Chapter 66: True Ninjutsu Talent
The practical exam on the second day was once again held at the training ground, just like before.
After all students had drawn their lots, Mugetsu officially announced the beginning of the exam.
"Examinee Number One, Kotetsu, and Examinee Number Two, Koji Mine—please enter the examination area."
Kotetsu already knew that as Examinee Number One, he'd be the first up. He had taken the time to warm up in advance.
"Let me set the pace. You guys better cheer me on," Kotetsu said confidently, waving to his two good brothers before heading into the arena.
"Kotetsu, don't lose in the first round!" Izumo called out, energetically cheering him on.
Koji Mine and Kotetsu stepped into the clearing together. The two didn't exchange many words. Once they formed the confrontation seal and Mugetsu called, "Begin," the battle commenced immediately.
Though their real goal was to get rid of the current Teacher Physical Prowess, this wasn't the time to mess around. The exam was about demonstrating their true ability—especially to highlight the obvious gap between Ninjutsu and Taijutsu performance levels.
At the start, both launched into a Taijutsu exchange to probe each other's strengths.
In the first wave of blows, Kotetsu temporarily gained the upper hand with his superior physical strength.
But Koji quickly switched tactics. Using the Substitution Technique, he created distance and then followed up with two clones to mask his next move and search for an opening.
His Three Body Technique was well-practiced—but Kotetsu's strategy was even trickier.
First, Kotetsu created a chair clone.
Then he formed two standard clones.
He used the normal clones to draw Koji's attention, dispelled the chair clone, and created another normal one—then transformed himself into a chair using the Transformation Technique.
Naturally, Koji didn't expect to be attacked by a bizarre walking chair... and was promptly taken out by Kotetsu's surprise strike.
"Eh? Isn't this Kotetsu—one of the three 'Ninjutsu Talents' everyone's been buzzing about at the Academy?" Ueda Aya murmured, impressed. "I didn't expect him to use the Enemy Confusion Technique in such a clever way."
"And his Clone Technique and Transformation Technique are already so refined... even better than the students in my Second Grade class," she added with visible surprise.
Ueda Aya taught Ninjutsu to second-year students, and even her top-performing student didn't display the level of proficiency Kotetsu just had.
In terms of Clone Technique alone, she believed Kotetsu had already reached graduation standard.
His movements were smooth. His chakra control was precise. Everything had been executed perfectly.
Even Koji Mine had performed quite well—good enough to beat most of her own students.
As she graded, Ueda Aya gave Kotetsu a perfect 10 points for the Ninjutsu portion.
With that level of execution in the first grade, not giving a perfect score would be unreasonable.
For Taijutsu, she marked him at 7.1, which was above average but not nearly as polished as his Ninjutsu.
Koji Mine's Taijutsu received only 5 points.
Their Shuriken scores were average—neither of them had particularly impressive throwing accuracy—so she gave both 5 points.
However, their hand seal proficiency was decent. Kotetsu scored 8, and Koji Mine followed with 7.5.
When she tallied the total, Kotetsu had scored a high 30.1 points.
For a Ninja Academy exam, this was an outstanding result.
Combat scoring at the Academy was strict. A total above 20 was considered excellent—above 30 was exceptional.
"Kotetsu puts a lot of effort into his studies," Mugetsu nodded, watching quietly.
He didn't know whether Kotetsu practiced at home, but based on his classroom behavior and his test papers, Mugetsu was confident the boy had been studying diligently.
---
"The second match is about to begin," Mugetsu announced calmly.
"Examinee Number Three, Izumo. Examinee Number Four, Yuki Koizumi—prepare for the exam."
"This time, it's my turn!" Izumo said with a grin, high-fiving Kotetsu as he passed by.
"Izumo, you've got this!" Anko raised her small fist in the air, cheering for her teammate.
Izumo's combat style was a bit more grounded compared to Kotetsu's. He didn't transform into a chair, but instead seized the right moment to cast an Enemy Confusion Technique, conjuring a three-meter tall, blue-skinned, fanged monster to terrify Yuki Koizumi—winning the match in a single move.
"Izumo Kamizuki... he's another one of those three Ninjutsu talents, isn't he? Definitely deserving of the title," Ueda Aya remarked with genuine admiration.
Like Kotetsu, Izumo's Ninjutsu performance was excellent. Ueda Aya awarded him a perfect 10 for Ninjutsu, with his hand seals even slightly more refined than Kotetsu's. His total score came out to 30.5 points.
At first, Ueda Aya thought the quality of the first few students was just unusually high—but by the fifth match, she realized this wasn't a coincidence. She hadn't given a single Ninjutsu score below eight points. Every student's Three Body Technique was nearly flawless.
---
"Examinee Number Eleven, Anko Mitarashi. Examinee Number Twelve, Keiji Shima. Prepare for the exam."
"You two watch closely! I'll show you what true Enemy Confusion looks like!" Anko declared confidently.
"What's wrong with being a chair? I won, didn't I?" Kotetsu shot back, clearly not convinced.
"Yeah, and was my illusion not terrifying enough?" Izumo added with a smug grin.
Anko didn't respond. She knew actual combat would speak louder than words.
From the start, Keiji's Taijutsu was no match for Anko's. He was suppressed immediately.
Not giving him any chance to recover, Anko quickly formed hand seals and created seven or eight clones—each one looking exactly like Keiji Shima. Then, using the Transformation Technique, she turned herself into another copy.
In the blink of an eye, the entire arena was filled with Keiji Shimas running around in every direction—Anko had effectively vanished.
"Teacher Mugetsu… your student is a genius," Ueda Aya muttered, stunned.
She had invigilated for years and seen countless exams—but this? This was a first.
"Her thinking is... unconventional," Mugetsu replied after a moment.
Keiji stood frozen, staring at the swarm of himself rushing around. He tried to watch each one carefully, but in the end, he was still caught off guard—defeated by Anko's clean strike.
---
Naturally, Anko received a full 10 points for Ninjutsu.
Ueda Aya even felt that ten wasn't enough—if the scale allowed for more, Anko would have surpassed both Kotetsu and Izumo.
Anko's final score was a stunning 36 points, losing marks only in Taijutsu and Shuriken throwing.
Ueda Aya stood there in disbelief.
Was she invigilating First Grade... or Third?
The students' Ninjutsu level had far exceeded her expectations.
She had proctored Class 1, Grade 1 during the last exam cycle. Back then, they were excellent—but not this ridiculous.
She remembered saying their skill level rivaled that of her Second Grade class. Now, she was starting to feel like her own class wasn't even worthy of comparison.
---
"Teacher Mugetsu, the Ninjutsu level of your class is incredible. All the teachers at the Academy should come learn from you," Ueda Aya said sincerely.
One or two top-performing students could be chalked up to natural talent—but an entire class with exceptional scores? That could only mean one thing: their teacher taught them well.
After all, how could every student be a genius?
"It's thanks to their own hard work. I simply do my best to teach them," Mugetsu answered humbly.
But deep down, he knew—when it came to the Three Body Technique, no one in Konoha could teach it better than him.
---
"Examinee Number Thirty-eight, Uchiha Shisui. Prepare for the exam..."
At the mention of Shisui's name, Ueda Aya's eyes lit up.
This was the student she had been most eager to see—his strength, last time, had already been comparable to Kakashi at the same age.
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