Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Graduation and Class Assignment
After graduation, the class assignment list is not immediately released; it will be announced after four days. During this period, it's not completely idle time for them; there are a few minor tasks, such as taking photos of the graduating students.
This isn't a group photo but rather a photo for the Ninja profile, essentially an ID photo.
Since it's a rare opportunity, Obito wanted to look stylish, wearing a white robe and a hat, but unfortunately, the photographer decisively rejected this idea, so he had to dress more ordinarily for the photo.
Apart from this, there are also students who take graduation photos with their senseis, but this is not organized by the school; each class handles it on their own.
For someone like Mutsuki, who is popular with the students, he appears in almost every class's group photo, especially since he taught the entire fourth grade during the special training.
Because Obito had a camera, he and his friends from the Academy took some commemorative photos together. He also took the opportunity to take some photos Nohara Rin—just him and Rin, with no Kakashi present.
After taking the photos, there wasn't much left to do at the Academy. They just needed to check the list when it came out and collect their Ninja profiles.
So, Obito and the others returned to their regular training routine.
Knowing that they wouldn't be able to train with Yumi-sensei from morning till afternoon like before, they cherished this time even more.
Until Obito discovered that the new training included doing problems, his mood underwent a subtle change.
"Target training: for every minute Shadow Clones successfully dodge, five questions will be generated. If hit, the special training ends immediately. The time limit is ten minutes," Mutsuki told Obito and Shisui about the new training's penalty mechanism.
"Ah? Why do we have to do problems now? We didn't have to before," Obito said, looking bewildered.
He had just been feeling pleased that there was no need to do problems, only to find out otherwise.
"You remember, I said you don't need to do problems temporarily," Mutsuki said with a smile.
"Before, I considered that you were close to graduation and wanted to make things easier for you. Now that the graduation exams are completed, you don't need to be so relaxed."
"Or do you think that after becoming a Ninja, life should be easier than when you were a student?" Mutsuki asked, looking into Obito's eyes.
Obito: …
If he nodded, wouldn't that make him seem unambitious? Besides, Obito recalled that Mutsuki did indeed say it was only temporary, but he was so excited to hear there were no problems that he had selectively ignored the word "temporary."
"Of course not, I just remembered only half of what Yumi-sensei said," Obito said, scratching his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Five questions per minute, with a time limit of ten minutes, so if it's like last time, that would be fifty questions," Shisui felt a bit of pressure.
Even though Shisui had been working on Mutsuki's questions for some time, they were very difficult, requiring a lot of thought and research.
"Start!" Mutsuki shouted after summoning his Shadow Clones.
Whoosh, whoosh!!
Shisui and Obito both burst forth with Chakra, rushing towards the Shadow Clones.
On the way to the Shadow Clones, Shisui activated his Sharingan, knowing that the battle would only last ten minutes and he didn't need to conserve Chakra too much.
"Don't use Ninjutsu blindly; look for the right moment," Shisui thought to himself.
Based on his guess, if his Ninjutsu forced the Shadow Clones into a position where they couldn't dodge, they would use Ninjutsu for defense. As long as he avoided using Ninjutsu himself, the Shadow Clones wouldn't use it either.
"Total Concentration, Flame Breathing!" Shisui quickly adjusted his breathing rhythm, concentrating it intensely, while also gathering Chakra within his body, making it flow continuously through his meridians and acupoints.
Shisui made every effort to attack the Shadow Clones, but each time he was narrowly dodged by Mutsuki. It seemed very close, but he didn't even graze Mutsuki's clothing.
However, Shisui didn't lose heart. This was expected; just like before when it was a close call, it was all part of Mutsuki's deliberate adjustments. If they couldn't improve, they would always be just a little short.
Five minutes later, Shisui still hadn't hit Mutsuki even once, though the trees nearby had suffered considerable damage.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
Feeling that the setup was complete, Shisui formed hand seals and channeled Chakra to use the Ninjutsu. A large amount of Chakra was gathered in his throat, releasing small fireballs towards Mutsuki.
Since Shisui was launching the fireballs one by one, the Shadow Clones did not use Ninjutsu to intercept them. Instead, they calmly dodged the incoming fireballs.
