It wasn't even nine in the morning yet.
The students of the Advanced Class were already all there.
They'd been arranged in an area right next to Sarutobi Asuma and the others.
"There are actually real jōnin here?"
Tenten looked around the field and was stunned.
Just yesterday she'd been saying there was no way there'd be any jōnin. Now she realized not only were there jōnin, there were quite a few of them.
"There are jōnin and chūnin," Nara Shikamaru said, trying to calm her down. "Kitazawa-sensei will definitely assign opponents based on our level. You don't have to worry too much."
"Stuff like jōnin has nothing to do with us anyway," Akimichi Chōji said, very self-aware.
"Youth is all about challenging the strong!" Rock Lee gave a thumbs-up, eyes shining.
"Even Uncle Asuma showed up?"
Yamanaka Ino spotted Sarutobi Asuma and couldn't help looking surprised.
"How strong is Uncle Asuma? Is he really amazing?" Uzumaki Naruto asked curiously.
They'd had a group meal once where Kitazawa invited Sarutobi Hiruzen. Hiruzen had brought Asuma and Konohamaru along, so they technically knew each other.
But knowing someone was one thing; none of them actually knew how strong Asuma was.
"He's a jōnin," Yamanaka Ino replied. "I heard his Fire Style and Wind Style are both really strong."
"Well, he is Grandpa Third's son," Naruto said, full of expectation. "I hope he's my opponent."
"For you, that's not guaranteed," Inuzuka Kiba said, shaking his head. "I also saw Uchiha jōnin and Hyūga jōnin."
"There are two Uchiha jōnin," Uchiha Sasuke said, frowning. "Both of them have three-tomoe Sharingan."
He had a feeling his opponent would be one of Uchiha Tekka or Uchiha Inabi.
They all had three-tomoe Sharingan, but those two were older and had way more experience.
If he wanted to beat them, it would be very difficult.
"How are we supposed to fight that?" Tenten couldn't help complaining.
Hyūga Neji gave the tiniest nod.
Even with the Lifefeather Bow Kitazawa had given him, beating a jōnin wouldn't be easy.
"Isn't Kitazawa-sensei overestimating us a bit?" Haruno Sakura asked, unable to hold it in.
She did think they were strong—geniuses among geniuses—but having them spar with jōnin still felt way too unreasonable.
"Winning or losing isn't the point," Aburame Shino said, pushing up his glasses. "What matters is how we perform."
"Shino's right," Kiba agreed. "If you can win, then win. If you can't, just do your best."
He was usually pretty confident, but facing full-fledged shinobi, even he knew how to be realistic.
"How can you talk yourselves down like that?" Tayuya snorted. "We'll just show them how terrifying the Advanced Class really is."
"Sounds like you've fully integrated into our Advanced Class," Ino said with a smile, noticing the change in her.
"That's not what I meant!" Tayuya denied it on reflex.
Everyone already understood her personality, so they all gave her a "yeah, yeah, we get it" look.
Seeing their expressions, Tayuya opened her mouth, then closed it again, not sure what to say. In the end, she just flushed red with frustration.
On both sides of the training field sat the audience for today's live combat exam.
On the left were the teachers of the Advanced Class and the remaining students.
On the right were the guests Kitazawa had invited. There weren't many of them, but every one was a heavyweight jōnin:
Tsunade, Shizune, Uchiha Itachi, Hyūga Hiashi, Uchiha Fugaku, Nara Shikaku, and the others.
All together, the audience was just over forty people—not a huge crowd, but more than enough to spread the results of this exam throughout the village.
The referee for this practical exam was not Kitazawa, but Iruka Umino.
First, because the matchups had already been decided in advance. There was no need for drawing lots, and no room for shady manipulation.
Second, because Kitazawa was sitting next to Tsunade.
"You really do have a lot of faith in them, arranging this many jōnin as opponents," Tsunade said, glancing at Asuma and the others.
"You know what they're capable of. They're not weak," Kitazawa replied with a smile.
"Their age is still an issue," Tsunade said after thinking about it.
"Age isn't the problem. Experience is," Kitazawa corrected.
