The examination resumed after Ren's victory.
However, the atmosphere had changed.
The students had witnessed a civilian classmate defeat the Byakugan and Gentle Fist with the Three Basic Techniques. Now everyone wanted to produce a performance equally memorable.
Some succeeded.
Shiranui Genma displayed impressive control over the Clone and Substitution Techniques, while Aoba Yamashiro demonstrated unusually sharp judgment during the weapons assessment. Neither performance was perfect, but both revealed the foundations of the Special Jōnin they would eventually become.
Others discovered that ambition did not always produce results.
Obito was among the last students called for the Three Basic Techniques test.
His low practical ranking placed him near the end of the examination order, which meant he had spent most of the morning watching his classmates succeed while waiting beneath a growing weight of expectation.
Only a few hours earlier, he had loudly declared that he would defeat everyone, surpass Kakashi, earn the Third Hokage's recognition, and become Hokage.
Now every student remembered those words.
"Obito Uchiha," Instructor Oki called. "Step forward."
Obito marched onto the platform with his head raised.
"Hmph. Watch closely. I'll show all of you the true power of the Uchiha clan."
A few students snickered.
Obito ignored them and formed the seal for the Clone Technique.
Chakra surged through his network.
Far too much chakra.
Smoke burst across the platform. When it dispersed, a pale, misshapen clone lay beside him with one arm bent backward and its head tilted at an unnatural angle.
Silence lasted for half a second.
Then the students erupted into laughter.
"What is that supposed to be?"
"It doesn't even look human!"
"He wants to become Hokage, but he can't produce one proper clone!"
"Asuma's clone was a hundred times better!"
Obito's face turned crimson.
"Shut up! I was only warming up!"
He attempted the technique again.
The second clone was marginally better. It possessed the correct number of limbs, but its face looked as if someone had dragged it across wet paint.
More laughter followed.
Rin stood near the front of the waiting area.
"Don't listen to them, Obito," she called gently. "Slow down and control your chakra."
Her encouragement only made him more flustered.
"I-I already know that!"
Obito tried a third time.
The result was somehow worse.
Ren remained silent.
He had no intention of joining the mockery. Laughing at Obito's academy performance was like laughing at an unsharpened sword without understanding what it would become.
The problem was not a lack of chakra.
It was the opposite.
Obito possessed much larger reserves than most children their age. He forced too much energy into techniques requiring delicate control, causing his transformations and clones to become unstable.
Naruto would later suffer from a similar problem, though the Nine-Tails' chakra interference would make his situation more extreme.
Techniques that rewarded overwhelming output suited Obito far better.
That was why his Great Fireball was so impressive while his academy clone looked half-dead.
Obito considered revealing the Fire Release technique now. Ren could see the temptation in his eyes.
However, Obito eventually restrained himself.
The Great Fireball was his secret weapon. He wanted to unveil it during practical combat, where it could defeat an opponent and silence everyone at once.
He released the failed clone and turned toward the laughing students.
"Enjoy yourselves while you can! I'll destroy my opponent in the combat assessment."
His dramatic declaration might have been more convincing if the collapsed clone beside him had not disappeared with a pathetic pop.
Unfortunately, Obito's assigned opponent was Might Guy.
When their match began, Obito entered the ring with complete confidence. Guy stood across from him in his green training suit, vibrating with excitement.
Instructor Himura lowered his hand.
"Begin!"
Obito immediately formed the first seal of the Great Fireball Technique.
Snake.
"Fire Release—"
Guy vanished from his original position.
Obito's eyes widened.
He had barely begun forming the second seal when Guy crossed the ring and appeared in front of him.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Guy spun.
His heel swept through the air and struck Obito across the torso.
Bang!
Obito flew sideways and crashed onto his back. The impact knocked the remaining hand seals completely out of his mind.
Before he could stand, Guy pressed his advantage.
A straight punch forced Obito to guard his face. A low kick swept his leg aside. Guy followed with a shoulder strike, two rapid punches, and another spinning kick that launched Obito beyond the boundary.
The entire match lasted less than ten seconds.
