Chapter 231: Shocking Truth

On the first day back at school, there was an exam for the theory class. Before the exam, the students who hadn't gone on the internship curiously asked the interns about their internship experiences.

"Obito, what do intern ninjas usually do? Is it the same as a full-fledged ninja?" a classmate asked Obito with a curious look.

"Probably about the same—taking on missions, and when we're not on a mission, we train with our teacher," Obito recalled for a moment and then answered.

"Even though they're all mission requests, every mission is a little different; you go to different countries and see different scenery."

Obito actually quite liked going on missions. Even though he had run into danger last time, they had managed to overcome the difficulty through their own efforts. That feeling of success after hard work was really exhilarating, from your feet all the way up to your head.

"You even went overseas!" The surrounding students were all shocked and envious.

Forget going overseas—they had never even left Konoha; they had stayed in Konoha their entire lives.

"Interns can even go abroad. Too bad I wasn't chosen."

"We're almost there too—in two more months, after we pass the graduation exam, we'll be full-fledged ninjas."

The surrounding students all started discussing. Some began to yearn for life as a ninja after graduation because of Obito's words, while others were curious about what other countries were like.

"Which countries did you go to? What's different about foreign countries compared to the Land of Fire?" a student couldn't help asking further.

Before Obito could answer, Uchiha Tetsuka, who had heard the discussion, voiced his doubts.

"Can't interns only take D-rank missions? D-rank missions are all village missions; none of them go outside the village. How could you possibly go overseas?"

He had also participated in the internship, but the missions he did were all odd jobs—catching cats, picking up trash, and the like.

Hearing Obito talk about going to different countries and seeing the scenery, he strongly suspected that Obito was bragging, because the registering ninja at the mission hall had said that intern teams could only take D-rank missions.

"Yeah, I also joined the internship. We intern ninjas can only do odd jobs like picking up trash and farm work." Another intern student stepped forward to confirm what Uchiha Tetsuka had said.

The total number of fourth-year interns was thirty. Each class had three to four students selected, and Class 4-2 had four interns.

Seeing that the two interns in the class had stated facts opposite to Obito's, the rest of the students looked at Obito with confusion, and some even looked at him with suspicion.

Although Obito's performance this school year had been extremely talented, given his performance over the previous three years, they thought it was indeed possible that he was exaggerating.

"Normally, intern teams can indeed only take D-rank missions." Obito didn't get angry at his classmates' suspicion; instead, he nodded in agreement with that statement.

Seeing that Obito seemed to admit to exaggerating, Uchiha Tetsuka nodded inwardly. Obito wasn't too reckless after all—he wasn't the only one in the class who had joined the internship.

"Then why did you say you went overseas for missions?" some students who believed in Obito asked in confusion.

They had wanted to see Obito explain, but Obito's words left them baffled—was he admitting he was a liar?

"But we're not your average intern team. The Third Hokage recognized that our team's strength was exceptional and specially allowed us to take C-rank missions."

As he spoke, Obito couldn't help showing a proud smile. This was special permission from the Hokage—a privilege unique to them.

Normally, if he was misunderstood, he'd definitely be upset, but this time Obito thought it was understandable.

Because that was just how it was: intern teams were indeed not allowed to take missions above D-rank, and the registering ninja had told them the same at first. They could take C-rank missions only because their performance was so good that the Hokage thought they were capable of higher-level missions.

Obito thought this was reasonable. Their teacher was Muyue-sensei, who was many times stronger than other teachers, and he, Might Guy, and Kakashi were also far above their peers in strength.

"Specially permitted by the Hokage-sama!" The students in the classroom were all shocked by Obito's words—this was the Hokage, whom everyone in Konoha admired.

Uchiha Tetsuka was also dumbfounded. He hadn't expected Obito to go this far—bringing up the Hokage's special permission. It sounded even more ridiculous than an intern ninja going overseas on a mission.

Although he didn't believe either claim, Uchiha Tetsuka had to admit that putting them together actually made them sound a bit more believable.

"Then how many C-rank missions have you and your team completed, and how many countries have you been to?" the students who believed Obito asked curiously.

"We've been to two countries—once to the Land of Fields and twice to the Land of Rivers. But as for how many C-rank missions we've completed, we haven't completed a single C-rank mission," Obito answered honestly.

Although they had taken on three C-rank missions, the number of C-rank missions completed on their record was zero; every time, they were upgraded after completion.

"Huh? You can't mean all the missions failed?" Obito's words left the surrounding students bewildered again. It couldn't be that all three missions had failed.