"That's true," Tsunade nodded slightly. "So how many matches do you think they can win?"
"Ten," Kitazawa said.
"You're sure?" Tsunade looked genuinely surprised. "From where I'm sitting, winning five matches would already be very impressive."
Just like Kitazawa had said, experience was the biggest problem.
These full-fledged shinobi had been through plenty of missions and real battles, and their experience ran deep.
Even if the raw strength was equal, their odds of winning were better.
"Want to bet on it?" Kitazawa blinked. "If you win, I'll go to the Konoha casino with you this afternoon and you can use my money however you want."
"Deal!" Tsunade agreed without hesitation.
"You're not even going to ask what happens if you lose?" Kitazawa said, half amused, half helpless.
"I'm not going to lose," Tsunade snorted.
Kitazawa's lips twitched.
With how you lose every time you gamble, how are you this confident?
Nine o'clock finally came.
Iruka took a deep breath and walked to the center of the field.
Dozens of eyes fixed on him at once, making him a little nervous.
Luckily, he'd acted as referee several times already, so he quickly settled down.
"The Advanced Class's end-of-term practical exam now begins!" Iruka shouted. "First match: Haku versus Hyūga Natsu!"
A short-haired girl with pale eyes walked out onto the field.
In the original story, Hyūga Natsu was Hyūga Hanabi's maid, responsible for looking after her when she was young.
Haku looked at her and thought of Hyūga Hinata and Hyūga Neji.
He couldn't help wondering whose Gentle Fist was stronger.
But he'd watched plenty of Hinata and Neji's fights and knew that when facing the Hyūga clan, it was best not to let them get close.
"Has Haku learned Ice Release yet?" Tsunade's gaze fell on Haku.
"He's learned two Ice Release techniques," Kitazawa replied.
"Two? That's not bad." Tsunade raised her brows in mild surprise.
Because it was the first match, quite a few people in the audience leaned forward, interested.
"Haku? Which ninja clan is he from?" Akimichi Chōza asked curiously. "Why is he going up against a Hyūga right away?"
Everyone knew that most bloodline limit users were naturally stronger than ordinary ninja.
And Byakugan was among the top-tier bloodline limits.
Even though Hyūga Natsu was only a genin, the fact that she had the Byakugan made her more than enough to deal with weaker chūnin.
As for Haku, he'd never shown Ice Release before, and only a handful of people—Kitazawa, Tsunade, and a few others—knew his background.
"Never heard of him," Aburame Shibi said, glancing around. "He probably isn't from a major ninja clan."
"Then he's probably going to lose to Hyūga Natsu," Inuzuka Tsume said bluntly.
She was Kiba and Hana's mother, and she'd always been straightforward.
"Not necessarily," Hyūga Hiashi said, shaking his head. "From what I know of Kitazawa, he wouldn't arrange a completely one-sided match."
Uchiha Fugaku instinctively glanced at him.
Since when did you get so familiar with Kitazawa? And you're not backing your own Hyūga clan here?
The other ninja also found it strange.
Those weren't the kind of words they expected from Hyūga Hiashi.
Their impression of him had always been stiff, strict, and conservative.
"Begin!" Iruka's voice pulled everyone's attention back to the field.
Byakugan!
Hyūga Natsu's eyes widened, veins bulging around them.
She immediately used the Body Flicker Technique and charged straight at Haku.
Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!
Haku raised both hands, and a massive wall of ice surged up in front of him.
Hyūga Natsu's pupils shrank. She instantly stopped herself to avoid crashing into it.
Most of the audience looked stunned.
Konoha had never had an Ice Release user before. The only rumors of Ice Release had come from Kirigakure.
What was going on?
Did Kitazawa kidnap an Ice Release ninja from the Mist and bring him back?
The reason they jumped to that conclusion was simple—Haku was too young to have "developed" Ice Release by himself. That meant this had to be a bloodline.
On the field, Hyūga Natsu quickly changed tactics.
She didn't try to brute-force the ice wall. Instead, she kicked off the wall and sprinted up along it.
But before she could steady herself, she saw Haku flick both hands, sending six shuriken spinning toward her.
