Chapter 5: The News of Early Graduation

Three days after visiting Hatake Sakumo, it was time for the Ninja Academy to start.

Come to think of it, Uchiha Feiyu, as a former classmate of Kakashi Hatake, was actually in the same year as Uchiha Obito, Nohara Rin, Asuma, and others, though the only ones truly in his class were Obito, Rin, and Might Guy—just those three.

It was just that this guy was five or six years older than his peers and had no desire to be a ninja, so he was quite out of place in the entire class and didn't have many real friends.

When he arrived at the entrance of the Ninja Academy today, he felt that the atmosphere was a bit off.

"Feiyu, you're here? By the way, have you heard that news?"

Uchiha Obito leaned in mysteriously and said to Uchiha Feiyu.

Being fellow Uchiha and both outcasts within the Uchiha clan, the relationship between Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Feiyu was much better than with other classmates; he was also one of the few acquaintances Uchiha Feiyu had.

A look of confusion appeared on Uchiha Feiyu's face; being an outcast came at a price, at least in that Uchiha Feiyu was often the last to know about the various rumors circulating in the class.

Look at this—even the currently dim-witted Obito seemed to have heard some inside information, and only Uchiha Feiyu knew nothing at all.

"What news?"

While thinking, Uchiha Feiyu asked, and Obito hurriedly leaned in and said:

"We are going to graduate early! It's said that this year, the fourth, fifth, and sixth-year ninjas can all graduate directly!"

"Graduate early!?"

"Has the situation reached this point already?"

Uchiha Feiyu said with some surprise, frowning.

Of course, he wasn't troubled by the graduation itself; what really made Uchiha Feiyu think was the issue behind early graduation.

Generally speaking, unless one was a genius who wanted to make a name for themselves and gain more resources and attention, ordinary students at the Ninja Academy would complete all six years before graduating.

After all, the profession of a ninja was always accompanied by various dangers; spending more time developing in school naturally provided more assurance of survival when executing missions.

The fact that none of the Konoha 11, whose talents were in no way inferior to Kakashi's generation, graduated early spoke volumes.

And if a large-scale early graduation occurred... there was only one possibility: the Ninja World War was about to begin!

Of course, even if they graduated early, it was impossible to send newly graduated students directly to the battlefield. To put it bluntly, even when raising cannon fodder, one had to consider cost-effectiveness; one couldn't just waste years of training at the Ninja Academy only to have them waste a few of the enemy's Kunai on the battlefield!

But through early graduation, these students could undergo a longer period of internship, and if the front-line battlefield became tight later, a batch of fresh troops could be pulled directly into the fray.

"Uh, what situation has reached this point? Feiyu, what did you say? Why don't I understand?"

Uchiha Obito blinked his eyes; although he had received the rumor earlier than Feiyu, it was clearly still a bit difficult to expect the current "idiot" to see the problem behind early graduation.

However, ninjas in the Naruto World were always precocious, and combined with the experience passed down by parents and the like, other young ninjas basically knew the current situation well, which was the root cause of the atmosphere Uchiha Feiyu felt was wrong.

"You really are a bit slow... Haven't you thought about why they want us to graduate early? The last wave of ninjas who graduated early happened to be on the eve of the Second Shinobi World War!"

"Ah!? Then... why do we have to graduate early this time too?"

Obito's stunned expression made Feiyu want to cover his face; this person would eventually become a big boss of the Ninja World, which really made one worry about the intelligence of ninjas in the Naruto World.

"Feiyu means that it is very likely that a large-scale war will break out in the Ninja World again!"

A little girl with face paint, who looked gentle and soft, walked over and interrupted their conversation.

"So that's it! Rin, you are so smart!"

The one speaking was Nohara Rin, the "white moonlight" in Uchiha Obito's heart, and also the root of his corruption.

Of course, Obito and Rin were only about eight years old now; although ninjas were precocious, they weren't that precocious yet. However, because of her gentle temperament and concern for everyone equally, Obito, who didn't have many friends in class, also viewed Rin as very important.

The reason Obito liked Rin was, to some extent, because other girls wouldn't pay attention to him at all; only the gentle-natured Rin held goodwill toward everyone.

After Obito said this to Nohara Rin with a silly smile, he suddenly seemed to come to his senses and shouted loudly:

"What? A large-scale war is breaking out!"

"What's wrong? You two Uchiha losers, are you scared?"

A smug voice rang in his ears, and Uchiha Feiyu looked up; the one speaking was Sarutobi Asuma from the next class.

"Asuma, are you looking for a beating again because you have nothing to do? It's one thing to call Obito a loser, but why did you include me too!"

"That's right, it's one thing to say Obito is a loser... wait, what do you mean by 'it's one thing to say I'm a loser'?"

Obito nodded, then suddenly realized something was wrong, turned his head, and looked at Feiyu in astonishment, only to see Feiyu's look of disdain.

Asuma, currently a strong contender for the top student of this year, also had the reputation of a genius at the current Ninja Academy.

Of course, the gold content of this so-called genius was actually very watered down; among the peers of this year and the next in the academy, the ones with the highest future achievements were actually Kakashi, Obito, and Might Guy.

Kakashi had already graduated, Obito and Might Guy were still losers, and the only ones left who could become Jonin and had decent talent were Kurenai and Asuma.

Kurenai's strength was inherently lacking, Genjutsu-type ninjas belonged to the late-blooming category, and her personality didn't like to be in the limelight; therefore, Asuma now had a bit of the feeling of "when there is no tiger in the mountains, the monkey is king."

They called him a top student, a genius, but the Ninja Academy produced several geniuses every year; in order to compete for the position of top student, they started fierce competition from a young age, but where did these geniuses, these top students, go after graduation?

Some went to the graveyard, and even more simply faded into the crowd.

In Uchiha Feiyu's eyes, although Asuma's future achievements couldn't be called fading into the crowd, they were definitely not outstanding—he was just a relatively elite Jonin, but there was still a huge gap compared to a Shadow.

"Damn it, if it weren't for the fact that you are five years older than me, how could you possibly beat me?!"

After hearing Uchiha Feiyu's words, Asuma broke down on the spot, because he had indeed been beaten by Uchiha Feiyu.

Uchiha Feiyu only slacked off in his attitude, but in his training, he had never been negligent.

Even without any particularly good heritage, relying on the bonuses to physical fitness and chakra brought by the Method of Consuming Spirits, except for Kakashi, all the other young kids had been beaten by him in combat class.

(End of this chapter)