"No, they didn't fail, but something unexpected happened each time, which caused the missions to be upgraded. So when we accepted them they were C-rank, but when we turned them in they had been upgraded to B-rank and A-rank missions," Obito said nonchalantly.

Most of the students, though they didn't know what A-rank and B-rank missions meant, thought the idea of mission upgrades sounded impressive, and they all exclaimed in awe.

But Uchiha Tetsuka and the other intern, who understood a bit more, didn't believe it. If Obito hadn't mentioned A-rank and B-rank missions, they might have believed him a little, since Obito did have some skill.

But A-rank missions were high-level missions that even chunin rarely got to participate in.

"Forget it, I can't be bothered to call him out. I'll find out when we graduate." Uchiha Tetsuka opened his mouth but ultimately chose not to point out the inconsistency in Obito's words. He went back to his seat to prepare for the exam.

Exposing the lie would require painstaking explanations, and some might still not believe him, thinking he was jealous—it would be an ungrateful task.

Being deceived only meant they weren't good enough; if they had the strength to participate in the internship, they wouldn't have been fooled by such an outrageous lie.

"The scenery in the Country of Rivers is very different from ours in the Country of Fire. There's a vast desert stretching as far as the eye can see, nothing but sand, with no green trees to be seen..." Then Obito went on and on about the sights he'd seen on missions.

Feeling the envious and shocked gazes of the others, Obito was utterly thrilled inside.

Only when the proctor entered the classroom did Obito stop, reluctantly walked to his seat, and prepared for the exam.

When the test paper was handed out, Obito no longer had the heroic confidence he'd shown while telling stories; just seeing the black characters on white paper made his head spin.

After working on the problems for a while, Obito couldn't help looking around, and then he spotted Might Guy writing furiously.

"Oh no, was Guy studying the whole time just now?" Obito recalled that his teammate hadn't spoken at all.

Thinking this, Obito focused on answering the questions. After the results were announced, their mission records would surely shock everyone, and then whichever of him and Might Guy had the lower test score would be the embarrassed one.

At noon, many interns gathered to discuss their internship experiences. When Obito saw this, he joined them together with Might Guy.

"A ninja's life isn't easy. It feels way more tiring than school—either it's odd jobs or training." Shiranui Genma sighed.

"True, I heard that newly graduated genin can only do odd jobs. I wonder how long that lasts." A nearby intern nodded in agreement.

"It's not so bad. I actually think the internship is pretty great." Obito said with a grin.

"Of course you think it's great—your supervising teacher is Muyue-sensei." Shiranui Genma couldn't help but nudge Obito with his fist and laugh.

"So Muyue-sensei is also in charge of supervising interns? Obito, you're really lucky." The interns looked at Obito with envy.

Except for Hyuga Himen, all the other interns had attended Muyue's summer training, and they knew how comfortable it was to be taught by Muyue—a completely different experience from other teachers.

"Because Obito is ranked first in the grade." Ebisu thought it wasn't luck; Obito was from the prestigious Uchiha clan and ranked first, so he was naturally taught by the best teacher.

"That makes sense. That explains why Guy is interning with you." Shiranui Genma nodded in agreement. Ever since the final exam of the first semester of fourth grade, it had basically been Might Guy and Obito competing for first place.

"By the way, who's your third teammate? Hyuga Himen?" Shiranui Genma asked curiously. Hyuga Himen wasn't there.

In terms of strength, he thought Hyuga Himen was the most qualified to be the third member; not only did Hyuga Himen achieve first place in the practical exam in fourth grade, but he had also consistently held first place during second and third grade.

Obito and Might Guy both shook their heads.

"Eh, not Hyuga Himen? Then who?" Shiranui Genma grew even more curious.

The other students looked at Obito and the others curiously, wondering in their hearts which lucky person had joined this internship team that was packed with talent.

Might Guy gave a name none of them had expected.

"It's Kakashi." Might Guy answered truthfully.

"Huh? How is it Kakashi? Didn't he graduate long ago? We were still in second grade when he became a chunin." Shiranui Genma never expected Kakashi's name to come out of Might Guy's mouth.

He had thought Obito's teammates would be top students like Hyuga Himen, Uchiha Tekka, or Shizune—turns out none of them were even academy students.

"Right, isn't this an internship? Why are you teamed with an actual ninja?" The nearby students were also extremely surprised.

