World, Kirigakure, Ninja Academy.
The blazing noon sun could barely pierce the dense mist shrouding the academy’s training grounds.
It could do nothing to dispel the cold, oppressive atmosphere that permeated the place.
A group of eight- and nine-year-old children stood quietly on the training field, listening to a chūnin instructor deliver a lecture.
Ever since the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, established the Ninja Academy system in Konohagakure, the other major hidden villages had followed suit.
However, differences in the culture and customs of each village had resulted in enormous differences between their academies.
Kirigakure’s imitation of the Ninja Academy was especially different from the original.
Ever since the Third Mizukage began implementing the policies that would earn Kirigakure the name Village of the Bloody Mist, the village’s rigid hierarchy among shinobi and its disregard for human life had become deeply ingrained in everyone’s hearts.
With those above setting the example, even the academy students who had yet to graduate carried a perpetual shadow in their expressions.
“Midterm Combat Examination, first match: Tachibana Kenji versus Iwari Ashito.” After the chūnin instructor finally finished his lengthy speech, he checked the roster and announced the first pair of combatants.
The tense atmosphere among the students relaxed slightly.
“Where did Tachibana Kenji even get a contracted summoning beast?
I wonder if his actual combat ability has improved.” “You’ve got to be kidding.
Ashito has always ranked in the top ten during our class’s combat tests.
What kind of fighting ability can Ju’s ninja beast possibly have when it’s not even knee-high?” Amid the students’ whispered discussions, a black-haired, black-eyed boy strode toward the center of the training ground.
He wore a short blue shirt paired with black shinobi trousers, and a bright, easygoing smile rested on his face.
His handsome, sunny appearance seemed distinctly out of place in Kirigakure’s oppressive atmosphere.
But the most unusual thing was the pale-blue frog perched on his shoulder.
It stood only about thirty centimeters tall, yet its eyes were remarkably large.
Around its neck was a collar of cloud-like bubbles.
As the boy walked onto the field, he appeared to be quietly conversing with the little frog.
Seeing his opponent still taking his time, Iwari Ashito impatiently mocked him.
“Hey, Tachibana Kenji!
Cut out that fake smile already.
Are you seriously bringing such a tiny ninja beast out here just to get it killed?” Before Tachibana Kenji could respond to the provocation, the chūnin instructor saw that both students were in position and immediately called out, “You two, get ready!” Tachibana Kenji’s smile disappeared.
He drew a kunai and fixed his opponent with a serious gaze.
There was no such thing as the Seal of Confrontation or the Seal of Reconciliation in Kirigakure.
Once the examination began, a moment of carelessness or hesitation could cost someone their life.
In the upper grades, every practical combat class even had an allotted number of casualties.
“Begin!” At the instructor’s command, the two boys shot toward each other like arrows released from their bows.
Although both were charging forward, their approaches were quite different.
Iwari Ashito moved at tremendous speed, yet his steps were light and elusive, making him seem almost ghostlike as he advanced.
His short blade( Short sword) was held in a reverse grip in his left hand, ready to strike at any moment—a fighting style characteristic of Kirigakure shinobi.
Tachibana Kenji’s charge, on the other hand, appeared rather ordinary.
However, as he rushed forward, the blue frog on his shoulder lightly kicked off and leaped backward, slipping behind Tachibana Kenji’s body in an instant.
It was clearly preparing to coordinate with its Trainer and launch a surprise attack.
Tachibana Kenji gave his opponent no time to think.
Chakra burst through his legs as he accelerated forward, raising his kunai to block Ashito’s fierce upward slash.
Borrowing the force of his opponent’s attack, he swiftly sidestepped to the right and narrowly avoided the powerful kick that immediately followed.
As Tachibana Kenji moved aside, the little frog that had been hiding behind him was naturally exposed.
“Lan, Water Gun!” “Croak!
(ﾉ｀0′)ﾉ===3” A column of water as thick as an arm spun rapidly as it shot toward Iwari Ashito.
At the same time, Tachibana Kenji flung the kunai in his hand straight at his opponent’s face.
