Chapter 199: The Graduation Exam of Two Former Protagonists

Konoha Ninja Academy, this is perhaps the liveliest place in Konoha today.

Because of the Fourth Shinobi World War, the entire Konoha has become quite desolate—nearly seventy or eighty percent of the ninja were all buried on the battlefield in the Land of Rain; under such heavy losses, Konoha naturally no longer looks like the bustling place it once was.

However, because this Ninja World War was very brief, totaling only two months, even with the heavy losses, none of the ninja villages had to deploy their reserve of young ninja—or rather, the fighting had already ended before they could be deployed.

Consequently, although the adult ninja suffered heavy losses and died in droves, not a single student at the Ninja Academy was harmed, and there wasn't even any move to have them graduate early.

And today happens to be the day for a new round of graduation for the young ninja at the Ninja Academy, with a group of young ninja standing on the playground undergoing their graduation assessment.

Perhaps due to the stimulation of the Fourth Shinobi World War, or perhaps because the young Hokage Tsunade has different policies from the elderly Third, in any case, this Ninja Academy graduation assessment is not some Three Body Technique nonsense, but a serious, full-scale combat test.

If Ninja Academy Students want to graduate, they must spar with veteran Genin who have been graduated for several years, and then the Chunin teachers determine if their strength is qualified for graduation. Of course, winning is not strictly required, but they must at least have some ability to fight back.

On the playground at this moment, two young ninja—one with a green bowl cut and one with long hair and Byakugan—along with a classic Chinese-style girl with buns, are the examiners for this Genin exam.

It goes without saying that these three are Hyuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten; because of their age, although they had already graduated from the Ninja Academy and become Genin, they did not rush to the battlefield immediately, and naturally, they did not become casualties of the war.

Of course, the brutality of the battlefield and the magnitude of the sacrifices gave these three little ones quite a scare, but fortunately, the two people closest to them, whether it was Hyuga Hizashi or Guy, ultimately returned safely.

Although no close relatives died in this great war, the massive disappearance of those everyday acquaintances or familiar ninja also made these three young ninja mature quite a bit; now, the three of them stand on the playground, facing the challenges from the juniors who have just graduated.

Standing on the sidelines observing and scoring is naturally the teacher of this current elite ninja class, Umino Iruka; as a Chunin who mostly performs administrative work, he did not participate in that brutal ninja war and likewise kept his life.

At this moment, the students of the elite ninja class walk up one by one to spar with the trio of Hyuga Neji; the male students' opponents are Hyuga Neji and Rock Lee, and the female students' opponent is naturally Tenten.

A huge lump of a meat mountain rolled and crushed toward the opponent, but was casually nudged by the calm Hyuga Neji, directly changing its direction and crashing into a rock, falling into a daze and turning back into a little chubby boy with spinning eyes.

"Choji Akimichi... hmm, good performance, you pass!"

Umino Iruka nodded as he watched Choji Akimichi's performance, then turned his head to look to the other side, where he saw the shadow under Shikamaru Nara's feet extend, directly controlling Rock Lee and winning the battle.

Come to think of it, in terms of raw strength, Rock Lee could beat ten Shikamaru Naras without needing to catch his breath, but when it comes to brains, the two are completely the opposite; Rock Lee's brain can be said to rank last among the 12 rookies, and even compared to Uzumaki Naruto, who has occasional flashes of brilliance, he is likely inferior.

Plus, this is just an exam spar, not a life-or-death duel, and therefore Shikamaru Nara first used verbal tactics to guide him, and finally, caught Rock Lee off guard to control him, becoming the only example among all the Ninja Academy Students to successfully counter-kill.

"Very good, Shikamaru, you also pass!"

After finishing scoring for Shikamaru Nara in the small notebook in his hand, Umino Iruka said with a face full of smiles; Shikamaru nodded lazily and withdrew the shadow under his feet.

The next instant, Rock Lee, having broken free from the Shadow Imitation Technique, immediately knelt on the ground, his whole body turning gray and white:

"I actually lost... lost to a junior who hasn't even graduated yet; my youth is truly too pathetic, I must make up for it with 100 times the effort!"

Watching his senior's such emotional performance, Shikamaru Nara immediately had sweat on his forehead:

"Um..., Senior, you don't have to be so depressed; actually, I just used a little clever trick, if it were really on the battlefield, I guess I would have been beaten to the ground by now!"