The name Kakashi wasn't unfamiliar to them; after all, Kakashi had once been in the same grade as them. Even if they'd never spoken to him, they'd heard of his genius exploits.

"No idea. Maybe this is the bond between my rival and me!" Might Guy flashed his shiny white teeth, gave a thumbs up, and said with a grin.

Shiranui Genma:...

Then Shiranui Genma looked at Obito, who nodded in confirmation. He didn't know the details, but Kakashi, already a chunin, had indeed become their internship teammate.

"That's an amazing lineup! Muyue-sensei is a tokubetsu jonin, plus you've got Kakashi as a chunin, and you two are top of your grade. It feels like even doing odd jobs would be beneath you." A student exclaimed in admiration.

"You guessed it. The Hokage saw how strong we were and specially allowed us to take C-rank missions." Obito said with a grin.

Hearing this, the other students grew even more envious, and no one questioned Obito's words.

If it were a chunin teacher with a few ordinary interns being specially allowed by the Hokage, it would sound a bit fake, but Obito's team was too luxurious.

The teacher was a tokubetsu jonin, the teammate was a genius chunin, and Might Guy and Obito had both proven their strength by defeating regular genin during summer training.

"With treatment like yours, I feel like my internship is fake." Shiranui Genma thought about his own past two months and couldn't help sighing. It's true—comparing people drives you crazy.

"Hurry up and tell us what the C-rank missions were like. What kind of enemies did you face?"

"C-rank missions are just okay—either escorting a client or hunting wild beasts or bandits." Obito tried to suppress his rising smile and put on a calm expression.

Faced with Kakashi, he was a newbie, but faced with the school's interns, he was an experienced mission specialist.

"As for enemies, it depends on luck. If we're unlucky, we might run into ninja enemies. Usually if there's a jonin, the mission gets upgraded to A-rank; if there are only chunin, it's generally B-rank. Our luck seems kind of bad — we encountered jonin enemies twice."

"What? You ran into jonin during your missions? Twice!" The surrounding students showed extremely astonished expressions, and some even looked at Obito with a hint of doubt.

Even as students, they knew how valuable a jonin was. This was easy to understand because jonin were rarely seen at the Ninja Academy. Although Muyue and they themselves had quite a bit of contact with them, Muyue was actually not a full jonin — he was a tokubetsu jonin, one rank lower.

If they came from a ninja family or a clan, they would understand the value of a jonin even more. Even among powerful ninja clans, there generally weren't many jonin.

"You encountered jonin enemies and still lived — no, wait, you still managed to complete the mission and come back? Teacher Muyue is only a tokubetsu jonin." An intern looked at Obito with a skeptical expression.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Obito's character, but what Obito said was simply too exaggerated.

"Jonin are indeed strong, but that strength isn't impossible to surpass. If you fight hard enough, you can still defeat them!" Might Guy said with a grin, showing his big white teeth.

The memory of the three of them joining forces to defeat a jonin was still deeply etched in his mind. That time, Might Guy truly felt like he was facing death. Even with the Second Gate plus total concentration breathing, they were no match — they had to combine forces with Obito, who had activated his Sharingan.

"Ninja ranks don't represent real strength. I haven't even graduated yet, but I've still beaten regular ninja. And Teacher Muyue, though he's a tokubetsu jonin, ordinary jonin are no match for him." Obito argued back seriously.

"If it's Teacher Muyue, he might just be able to do it." Genma Shiranui chose to believe that Muyue had the strength to defeat a jonin.

"That's different. A genuine jonin is really strong. I like Teacher Muyue too, but this is really hard to believe." The student who had just questioned explained.

Both of his parents were ninja, and both were chunin, so he knew how hard it was to become a jonin. You need strong all-around abilities, and you also need accomplishments.

Obito wanted to explain in detail, but the warning bell rang, so he said:

"If you want to know if it's true, just check the results in a few days. Both me and Gai will have records of completing two A-rank missions, and both times we ran into jonin."

After saying that, Obito and Might Guy quickly hurried back to the classroom.

Seeing Obito speak so confidently, the questioning student began to waver a little.

When exam results were announced, the number of missions completed by interns would also be made public — he knew this because the instructor used it to encourage them to do more missions.

"No way. If Teacher Muyue was really that strong, he shouldn't be teaching at the Ninja Academy." After making a reasonable guess, his heart relaxed again, thinking he wouldn't be proven wrong.

He thought that Muyue's strength lay in teaching, not in combat, otherwise he wouldn't have become a tokubetsu jonin at the Ninja Academy.