Yet, faced with this pincer attack, Ashito merely loosened his right hand slightly, allowing his short blade to trace a perfect semicircle through his palm.
He shifted from a reverse grip to a forward grip and brought the blade down in a swift slash, effortlessly dispersing the rapidly approaching Water Gun.
His right hand then instinctively rose in front of his face, precisely catching the kunai less than five centimeters from his cheek.
With no time to think, both boys simultaneously raised their legs and kicked at each other.
Bang!
Bang!
After two dull impacts, the two combatants instinctively chose to retreat and create some distance.
Once they had separated, they each rubbed the spot where they had been kicked and took a moment to catch their breath.
Tachibana Kenji remained relatively calm.
It was a shame that their coordinated attack had failed, but he had known before the fight even began that he was at a disadvantage in taijutsu.
Lan had only recently become his Pokémon partner, and the two of them had yet to develop perfect coordination.
The fact that their attack had gained even a slight advantage was already enough.
Iwari Ashito, on the other hand, discovered after pulling back that the back of his neck was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat.
In truth, his series of actions just now had all been instinctive.
He hadn’t been completely confident that he could stop either the Water Gun or the kunai aimed at his face.
Although he had ultimately escaped unharmed, he had still accidentally cut his right palm while catching the kunai.
That bastard Tachibana Kenji…!
“That was it?
Your summoning beast’s ninjutsu doesn’t even hit as hard as my fist.
You’re nothing but a guy who relies on cheap little tricks!” Suppressing the tension in his heart, Iwari Ashito stubbornly continued to talk tough.
Seeing his opponent like this, Tachibana Kenji simply revealed his trademark smile and offered no reply.
He pulled another kunai from his ninja tool pouch.
“Lan, let’s go!” As the two sides clashed again, the students watching from the sidelines finally snapped out of their daze, and their discussions became increasingly animated.
“Tachibana Kenji’s ninja beast actually seems somewhat useful.” “It’s not just the ninja beast.
Haven’t you noticed that Tachibana Kenji’s attacks are much sharper than before?” “Probably.
Quite a few people have seen him training by himself after school this past month.” As the surrounding students continued talking, the battle on the field grew increasingly intense.
In a short period of time, the two sides exchanged several rounds of attacks.
Although they still appeared evenly matched, Tachibana Kenji knew that even with Lan using Water Gun from a distance to interfere with his opponent, he still couldn’t defeat Iwari Ashito.
On several occasions, he had barely avoided Ashito’s attacks, and his clothes had already been sliced open by the sharp blade.
Looks like I’ll have to stick to the plan.
With that thought, Tachibana Kenji stopped hesitating.
He pushed off the ground once more and suddenly widened the distance between them.
At the same time, he reached into his ninja tool pouch with his right hand, appearing as though he intended to throw shuriken to disrupt his opponent.
Naturally, Iwari Ashito had no intention of standing by and allowing his opponent to attack.
Moving even faster, he threw three shuriken first.
He then pushed off the ground and rushed forward, intending to close the distance and capitalize on his advantage in close-quarters combat.
The three shuriken flew toward Tachibana Kenji in a triangular formation, each following a slight arc and sealing off his avenues of escape.
Yet Tachibana Kenji seemed to have been frightened stiff and was struck head-on by one of the shuriken.
Before Iwari Ashito could reveal a look of delight— Poof!
The Tachibana Kenji who had been struck exploded into a cloud of white smoke.
As the smoke quickly dispersed, Tachibana Kenji was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, a short wooden log with a shuriken embedded in it hung conspicuously in midair.
“Substitution Jutsu?!
When did he—?” Iwari Ashito looked around in surprise.
The ordinary Substitution Jutsu was, after all, merely one of the basic Three Body Techniques.
It required hand seals and a prepared substitute, meaning that, at its core, it was nothing more than a simple misdirection.
Normally, only when there was an overwhelming gap in strength could a stronger shinobi use it so seamlessly that their opponent failed to notice.
And yet, he hadn’t noticed Tachibana Kenji forming hand seals and performing the Substitution Jutsu at all!
At that moment, a fierce gust of wind came from behind him.
