Chapter – 41: Kakashi graduates

[Rei POV]

Inside Origin space.

'A.I. Chip! Establish a new mission! With the dream control technique and Yamanaka hidden jutsus as the foundation, begin simulating the model for a true control technique! Eliminate the requirement of a virtual environment entirely.'

[Mission establishing! Gathering information, beginning simulation….]

[Information sources: … Dream control technique, Mind-Body Switch Technique, Mind Clone Switch Technique, Shadow clone jutsu…. Simulation time: 168d 12h 44m 31s!]

'Great! the first piece of the puzzle will be ready in about six months!'

The money I extorted from Hoshiko should last a few years even if I spend like crazy on experiments. The main problem for me now is I am running out of raw materials for my cloning experiments. For the first couple of times, I can just disguise some clones to buy them but I cannot keep using the same trick.

Since I got the research from Hiruzen, he will definitely be tracking who buys this stuff and when they do notice someone buying these materials regularly, it doesn't need Shikaku to put two and two together. Although they might not be able to trace it all the way back to me, it will still be annoying to have them on my tracks. Also, the way I am doing is not viable in the long run. I need a different and more reliable supply chain.

'More work for me…' I sigh.

Time passes quickly when one is busy. Three months later, inside the Origin space.

Today is a special day. So, I decided to visit the academy myself. It's not that the academy classes suddenly became interesting; no they were still boring as always. No, today is the day of the class ranking matches for the month and probably the day Kakashi will graduate. Hence, I wanted to be present here with my real body to witness history being made.

It's still early, so when I enter the class, there are only a few students present. I take my regular seat at the back of the class and start waiting for everyone to come with a disinterested look.

One by one, all the students arrive in about ten to fifteen minutes; well everyone except one. A few minutes later, Masaki-sensei walked in with dead-eyed Kakashi in tow.

"Take your seat, Kakashi," said Masaki-sensei with a wide smile filled with pride. Of course, it is his pride and glory to teach such a prodigious student.

"Good morning class, today's ranking match will be special as Kakashi here has applied for early graduation!" says Masaki-sensei causing everyone who wasn't already aware to be greatly surprised, "Hokage-sama has agreed to it on the condition that along with a much stricter graduation exam, he has to beat the entire class and achieve the first rank for three consecutive months!"

"Now, he has already passed the exams with flying colors this morning and he has also taken the first rank in the last two months' rankings. If he can get the first rank again, he will be allowed to graduate early."

"I want all of you to give your hundred percent in this test and set up a big hurdle for Kakashi to cross…"

"Before that, let's first get the attendance."

Everyone except Obito is present. After taking attendance, Masaki-sensei leads us to the training ground and starts to call out students in pairs for the first round of ranking matches.

Kakashi vs NPC-1, winner: Kakashi

Asuma vs Guy, winner: Guy

Kurenai vs Rin, winner: Kurenai

Rei vs NPC-2, winner: Rei

…

Looking at the depressed Rin, I say, "Hi Rin, why are you looking depressed? You only lost by a small margin, next time you will definitely win!"

"Thanks, Rei," she smiles faintly and then turns depressed again, "But that baka Obito is still not here! He already missed the ranking matches three times and was placed last in all of them! if he misses the matches again, he might even get expelled!"

'As expected, this girl…' I think internally but, "Don't worry, Masaki-sensei should just be reprimanding him, he will not really get expelled."

"If you say so," she says and after thinking for a while shakes her head and rushes away, "Still, I want to try searching for that baka…"

I shake my head and concentrate on the matches. Although there is nothing for me to learn from these matches, I still want to get an accurate measure of their power levels. For example, I have divided the class into four groups; Prodigies, High-achievers, Hard-workers, and Tail-enders. This is not in any specific order as this is only their rating when in the academy, they might change later.

There is only one Prodigy known to everyone in the class currently, Kakashi. This group of people are supremely talented and have also put sufficient hard work, they are shinobi who have the potential to rival a kage in the future or go even beyond that.

Hard workers are a special kind. They are the worst in terms of talent but they make up for it with sheer hard work. The best example of this kind is Guy. The results of his hard work could be seen from his final fight with Madara.

High achievers are people with a good background. They are talented but not as much as the Prodigies and while they work hard, it pales when compared to hard workers; people like Asuma basically.

And the last is the tail-enders. Well, I won't go into details, they include people like Rin and Sakura.

The main reason for me to observe these matches is that, with me being an Uchiha, people will expect me to be a little talented. Therefore, going along with the flow, it will be better for me to perform similar to the people in the same category, namely high achievers. So, I have to know at what level the other high achievers are at so I can mimic them.

There are two oddballs in our class who don't fit into this classification. One is obviously myself and the other is… Obito! I am hidden whereas he is a late bloomer.

Anyway, surprisingly, Rin was successful in finding Obito before the first round ended, who was awkwardly standing next to her listening to her incessant nagging while nodding his head continuously like a chicken pecking for food.

The matches continued for another couple of hours before only eight people were left. Oh, I forgot to mention, Obito lost in the first round! The eight remaining were me, Kurenai, Guy, Kakashi, Anko, Genma, and two other people.

Before Masaki-sensei called out the names for the next match, Kakashi comes forward and says, "Sensei, can I fight all of them at once? I have to go home early today, so…"

I know it's got nothing to do with arrogance, no, it's his confidence in his abilities!

Although my Uchiha blood really wanted me to go out and smash his confidence to pieces, I reined it in and performed like usual, and I am not embarrassed to say we lost; lost pretty bad!

And thus came to be the youngest Genin in the history of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi!