At noon, inside the teachers' office, several instructors were discussing what they had witnessed while proctoring the exams.
"The Hyūga kid in Class 4-1, Hyūga Homon, is incredible," Iketani Isamu said enviously. "As expected of a Hyūga clan ninja. In Class 1, almost nobody can last more than a minute against him."
"He'll probably take first place in the grade's combat exam again this time."
How Iketani wished he were the homeroom teacher of Class 4-1 instead of Class 4-2. If that were the case, the bonus money would basically be guaranteed, and he'd finally have enough to take his blind-date partner to a high-end restaurant.
Unfortunately, that was impossible. A class with such excellent results would never change teachers.
"Not necessarily," Kimura Sugito interjected. "The Uchiha Obito in your class seems pretty strong. He might have a chance to compete for first."
Iketani Isamu frowned in confusion.
"Did you say the wrong name, Sugito? You mean Uchiha Tekka, right? His strength really is quite good."
"How could I get the name wrong?" Kimura Sugito replied. "It's definitely Uchiha Obito."
"Uchiha Obito? That can't be right. What strength could he possibly have?" Iketani asked suspiciously, thinking Sugito might be messing with him.
Obito was famously the "Dead Last" among the Uchiha. If he truly had ability, how could he have such a nickname?
"As if I'd lie to you. Obito's first opponent was the Uchiha Tekka you mentioned—and he won cleanly," Kimura Sugito continued.
Seeing that Iketani still looked doubtful, Sugito directly pulled Makoto into the conversation.
"Teacher Makoto was proctoring with me. If you don't believe me, ask him."
Iketani turned toward Makoto.
Makoto nodded.
"What Teacher Kimura said is correct. Uchiha Obito defeated Uchiha Tekka in the first match."
"Huh… that's really strange," Iketani scratched his head, finding it hard to believe.
He trusted Makoto's words. After all, this was the teacher who had gained the recognition of the entire faculty within just one month of joining the academy—reliable to an almost ridiculous degree.
"But why could he beat Uchiha Tekka?" Iketani racked his brain but still couldn't figure it out.
Wasn't he supposed to be the Dead Last?
How did he suddenly defeat the previous class champion?
It couldn't be that some mysterious teacher had secretly appeared and taught him high-level ninjutsu… right?
Watching Iketani's baffled expression, Makoto thought to himself:
If just Obito showing his strength confuses you this much, what will you think when Might Guy shows his strength? You might suspect you've fallen into a Genjutsu.
In a way, Iketani had lucked out this time. Makoto estimated that his bonus was probably safe.
After thinking about it, though, Iketani hadn't entirely coasted to victory.
Because Iketani often asked Makoto to substitute teach, which helped Makoto train students and earn system rewards. Iketani also treated him to meals fairly often. All things considered, the man understood how to get along with people.
"Teacher Hosokawa 's class is the truly impressive one," Aya Ueda, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up. She had been proctoring Class 1-1, Makoto's class.
"The overall level of their Academy Three Basic Techniques is almost comparable to the second-year class I teach," Aya Ueda said with a sigh of admiration.
"Especially one genius named Shisui Uchiha. He reminds me of Kakashi Hatake from a few years ago. I'm certain he'll take first place among the first-year students in this combat exam."
"Comparable to Kakashi?" Iketani exclaimed in shock.
Getting first place in the grade wasn't a big deal—but being compared to Kakashi was terrifying.
After all, Kakashi had been widely recognized as a super genius at the Ninja Academy in recent years, and his later achievements proved it. Within a year after graduating, he had already been promoted to Chūnin.
"Yes, that exaggerated," Aya Ueda said with a nod. "He's simply on a completely different level from the other first-years."
"That sounds amazing. Teacher Hosokawa , your luck is incredible—getting top evaluations will be effortless for you," Iketani said enviously. If he could just keep his bonus, he'd already be satisfied.
"That's not luck," Aya Ueda corrected him. "It's because Teacher Hosokawa teaches well. The overall level of the class proves it. You can't say that all the talented students just happened to end up in his class."
She didn't believe Class 1-1 was strong because it had more geniuses.
It was because Makoto's teaching ability was exceptional.
Otherwise, why would students from the classes where he substituted hope that he would come teach more often?
And it wasn't just one or two classes—every class he substituted for gave positive feedback.
"Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue," Iketani quickly said. "Of course I know Teacher Hosokawa is skilled. My students practically wish I'd be busy every day so Teacher Hosokawa could teach instead."
As he spoke, Iketani began to feel a little depressed.
He only occasionally asked Makoto to substitute—most of the time he taught himself. Yet his students still liked Makoto more.
"It's not that impressive," Makoto said modestly. "The students themselves are working very hard."
After chatting with his colleagues for a while, Makoto soon returned to practicing calligraphy until the afternoon exam began.
The location was still Training Ground 16, but there were noticeably fewer people than in the morning.
That was because students who had already lost earlier were not required to continue participating in the exams—they could choose whether to come or not.
As time passed, match after match concluded.
Nohara Rin, who wasn't particularly skilled in combat, was eliminated in the first round of the afternoon session.
Meanwhile, Might Guy , who defeated every opponent swiftly and cleanly, finally began attracting attention.
"So Might Guy 's Taijutsu is actually this strong? His speed is insane—he defeated Daisuke with just one kick!" a watching student exclaimed.
"That's such a big change. I remember when he was in third year he was only decent, nowhere near this strong," another student who knew Guy said in confusion.
"Maybe he trained even harder during the summer break and the new semester?"
That was the only explanation he could come up with.
Finally, the last match arrived.
"The final match: Contestant No. 1, Uchiha Obito, versus Contestant No. 40, Might Guy . Please prepare for battle."
Makoto announced the final fight of the class combat exam.
Hearing the announcement, Guy and Obito looked at each other before quickly stepping into the examination field.
"Guy, I won't give this first place to you," Obito said, glancing at Rin, who was standing outside the field. His fighting spirit instantly surged.
In front of Rin, he absolutely didn't want to lose.
"I feel the same way!" Might Guy replied passionately. "If I want to become the strongest, then I must seize every first place I can fight for!"
"So they really made it to the end…" muttered one of the students who had mocked them before, his face feeling slightly hot.
It seemed absurd.
Back in third year, they had been known as the two biggest Dead Lasts.
Who could have imagined that by fourth year they would suddenly become this strong?
Before the exam began, everyone had believed Uchiha Tekka would take first place in the class combat exam.
No one could imagine just how intensely these two must have trained during the break and the new semester.
After exchanging their bold declarations, Guy and Obito fell silent.
The two stood facing each other and formed the Seal of Confrontation.
"Begin!"
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