Behind me?
Iwari Ashito had no time to think.
Using his right foot as a pivot, he twisted his waist and executed a standard turning slash aimed at his attacker’s neck, intending to force the ambusher back.
At the same time, his left leg followed through with a kick.
But Ashito’s short blade failed to strike its intended target.
The one attacking him was actually the little frog that had been firing water from the sidelines since the beginning of the match!
The blue frog stretched out a tiny white paw, barely larger than a cat’s, and was about to strike him.
Having mistaken the incoming attack because he hadn’t heard the sound of Water Gun, Ashito’s counterattack had completely missed.
It was already too late to change his move.
He could only forcefully adjust the angle of his kick.
Because of the last-second adjustment, the kick lacked much of its power, merely sending the little frog flying without seriously hurting it.
But by then, none of that mattered anymore.
A sharp kunai had silently appeared at Iwari Ashito’s throat from behind.
The arm holding the kunai still had a bloodstained shuriken embedded in it.
“Midterm Combat Examination, first match.
The winner is Tachibana Kenji.” [Ding!
You have defeated a Ninja Academy student for the first time.
Achievement unlocked: “A Lollipop?
Hand It Over!”] Tachibana Kenji naturally ignored the system notification.
He nodded to the chūnin instructor, sheathed his kunai, and headed toward his little frog, which had been kicked away.
Since the instructor had already announced the result, Iwari Ashito didn’t dare raise any objections.
In the end, he could only glare resentfully at Tachibana Kenji before returning somewhat awkwardly to his classmates.
The outcome of the match had clearly exceeded the expectations of the students watching.
The Ninja Academy students immediately erupted into an uproar.
They had seen it clearly.
When Iwari Ashito turned around to attack the blue frog that had ambushed him, the wooden log lying behind him suddenly went poof and transformed back into Tachibana Kenji!
That wooden log hadn’t been created by the Substitution Jutsu at all—it had been Tachibana Kenji’s Transformation Jutsu.
Following the tactic they had agreed upon before the match, the little frog had immediately attacked as soon as it saw Tachibana Kenji use the Transformation Jutsu, drawing the enemy’s attention.
Finally, after releasing his Transformation Jutsu, Tachibana Kenji had ignored the shuriken still embedded in his arm and rushed forward, placing his kunai at Iwari Ashito’s throat to secure the victory.
“Tachibana Kenji actually beat Iwari Ashito?
That summoning beast that looked so weak was that useful?” “Pfft!
Is that really what you took away from this?
No wonder your grades are so bad!
Ju’s ninja beast was only there to distract him.
How strong did it need to be?” “Is that the important part?
More importantly, how the hell did he form hand seals with one hand inside his ninja tool pouch?” Tachibana Kenji ignored his classmates’ discussion and comforted the little frog, who was still sore from being kicked.
“Lan, your timing with Pound was excellent.
I couldn’t have done it without you!” After saying that, Tachibana Kenji placed Lan back on his shoulder.
His bright smile returned as he walked back toward the group.
“Ju, how did you pull off that Transformation Jutsu at the end?” A classmate he was on relatively good terms with immediately approached him and asked the question.
Tachibana Kenji didn’t keep it a secret.
He took a small pellet wrapped in bandages from his ninja tool pouch and showed it to the other boy.
“Just a little trick that isn’t worth much.
It was a failed product from when we were making smoke bombs in ninja tool class.
Later, I discovered that the explosion produced smoke that looked quite similar to the smoke created by the Three Body Techniques.” “So earlier, I set off the smoke bomb first, then formed the hand seals and used the Transformation Jutsu inside the smoke.” “What?
Just a failed smoke bomb?
So it was only luck?” Tachibana Kenji looked at him and simply replied with a smile, saying nothing more.
He then took out some bandages and began wrapping his injured arm.
Although his arm was injured, Tachibana Kenji had no intention of going to the infirmary to rest.
After applying some basic first aid, he prepared to continue watching the upcoming matches.
After all, even though he had won, now was not the time to relax.
“Midterm Combat Examination, second match: Momochi Zabuza versus Nobi Kohu.”