Natsu frowned and leapt back immediately. All six shuriken missed.
Right then, a cracking sound echoed.
Natsu looked at the ice wall, which was now webbed with fractures, and froze for a moment.
What's going on?
Is his Ice Release that unstable?
Ice Release: Blasting Ice Crystals!
At the same time, Haku completed his second Ice Release jutsu.
The ice wall exploded, shards of ice blasting outward like razor blades.
Natsu's face went pale. There were too many shards; even with the Byakugan, she couldn't track them all.
A second later, a wall of earth surged up in front of her.
Three dog heads were sculpted on its surface.
Countless ice shards slammed into the earth wall, making it tremble violently.
But no matter how much it shook, it didn't break. It blocked every last shard.
"The winner: Haku," Iruka announced.
If Kakashi Hatake hadn't intervened at the last second, Natsu would've been seriously injured by the Ice Release: Blasting Ice Crystals.
Natsu understood that too, so she didn't protest.
"Haku's already that strong?" Kiba said, eyes wide with shock.
Before this, Haku had only known the Three Basic Techniques and Leaf-Style taijutsu. At best, he'd ranked around eighteenth in the Advanced Class.
Now, it was obvious he was nowhere near just "eighteenth" anymore.
"Ice Release is still a bloodline limit," Sakura said, face serious.
"What a drag…" Shikamaru rubbed his temple, feeling a headache coming on.
The competition in the Advanced Class was already intense. Now they had another monster like Haku in the mix.
"He can use Ice Release?" Tayuya unconsciously clenched her fists.
Was her ranking going to drop again?
No. No way.
Right now, Haku still wasn't a threat to her standing—but in the future, who knew?
Tayuya bit her lip.
If it really came to that, she'd just have to ask Kitazawa for help.
Her Demonic Flute: Phantom Sound Chains was almost fully mastered, after all.
Kimimaro, Sasuke, Neji and the others were surprised too, but not overly so.
They were confident that even with Ice Release, Haku still wouldn't be able to overtake them.
"That Ice Release was so cool!" Naruto's thoughts were completely different from theirs, eyes sparkling.
"Second match: Jūgo versus Kamizuki Izumo!" Iruka called out as he glanced at the match list.
"Already?" Izumo blinked in surprise when he heard his name.
"You're a squad leader in the Curse Seal Unit, at least try to look fired up," Hagane Kotetsu joked.
"I heard your whole Curse Seal Unit got some kind of mark that boosts your power," Asuma said with interest. "Did Kitazawa say you're allowed to use it in this exam?"
"Kitazawa-sama didn't say anything," Izumo said, freezing for a moment as he actually thought about it. "If he didn't say, does that mean I can?"
"I'd take it that way," Asuma said, stroking his chin. "I've never seen it in action either. Use it—I want to see."
"If I can't beat him as I am, I'll use it," Izumo decided.
With that, he walked onto the field and took his place opposite Jūgo.
He studied him for a moment and didn't see anything special.
"Begin!" Iruka announced.
Jūgo didn't hesitate and immediately activated the Eightfold Cursed Seal of Earth.
In his normal state, he was at best genin level. There was no way he could defeat a chūnin like Izumo head-on.
His only hope of victory was the Eightfold Cursed Seal of Earth.
Jūgo's body transformed in an instant.
His skin turned pitch black, claws sprouted from his hands, and strange cylindrical protrusions emerged from his back.
He released the first six layers of restriction in one go and jumped straight into Cursed Seal of Earth, Stage Two.
Izumo felt that wild, violent chakra and his breath caught in his throat.
Without a word, he also activated the Eightfold Cursed Seal of Earth.
Once his curse mark kicked in, his chakra surpassed his normal limits.
His skin blackened, claws formed, and his hair spiked straight up.
Izumo drew a large blade shaped like an oversized kunai from his back.
Their sudden transformations drew gasps from the audience.
But these were all high-ranking Konoha shinobi. They already knew about the existence of the Curse Seal Unit.
This was just their first time seeing a curse seal with their own eyes.
