Chapter 39:
A week had passed since the Three-Way Conference ended, and it was now the day after the written portion of the ninja academy graduation exam.
In the woods on the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf Village, the academy students had gathered. With no teachers supervising them, the students clustered into small groups, chatting among themselves.
"Everyone seems pretty calm, huh."
Shino's voice suddenly cut through the chatter. Standing on a nearby tree branch were Aburame Shino on the left, Konohamaru on the right, and Mitarashi Anko in the center.
The three of them instantly appeared before the examinees, intentionally showing off their jōnin-level body flicker speed, which drew gasps of amazement from the academy students.
"The graduation exam is divided into two parts: the written portion, which tests a ninja's information-gathering ability, and the practical portion, which evaluates combat skills."
"Next, I'll explain the rules for the practical exam."
"First, everyone put on this white headband in my left hand. From now on, this headband represents your life. If it's taken, that means you're dead—and you're out of the exam."
"The test will be conducted in a real combat format, taking place in this entire forest. You'll be examined here over a 24-hour period. Your opponents will be the three of us."
"The targets on our chests serve the same function as your headbands. If they're touched, a red light will go off, signaling that we've been defeated."
Though Shino was explaining the exam rules, in truth, he was just stalling for Kakashi, who was late as usual.
Time changed many things, but not Kakashi's habit of being late.
"So the examiners are just teachers, huh? If it's Shino-sensei, then there's really nothing to worry about."
During the entrance exam, this very group of students had once defeated Shino, leading them to never take him seriously since.
"Hey, Boruto, even if we don't need to worry about Shino-sensei, we should still be cautious of Konohamaru-sensei and Anko-sensei."
Sarada held the same opinion as Boruto.
"Is that so? Well, whatever. It's nothing to worry about. Honestly, we should just get rid of these annoying headbands and targets and fight normally."
Boruto wore a smug expression—like every kid at that age, he hadn't yet been humbled by experience.
"If we did that, it'd be hard to control how hard we hit."
A figure emerged from the forest—it was none other than the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi, who had finally arrived.
"Sixth Hokage!"
"Uncle Kakashi!"
Only Boruto seemed totally out of place with the group's excited reaction.
"Yo, Boruto."
Boruto ran up to Kakashi. While the others were visibly respectful of the Sixth Hokage, Boruto couldn't care less. After all, his dad was the Hokage, and his granddad had been one too—his whole family were Hokage.
"At least call me Sixth Hokage in front of everyone."
Boruto wasn't sure why Kakashi said that, but he played along. "Why are you here, Uncle Sixth?"
"Because I'm one of your examiners."
Everyone reacted differently to this—surprise, excitement, vanity, resignation...
"A jōnin at twelve years old... the Leaf's number-one prodigy... the man who restored order after the last Shinobi World War... now he's our examiner? What a pain..."
Shikadai scratched his head, feeling nothing but a headache coming on.
"By the way, my test is a bit different from Anko's, Shino's, and Konohamaru's. Only the person who manages to take this bell from me will be deemed qualified."
Kakashi pulled out a single bell from his pocket.
"But there's only one bell?"
Boruto looked at the bell in confusion. One bell seemed far too few.
"Yep. Because only one of you can graduate. For this test, you're not just teammates fighting together against Shino, Anko, and Konohamaru. You're also rivals, competing for the sole graduation slot."
"I've heard about you all—known as the problem-child group. That's why I'm the examiner. Can't let troublemakers become ninja and tarnish the name of the Hidden Leaf."
"So this time, I'll eliminate every last one of you troublemakers."
"Let's see if any of you are even worthy of becoming ninja."
"And to answer Boruto's earlier question about why we don't get rid of the headbands and targets—that's because they help determine the outcome. Accidentally killing one of you would be such a hassle."
Kakashi's tone was cold, hands in his pockets—looking as cool and aloof as ever.
"Only one person gets to graduate? Are you kidding me?"
Only Boruto would dare talk to the Sixth Hokage like that.
"If you don't like it, you're free to quit. But that also means you fail."
"Nowadays, the ninja world doesn't really need that many ninja. So it's fine even if no one passes."
Kakashi nonchalantly tossed the bell up and down, unfazed by Boruto's rudeness.
"That's so unfair!"
Boruto glared at Kakashi. It was the first time in his life someone had made things this difficult for him.
"Unfair? In real combat, you never know what cruel reality you might face. And don't forget, in a ninja's world, death is always lurking."
Konohamaru dropped the big-brother act and fully embraced his role as the villain, showing no mercy despite having watched Boruto grow up.
"We'll be acting as Kakashi's guards. If you want to get near him, you'll have to get through us first. Don't think you'll pass easily this time."
Anko said the same, standing united with Kakashi, Shino, and Konohamaru—all now playing the villains.
"Exactly. We're not going easy on you. So attack us like you mean to kill us."
"Show me your resolve."
"Now, let me declare the exam official—"
Before Kakashi could finish, Boruto suddenly pulled out a kunai and hurled it at him. "No need for all that—ninjas don't wait for the enemy to give orders!"
Kakashi didn't seem to react, and Boruto's kunai struck him square in the chest—only for the figure to explode into a puff of smoke, revealing a log in his place.
"Substitution Jutsu! When did he pull that off?"
Sarada activated her single-tomoe Sharingan, eyes wide.
Even though the Sharingan was powerful, with only one tomoe it was still limited—tracking Kakashi's movements was impossible at her level.
Substitution Jutsu was a basic space-time ninjutsu, mainly used to swap oneself with a prepared decoy.
It had several limitations: the decoy couldn't be too far away, it couldn't be a living thing, and it still required hand seals, despite what some might think.
That said, since Substitution Jutsu was one of the three basic ninja techniques, the hand signs weren't particularly complex. Experienced shinobi often hid or minimized the movements of their seals.
Just like how Uchiha Itachi could cast Genjutsu with a flick of his fingers, it wasn't unreasonable to pull off a Substitution Jutsu the same way.
"Both father and son are hotheads. Whatever. Let's just consider the exam started."
Only then did everyone notice Kakashi's real body standing deep within the forest. He turned his back on the group, took a few steps—and then vanished in a flash.
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