The following morning came sooner than Shizuku would have liked.
She had barely slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the dark mist gathering in the backyard, Blinky taking shape before her, and the realization that she hadn’t simply been reborn into the Naruto world.
She had been reborn as Shizuku, and it’s probable someone intentionally caused her reincarnation.
Across the room, Obito sat quietly while pulling on his shirt.
Usually, he would have been talking about the Academy or making another loud declaration that he’d become Hokage one day.
Instead, he stared at the floor in silence.
Grandma had breakfast waiting when they entered the kitchen.
Rice, grilled fish, and miso soup.
The food was warm, but none of them had much of an appetite.
“You should both eat a little,” Grandma said gently.
“You’ll be there most of the morning.” Obito forced himself to finish his bowl before standing.
“I’m ready.” It was the first thing he’d said all morning.
The walk to the Academy felt strangely disconnected from everything that had happened the day before.
Parents smiled proudly at their children, straightening collars and fixing messy hair.
Groups of excited boys challenged each other to races while girls compared the new equipment their families had bought them.
The Academy courtyard was already crowded by the time they arrived.
Instructors directed families toward registration tables while assistants checked names and clan affiliations.
After Grandma completed the paperwork, the children were led into classrooms.
The written examination came first.
The questions were simple enough that Shizuku almost sighed.
Reading.
Writing.
Basic mathematics.
Simple logic problems.
The Academy wasn’t looking for geniuses.
They only wanted to know what the children already understood before classes officially began.
She finished early but stayed in her seat until everyone else was done.
When the last papers were collected, the instructors led everyone outside to the training grounds.
Several stations had already been prepared.
Running.
Balance.
Strength.
Shuriken accuracy.
The children rotated through each exercise while instructors recorded their results.
Years of training with their parents paid off.
Shizuku moved efficiently through each station, making very few mistakes.
She wasn’t trying to impress anyone, but she also felt no need to deliberately perform poorly.
Obito stayed close behind her in nearly every event.
His movements lacked their usual energy, yet his fundamentals were solid.
He finished near the front during the endurance run, handled the balance exercises without difficulty, and landed most of his wooden shuriken in the outer rings of the target.
One instructor looked down at his clipboard.
“You’ve trained before?” Obito nodded.
“Our parents taught us.” The instructor smiled faintly.
“It shows.” Once every child had completed the physical evaluation, another instructor stepped onto the field.
“If you’ve already learned any jutsu, raise your hand.” Only a handful of children did.
Several belonged to shinobi clans.
One civilian boy hesitated before slowly raising his hand as well.
The group was separated from the others.
“We’ll evaluate your current level,” the instructor explained.
“This won’t affect whether you’re admitted.
We simply want to know what you’ve already learned.” One by one, the children demonstrated their techniques.
When Shizuku’s turn came, she performed the Transformation Technique, Clone Technique, and Body Replacement Technique cleanly before stepping back.
“Anything else?” the instructor asked.
She nodded.
Her hands moved through a familiar series of seals.
“Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.” Flames burst forward before dissipating several meters away.
A few instructors exchanged glances.
“A second Fire Style technique?” one asked.
Shizuku formed another set of hand seals.
A concentrated stream of fire shot forward, striking another practice target.
The instructor wrote several more notes.
“Very good.” Obito stepped forward next.
He demonstrated the three Academy techniques before taking a deep breath.
“Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.” His fireball wasn’t as large as Shizuku’s, but it formed properly and held its shape before fading.
One instructor quietly remarked, “Their parents must have started training them early.” Another nodded.
“Good fundamentals, too.” Watching from the balcony above the training grounds, Fugaku followed the demonstrations without saying a word.
“So those are the siblings?” “They are,” the Uchiha beside him replied.
“The ones who awakened the Sharingan yesterday.” Fugaku watched for several minutes.
The boy was quieter than the report had described.
He completed every exercise without complaint, answered questions politely, and returned to his place after each demonstration.
His eyes carried a sadness that no child should have worn, but his technique remained steady.
The girl was harder to read.
She never wasted movement.
While the other children looked around between exercises, she appeared to note where instructors stood, which entrances were being used, and how the testing was organized.
It wasn’t normal behavior for a child, but it wasn’t something worth questioning yet.
The final examination took place inside a large hall near the rear of the Academy.
Four members of the Hyūga Clan waited inside with clipboards in hand.
Each activated their Byakugan as the children entered.
One of the Academy instructors addressed the room.
“This final assessment measures your natural chakra reserves.
We aren’t testing chakra control.
The results, together with today’s written and physical examinations, will help us assign balanced classes.” The examinations moved quickly.
Most children received brief comments before moving on.
“Average.” “Below average.” “Above average.” Then Shizuku stepped forward.
The Hyūga examining her paused for a moment before looking again through his Byakugan.
“Excellent chakra reserves.” He wrote something down without elaborating.
“Next.” Obito took her place.
The second examiner studied him for a few seconds.
“Well above average.” After the final student had been examined, the Hyūga gathered around a table near the wall.
One examiner organized the written results while another compared the physical evaluations.
The eldest looked over the chakra measurements.
“Highest reserves?” He scanned the page.
“Shizuku Uchiha.” “The younger brother is second.” He continued reading.
“Third is Haruto.” “The civilian?” A younger Hyūga looked surprised.
The older examiner smiled slightly.
“Neither was I.” He closed the folder.
“Large chakra reserves don’t guarantee talent, and small reserves don’t necessarily prevent it.
These numbers simply help us understand where each child is starting.
We’ll use everything we’ve gathered today before assigning the classes.” The report was delivered to Fugaku a short time later.
He read it once before closing the folder.
The siblings had awakened the Sharingan less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Now they ranked first and second in chakra reserves among the incoming students.
Combined with their early mastery of Academy techniques and Fire Style, they clearly possessed immense potential.
He handed the report back.
“Keep an eye on both of them.” “Yes, Captain.” Outside the Academy, Grandma was already waiting.
Obito quietly walked to her side.
Shizuku followed a moment later.
As they left the grounds, she glanced back toward the Academy building and briefly caught sight of Fugaku watching from the balcony.
Neither acknowledged the other.
She simply turned away and continued walking home.
The entrance examination was over.
Soon, they would learn which class they had been assigned to, and their lives as Academy students would truly begin.
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