Obito landed outside the ring with all four limbs spread across the dirt.
Smoke seemed to rise from his body.
Instructor Himura raised his hand.
"Winner—Might Guy."
Guy immediately rushed over and bowed.
"Obito! Your determination burned brightly. Let us fight again after you recover!"
Obito did not answer.
Rin hurried toward him and knelt beside his head.
"Obito, are you all right?"
His eyes slowly opened.
Rin's worried face filled his vision.
A foolish smile spread across his lips.
"Heh…"
Rin leaned closer. "Did you hit your head?"
"She's worried about me," Obito whispered. "Rin definitely cares about me…"
Rin blinked.
Ren covered his face with one hand.
Obito had been kicked flat in front of the entire class, yet somehow considered himself the true winner.
Perhaps that kind of optimism was also a talent.
The assessment continued.
Ren's match with Daichi had already counted as his practical combat evaluation, but the instructors still needed to score his conventional weapons handling and close-combat fundamentals. They arranged a short secondary bout against another civilian student.
His opponent was Mizuki.
Ren recognized the name immediately.
More than a decade later, Mizuki would manipulate Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Seals. That scheme would trigger the event that allowed Naruto to learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and begin his journey as a true shinobi.
At present, however, Mizuki was simply an unremarkable academy student.
He came from an ordinary civilian family, possessed no bloodline advantage, and frequently competed with Obito near the bottom of the practical rankings. Unlike Obito, he lacked a famous clan name, enormous chakra reserves, or an audience waiting for him to improve.
Most students barely noticed him.
When Instructor Oki began the bout, Ren did not underestimate him.
He opened with a volley of wooden shuriken and a training kunai. Mizuki raised his arms to defend, but the weapons forced him to retreat directly along the path Ren wanted.
Ren closed the distance.
He deflected Mizuki's desperate punch, stepped inside his guard, and struck his shoulder with one palm. Before Mizuki could regain his balance, Ren hooked his ankle and swept him to the ground.
The match ended in seconds.
No system trait was required.
No elaborate deception was necessary.
Ren's improved physique and combat judgment were already enough to overwhelm an ordinary academy student.
Nearby, Daichi returned to the ring after resting.
His second opponent was Genma.
Daichi won.
Despite the pain in his back and side, his Byakugan identified Genma's feints, and his Gentle Fist ended the match with a clean strike to the shoulder.
There were no cheers from Daichi afterward.
He simply stepped out of the ring and stood alone, occasionally glancing toward Ren with a complicated expression.
His victory over Genma proved he was still among the strongest students in the class.
It also made his earlier defeat even harder to dismiss.
By late afternoon, the final match ended.
Instructor Oki and Instructor Himura gathered both classes in front of the examination area.
"That concludes today's practical assessment," Oki announced. "The complete rankings will be released after next week's academic examinations. Until then, continue training and do not become overconfident because of a single result."
His eyes briefly moved toward Ren and Daichi.
"Dismissed."
The students separated into groups and left the training ground.
Guy attempted to invite Ren to an evening endurance session, but Rin reminded him that he was already supposed to be running two hundred apology laps. Obito limped after Rin while insisting that Guy had won only because he interrupted the Great Fireball Technique.
Asuma departed with Ebisu and Aoba, though he glanced back at Ren twice before disappearing through the academy gate.
Soon, only Ren and the two instructors remained.
Instructor Oki gestured toward the empty combat ring.
"Ren, come here."
Ren approached.
Oki studied him for several seconds.
"The technique you used against Daichi—what exactly was it?"
"The Substitution Technique."
"I know what it resembled," Oki said. "I'm asking how you performed it without preparation or visible hand seals."
Ren had anticipated the question.
He could not reveal the system, but he had spent enough time practicing the enhanced Substitution Technique to understand how chakra traveled through his body during activation.
"I changed the normal circulation pattern."
Oki's eyebrows rose.
Ren selected a wooden training block near the ring.
"Most students gather chakra first, prepare a replacement object, form the seals, and then move. I tried reducing the delay by circulating chakra through the entire pathway in advance."
