Chapter 19: Early Graduation?

The third day's exam was much faster, after all, only two people were chosen from each class, and there were only eight classes in a grade at the ninja school.

Today, like the second day, non-examinees could choose not to come.

However, quite a few students did come to watch today, wanting to see who would become the first-place in the first grade of the fourth year.

"Am I seeing things? Isn't that Uchiha Obito? Why is he standing with the examinees?" someone said in confusion.

"You didn't pay attention to Class 2's news yesterday, did you?" asked the person next to him.

"Yeah, I had bad luck yesterday. I ran into the strongest guy in my class in the first round, lost, and went home."

"That explains it. Uchiha Obito has gotten really strong now—he even beat Uchiha Tekka from their class."

The watching students chatted eagerly about the contestants from each class.

Sometimes they even argued over who was stronger.

At times like this, even those who had previously badmouthed Obito and Might Guy would do their best to defend them, since they were representatives of their own classes.

"It looks like this year's grade top spot will only be for Shisui." After watching the first round, Muyue felt that Obito and Might Guy were probably in trouble.

That Hyuga Katon had trained his Gentle Fist well, and with the advantage of the Byakugan, Might Guy would have a hard time winning, and Obito was even more hopeless.

Muyue could only say that Hyuga clan ninjas had a significant advantage in the early stages—the Byakugan was not as difficult to awaken as the Sharingan, and the family's Gentle Fist was an excellent taijutsu style.

The two of them had been training under him for too short a time; right now their strengths weren't strong enough and they still had many weaknesses.

As time passed, it came down to the last two rounds: Obito vs. Hyuga Katon, and Might Guy vs. a ninja from Class 3, Year 4.

As Muyue had expected, in front of Hyuga Katon, Obito couldn't even use a single jutsu before being beaten senseless by the Gentle Fist.

During the final match, Might Guy performed much better than Obito, but his moves were completely seen through by Hyuga Katon's Byakugan, and he still ended up losing.

After losing his match, Obito was a bit depressed. He had wanted to aim for first place, but he hadn't even made it into the top two.

Muyue happened to walk by and comforted him: "Don't keep dwelling on your failure. You should think about how much you've improved since last time, and work even harder for the next time."

With Muyue's words, Obito's mood immediately brightened, because in the last third-year final exam, he had only ranked twentieth in his class, and this time he almost got into the top two in the grade.

Looking at it that way, he had improved a lot—first place was within reach!

Then Muyue walked over to Might Guy's side. Unexpectedly, Might Guy also looked a bit downcast.

Muyue had originally thought that with Guy's willpower, a win or loss wouldn't bother him, but on second thought, he found the reason.

It might be because he had given Guy the taijutsu training manual yesterday, making Might Guy feel he was carrying Muyue's expectations.

"Failure runs through life from beginning to end—that's what life is. Don't let one defeat knock you down," Muyue comforted him.

Might Guy's body shook. When it came to failure, he certainly had a lot to say.

At the very beginning, during the entrance exam, he almost failed to become a ninja. Then he challenged Kakashi and got taken out in one move. He was last in every subject and called the dead last...

Even though he was only eight years old now, Might Guy had already experienced far too many failures.

He seemed to vaguely understand what his father Might Dai meant when he said that youth never fades.

"I understand, Teacher Muyue." Might Guy's eyes became even more determined.

What he needed to do was not brood over his gains and losses, but train hard to win in the next battle—until he became the strongest.

Muyue nodded with relief and then started to walk over to Shisui.

When Muyue found Shisui, he was surrounded by a bunch of students asking him all sorts of questions.

Seeing Muyue arrive, the students all greeted him.

"Teacher Hanyu, I came in second place in the grade! Is there any reward?" Hongdou said with a grin as she walked up to Muyue.

Muyue smiled, patted Hongdou's little head, thought for a moment, and said, "How about I treat you to some dango?"

"Awesome! Teacher Hanyu is the best!" Hearing there would be dango, Hongdou instantly became Muyue's number one fan.

"Shisui got first place in the grade and hasn't asked for a reward yet. Hongdou, you're way too impatient," Gang Zitie couldn't help teasing.

It wasn't that he really thought Hongdou was impatient; he was just a bit jealous of her.

Afraid that a friend might do poorly, but also afraid that a friend might do too well—right now, Hongdou belonged to the latter category.

Mu Yue cheerfully sent the group of students away, then took Shisui and headed towards the commercial street.

"How do you feel?" Mu Yue asked.

Shisui thought for a moment and honestly replied:

"Very ordinary. There wasn't even anyone who made me go all out."

"That's normal. After all, with your strength, even fourth-years aren't your match, let alone first-years." Mu Yue praised without reservation.

"Then, Teacher Mu Yue, do you think I should graduate early?" Shisui looked into Mu Yue's eyes and asked. Mu Yue's eye color was special, a blue like the sky.

"Graduate early?"

"Because I heard that in the past, there were also very talented seniors who felt they couldn't learn anything at the ninja academy and graduated quickly." Shisui replied.

Mu Yue shook his head and said, "I don't recommend you graduate in the first year. At least wait until the second or third year."

"Your strength may be outstanding among your peers, but outside the academy, your opponents won't just be your peers, especially now that a great war could break out at any time."

"If you feel the ninja academy curriculum is pointless, you can use Shadow Clones to attend school for you, and then your real body can train according to my guidance." Mu Yue offered advice.

Although in the original story Shisui safely survived the Third Shinobi World War and earned the reputation of 'Shisui of the Body Flicker,' the original also didn't have him, Hanyu Mu Yue — the butterfly effect is unpredictable.

Mu Yue still hoped Shisui would lie low in the ninja academy and develop for a few years. If you can't even one-shot a Chunin, what's the point of graduating?

If it were him, without Jonin-level strength, he wouldn't feel safe walking on Konoha's streets.

Hearing Mu Yue's advice, Shisui's eyes lit up. He nodded, feeling that Mu Yue's suggestion was very good.

Afterwards, Mu Yue took Shisui to buy a bunch of dango and returned to the academy. Before afternoon class, every student in Class 1 of the first year received a portion of dango.

Mu Yue certainly wouldn't actually only give Anko some to eat, but since he had promised, he gave Anko an extra portion of dango.

"Teacher Hanyu is the best in the world!" Anko expressed great satisfaction. If a few more portions of dango came, perhaps Konoha would gain a 'Hanyu Cult' in the future.

The other students also expressed their thanks, and their already high affection rose another level.

The ninja academy was very efficient. Two days after the exam, they compiled and published all the results, which also confirmed Mu Yue's conjecture.