The students who had already completed the graduation exercise gathered near the Academy Rear Training Grounds.
The atmosphere was relaxed.
For most of them, the exam had gone smoothly.
Obito Uchiha threw his hands behind his head and laughed loudly.
“Hah! An intelligence retrieval mission? That was way too easy.”
The grin plastered across his face made it obvious he’d received a high evaluation.
Asuma Sarutobi folded his arms, doing his best to look composed.
“Do you really need to get excited over something that basic?”
His tone was calm.
The way he immediately lifted his chin afterward was not.
“For people like us, passing a test like this should be expected.”
He flashed what he clearly thought was a cool smile.
“The graduation exam isn’t the real challenge. The battlefield is where shinobi prove themselves.”
Then his attention shifted toward Kurenai Yuhi.
“Graduation’s coming up soon.”
He smiled confidently.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up on the same team.”
Kurenai didn’t even hesitate.
She rolled her eyes and turned away.
Asuma’s smile froze.
Obito looked seconds away from laughing in his face.
Then—
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion erupted from deeper within the training grounds.
The earth trembled beneath their feet.
Everyone jumped.
“What was that?”
“It came from the Mock Fortress!”
“Did something happen?”
The students immediately turned toward the source of the disturbance.
A moment later, a lone figure appeared in the distance.
Walking casually.
Hands tucked into his pockets.
Looking completely relaxed.
Ren Akihara.
Behind him, part of the fortress was simply…
gone.
The rear wall had vanished.
Not collapsed.
Not damaged.
Vanished.
It looked less like structural failure and more like someone had kicked a hole straight through the building.
Kurenai blinked.
“Ren?”
“You passed too?”
“Of course.”
Ren answered without missing a beat.
“I completed a perfect infiltration and successfully retrieved the intelligence scroll.”
The surrounding students exchanged knowing looks.
A perfect infiltration.
That phrase again.
At this point, nobody even needed an explanation.
The exam’s earlier checkpoints had followed a predictable pattern.
An instructor acting as an enemy guard would jump out and yell at Ren.
Then the instructor would immediately lose consciousness.
From Ren’s perspective, the logic was flawless.
If every guard who saw him got eliminated…
Then nobody had seen him.
And if nobody had seen him…
The infiltration was perfect.
Simple.
Efficient.
Completely insane.
The first few checkpoints had fallen one after another.
The final guard, however, had been different.
Their elite class homeroom teacher knew Ren far too well.
The moment he spotted Ren strolling openly toward the fortress entrance, he abandoned any hope of giving warnings or lectures.
He attacked immediately.
More importantly, he tried to destroy the intelligence scroll before Ren could get his hands on it.
The result was exactly what everyone would expect.
Things had become slightly more destructive than usual.
Ren personally believed he had shown remarkable restraint.
The rescue teams currently swarming the fortress seemed to hold a different opinion.
“Hurry! Get the medical team over here!”
“Who hit them this hard?!”
“Watch out! That section is about to collapse!”
Academy staff ran back and forth in a panic.
The students slowly turned toward Ren.
Their expressions became increasingly complicated.
They had known him for years.
Nobody understood his bizarre way of thinking better than they did.
“If everyone who sees me gets taken out, it’s a perfect infiltration.”
“If all the kidnappers are dead, the hostage rescue mission is automatically successful.”
Statements like those had become normal whenever Ren was involved.
The frightening part was that he always sounded completely serious.
Ren ignored their stares.
He glanced up at the sky.
“It’s lunchtime.”
Without another word, he headed toward a nearby stream.
The others watched curiously.
A few moments later—
Splash!
A large fish burst from the water.
Ren snatched it out of the air with practiced ease.
Then he reached into his gear pouch.
The students collectively stared.
Not because he had drawn a weapon.
But because it wasn’t a weapon.
It was a kitchen knife.
An actual kitchen knife.
Nobody even questioned it anymore.
This was Ren.
After all, what was one more strange habit?
His hands moved in a blur.
The process wasn’t elegant.
It wasn’t refined.
It was simply absurdly efficient.
Scales were removed.
The fish was cleaned.
Thin slices of meat appeared one after another.
Within moments, a complete platter of sashimi sat before him.
Kurenai sighed.
“Sashimi again?”
“You really do love eating raw fish.”
Ren looked helpless.
“What choice do I have?”
“This is the fastest option.”
Kurenai stared at him.
Fastest?
Fastest for what?
Before she could ask, Ren had already begun eating.
And eating wasn’t quite the right word.
Devouring was more accurate.
The fish disappeared at an alarming rate.
Slice after slice vanished.
Then larger chunks.
Then the remaining scraps.
Ten minutes later, nothing remained.
No leftovers.
No bones.
No evidence that a fish had ever existed.
The students watched in stunned silence.
Obito unconsciously took a step backward.
“That’s… definitely not normal.”
Ren ignored him and wiped his mouth.
At that exact moment, a familiar mechanical voice echoed inside his mind.
[Mythic Skill Activated: Feast.]
A smile slowly spread across his face.
Finally.
The true reason behind his monstrous appetite.
The reason he constantly hunted animals in the forests around Konoha.
The reason he could consume enough food to feed several grown adults and still feel hungry.
His greatest secret.
The power he had awakened after arriving in this world.
Feast.
A Mythic-tier skill.
The foundation of everything he possessed.
And with every meal…
He grew stronger.