That explanation was intentionally incomplete.
It described what Ren experienced without revealing that the system trait handled most of the impossible precision.
He formed a single symbolic seal.
"Substitution."
Poof!
The wooden block appeared where Ren had been standing.
Ren materialized several meters away.
Even after knowing what to expect, both instructors were startled by the speed.
Instructor Himura walked to the block and picked it up.
"No visible preparation," he murmured. "And almost no delay."
Oki attempted to reproduce Ren's circulation method.
He formed the seal, selected another block, and activated the Substitution Technique.
The exchange succeeded—but at ordinary speed.
He tried again.
The result was unchanged.
"Why can't I do it?"
"Because you've used the standard circulation pattern for years," Himura said. "Changing an established instinct is more difficult than building a new one."
He looked toward Ren.
"This is no longer an ordinary academy substitution. Ren has developed a personalized variation."
Oki slowly nodded.
"A new technique derived from the E-rank Substitution Technique…"
The admiration in their voices produced an immediate response from Ren's system.
The Clone Technique appeared first, looking dissatisfied.
[Clone Technique: "At least these two understand quality."]
[Clone Technique: "But why are they praising only the Substitution Technique? My performance was essential too. Without my clones, the entire strategy would have failed."]
The Transformation Technique smiled patiently.
[Transformation Technique: "All three of us benefited from Ren's strategy. There's no need to compete over every compliment."]
The Substitution Technique appeared behind them.
Her usually reserved expression had been replaced by a brilliant smile.
[Substitution Technique: "o(^▽^)o"]
[Substitution Technique favorability +2]
[Substitution Technique — 49/100 — Friendly]
One more point.
She was now only a single point away from reaching the Intimate stage.
Ren felt a brief surge of anticipation.
If her Friendly-stage reward had granted Sealless Instant Release, what would she offer at fifty?
Instructor Himura's next words pulled him back to reality.
"Ren, would you object if we compiled our observations and submitted them to the Third Hokage?"
Ren looked at him.
"Directly to Lord Third?"
"The Ninja Academy operates under the Hokage's authority," Oki explained. "A successful modification of a foundational technique deserves review. If your method can be standardized, it might eventually benefit other shinobi."
They would fail to reproduce the system trait.
Ren already knew that.
Nevertheless, the report itself could become useful.
The Third Hokage paid close attention to the academy, particularly while his son studied there. A civilian student suddenly demonstrating unusual talent would inevitably enter Hiruzen Sarutobi's field of vision.
That attention carried risk.
Hiruzen might investigate Ren's family, training habits, and sudden improvement. If anything appeared suspicious, scrutiny could quickly become dangerous.
But attention also created opportunities.
To add a new target to the system, Ren needed an [Encounter]. That usually required witnessing a technique, receiving direct instruction, or studying a ninjutsu scroll.
As a civilian, Ren had little access to advanced techniques.
If the Third Hokage decided to reward or cultivate him, that problem could disappear.
No reward came without risk.
Ren met the instructors' eyes.
"I don't object."
Himura nodded approvingly. "Good. We'll prepare the report."
As the instructors discussed what details to include, Ren considered other ways to encounter powerful techniques.
Observing another shinobi was easier than acquiring a scroll—provided he knew where to look.
One person immediately came to mind.
A middle-aged man in a green training suit who ran laps around Konoha almost every day, ignored the ridicule of others, and continued training with impossible determination.
Might Duy.
Guy's father.
To most of Konoha, Duy was an eternal Genin with no remarkable talent.
Ren knew better.
Hidden beneath that ridiculous green suit was a man who had spent twenty years mastering one of the most terrifying techniques in the ninja world.
The Eight Inner Gates.
If Ren could witness even one Gate being opened, would the system recognize it as a new target?
A familiar chime rang in his mind.
[A powerful technique has entered the Host's thoughts.]
[Encounter conditions remain unmet.]
Ren's eyes sharpened.
The system had reacted.
That meant the Eight Inner Gates could become a target.
And somewhere within Konoha, the man capable of introducing them was still running.