Chapter 20: Smiles Don't Disappear, They Just Transfer

"Izumo, good morning."

In the early morning, on the way to the ninja school, Tetsu Gōno greeted Izumo Shingetsu, whom he happened to meet.

"Mm, good morning." Izumo Shingetsu replied.

Tetsu Gōno put his arm around Izumo Shingetsu's neck, locked it there briefly, then let go and laughed:

"You look so lifeless."

Izumo Shingetsu sighed and said, "Tetsu, have you forgotten? Today is the day the results come out."

"Oh yeah, did you not do well on the exam, Izumo?" Tetsu Gōno remembered that Muzuki had said yesterday that the results would be out today.

"Yeah, I feel like my score might be really low." Izumo Shingetsu looked up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, looking somewhat melancholy.

"It's fine, I didn't do well either. Probably end up the same as you." Tetsu Gōno patted Izumo Shingetsu on the shoulder to console him.

Then the two of them walked together toward the ninja school, and just as they got close, they ran into Anko.

"Izumo, Tetsu, good morning." Anko greeted them cheerfully.

"Good morning, Anko." The two replied.

"Why do you both look so down? Did you have a nightmare last night?" Anko asked curiously.

"No, it's because today is the day the results come out." Tetsu Gōno sighed.

"Neither of us did well on the exam. We feel our scores will be low."

"Hehe, is that so? I think I did pretty well. Maybe my score is quite high." Hearing the reason, Anko smirked proudly.

"I'll be able to ask Teacher Hanyū for a reward again." Even though she hadn't seen the score yet, Anko felt she could already pop the champagne.

After all, Tetsu Gōno and Izumo Shingetsu had pretty good theoretical scores, so if she did better than them, she must have a solid high score.

"I'm so jealous of you, Anko. You're second in the year in practicals, and you did well on the theory test too." Izumo Shingetsu expressed his envy.

Hearing Izumo Shingetsu's praise, Anko became even more inflated, walking with a swagger like a bossy big sister.

Then Anko and the other two ran into Shisui and other students from their class as they entered the school.

"Shisui, how did you do on the exam?" Anko asked curiously.

"Average, I guess." Shisui replied calmly.

Anko couldn't help looking forward to her own score even more. If even Shisui did average, could she be first?

"First is still unlikely, but maybe top five?" Anko hadn't let arrogance cloud her judgment; she usually got average scores on exams.

When they reached the bulletin board, it was already surrounded by a crowd of students, with voices discussing scores everywhere.

"That class's scores are way too high. Lots of seventies and eighties."

"And there's a perfect score. Looks like it's the practicals first place too. Really scary."

"As expected of that teacher Muzuki's class..."

"Move aside, move aside." Anko, desperate to know her own score, didn't bother listening to what others were saying. She charged ahead with Tetsu Gōno and Izumo Shingetsu, pushing through the crowd to find Class 2's score sheet.

"Eighty points! Yes!" Anko spotted her name and the eighty beside it at a glance, and cheered loudly in delight.

But soon she noticed a problem — the ranking didn't seem right.

"Tetsu, Izumo, did you find your scores?" Anko asked hurriedly.

"Yeah, found it. Ninety-two points." Tetsu Gōno nodded.

"N-Ninety-two?" Anko thought she misheard.

"Ninety-two points." Tetsu Gōno repeated.

"Leaf-cursed mouth!" 【or "Konoha vulgarity!" — but keeping literal? Translation note: "木葉粗口" is a pun; common translation is "Son of a—" or similar. Since it's a known term in Naruto, might keep as "Konoha vulgar" or adapt. I'll use "Konoha damn it!" as natural curse】

Anko slapped Tetsu Gōno hard on the shoulder, her two brownish-grey eyes staring at him in disbelief.

You said you didn't do well, and then you get a ninety-two?

"You call that not doing well?" Anko couldn't help asking.

"Lucky, lucky. I thought I did badly on the exam, but it turned out okay." Steel Zitie grinned as he made up an excuse.

"Izumo, what about you? What's your score?" Steel Zitie asked.

"Ninety-seven." Shingetsu Izumo replied with a smile.

"How... how many?" Steel Zitie felt he must have misheard—that was almost a perfect score.

"Ninety-seven." Shingetsu Izumo repeated.

This time Steel Zitie heard clearly. The smile on his face gradually faded, while the smile on Shingetsu Izumo's face grew even brighter.

"And here I was comforting you early in the morning, only for you to score this well, nearly a perfect score." Steel Zitie hooked his arm around Shingetsu Izumo's neck and dragged him out.

Seeing this familiar scene, Red Bean decisively joined the fray, occasionally sneaking a punch at Steel Zitie as well.

Those two were too infuriating—scoring so well and still messing with her feelings.

【Studied diligently for one month. Disciple Uchiha Shisui achieved perfect results in the academic assessment. Reward: Chakra +300, Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll.】

【Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll: Raises any mastered ninjutsu to the proficient level.】

【Studied diligently for one month. Disciple Uchiha Obito achieved good results in the academic assessment. Reward: Chakra +150.】

【Studied diligently for one month. Disciple Might Guy achieved good results in the academic assessment. Reward: Chakra +150.】

As Moyue had expected, the exams indeed came with rewards, and much richer than those for teaching. These three days, even if he talked until his throat gave out, he couldn't earn six hundred chakra—a single B-rank evaluation only gave twenty chakra.

That was only because Obito and Might Guy were too poor in theory, and didn't rank first in combat either; otherwise the rewards would have been even higher.

Moyue suddenly felt the urge to make the school hold exams more often. The ninja academy usually only had two exams per semester.

If they had ten exams a semester, he would be soaring.

This thought only lasted a moment before Moyue abandoned it, because he knew that even if he did that, he probably couldn't farm the rewards.

When he held exams in his own class, those also counted as exams, but the system didn't give him any rewards.

Moreover, Moyue didn't think the school would accept his proposal—ten exams a semester would not only exhaust the students but also the teachers.

Moyue applied the Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll to Water Severing Wave. Instantly, many memories of training Water Severing Wave and various techniques flooded his mind.

Although Moyue had mastered quite a few ninjutsu now, he believed Water Severing Wave was still the most powerful one.

In the office at noon, Moyue became the center of discussion.

"Hanyu-sensei, how do you teach? Your students' theory scores are outrageous—their average is several dozen points higher than the other classes." Kimura Sugito couldn't help asking.

"Right, Moyue-sensei, do you have any tricks? The two in my class barely passed this time, but there's no guarantee for next time." Ikeya Isamu followed up.

Might Guy and Obito had truly shocked him this time—not only did they take the top two places in combat in the class, but they also passed theory.

Just as Moyue was about to say something, a teacher entered the office and said to him:

"Hanyu-sensei, the principal wants to see you."

The internet cable seemed to have broken from the heat, so the update is a little late. Sorry.

Also, thanks to the readers who tipped. I'll list the specific names to thank in the next chapter; this chapter was posted too hastily.