It's not like Shikamaru Nara hadn't seen Rock Lee's taijutsu; those students who went up to test at the beginning were basically beaten to the ground in three punches and two kicks.

Shikamaru Nara estimated that with his fragile physique and pathetic taijutsu, the result would likely be being knocked down in one punch, which is also why Shikamaru Nara had to be high-profile and directly control Rock Lee.

Because if he didn't do that, his most likely result would be being killed in one move, and he might not even have a chance to get his Genin headband—at which point, upon returning home, he would likely receive a mixed-gender beating from his parents!

"Don't say it, this is my own effort not being enough, I have let down my youth..."

"Hey, you bowl-cut thick-brows over there, are you going to continue the test or not! I've been waiting until I'm impatient!"

The blond-haired boy spoke in a carefree manner; although his words were very impolite, not a single one of the classmates around him said anything.

"Naruto, you guy, you should be more polite to your seniors!"

The teacher Umino Iruka said angrily to Uzumaki Naruto, however, Uzumaki Naruto just picked his nose and said very indifferently:

"Got it, got it, Iruka-sensei! You are really naggy, even though this guy is indeed a thick-browed bowl-cut!"

The current Uzumaki Naruto is not some Nine-Tailed Fox; the original Nine-Tails was still sealed inside Uzumaki Kushina's body, and later it was directly made into a Pill and completely finished.

Without the identity of the Nine-Tailed Fox, Uzumaki Naruto's other identity: the posthumous child of the Fourth Hokage, became prominent.

Because Uzumaki Naruto is not a jinchuriki, naturally no one hid the news that he was the Fourth Hokage's son, and therefore his childhood life, compared to the original work, shifted directly to the other extreme.

Everyone treated him with a grateful and fawning attitude, directly raising this Uzumaki Naruto into a lawless personality; plus, the Ashura Chakra in his body had long been sucked away by Uchiha Feiyu, and in the end, although Uzumaki Naruto didn't turn into some scum, he was still a little hell-raiser.

"Golden hair... it's that Fourth Hokage's child! You're right, I really can't stay depressed anymore; come on! Next, let me be your opponent!"

Rock Lee jumped up directly and looked at Uzumaki Naruto with a serious expression.

Uzumaki Naruto clenched his fists and also walked into the combat circle; the current Uzumaki Naruto is not the orphan from the original work, even though the lack of Nine-Tails and Ashura Chakra caused his potential to drop significantly.

But during his student stage, having a good mother to teach him, plus the lack of Nine-Tails chakra interference, made him also a genius student in the class, and his strength is no worse than the other genius, Sasuke Uchiha.

"Very good, next it's my turn... Sasuke, do you want to compete to see who wins first?"

At this moment, Sasuke Uchiha also walked into the competition field; standing opposite him was the top student of the previous year, Hyuga Neji; after hearing Uzumaki Naruto's words, he frowned slightly.

In his view, Hyuga Neji's strength is much stronger than Rock Lee's; even though Sasuke Uchiha, because of his family's teachings, is stronger than he was at this stage in the original work, he doesn't feel he can necessarily beat Hyuga Neji.

However, Sasuke Uchiha belongs to the standard Uchiha Clan; even if all the bones in his body were broken, his mouth would still be tough, let alone being challenged by Uzumaki Naruto, whom he views as a rival?

"Hmph, you just need to make sure you don't cry after you lose!"

"Don't look down on people! You guy, Sasuke?!"

And on the opposite side, not to mention the hot-blooded and naive Rock Lee, the equally arrogant Hyuga Neji couldn't help but start rolling his eyes:

"Beat me?! It seems we are completely looked down upon by our juniors!"

"Rock Lee! Let's compete too! Let's see who beats these two brats to the ground first!"

"A competition with Neji? Alright then! I will not lose!"

The four brats seemed to have inexplicably ignited, and at this moment, in the distant Hokage Office, there were also people watching the four's battle.

The brand-new Hokage building was planned as the tallest building in the entire village from the moment it was built, and in the central Hokage Office, they even used a combination of Sealing Technique and technology to create a surveillance system that can see every place in the new Konoha.