The fireballs did not hit Mutsuki but struck the large trees that Shisui had previously cut with his short blade. The explosions caused the already damaged trees to snap and fall.
Shisui targeted a total of six large trees. With a series of crashes, the tall trees fell towards Mutsuki.
At the same time, Shisui pushed his Breathing Technique to the limit and charged forward.
With this unexpected offensive, Shisui finally overcame the tiny gap and made contact with Mutsuki.
Although it was a punch that Mutsuki managed to catch with his hand, it still counted as a hit.
"Very good. Although you didn't make a breakthrough with the Breathing Technique, you skillfully used the surrounding environment to create favorable conditions for yourself," the Shadow Clone said, releasing Shisui's arm with an approving look.
Unlike the previous training, this time even though Shisui didn't break through with the Breathing Technique, good use of tactics allowed him to complete the training early.
Of course, since this training was aimed at improving the Breathing Technique, the main focus remained on that. Tactics are not infinite; next time, the Shadow Clones will be prepared, so improving core skills is essential for fundamentally solving the problem.
When the ten minutes passed and Obito's battle ended, Mutsuki announced the results of this training.
"Obito did not land a hit for ten minutes and needs to complete fifty questions. Shisui did not land a hit for five minutes and needs to complete twenty-five questions."
Hearing that Shisui completed the training in five minutes, Obito was a bit surprised and said, "Shisui, you're amazing. You improved so quickly this time."
"It's nothing, just using a trick," Shisui shook his head and replied.
"What trick? I want to learn too," Obito said with envy, noting that it was a full twenty-five questions.
"Think more during battle, and observe your surroundings to create favorable conditions for yourself," Shisui said after thinking for a moment.
He knew that the same method wouldn't be effective twice, so he only shared the idea with Obito without revealing his specific approach.
"You should learn more from Shisui and Kakashi," Mutsuki nodded and then handed the exam papers to the two of them.
Obito glanced at his paper and was about to put it away when he suddenly noticed something and quickly took it out again to examine it closely.
When he saw questions about analyzing the Academy's original intent in the reading materials, Obito couldn't help but speak up:
"Yumi-sensei, did you give me the wrong paper? The questions on mine seem off. Did you mix up Shisui's paper with mine?"
Obito even went over to check Shisui's paper and found that Shisui's questions hadn't changed. He felt a bit uneasy.
"There's no mistake. Now that you've graduated from the Academy, the questions naturally need to change," Mutsuki explained with a smile.
The reason Obito was given those questions before was that his basic skills were very poor and he needed a lot of supplemental knowledge, and also to improve his Ninja Academy grades and exam rewards.
Now that Obito has undergone a year of remedial classes and graduated from the Ninja Academy, it's time to change things up. The upcoming questions are mainly intended to help Obito gain knowledge from history, and there will be dedicated political classes later.
Mutsuki couldn't change the entire ninja world all at once, but he could start by influencing his own disciples.
For a moment, Obito had an unprecedented thought; he began to miss the old exam papers and questions.
This was something that would have been impossible before, but today it really happened, because what he would face next was something even more terrifying.
Obito's gaze at the two exam papers changed; this was an existence even more formidable and terrifying than a Hidden Cloud Jonin.
"Take the questions seriously. Even if you truly don't know, write down your thoughts, and come to me with any questions after you're done," Mutsuki said earnestly.
The reason he assigned questions instead of directly teaching was to make the students think for themselves first. This way, when he explained later, they could absorb the material better and would subconsciously think further.
"I'll definitely complete it," Obito promised weakly, feeling a premonition that he might not sleep well that night.
After the special training, it was followed by Constant Training until the end of the training time.
When Obito dragged his exhausted body home and finished dinner, he went upstairs to his bedroom, took out the exam paper, and began working on it.
Despite his inner resistance, he had to heed Mutsuki's words and do it seriously, no matter how difficult it was.
Looking at the rows of information on the exam paper, Obito felt overwhelmed. After a moment's thought, he began forming hand seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
With a puff of smoke, two Shadow Clones appeared.
