[You gave your disciple a Taijutsu Training Manual. The disciple was so grateful that a critical reward was triggered: Water-Style Chakra Nature Transformation Mastery acquired.]
[Disciple's Trust Level with you increased. Current Trust Level: 3.]
"Not bad luck," Auron smiled, feeling the new knowledge settle into his mind.
The rewards received from teaching usually correspond to what the disciple is good at. For example, when teaching Shisui or Obito, Fire-Style techniques are common. With Guy, it's usually Taijutsu. But there are occasional surprises with unrelated rewards.
Compared to mastery of a single Taijutsu move, mastering an entire Chakra nature like Water-Style is far more valuable. Auron was quite satisfied. With enough of these, he might even develop a Kekkei Genkai on his own one day.
As for the trust level increase, that was a pleasant bonus.
Auron mused that for high-quality gifts, it's best to plan their timing to evoke the strongest emotions—this tends to yield the best rewards.
For example, if he'd given the manual to Guy on an ordinary day, he might have only gotten a basic-level Taijutsu technique.
But by giving it right after Guy won first place—while letting him accidentally notice the stubborn ink stains on Auron's hands—then adding a bit of heartfelt encouragement, the impact was on a completely different level.
The ink reminded Guy of Auron's hard work, amplifying the emotional effect. The motivational words sealed the deal and triggered a critical reward.
"Once tomorrow's test is over, results should be out in a few days," Auron thought. He wondered if the system would reward him for student performance.
Logically, if students perform well, the teacher should get recognition.
The third day of exams passed quickly, as each class only sent two representatives. With just eight classes per grade in the academy, things moved fast.
Like the second day, students not taking the test weren't required to attend.
Still, quite a few students came to watch, curious about who would rank first among the fourth years.
"Am I seeing things? Isn't that Obito Uchiha? Why is he standing with the examinees?" someone asked.
"You didn't hear what happened in Class 2 yesterday?" another replied.
"No, I lost in the first round and just went home."
"Well, Obito got a lot stronger. He even beat Uchiha Tekka."
The students eagerly discussed the matchups, occasionally arguing about who was stronger.
Even those who had once criticized Obito and Guy now supported them as their class representatives.
"I think only Shisui can get first place this time," Auron mused after the first round. He doubted Obito or Guy would make it.
Hyuga Homon's Gentle Fist was solid, and with the advantage of the Byakugan, Guy would struggle—Obito even more so.
They simply hadn't trained with Auron long enough. Their strengths weren't strong enough yet, and they still had many weaknesses.
Time passed, and the final matches arrived: Obito vs. Hyuga Homon, Guy vs. a student from Class 3.
As expected, Obito couldn't even cast a jutsu before being overwhelmed by Gentle Fist.
Guy performed better but still lost. Homon's Byakugan saw through all his moves.
Obito looked dejected—he'd hoped to take first place but didn't even make the top two.
Auron passed by and said:
"Don't dwell on failure. Think about how much you've improved and keep pushing for the next goal."
Obito brightened. Just last semester, he was ranked 20th in class. Now he almost made top 2 in the entire grade.
He'd come a long way—first place was within reach!
Auron then approached Guy, who, surprisingly, also seemed downcast.
At first, Auron was confused. Given Guy's strong will, he shouldn't care about one defeat.
Then he realized it was because he had given Guy the Taijutsu manual the day before. Guy probably felt he had let Auron down.
"Failure is part of life—it doesn't define you," Auron said.
Guy trembled slightly. When it came to failure, he was an expert.
He had barely passed the entrance exam. He was destroyed in his challenge against Kakashi. Always dead last in class, nicknamed "the loser."
He was only eight, but had already failed many times.
Suddenly, he seemed to understand what his father, Might Duy, meant by "Youth never fades."
"I understand, Teacher Auron." Guy's gaze grew firm.
He wouldn't dwell on the loss. He would train harder and win next time—again and again—until he became the strongest.
Auron nodded with satisfaction and moved on to find Shisui.
Shisui was surrounded by students asking questions.
Seeing Auron, the students all greeted him.
"Teacher Auron, I got second place! Do I get a reward?" a cheerful girl asked.
Auron smiled, patted her head, and said, "How about some dango?"
"Yay! Teacher Auron is the best!" she cheered, instantly becoming his biggest fan.
"Shisui hasn't even asked for a reward yet, and you're already jumping the line," one of the boys teased. He wasn't really upset—just a bit jealous.
Auron laughed and waved the students away, then walked with Shisui to the shopping district.
"How did it feel?" Auron asked.
Shisui thought for a moment and said honestly:
"Honestly, it was easy. I didn't even have to go all out."
"Not surprising. With your skills, no one in fourth grade is your match—probably not even in the whole school," Auron praised.
"So... do you think I should graduate early?" Shisui asked, looking into Auron's unusually sky-blue eyes.
"Graduate early?"
"I heard some prodigies did that in the past when they felt the academy couldn't teach them anymore."
Auron shook his head.
"I don't recommend graduating in your first year. At the earliest, second or third."
"Your strength may be unmatched among your peers, but out in the real world, your enemies won't be your age—especially with war looming."
"If you feel the academy's classes are too basic, use a shadow clone to attend while your real body trains under my guidance."
Though Shisui had survived the Third Ninja War and earned the name "Shunshin Shisui" in the original story, the butterfly effect of Auron's presence changed things. Nothing was certain.
Auron wanted Shisui to stay in the academy and develop further. What's the point of graduating if you can't even instantly defeat a Chunin?
If it were Auron, he wouldn't even feel safe walking down Konoha's streets without Jonin-level strength.
Shisui's eyes lit up. That idea was brilliant.
Later, Auron bought a big batch of dango and returned to school. Before class, every student in Class 1 got a serving.
Of course, he gave the cheerful girl an extra serving—he had promised.
"Teacher Auron is the best!" she declared. Any more dango and she might've started the Church of Auron.
Other students also expressed their thanks, raising their already high opinion of Auron even more.
The academy worked fast—within two days, the test results were published, confirming Auron's suspicions.
"Morning, Izumo."
Walking to the academy, Kotetsu greeted Kamizuki Izumo.
"Morning," Izumo replied.
Kotetsu wrapped his arm around Izumo's neck playfully and laughed.
"You look totally drained."
Izumo sighed. "You forgot? Today's the day scores come out."
"Oh right. Did you do badly?"
"Yeah... I think my score's gonna be really low." Izumo looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, expression melancholy.
"No worries. I didn't do great either. We'll be in the same boat." Kotetsu patted his shoulder.
They walked to school together and soon ran into the cheerful girl.
"Morning, Izumo, Kotetsu!" she waved.
"Morning!" they replied.
"You guys look gloomy. Bad dreams?" she asked.
"No, it's test results day," Kotetsu sighed.
"We don't think we did well."
"Oh, is that all? I think I did great. Maybe even a top score!" she said, grinning.
"I can already taste the reward from Teacher Auron."
Though she hadn't seen her results yet, she was confident—especially since both Kotetsu and Izumo were usually good at theory, and she had outperformed them.
"Jealous of you, really. Second place in practical exams, and now maybe top of theory too," Izumo sighed