"Izumo, good morning."
Early in the morning, on the way to the Ninja Academy, Hagane Kotetsu greeted Kamizuki Izumo after running into him.
"Yeah, good morning," Izumo replied.
Kotetsu casually hooked his arm around Izumo's neck in a playful headlock before letting go with a grin.
"Why do you look so tired?"
Izumo sighed.
"Kotetsu, did you forget? Today is the day the exam results come out."
"Oh right…" Kotetsu suddenly remembered that Teacher Makoto had mentioned it yesterday.
"Did you mess up the exam?"
"Yeah… I feel like my score might be pretty low," Izumo said, tilting his head at a forty-five-degree angle toward the sky, looking slightly melancholic.
"It's fine," Kotetsu said, patting him on the shoulder.
"I didn't do well either. My score is probably going to be about the same as yours."
The two walked toward the Ninja Academy together.
Near the school gate, they happened to run into Mitarashi Anko.
"Izumo, Kotetsu—good morning!" Anko greeted them cheerfully.
"Morning, Anko," the two replied.
"Why do you guys look so down? Did you have a nightmare last night?" Anko asked curiously.
"No," Kotetsu sighed.
"It's because today the results are being posted. We both feel like we didn't do well."
"Hehe, really?" Anko laughed proudly.
"I think I did pretty well this time. Maybe my score will be really high."
"Then I can ask Teacher Hosokawa for another reward."
Even though she hadn't seen the results yet, Anko already felt like celebrating with champagne.
After all, Kotetsu and Izumo usually had excellent theory scores.
If she had done even better than them this time—
Wouldn't that mean she had an amazing score?
"I'm so jealous of you, Anko," Izumo said.
"You got second place in the combat exam, and your theory score is good too."
Hearing the compliment made Anko puff up even more. She walked with exaggerated swagger, looking like the leader of the group.
Soon, the trio encountered Shisui Uchiha and some of their classmates near the entrance.
"Shisui, how did you do?" Anko asked curiously.
"Just average," Shisui replied calmly.
Hearing that made Anko even more excited about her own score.
If Shisui only did average… could I actually get first place?
"First might be a bit unrealistic," she thought.
"But maybe top five?"
Normally her test results were only around the middle of the class.
When they arrived at the notice board, it was already surrounded by a crowd of students.
Discussions about scores filled the air.
"Class 1's scores are ridiculously high! There are so many 70s and 80s!"
"There's even a perfect score, and it belongs to the student who got first in the combat exam. That's terrifying."
"No wonder—it's the class taught by Teacher Makoto…"
"Excuse me—coming through!" Anko shouted.
Too eager to see her score, she didn't pay attention to the surrounding conversations.
She pushed through the crowd with Kotetsu and Izumo until they reached the Class 2 results sheet.
"Eighty points! Yes!"
Anko immediately spotted her name and score.
She cheered loudly.
But soon she noticed something strange.
The ranking didn't seem right.
"Kotetsu, Izumo—did you find your scores yet?" she asked quickly.
"Yeah," Kotetsu nodded.
"Ninety-two."
"H-how much?" Anko asked, thinking she had misheard.
"Ninety-two."
Anko slapped Kotetsu's shoulder hard.
Her brown-gray eyes widened in disbelief.
"What the hell?!"
"You call that not doing well?!"
Kotetsu scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Just lucky. I thought I'd done worse, but it turned out alright."
"Then what about you, Izumo?" Kotetsu asked.
"Ninety-seven," Izumo replied with a gentle smile.
"H-how much?!" Kotetsu exclaimed.
"Ninety-seven."
This time Kotetsu heard it clearly.
The smile slowly disappeared from his face.
Meanwhile, Izumo's smile grew wider.
"I even comforted you this morning," Kotetsu complained.
"You almost got a perfect score!"
He immediately locked Izumo's neck in a headlock and dragged him away.
Seeing this familiar scene, Anko immediately joined the chaos.
Every now and then she secretly punched Kotetsu too.
These two were too hateful.
They scored so high yet pretended to do badly, tricking her emotions.
Meanwhile…
System notifications appeared in Makoto's mind.
[After one month of diligent study, disciple Shisui Uchiha achieved perfect results in the academic evaluation.]
[Reward obtained: +300 Chakra, Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll.]
[Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll: Raises any mastered ninjutsu to the Proficient level.]
[After one month of diligent study, disciple Obito Uchiha achieved good results in the academic evaluation.]
[Reward obtained: +150 Chakra.]
[After one month of diligent study, disciple Might Guy achieved good results in the academic evaluation.]
[Reward obtained: +150 Chakra.]
Just as Makoto had predicted—
Exams really did provide rewards.
And the rewards were far richer than normal teaching rewards.
He could lecture himself hoarse for three days and still not earn 600 chakra.
Even a B-rank teaching evaluation only gave him 20 chakra.
That was partly because Obito and Guy's theory scores were poor, and neither had taken first place in combat.
Otherwise, the rewards would have been even better.
Makoto suddenly had a dangerous thought:
What if the academy held more exams?
Normally the Ninja Academy only held two exams per semester.
If they held ten exams per semester, he might become unbelievably powerful.
But the thought disappeared as quickly as it came.
Even if he suggested it, the system probably wouldn't reward it.
After all, the practice tests he occasionally held in class technically counted as exams too—and the system had never rewarded him for those.
Besides, the academy would never accept such a suggestion.
Ten exams per semester?
Not only the students—the teachers would collapse from exhaustion.
After thinking for a moment, Makoto decided to use the Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll.
There were three semesters per year, with two exams each semester.
That meant he could obtain six scrolls per year at minimum.
Since more would come later anyway, he might as well strengthen himself now in case of unexpected dangers.
Makoto used the scroll on Water Release: Water Severing Wave.
Instantly, countless memories of practicing the technique flooded his mind—along with various techniques and insights.
Although Makoto had already mastered many jutsu, the one he considered most powerful was still Water Release: Water Severing Wave.
At noon in the teachers' office, Makoto became the center of attention.
"Teacher Hosokawa , how exactly do you teach?" Kimura Sugito asked.
"Your students' theory scores are outrageous. The average is dozens of points higher than other classes."
"Yeah," Iketani Isamu added.
"Do you have any teaching tricks? My two students barely passed this time, and they might not pass next time."
Obito and Guy had shocked him.
Not only did they take first and second place in combat, but they even passed the theory exam.
Just as Makoto was about to respond—
A teacher walked into the office.
"Teacher Hosokawa , the principal wants to see you."
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