Chapter 7: Konoha Year 31, Final Exam
Intercepting Kushina was no easy task.
Mediocre individuals were unworthy of gaining the favor of the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. Therefore, after earning Kushina's goodwill, one still needed to demonstrate talent and make the higher-ups recognize his value.
Otherwise, various "accidents" would coincidentally befall Yoru—at best separating him from Kushina, at worst causing him to disappear completely.
After all, the Nine-Tails was the strongest Tailed Beast, currently the most powerful strategic weapon in the shinobi world. The Leaf Village needed to bind Kushina to the village with chains of bonds, and those chains had to be of sufficient quality.
The original Minato had precisely met this standard!
However, Minato only gained Kushina's favor during the Cloud Shinobi incident after graduation.
If Yoru wanted to intercept Kushina during their Ninja Academy years, he needed to showcase his talent while still at the academy.
Thus, before Kushina enrolled as a "transfer student," Yoru had to possess considerable strength and something that would impress certain people.
So, in which year did Kushina enter the Leaf Village?
Yoru didn't know.
But through information revealed in the anime and observations from last semester, he could roughly deduce it.
First, it was certain Kushina wouldn't transfer during first or second grade.
Six or seven-year-olds were still too short, with chubby baby faces completely inconsistent with his impression of Kushina's childhood.
Furthermore, if Yoru remembered correctly, in the original story, someone beaten up by Kushina had asked their older brother—already a shinobi—to seek revenge, only to be defeated by Kushina instead.
If they were the same age, it was also unlikely that Kushina transferred in third grade.
Barring unexpected circumstances, it should be after third grade—whether fourth, fifth, or sixth grade remained unknown.
Before Kushina appeared, Yoru had at least three years to grow.
His pen-spinning motion paused slightly as another flash of inspiration crossed Yoru's mind. He closed his eyes, lost in unknown thoughts.
Only when the class bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom did Yoru reopen his eyes, focusing intently on his studies.
In his previous life, the average adult male body contained approximately 36 trillion cells.
But children in this world with Chakra possessed 130 trillion cells.
Hence, children in this world matured rather excessively—understanding romance by five or six, potentially entering battlefields by seven or eight, and even in peacetime witnessing bloodshed by twelve.
Similarly, the knowledge learned at this age was equally outrageous.
There was national language and history, medicine and chemistry, cryptography interpretation, and more...
These subjects had shattered Yoru's arrogance last semester and contributed significantly to his immense pressure.
If not for being a transmigrator with a decent background—having only started learning shinobi basics at six—he truly wouldn't hold any advantage in this world.
Therefore, until he possessed strength sufficient for self-preservation, Yoru dared not relax for a moment.
Whether in academic subjects or practical combat, he refused to lose to anyone. He wanted to keep winning, to always remain number one.
...
March 20, 31st Year of Konoha, afternoon.
Bang—
A dull thud, like the sound of punching a sandbag, erupted on the training ground of Class 1-1's area.
The circle of students suddenly scattered.
A figure was sent flying out from the center of the circle, landing heavily on the ground, unable to get up.
Seeing this, Chūnin teacher Yuya, who was standing with a man in a white coat, immediately announced, "The match is over. The winner is Yoru."
The medical ninja beside him, serving as the final exam proctor and responsible for student safety, rushed over to examine the injured student and began performing Medical Ninjutsu for treatment.
Nearby, many students still wore bewildered expressions.
"Wh-what just happened?"
"Didn't Yuya-sensei just announce the start? How did Yūsuke suddenly go flying?"
"It's Teleportation Jutsu! Gojo's teleportation is incredibly fast!"
"Yoru-kun has gotten stronger again. In the first year, only Minato-kun might stand a chance against him now."
"How did this guy's body develop like this? Last year he was only half a head taller than us, now he's a full head taller. Anyone would think he's a fifth or sixth grader. How could we possibly beat someone like him? It's so unfair!"
"Tall, fast, strong—no wonder the upperclassmen don't dare provoke him!"
"We can't even see his movements. If we get matched against Gojo in the future, we should just forfeit."
"..."
The murmurs were hushed, but both boys and girls stole fearful glances at Yoru, who stood with his hands in his pockets.
Towering a full head above them, his expressionless face made him seem like an invincible demon king, radiating an aura of darkness.
After performing the Seal of Reconciliation with Yūsuke—who had recovered enough to breathe but was still trembling slightly from shock—Gojo left the school without a word or backward glance.
Yuya didn't stop him.
If Gojo had left immediately after defeating Yūsuke, Yuya would have been deeply concerned, considering whether to request the Hokage assign him a psychologist. But since Gojo had waited after kicking Yūsuke, standing calmly for the outcome and completing the reconciliation seal before leaving...
In the eyes of his peers, Yoru was a cold demon king. But to adults like Yuya, he was just an awkward child struggling with self-expression.
Perhaps Gojo even felt guilty for not controlling his strength better.
Today marked the final exams for first through fifth years, with sixth-year graduation exams following in a few days. While sixth-year tests varied annually, the third-term finals for lower years were known as the Academic Grand Examination.
Results would be posted on the bulletin board when the new semester began, and based on cumulative performance across all three terms, five top students—one from each grade—would be selected as exemplary models for the student body.
These exemplars were called—Honors Students.
Though the final taijutsu exam wasn't over, every student in Class 1-1 already knew who their Honors Student would be.
Among this year's incoming class, there were no members from the Uchiha or Hyūga clans.
These two prominent clans each oversee crucial departments and possess the privilege of nurturing their own successors.
Members sent to the academy were either ordinary individuals whose talents were deemed unremarkable even within their own clans, or descendants of high-ranking clan officials—essentially "hostages" deliberately placed to reassure the Hokage and Leaf Village leadership.
Only when these scions of influential families received education in the Will of Fire could the higher-ups feel at ease.
Occasionally, these clans would send a few prodigies to the ninja academy to make their presence known—first demonstrating their exceptional talent and strength, then graduating ahead of schedule to make their peers aware of the gap between themselves and these prestigious clans.
Unfortunately, this year's cohort lacked such geniuses.
However, in Yuya's view, whether it was Yoru or Minato, their innate abilities were no inferior to those from prominent clans or major ninja families, aside from not possessing powerful Kekkei Genkai.