was no longer enough.
Naturally, Naruto had no intention of using anything like the Sexy Technique from the original story.
He calmly stepped forward.
Calmly formed the hand seal.
And calmly transformed.
“Pass. Next!”
Seeing Naruto’s utterly conventional transformation and how slowly he had performed it, Iruka only gave him a passing evaluation.
But passing was already enough to meet the graduation requirement, so Iruka did not say anything else.
After all, as mentioned before, unlike the Naruto from the original story, this Naruto was not close to Iruka.
The final day at the Ninja Academy passed peacefully.
The next day finally arrived.
“Listen carefully. The graduation exam will test the Clone Technique. When your name is called, go to the classroom next door in order,” Iruka announced.
“It’s the Clone Technique? We’re so lucky!”
“Exactly! The Clone Technique is so easy. Thank goodness it isn’t the Substitution Technique!”
“I was most afraid they’d test endurance.”
The moment the exam subject was announced, the classroom erupted in celebration.
After all, everyone’s Clone Technique had already reached passing level.
Naruto was no exception.
“Quiet!”
Iruka raised his voice.
“Although all of you normally pass the Clone Technique, don’t get careless. If you become too nervous during the exam and fail to perform properly, I will still fail you without hesitation.”
“Now listen carefully to the order.”
“Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyūga, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka… Naruto Uzumaki!”
Naruto was placed last.
“That’s everyone. Now come to the classroom next door one at a time according to the list.”
After speaking, Iruka left first.
As the first name on the list, Sasuke naturally stood up first.
“Good luck, Sasuke-kun!”
The moment Sasuke rose, Sakura immediately offered her encouragement.
“Damn it, she beat me to it again. Good luck, Sasuke-kun!”
Ino refused to be outdone.
The other girls immediately began cheering for Sasuke as well.
Even someone as cold and aloof as Sasuke found himself speechless.
It’s just a Clone Technique exam.
Why are all of you cheering me on like this?
Did they seriously think that the mighty Sasuke Uchiha—who had finally regained his confidence after the skies cleared and the rain stopped—could somehow fail a mere Clone Technique exam?
With that thought, Sasuke raised his head even more proudly and coldly before leaving the classroom and heading next door.
Before long, Sasuke returned wearing a forehead protector.
Clearly, he had passed.
“My turn!”
Sakura stood up.
“Sasuke-kun, just watch! I definitely won’t have any problems!”
She flashed Sasuke a victory sign and headed toward the classroom next door.
She did not care whether Sasuke was actually watching her.
In fact—
Sasuke was not looking at her at all.