A new week began.
Before class, Ishida Yū announced the rankings for March's monthly exam.
First place was Minato, and second place was Onodera.
Natsuki was seventh, while Nonō was eighth, about the same as him.
He was very satisfied with this ranking. It was slightly above average. Although excellent, it was not excellent enough.
For now, there was no risk of being targeted by Danzō.
Natsuki cared more about another matter.
Had his flattery, no, his explanation of the Will of Fire, attracted Hiruzen's attention?
Unfortunately, he had no way to confirm it.
But he was not in a hurry.
Hiruzen would eventually notice that he was an outstanding inheritor of the Will of Fire.
The morning was still theory class.
In the afternoon, the students of Year One Class A became excited.
Because Ishida Yū finally taught them their first ninjutsu, the Substitution Technique, one of the Three Basic Techniques.
The Three Basic Techniques were the only ninjutsu in the Ninja Academy's graduation exam.
In other words, only by mastering the Three Basic Techniques could one successfully graduate and be called a shinobi.
"The Substitution Technique is an E-rank ninjutsu. Its effect is to release smoke when attacked, then use a wooden log to replace the body and confuse the enemy."
After class began, Ishida Yū started explaining it in detail.
Natsuki's parents' inheritance included the Three Basic Techniques.
But he had not learned them.
First, because he was young. Second, because his talent was poor.
After Ishida Yū finished explaining, he personally demonstrated it once before letting them try learning it.
With a bang, a cloud of smoke appeared in front of Minato.
He quickly retreated, leaving only a wooden log in place.
Year One Class A instantly fell silent.
"As expected of Minato!"
"He's too strong! He actually succeeded in using the Substitution Technique on his first try!"
"What's so impressive about that? Show-off!"
The last sentence came from Onodera, whose face was full of displeasure.
Most students would spend one or two years learning the Substitution Technique.
Excellent students could learn it in one semester.
As for true geniuses, they could grasp it after one demonstration, just like Minato.
"Well done."
Ishida Yū said with a face full of smiles.
He then looked at Natsuki. Unfortunately, his Substitution Technique seemed rather unstandardized.
Ishida Yū estimated that he could learn it within one semester.
In the end, he was not a true genius.
Soon, Ishida Yū began thinking about how to adjust Minato's lessons.
Geniuses had privileges.
In the original work, Kakashi had already finished the Ninja Academy's curriculum at five years old and became a Genin.
Natsuki, on the other hand, was very calm.
Time soon reached May.
Natsuki stood in the training ground, with a large number of kunai, shuriken, senbon, and makibishi scattered around him.
Not far away, Nonō, who was sitting and reading, raised her head and glanced at him, then lowered her head again and continued reading.
After two months of study, she had already grasped quite a bit of basic medical knowledge.
But it was still far from enough.
No matter where one studied medicine, it was an extremely complicated matter.
However, she had great patience.
Natsuki slowly breathed out.
With a thought, he called up his personal panel.
[Name: Natsuki.]
[Age: Six years old.]
[Integrated Character Template: Conan.]
[Unintegrated Character Template: Emiya Shirou.]
Natsuki then looked at the Emiya Shirou Template.
Ability One, Cooking, and Ability Two, Reinforcement Magecraft, had both been unlocked.
As for Ability Three, Projection Magecraft, its current progress showed four-fifths.
This was the result of his hard training over the past month. He only needed to master one more ninja tool to unlock the ability.
Thinking this, Natsuki took out a ninja sword.
He had bought this yesterday at a ninja tool shop.
Ninja swords were mainly divided into two types. One was a short sword, which was similar to a dagger. The other was a long sword, mainly a tachi, or katana.
The ninja sword in Natsuki's hand was a short sword.
Because he was young, a long sword was too long for him and inconvenient for training.
There were many famous sword techniques and blade techniques in the shinobi world.
For example, Konoha-Style Swordsmanship, Uchiha-Style Swordsmanship, and Hatake kenjutsu.
Naturally, Natsuki knew none of them, and he could not find anyone to teach him.
These sword techniques and blade techniques were similar to ninjutsu. There were only three ways to learn them, family inheritance, being taught by a Sensei, or receiving them as a reward from the village.
Fortunately, the Emiya Shirou Template only required beginner-level swordsmanship.
Beginner level meant mastering the most basic movements, such as thrusting, chopping, and cutting.
Yesterday, Natsuki had also bought a copy of Basic Kendo.
Actually, the Ninja Academy would teach it, but they had to wait until second year.
Naturally, he could not wait that long, so he simply taught himself.
If he really could not learn it, he would spend money to hire a shinobi to teach him.
But right now, he had no source of income, so he would save what he could.
Natsuki gripped the ninja sword with both hands, recalled Basic Kendo, and swung the first slash.
Konoha entered June.
Minato's name as a genius began spreading through the Ninja Academy.
The reason was that aside from theory class, he no longer attended practical classes with the other students.
While the other students were still learning the Substitution Technique, he was already learning the second of the Three Basic Techniques, the Clone Technique.
[Congratulations, Host. You have unlocked Ability Three of the Emiya Shirou Template, Projection Magecraft.]
It was here!
Natsuki, who had been swinging the ninja sword in the training ground, immediately stopped training.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and felt excited.
But just as he was about to try Projection Magecraft, the text in front of him changed again.
[You have awakened the Roronoa Zoro Template.]
Natsuki's eyes widened at once.
Was this Zoro from One Piece?
Zoro was the mark of a king.
Cough, cough.
Natsuki threw the strange thought out of his mind and quickly looked at the Zoro Template.
[Name: Roronoa Zoro.]
[Period: One-Sword Style.]
[World: One Piece.]
[Rank: B-rank.]
[Ability One: Swordsmanship Proficiency, unlocked.]
[Effect: Possess incomparable swordsmanship skill.]
[Ability Two: One-Sword Style, Thirty-Six Pound Phoenix, locked.]
[Effect: Swing the sword at high speed to produce a sword wave slash, with power like a cannon.]
[Unlock Condition: Obtain first place once in practical combat.]
[Ability Three: One-Sword Style, Lion Strike, locked.]
[Effect: Draw the sword from top to bottom, able to split a boulder in half with one slash.]
[Unlock Condition: Master one Earth Release ninjutsu.]
[Ability Four: One-Sword Style, Iai, Lion Song, locked.]
[Effect: An iai technique that draws and slashes at extreme speed, with power capable of cutting steel.]
[Unlock Condition: Own a sword famous in the shinobi world.]
It was actually a B-rank character template?
It had to be said that the difficulty of B-rank unlock conditions far exceeded C-rank.
But in return, there was one more ability, and the power was much greater.
Aside from Ability One, the remaining three abilities were basically between C-rank and B-rank ninjutsu.
If Natsuki unlocked all four of these abilities, his strength could rise from Genin to Chunin.
Unfortunately, there was no Haki.
In One Piece, true experts either possessed Haki or a powerful Devil Fruit.
But if there was Haki, then it would not only be B-rank.
Other than that, this character template had another special period.
Natsuki had thought Zoro's period would be divided by arcs, such as East Blue or Skypiea. He had not expected it to be divided by One-Sword Style and Three-Sword Style.
Although Zoro's One-Sword Style was good, his truly powerful style was undoubtedly Three-Sword Style.
But Three-Sword Style Zoro would definitely not be only B-rank.
(To be continued.)