The next morning — Kirigakure Ninja Academy.
“Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique is one of Kirigakure’s most characteristic ninjutsu.
Only a handful of you may ever have the chance to learn it, but every one of you is expected to understand its principles and know how to operate within an area affected by the Hidden Mist Technique…” At the front of the classroom, a young instructor stood behind the podium and explained the lesson with great seriousness.
The two students seated to Tachibana Kenji’s right apparently hadn’t recovered from the excitement of yesterday’s practical examination and were enthusiastically discussing several of the matches.
Whoosh—thunk!
A kunai whistled through the air, grazing past the head of a student in the front row before embedding itself directly in the desks of the two students who were still chatting excitedly.
The young instructor coldly stared at the two students, who had been stunned by the sudden kunai.
“What?
Would you like to come up here and explain your understanding of the Hidden Mist Technique?” “If you’re fortunate enough to graduate and become shinobi, but don’t understand the Hidden Mist Technique at all, what are you going to do when your squad leader uses it during a mission?
Stand around in the fog like idiots and wait to die alongside the enemy?!” “Well?
Say something!” As the instructor’s voice steadily rose, nearly every student fell silent.
They immediately put away their distractions and obediently faced the front of the classroom.
Tachibana Kenji, however, was an exception.
Just moments ago, his attention had been entirely captured by someone sitting in the front row simply because he was shorter than most of the other students their age.
The other boy hadn’t been listening either and had been staring absentmindedly out the window.
Yet the instant the chūnin instructor threw the kunai, he suddenly turned around, his body faintly shifting into a defensive posture.
Momochi Zabuza really has gotten stronger again, hasn’t he?
It looks like he truly didn’t use his full strength during yesterday’s examination.
Ever since transmigrating and learning that he was in the same class as that murderous, eyebrow-less menace—and that they would eventually take the graduation examination together—Tachibana Kenji had consciously or unconsciously kept a close eye on Zabuza.
Tachibana Kenji had asked around about the previous year’s examination.
All students from the same class had been thrown onto an island and given one token each.
When the examination ended, only those who had obtained two tokens were allowed to board the ship and leave the island as Ninja Academy graduates.
In Tachibana Kenji’s estimation, Zabuza’s strength at that point was undoubtedly already a full level above the other students.
Perhaps in four months, Zabuza would already possess the strength of a newly promoted chūnin.
Only with that level of strength would it be possible for him to slaughter more than a hundred civilian-born examinees on the examination grounds.
Yes.
The only students forced to participate in this brutal graduation examination were those from civilian backgrounds.
Or rather, Kirigakure’s Ninja Academy was made up entirely of students from civilian backgrounds.
Although Kirigakure’s Ninja Academy system had been modeled after the one established by the Second Hokage, it was completely different from Konoha’s.
In Konoha, even the Hokage’s own children and talented youths from prestigious clans such as the Uchiha attended school alongside ordinary civilians.
In Kirigakure, only civilians, war orphans, and children from minor shinobi clans attended the Academy.
Tachibana Kenji had heard that when the Second Mizukage first established the Academy, some branch-family members of kekkei genkai clans and clans with secret techniques had also enrolled.
But after the Third Mizukage began implementing the Bloody Mist policies, capable clans generally chose to train their children internally before applying to the village for official shinobi status once they were qualified.
After all, this kind of examination inevitably involved an element of luck.
No family wanted its children to be needlessly sacrificed.
This divide had further intensified the growing conflict in Kirigakure between the shinobi clans and civilian-born shinobi.
Tachibana Kenji suspected that this was also why Zabuza had suffered no real consequences after slaughtering his fellow students.
On the contrary, he had still gone on to become one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
The students who died had no influential backgrounds.
Zabuza’s actions technically followed the rules, while also proving his exceptional talent as a shinobi.
Naturally, no one was interested in pursuing responsibility afterward.
That was simply how cold and merciless the shinobi world was.
After Tachibana Kenji had first overcome the confusion of transmigrating, he had briefly become somewhat overconfident.
As a transmigrator with a cheat ability, he had believed that he would definitely be able to defeat Momochi Zabuza with ease five months later.
Then his first ten-pull had given him a harsh reality check.
Out of ten rewards, barely any had meaningfully improved his combat strength.
From that point onward, Tachibana Kenji accepted reality.
Gacha was unreliable.
If his luck was bad and he didn’t work hard, he might not even be able to defeat an ordinary student from his own class during the graduation examination.
