The free-practice period quickly passed.
The chunin instructor clapped his hands, signaling for everyone to stop.
“All right.
Now come up one at a time in order for testing.
Each person gets five shuriken and five kunai, for a total of ten throws.”
“A bullseye is two points.
Hitting the target is one point.
Missing is zero.”
He pointed at the row of brand-new wooden targets along the edge of the training field.
“Full score is twenty points.”
The first one called was Kakashi.
Kakashi quickly took five shuriken from the ninja tool pouch that had been handed out.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
The five shuriken flew out almost at the same time, the sounds of them piercing the bullseye ringing out in rapid succession.
Before the others could even react, Kakashi had already drawn the kunai with his left hand.
Five more dull thuds followed.
Every single ninja tool struck the bullseye.
“Full marks.”
The chunin instructor wrote the score on his clipboard, satisfaction showing on his face.
As expected of the White Fang’s son.
He was strong.
Thinking of Sakumo Hatake’s heroic figure, the chunin instructor suddenly felt that any result Kakashi achieved would be perfectly normal.
“Well done, Kakashi.”
Kakashi only gave a slight nod and stepped aside.
“Next.”
The chunin instructor was about to read out the next name.
“I’ll go, I’ll go!”
Obito could not wait to raise his hand, nearly jumping on the spot.
He was always the most enthusiastic about things that let him show off.
The chunin instructor nodded and motioned for him to step forward.
Obito puffed out his chest and deliberately glanced in Rin Nohara’s direction, only to find that Rin had turned slightly to the side and seemed to be talking to Kiyohane.
His heart skipped, but he had no time to think too much.
The test had already begun.
Obito took a deep breath and pulled out five shuriken.
The first one hit the bullseye.
Good!
Obito was delighted, and his hand movements sped up.
Unfortunately, his next four chances all missed the target.
Sweat began to bead on Obito’s forehead.
The following kunai throws were not much better.
Of the five kunai, only two struck the target board.
The other three missed completely.
The chunin instructor glanced at the target.
One bullseye and two body hits in total.
He wrote a score on the clipboard.
“Four points. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Not bad, Obito-kun.
You improved compared to yesterday.”
Obito froze for a moment, then scratched the back of his head and started laughing foolishly.
“Of course!
I’m an Uchiha, after all!”
He turned around proudly, ready to bask in Rin Nohara’s admiring gaze.
Then he saw Rin turned slightly to the side, seriously saying something to Kiyohane.
She was not looking at him at all.
Obito’s smile froze on his face.
At that moment, he felt as if the thing he loved most had been quietly taken away, leaving everything before him desolate.
…
In truth, Rin Nohara really had not noticed Obito’s brilliant performance.
She was talking to Kiyohane.
“Kiyohane-kun, are you interested in medical ninjutsu?”
Hearing that question, Kiyohane was a little surprised.
He turned his head and looked at her.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because Lady Tsunade is very famous,” Rin said, blinking with admiration in her voice.
“She’s Konoha’s top medical-nin.
Since you live with Lady Tsunade, Kiyohane-kun, you must have picked up at least a little from her, right?”
Kiyohane rubbed his chin and did not answer immediately.
Top medical-nin, sure.
That was probably how outsiders saw Tsunade.
But as for what he had picked up from living with her…
What came to Kiyohane’s mind was not Tsunade healing patients at a sickbed with miraculous skill.
It was Tsunade sprawled across the sofa with her legs crossed, gambling slips and empty bottles scattered across the tea table, ordering him and Shizune around from time to time.
If they were talking about what he had learned from constant exposure, then he had probably learned more about gambling.
In fact, Kiyohane was indeed quite good at gambling.
Maybe seeing Tsunade’s tragic defeats at the gambling table had given him the perfect negative example.
Maybe luck itself simply stood on his side.
Either way, he had picked it up quickly.
He had even once played in Tsunade’s place and won quite a bit.
Of course, he had no intention of telling Rin Nohara that.
Then another thought surfaced in his mind.
Although Rin Nohara seemed like a civilian-born shinobi, she possessed terrifying medical talent.
In the original timeline, she had no kekkei genkai and no secret jutsu scrolls passed down through a clan.
Relying only on the Ninja Academy’s basic education and Konoha Hospital’s training, she later mastered the A-rank medical ninjutsu, Mystical Palm Technique.
How impressive was that?
For comparison, Sakura Haruno studied under Tsunade for a full three years before learning Mystical Palm Technique.
And Sakura herself had already been evaluated by Tsunade as a shinobi with exceptionally outstanding chakra control talent.
Rin Nohara’s medical talent was definitely no weaker.
If Kakashi was an all-around prodigy, then Rin Nohara was undoubtedly a specialist prodigy in the field of medical ninjutsu.
The trait “Natural Prodigy” might drop from one of those two.
Kiyohane swept his gaze around.
People like Tekka Uchiha, Natsu Hyuga, and Tetsu Hyuga were decent enough, but they were still a step away from being true prodigies.
Thinking of that, Kiyohane spoke.
“Actually, I really am interested in medical ninjutsu.”
Kiyohane sounded sincere.
Because he genuinely was interested.
This stuff was a life-saving divine skill.
In a crisis, he could even heal himself.
At higher levels of battle, the ability to recover from injuries was practically essential.
Rin Nohara’s eyes lit up.
“Every war causes many shinobi to die.
If possible, I want to save those who are wounded on the battlefield.
That is my dream,” Kiyohane said.
Those words were actually Rin Nohara’s dream from the official databook, but he said them through his own mouth.
Hearing Kiyohane’s words, Rin felt as if she had found someone who shared her ideals.
Even Kiyohane’s already handsome face seemed a little more handsome in her eyes.
Among the people she knew, she had been the only one thinking about such things all alone.
Whether it was Kakashi or Obito, neither of them had shown any interest in that area at all.
Because of that, Rin had never known who she could talk to about it.
Now, it seemed Kiyohane-kun thought the same way.
In an instant, she felt as if her loneliness had been washed away.
“Then, Kiyohane-kun, have you already learned medical ninjutsu?”
“I have.”
Kiyohane nodded.
“That’s amazing,” Rin exclaimed softly.
Medical ninjutsu was much harder than ordinary ninjutsu, after all.
“If you’re interested, Rin, we can exchange notes sometime,” Kiyohane said.
The best way to get closer to someone was to start with their interests.
The more he interacted with Rin Nohara and helped her understand more knowledge in advance, the higher the chance of making the Natural Prodigy trait drop.
“That would be great, Kiyohane-kun.”
Rin nodded.
“Next, Kiyohane.”
The chunin instructor’s voice interrupted Rin.
Kiyohane stood up, gave her a slight nod, and walked toward the testing area.
Obito stood to the side and watched Kiyohane pass by him.
The sour feeling in his chest grew even stronger.
“Rin, if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me,” Obito said.
Although he had no idea what Rin and Kiyohane had been talking about, Obito still had that much confidence.
At worst, he would just go back and study harder.
Backed by a great clan like the Uchiha, Obito actually had plenty of resources.
“No, Obito.
You don’t understand.”
Rin shook her head.
Obito’s expression stiffened.