And at this moment, in the Hokage Office, besides the Hokage Tsunade, there were two uninvited mothers: the red-haired and rather fiery-looking Uzumaki Kushina, and Uchiha Mikoto, who sat on a stool with a gentle expression.

Naturally, in such a place, one could not miss Uchiha Feiyu, who had just come out of seclusion; he was also quite interested in these two former protagonists who had been stripped of their protagonist halos.

Watching the battle about to begin on the large surveillance screen in front of him, Uchiha Feiyu narrowed his eyes slightly, ignoring the two mothers chatting beside him, and his eyes suddenly transformed into a black-red color.

In the black pupils, three red Tomoe were constantly spinning; the color completely opposite to the normal Three-Tomoe Sharingan represents the strangely incomparable Rinnegan Dojutsu: Night God Origin!

That was originally a dream-like ninjutsu for observing the past and future and illuminating the vast world, but after fusing with the Heavenly Demon Secret practiced by Uchiha Feiyu, it possessed peculiar changes.

Uchiha Feiyu's thoughts transformed into unfathomable inner demons in an instant, infiltrating the minds of the two former protagonists through the observed images.

In an instant, Uchiha Feiyu sensed every thought in their minds; as the various thoughts in their minds fluctuated, Uchiha Feiyu could even feel that he could completely control every idea in their minds, turning the two into marionettes, and the two would not notice anything wrong, only thinking these thoughts were their own.

This feeling of lurking within another's heart was quite novel to Uchiha Feiyu, and with a shift of his mind, he began to manipulate the thoughts within Sasuke Uchiha's heart.

Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, fear—any emotion of Sasuke Uchiha could be easily stirred in his eyes, and now, with a battle about to begin, the emotion most easily triggered was excitement.

In an instant, Sasuke Uchiha felt his fighting spirit surge and skyrocket, as if possessed by the Victorious Fighting Buddha, his invisible will to fight nearly condensing into flames.

Under this intense mental stimulation, Sasuke Uchiha's eyes turned blood-red, and within moments, a single black Tomoe appeared.

"Sharingan?! The Bloodline Limit of the Uchiha Clan—I never expected that you, not yet graduated, would have already mastered it!"

A look of surprise appeared on Hyuga Neji's face; the Sharingan was not as common as the Byakugan, which practically any member of the Hyuga Clan could awaken.

On the contrary, even among the ninja of the Uchiha Clan, those who could awaken the Sharingan were in the minority, and to be able to awaken it at the age of 13 was considered a genius even within the elite-filled Uchiha Clan.

"Heh heh heh! Under these eyes of mine, the Sharingan, all of your movements have been seen through by me!"

Hearing Sasuke Uchiha's arrogant words, Hyuga Neji rolled his eyes in a very subtle manner:

"It's merely a One-Tomoe Sharingan, who are you trying to scare!"

"The Sharingan is indeed more suited for combat than the Byakugan, but that requires at least the Three-Tomoe level... A One-Tomoe Sharingan is no match for the Byakugan at all!"

The Byakugan's observational power is superior to the Sharingan's, though it focuses more on x-ray and long-distance vision; it is indeed inferior to the Sharingan in functionality such as kinetic vision and Genjutsu Hypnosis, but that refers to a fully developed Three-Tomoe; the One-Tomoe Sharingan provides a very weak bonus to Genjutsu, and its kinetic vision is completely inferior to the Byakugan.

However, the high-spirited Sasuke Uchiha paid no mind to this, charging forward with full confidence instead, throwing the Kunai in his hand, which transformed into strange arcs.

Hyuga Neji gave a light, cold snort; the Uchiha Style Shuriken Throwing Technique looks exquisite, but in reality, to pursue strange trajectories, it sacrifices speed, and to compensate for this flaw, the Uchiha Clan often attaches steel wires to these Kunai to ambush their opponents.

Yet the observational power of the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan was no joke; he could see the steel wires behind Sasuke Uchiha's Kunai clearly, and could even discern the redirection of force and the flow of chakra, so how could they possibly pose a threat to him?

Stretching out his hand casually, he lightly deflected the first two incoming Kunai, and a condensed surge of chakra traveled through the steel wires, instantly infiltrating Sasuke Uchiha's body, causing his eyes to widen and his body to go numb.

(End of chapter)