The enormous gap between his expectations and reality had once made Tachibana Kenji consider seeking refuge with a kekkei genkai clan and lying low while he developed, or even deliberately breaking one of his legs before the examination so he could repeat the year.
After all, following Zabuza’s massacre this year, the deadly elimination system would be abolished for the following year’s examination.
He could then safely become a shinobi.
Having arrived in such a dangerous world, he naturally wanted to become part of a privileged class like the shinobi.
Besides, he had a cheat ability; what he lacked was simply time to grow.
But yesterday’s draw had given him Water Release: Aqua Ring, a Water Release medical ninjutsu, and that had given Tachibana Kenji some new ideas.
After school today, I should pay Aunt Keiko a visit at the hospital.
However, just as Tachibana Kenji was considering his plans— “A regular chūnin uses the Hidden Mist Technique at full power.
Its initial area is ten square meters.
Approximately how long will it take to spread through a forest covering an area of 3,600 square meters?” “Jianchuan, you answer.” The instructor had apparently noticed that Tachibana Kenji, who had recently been actively answering questions in class, was actually spacing out today.
He immediately called on him to answer.
“Y-Yes!” “First, we can treat the standard Hidden Mist Technique as expanding in a circular pattern.
The spreading speed of a regular chūnin’s Hidden Mist Technique is approximately…
Since the forest affects the technique’s spread…
therefore, the total time required would be…” “Not bad.
Pay attention during class.” As Tachibana Kenji sat back down, he secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
When he saw Lan already sprawled across the desk asleep, he nearly failed to maintain his practiced smile.
Fortunately, the questions taught at the Ninja Academy were roughly at an elementary-school level, with some basic shinobi knowledge mixed in.
And because he had recently made a good impression on all of his instructors by actively participating in class, he had managed to avoid being made into an example.
[Ding!
You have answered fifty classroom questions correctly.
Achievement unlocked: “Starlight Anya!
Has Arrived!”] Not bad.
He had even unlocked another Achievement in the process.
Unwilling to provoke the instructor at the front of the classroom, who didn’t appear to be in the best mood, Tachibana Kenji decisively put aside his wandering thoughts and focused on the lesson.
Besides, the Ninja Academy’s classes would genuinely be useful in his future life as a shinobi.
…
The fading light of the setting sun filtered through the thick mist and fell across the training grounds in scattered patches.
The Academy buildings and trees appeared and disappeared like shadows within the fog as students gradually left the school building in groups of two or three.
“Ju, you’re heading this way today?
Aren’t you going to the training ground?” A classmate who was fairly familiar with Tachibana Kenji watched him hurry away and asked curiously.
“I’ve got something to do today.
We’ll continue your training another time.” Tachibana Kenji answered with his usual cheerful smile, but his feet never stopped moving as he hurried toward Kirigakure Hospital.
Kirigakure Hospital wasn’t particularly far from the Ninja Academy.
According to what he had heard, it had been established around the same time as the village itself.
Although both shinobi and civilians received treatment there, the hospital still wasn’t especially valued in keeping with Kirigakure’s general culture.
Compared with the Academy, the entire building appeared old and neglected.
The cylindrical stone-brick structure was covered in moss.
If not for the large character for “Medical” displayed above the entrance, it would have been difficult to distinguish it from the ordinary residential buildings nearby.
Most of the people coming and going were ordinary village civilians.
Just as Tachibana Kenji was about to enter, he noticed a figure in a white coat standing outside the building and speaking with a nurse.
Come to think of it, the shinobi world’s medical technology was strangely advanced in some areas and bizarrely underdeveloped in others.
Yet its medical practitioners had recognized early on that bloodstains and dirt could breed germs and cause infections.
White clothing made stains easy to notice, allowing garments to be changed and washed promptly to maintain proper hygiene.
At the same time, the color white could help calm patients.
As a result, doctors in the shinobi world had begun wearing white coats many years ago—something surprisingly similar to the medical system of Tachibana Kenji’s previous life.
While Tachibana Kenji was lost in these random thoughts, the doctor appeared to finish giving instructions to the nurse.
When she turned around, she immediately spotted Tachibana Kenji standing outside the building in a daze.
“Tachibana, what brings you here today?” The middle-aged woman spoke first and walked toward him.
She had long blue hair and a gentle, warm temperament.
Tachibana Kenji immediately put on his trademark smile and answered obediently.
“Aunt Keiko, there are a few things I’d like to ask you about, so I came straight here after school.”