Seeing the classroom slipping further into chaos—with girls bickering and boys nearly breaking out into a full-blown fight—the chuunin instructor could no longer endure it. He finally shouted:
"Quiet!"
"Next, Uchiha Obito!"
The teacher's authority hadn't completely vanished. With just that bark, the room fell into an uneasy silence. Obito Uchiha shot a hostile glance at Hatake Kaede Yoru and trudged to the podium.
After sneaking a look at Nohara Rin, he took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and steeled himself. This time, I'll surpass Kaede Yoru.
Boom!!
He formed the hand seals quickly. A burst of white smoke appeared.
The clone that emerged beside him looked lopsided. Technically, it was a clone—but one glance was enough to see it was a shoddy copy.
"Fifty points," the chuunin instructor said coolly.
The Uchiha clan, known as a breeding ground for prodigies, usually dominated the academy rankings. But Obito? He was the odd one out.
"Aghhh… Let me try again!"
Unwilling to accept failure, Obito immediately tried again. But rattled by nerves, the second clone technique fizzled completely.
His third attempt was only marginally better than the first. He barely managed to score 55 points—still below the passing mark.
...
Kaede Yoru had been watching, one eyebrow slightly raised.
Man, his dark transformation is wild.
Just seeing Nohara Rin die had been enough to make Obito—the last person anyone expected—go full dark mode. He unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan, awakened one of the strongest abilities in existence, and gained unparalleled experience, determination, and ruthlessness.
A complete 180.
Soon after, he'd attacked Konoha, released the Nine Tails, and even indirectly caused the death of one of the most broken characters—the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
Totally insane.
If Kaede Yoru didn't already know the story's plot, he would never have believed that this clumsy kid struggling to form a decent clone would grow into a major villain of the entire ninja world.
He shook his head and looked away. Obito wasn't his concern. The true danger lurking in the shadows was Uchiha Madara. Even if Obito never fell into darkness, Madara would've found another pawn—maybe one with fire, or one with water.
The only thing that mattered was having enough strength.
A year from now, the Third Great Ninja War would erupt. At that point, there wouldn't even be graduation exams anymore. Kids would be forced to graduate at nine. That meant Kaede Yoru had just one more year to stay in school.
Can I reach jounin-level strength in one year?
He frowned in thought.
During the war, genin and chuunin were essentially cannon fodder. Fortunately, he was in Konoha. In other villages, even jounin were expendable. After all, there were monsters like Namikaze Minato—one man armies who could wipe out fifty enemies in a blink.
A literal jounin-tier cheat code.
If Kaede Yoru could unlock a few more time-related abilities, he might dominate the entire ninja world using time alone. Unfortunately, so far, he could only use time acceleration aligned with the 1 o'clock mark.
For now, he still had to rely on traditional skills—ninjutsu, taijutsu, etc.
As that thought crossed his mind, a clear ding-dong echoed in his mind, like the toll of a distant clock.
"Oh?"
Kaede Yoru's eyes sparkled briefly. He immediately closed his eyes.
In the dark world behind his eyelids, a giant silver-white clock appeared, glowing faintly. Golden hour and minute hands glinted, unmoving.
The hour hand was still fixed at 1 o'clock.
In the center of the dial, a mechanical counter rotated—not to display time, but to show the rate of time acceleration.
"No new abilities yet… but…"
He focused his mind.
Click!
The mechanical dial turned with a crisp sound—jumping from 0 to 1, then 2, and finally resting at 3.
"Triple speed unlocked."
Kaede Yoru exhaled slowly.
When he first arrived in this world, his time acceleration range was only between 1x and 1.5x. A year later, after hearing the same chime, the upper limit became 2x.
Now, it was 3x.
Looks like the limit rises once a year… maybe the system upgrades every year on the same day?
He wasn't sure yet, but the pattern seemed promising. Next year would confirm it.
Still, it was disappointing that he hadn't unlocked a second ability. He glanced longingly at the 2 o'clock mark, hoping it would awaken soon.
Even so, the power of time acceleration alone was formidable.
When accelerated, the world seemed to move in slow motion. Your speed, reaction time—everything improved seamlessly.
If a regular chuunin could move at 5x speed, they could easily overwhelm a jounin. And if a jounin could do the same… they might even challenge a Kage.
The same logic applied to Kaede Yoru.
With base chuunin-level skills, his time acceleration let him outmatch jounin. Once he reached true jounin power, few in the entire ninja world could touch him.
And that was just at 5x speed.
If the illusory clock could one day reach 10x speed… speed alone would become a terrifying force.
What would Eight Gates look like at 10x speed?
He imagined it.
A colossal air blast, ten times larger than Night Guy's Evening Elephant, ripping through the clouds and shattering the moon created by the Sage of Six Paths.
He shuddered at the image.
That kind of power was still far off—but Eight Gates was definitely a technique worth considering. It synergized well with time acceleration.
As for other abilities—
Most ninjutsu wouldn't directly benefit from time acceleration. Their trajectories would speed up, but only the user's body was affected by the technique. Still, it helped tremendously: seals were faster, execution was quicker.
That alone made a huge difference. The Flying Thunder God Technique, feared across nations, owed its power to instant activation with no seal delay.
So, time mattered.
Now that he'd reached 3x speed, he recalled how he had easily defeated chuunin-level Kakashi at 2x.
At this point, he should be able to beat most elite chuunin or even low-level jounin with ease.
Still, there was a gap.
Getting close to special jounin level?
He assessed himself carefully. Not quite there yet—but by this time next year, it was well within reach.
In the ninja world, only those at the special jounin level and above could truly be considered strong. Genin and chuunin were war fodder.
From jounin onward, there were two divisions: standard and elite. Above them was the Kage level. Technically, there was no formal "Kage level," but in Kaede Yoru's mind, it made sense to classify certain figures that way.
Ninjas like Konoha's White Fang and Danzo—far beyond elite jounin—deserved that title.
It made things simpler to understand.