Jūgo was briefly startled by Izumo's transformation, but shook it off almost immediately.
Piston Fist!
He lunged forward in a blur and slammed his arm down like a hammer.
Clang!
Izumo's blade intercepted Jūgo's arm.
The sheer force of the impact shoved both of them back several steps.
But Jūgo was pushed back two steps more.
Because of the difference in age and physical development, he still lost out in raw strength.
"Come on then!" Izumo charged in, swinging his blade.
The two of them crashed into each other in a pure taijutsu brawl.
Jūgo had no weapon, but his arms were tough enough to block that huge blade head-on.
"The power boost from that curse mark really is impressive," Akimichi Chōza said, unable to hold back his comment.
He knew Izumo's strength very well: just a decent chūnin.
But with the Cursed Seal of Earth, his strength was already approaching that of a tokubetsu jōnin.
"The improvement is limited," Fugaku said, shaking his head. "For jōnin, it's basically useless."
"For jōnin, sure," Hiashi agreed. "It doesn't change much."
"There aren't that many jōnin to begin with," Shikaku said thoughtfully. "Just raising the average power of chūnin and special jōnin is already extremely valuable."
Everyone nodded slightly.
That logic was hard to argue with.
"It's just a bit ugly," Tsunade added, shaking her head.
"Their looks are only temporarily ruined," Kitazawa said with a laugh. "Once the fight ends, they'll go back to normal."
"Mm." Tsunade watched for a while and then chuckled. "Looks like your student's going to lose this one. Our bet might end in a tie after all."
Right after she spoke, Izumo once again forced Jūgo back.
But this time he didn't chase.
Instead, he flashed through a string of hand seals.
Water Style: Starch Syrup Capturing Field!
Izumo spat out a stream of water.
Jūgo had just found his footing when the water wrapped around him, turning into sticky ropes that bound him tight.
He strained with all his might, trying to break the ropes, but it was too late.
Izumo used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing right in front of him and resting his blade on Jūgo's neck.
"The winner: Kamizuki Izumo," Iruka declared.
"Our bet's just getting started," Kitazawa said calmly when Tsunade's prediction came true. He didn't look bothered at all.
Tsunade's curse of always losing at gambling wasn't going to suddenly disappear in front of him.
And more importantly, he'd already made certain arrangements to complete his system mission.
"When this exam is over, have the Anbu notify everyone not to leak any information about the Curse Seal Unit," Tsunade suddenly said, as if something had just occurred to her.
"I understand," Kitazawa nodded.
Revealing the Cursed Seal of Earth itself wasn't a big deal; only two or three people were using it at the moment.
Even if other villages heard about it, they wouldn't immediately connect it to an entire Curse Seal Unit.
After all, under normal circumstances, this kind of power-boosting technique either had brutal side effects or an extremely low success rate.
No one would imagine that Konoha now had two creator-type ninja: Orochimaru and Kitazawa.
"When did Jūgo get a curse mark like Kimimaro's?" Kiba scratched his head, feeling pressure.
Just like Haku, Jūgo had barely managed to rank seventeenth in the Advanced Class before.
Now it was a completely different story—his strength was pretty much on par with theirs.
"You've got it backwards. Jūgo is actually the first true curse mark user," Tayuya said smugly, arms crossed.
"He was the first?" Ino's face showed pure surprise.
"Then why didn't he use it before?" Tenten asked, confused.
"His curse mark used to be unstable. It was easy for him to lose control," Tayuya explained. "Kitazawa-sensei improved it, so now he can use the Cursed Seal of Earth freely."
"So that's how it is." Tenten nodded.
"Kitazawa-sensei is amazing," Hinata murmured, unable to help herself.
Tayuya clicked her tongue but couldn't find anything to argue with.
"This end-of-term ranking is going to change a lot," Shikamaru sighed.
Of course, he meant the rankings from eighth to eighteenth.
The top seven? Jūgo and Haku still weren't a threat to them—at least not yet.
"Everyone's getting stronger. I can feel this insanely intense youthful energy!" Naruto clenched his fists, practically vibrating with excitement.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 100 Chapters Ahead of Others!