Graduation Exam (2)

Here we are.

They had brought us into some kind of open field behind the Academy—likely for the first portion of the practical section.

"Listen up!" Kenjiro announced, our attention snapping back to him. "You'll all have to run five kilometers through this whole area, in only five minutes. That's the bare minimum. Feel free to go faster, although it won't earn you any extra points. Those who cannot keep up will be dismissed immediately, with no exceptions!"

Huh. Five kilometers isn't much, honestly. I think this world has really dulled my standards, considering the crazy things chakra did to your body and physicality. With around... ten? Eleven uses of the Body Flicker, and I'd easily do this.

Didn't Rock Lee break the sound barrier at one point during his fight with Gaara?

As a matter of fact, I'd been training without the weights for a week straight before the exam, so I could get used to moving freely for this exact moment.

This meant I could move at my top speed without losing control over my footing and not fall like an idiot.

Some of the students looked like their soul was just about to escape their bodies. Pity.

The requirement wasn't that absurd, given that you could achieve that much in the years spent at the Academy through training, even without gravity seals or any kind of weights. Sure, for an ordinary person it would be impossible, but shinobi weren't ordinary.

That was for sure.

"Get ready!" Kenjiro barked, shutting everyone up.

I cracked my neck and stretched my legs, already feeling the chakra coursing through my lower muscles. They felt light, so damn light.

"On my mark—three, two, one..."

This is gonna be fun.

"GO!"

The moment the word left his lips, the ground reverberated from all the sudden bursts of movement.

It was almost laugh-inducing how much ground I ate up with each step—naturally, there were only a few ahead of me, those being Itsuki, and Sora.

At least I was faster than almost everyone else, and all of my effort wasn't for nothing.

This prick was going at least 50% faster than me and making use of the Body Flicker! Itsuki was a given since Hyuugas were all about Taijutsu, aren't they?

I ran, ran, ran and ran.

Until I finally reached the finish line with them—29 seconds. Itsuki took about 25 seconds I believe, and Sora? 20 seconds, probably.

I hate being a girl. I can't be as fast as the others because they're biologically more advantaged than me.

Whatever, this is still pretty good.

I turned around, catching my breath from the sudden sprint.

"What did I tell you, old man?" muttered Kenjiro with a smirk, his arms crossed. I was only hearing this because of my enhanced senses, of course.

"My students aren't just some ordinary brats. I've told you so many times."

Hiruzen stood there with a composed demeanor, still observing the participants of the race. "Indeed. To clear this in barely half a minute and even less than that..."

The surrounding proctors were wide-eyed, while others muttered among themselves.

"This is ridiculous," one of them whispered, "Even in the past, I've never seen academy students with such speed!"

"Most Genin would struggle to keep up with their pace—no, not struggle. They straight up wouldn't be able to match their speed." another chimed in, deeply in shock.

"Are these really your students, Kenjiro? I'm envious." A proctor said, his mouth hanging open.

Kenjiro only let out a small chuckle, "Of course they are. My class is the most talented out of them all."

Stop praising me, you're making me blush! It feels good to be held in such high regard.

In the end, around 11 students were disqualified due to not being physically fit enough.

Next up was the endurance test. Isn't this four parts already? I suppose these are just subdivisions of the first part.

"For this next part, we want you to run the same distance, but in laps. If you can do more than 5, you pass to the last test. There's no time limit on this, so you better conserve your stamina during this run."

Endurance... Again, pretty simple. I can do way more than this before tapping out.

I intentionally maintained a low speed during this short marathon, and even then, I was still at least 3 times faster than the others. Took around 9 minutes, and I managed without breaking much of a sweat.

Those who couldn't keep up with the run simply collapsed, and as soon as they did, they were weeded out. Around 12 failed this time, leaving... around 121? Probably.

Next up was the hand-to-hand combat portion. We had to split into several groups and spar against the proctors, one by one. Kakashi, of course, stood without really saying anything, just leaning casually against a post next to the Hokage looking disinterested, but still clearly assessing everyone.

Personally, I somehow, even barely beat the Chuunin I was up against. Reading his fighting intent, along with the nature of my Taijutsu style allowed me to see through his feints and not allow him to land any clean hits on me—my height was also an advantage.

He was definitely way older and slightly stronger than me, and had far more experience. I definitely only won because of sheer luck alone. If I hadn't caught that tiny hesitation in his stance just as he tried to fake me out, I would've been sent to heaven and beyond!

Maybe the only reason I had won was because he was one of the weaker Chuunins, but this is still an achievement worth celebrating, at least to me.

Needless to say, I obviously passed.

8 more students were disqualified during this portion, leaving 113 participants. It was almost insane how we had gone from over 200 people to barely half the amount.

My heart still isn't ready, and I don't know if I'll really get the chance to do what I really want to during the last part.

"To all those who passed the first parts of the practical portion," Kenjiro announced, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Congratulations, but it is not over yet. The very last portion of the exam is about to begin."

Kuroda stepped up, "You'll divide in groups one last time depending on your age group. As we've stated earlier, those who are graduating early shall have higher requirements for this final test.

All of you will be performing the Academy Three, at the minimum. Those being the Clone Jutsu, the Transformation Jutsu and the Body Substitution Jutsu!"

Huh. Those extra requirements might be a D-Rank jutsu or something, but definitely not above that. It might've been implemented after Itachi displayed his use of the Shadow Clones.

We were separated once again and groups went one by one to the front, being assessed by each proctor. The twelve year-olds didn't have anyone remarkable that excelled in Ninjutsu, and only around two or three failed.

It only got more intense from there. They started asking the younger students to perform no less than one extra jutsu, no matter the kind.

Only a few hours remained. We had started since early morning and still kept up—it was almost the afternoon already.

Then, the ten-year-olds. That's when it started getting impressive, at least to someone normal. People from the Uchiha Clan using the normal Fireball jutsu, others using more versatile techniques such as the basic elemental E-Ranked jutsus such as the Torch Jutsu or even D-Rank, like the Gale Palm.

One jutsu after another, they kept stepping up and getting graded. The proctors looked somewhat impressed at their performance, and to be honest with you?

I couldn't reciprocate those feelings. They just... didn't look all that impressive to me. Especially considering how high my standards were, partly due to being an otherworlder, but also because of my own arsenal.

They weren't bad, and they were definitely skilled for their age taking into account the general talent of Naruto's class at the beginning of the series, but it just didn't have the impact it should.

To me and my class, D-Rank was average. Insanely so.

Either way, I can't let this get to my head. One of these days, I'm gonna get hit really, really hard by reality and the monsters that exist out there.

Finally, they called my groups name, which was the smallest out of every other one.

My heart is pounding so loud that I can hear it in my ears, and yet... I know I can do this.

Showtime.