"Cough, you don't want to fail to complete the exam and disappoint Yumi-sensei, do you?" Obito said, pointing at the exam paper on the table.
"Don't waste your energy. I know exactly what you're thinking. It's impossible to do the exam paper," one Shadow Clone said, lying down on the bed.
"You also don't want to get beaten up by your own Shadow Clone, do you?" the other Shadow Clone said, looking quite irritable.
Bang, bang!!
Obito sighed and dispelled the two Shadow Clones. It seemed impossible to get help from them; in the end, he'd be the one suffering if they fought, as the Shadow Clones' sensations would eventually return to him.
"Indeed, this Ninjutsu still has too many drawbacks." Obito's impression of the Shadow Clone Jutsu worsened as he began to focus seriously on the exam paper.
"Materials 1: After becoming the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama established many institutions, one of which was the Academy. After the Academy was established, except for a few ninja clans, anyone who wanted to become a Ninja had to attend the Academy and pass the graduation exam to become a Genin."
"Carefully read the two materials above and analyze the original intent and significance of Senju Tobirama establishing the Academy."
Reciting the question in his mind, Obito was already feeling dizzy.
There were two materials in total: one was a textual description, and the other was a ratio of Konoha Ninjas, both ninja and non-ninja, across three periods.
Even after reading both materials word by word, Obito couldn't figure out the connection between the materials and the question, especially the data. He didn't understand its relevance.
"Damn, so the Academy was also created by Senju Tobirama," Obito realized that the inventor of the Shadow Clone Jutsu was also the founder of the Academy.
Unable to figure it out, Obito decided to write according to his own thoughts; it was better than leaving it blank.
"The original intent was to train stronger Ninjas and make the village civilians more outstanding. The significance is that in the future, all Konoha children will have schools to attend," Obito wrote, nodding slightly with satisfaction.
He suddenly became curious about what children did with their extra time before schools existed.
After letting his thoughts wander for a bit, Obito glanced at the clock and was startled to find that twenty minutes had passed. He quickly resumed working on the exam paper, knowing that if he didn't finish, the number of questions would increase.
Obito worked on the exam paper all night. When he lay down in bed, his mind was filled with thoughts of Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Madara, and Senju Tobirama, considering various scenarios and analyzing different meanings.
This time, Obito experienced a bit of insomnia, lying in bed for a long time without falling asleep because he couldn't stop thinking about Senju Tobirama's true intentions and why he did those things.
Until he was extremely tired, Obito finally fell asleep, and the next day he woke up influenced by his biological clock.
For some reason, ever since he started working on those questions, Obito felt that time during the day was speeding up—it seemed to pass in the blink of an eye—while the time at night slowed down. Even though he only worked on the exam paper for a few hours, it felt much longer than the daytime training.
Daytime training and nighttime studying made Obito's life so fulfilling that he almost forgot about graduation until Mutsuki reminded him.
"Tomorrow is the day when the results and class assignments will be announced. I'll give you a day off to rest and prepare for your new Ninja life," Mutsuki said with a gentle smile.
The Academy would announce the exam results for all grades, including the fourth-grade graduation exam, and also the final class assignment list.
"Great~" Obito's eyes were filled with excitement, as this meant he would have more time to tackle those damned questions.
"Obito, are you okay? You don't look very well," Rin asked with concern.
Previously, Obito's calls were full of energy, but today, although his joy could still be felt, it lacked vitality.
"It's nothing, just a bit tired lately," Obito said, indicating that it wasn't a big issue.
He felt that the only benefit of the upcoming class assignments might be fewer questions, as there would be fewer opportunities for training and fewer questions to answer after spending less time with Mutsuki.
"Remember to rest well tonight. Besides checking the class assignment list tomorrow, you'll also need to collect our Ninja materials," Rin reminded him with a smile.
Obito nodded in agreement and, after having dinner at home, quickly started working on his questions.
"Ah, Senju Tobirama, what on earth were you thinking?" Obito found that Tobirama had created an exceptionally large number of things.
That night, Obito slept even worse, constantly feeling as if someone was asking him about the significance of Tobirama's actions.
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