A cold female voice drifted from the examiners' seats, breaking the silence of the scene.
It was the other female examiner sitting next to Gekkō Hayate. She hadn't spoken until now, but at this moment, she delivered the final evaluation.
Her voice wasn't loud, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.
On the observation tower, Kurenai Yuhi slowly sat down, her chest heaving slightly. She took out a small notebook and, with a slightly trembling hand, wrote down a line of words:
"Uesugi Toru. Chakra control may have already transcended the existing system. Suggestion... immediately elevate to the highest observation level."
She knew very well that this youth named Uesugi Toru was no longer just a genius.
His existence might change the power structure of Konoha, and even the entire Ninja World.
Would this discovery bring a powerful guardian to Konoha, or... an uncontrollable, dangerous figure?
As soon as the "Excellent" evaluation was announced, the examination grounds erupted into a frenzy of discussion.
"Di-did you see that? That move just now!"
"How is that possible? Ebisu-sensei's attack... actually passed right through?"
"What kind of Ninjutsu was that? A Body Flicker Jutsu? But Body Flicker doesn't look like that..."
Parents and students whispered to each other, their faces filled with shock and doubt. They tried to use their knowledge of Ninja to explain what had just happened, but every guess was overturned by the facts before them.
Meanwhile, Uesugi Toru, at the center of the discussion, didn't care about any of it.
He simply bowed to the still-stunned Ebisu and the distant examiners' seats, his movements as standard as a textbook illustration. Then, under everyone's gaze, he turned and walked off the field, returning to the corner where he had been before.
He leaned against the wall again and closed his eyes, as if that match just now had been nothing more than an ordinary practice session to him.
[Combat data collection complete.]
['Substitution Jutsu - Modified', Version 1.0, test successful.]
[Energy consumption: 0.12 standard Chakra units, 1.7% of the traditional technique.]
[Reaction time: 0.008 seconds, 0.5% of the traditional technique.]
[Conclusion: Meets expectations, possesses basic combat value.]
The cold data stream of the Intellectual Brain flashed through his mind; this was the only thing he cared about. As for the noise outside and the opinions of others, they were just meaningless environmental noise.
The exam continued in a strange atmosphere, but everyone's minds were clearly no longer on the subsequent candidates. Even when Uzumaki Naruto, who appeared last, made a joke of himself because his Clone Jutsu failed, he couldn't pull everyone's attention back from Uesugi Toru.
Only when the graduation exam finally ended and Iruka announced the list of passing students and distributed Konoha Headbands did the atmosphere liven up. The youths cheered, tying the headbands around their foreheads and excitedly showing them to their families.
Uesugi Toru silently received his headband. He didn't put it on immediately, but just held it in his hand, feeling the coldness of the metal.
[Item Scan: Konoha Headband. Material: High-density alloy, flexible fiber. Function: Identity marker, possesses a certain degree of physical defense. No special energy reaction.]
He tucked the headband into his pocket, blended into the celebrating crowd, and quietly left.
He didn't know that after he left, a discussion about him had only just begun.
By the side of the examination grounds, several examiners responsible for different projects gathered together, their expressions very serious.
"What exactly was that?" a Chunin in charge of the Ninja tool throwing test spoke first, his tone full of disbelief. "That kind of evasion method... I've never heard of it."
"It's some kind of special Body Flicker Jutsu, right?" another guessed. "Maybe it's a type of Body Flicker that doesn't require hand seals, just like the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God... only more rudimentary."
Gekkō Hayate immediately refuted this guess.
He covered his mouth and coughed a few times before barely managing to say, "Cough... cough... impossible. Body Flicker Jutsu uses Chakra to make the body move at high speeds; there would definitely be Chakra flow and air friction. But he... cough... those two moves of his just now were as clean as a ghost's."
Ebisu finally came to his senses and murmured blankly, "It wasn't Body Flicker... it was more like... space... my fist really did pass through his body..."
"Space?" This word made the Chunin present all draw in a sharp breath.
"Could it be some undiscovered Space-Time Bloodline Limit? Did it awaken the moment he was about to be hit?"
This explanation seemed the most reasonable. The Ninja World was vast, and all sorts of strange things happened; while sudden awakenings of Bloodline Limits were rare, they weren't unheard of.
But Gekkō Hayate shook his head again. "Still not right. Even for a Space-Time Bloodline Limit, activation would require a massive amount of Chakra. But the Chakra consumption I felt... it was so small... it wasn't even enough to cast the simplest Clone Jutsu."
Everyone fell silent again.
Low consumption, no hand seals, no smoke, and an effect like spatial movement.
These points combined exceeded all of their knowledge.
Just then, a cold and steady female voice cut in.
"It's not a Bloodline, nor is it Body Flicker Jutsu."
Everyone turned around to see Kurenai Yuhi, who had descended from the observation tower at some point and walked up behind them. The aura of an Elite Jōnin she carried made the Chunin present subconsciously straighten their backs.
"Ku... Kurenai-senpai!"
Kurenai Yuhi ignored their greetings, her gaze sweeping over everyone as she gave her judgment, hitting the nail on the head:
"That was a near-perfect control over Chakra and timing."
"Control?" Ebisu asked, puzzled.
"Exactly." Kurenai Yuhi's eyes became incredibly sharp. "You're all thinking the wrong way, believing that powerful effects must rely on bloodlines or high-level Ninjutsu. But have you ever considered another possibility? What if you took a basic D-rank Ninjutsu, stripped away all unnecessary steps and consumption, and left only the most core function?"
Her words were like a key, instantly opening up everyone's minds.
"You mean... what he used was essentially still the Substitution Jutsu?" Gekkō Hayate asked in shock.
"Yes and no," Kurenai Yuhi said slowly. "What he used was the 'optimal solution' of the Substitution Jutsu. He omitted the hand seals we are used to, omitted the smoke and log decoys, and put all the Chakra into the single core function of'spatial exchange'. Because his calculations and control were precise to the extreme, the consumption was that small, and the effect was that amazing."
She paused, delivering a conclusion that sent chills down everyone's spines.
"His theoretical knowledge may be far beyond our own."
...In the Ninja Academy's archive room, Kurenai Yuhi obtained all of Uesugi Toru's files from the past six years.
As she expected, the first half of the files—Taijutsu, Ninja tools, combat sparring—were all mediocre, neither good nor bad.
But when she flipped to the second half and saw the theory course transcripts, even though she was prepared, her breath still hitched for a moment.
A whole row—from Ninja History to Chakra Nature Theory, from Tactical Analysis to Basic Hand Seals—every single final grade for the theory courses was a glaring perfect score.
Six years, without a single exception.
This discovery completely confirmed her hypothesis.
This guy was a theoretical monster disguising himself as an ordinary person. He had hidden for six years, using the most inconspicuous way to learn enough knowledge. It wasn't until today's graduation exam that he first turned his theories into a skill that even Elite Chunin couldn't understand.
Kurenai Yuhi's heart was incredibly shaken. She realized that this matter could absolutely not be submitted as an ordinary evaluation report.
She returned to her office, closed the door, and took out a scroll specifically used for submitting the highest-level reports to the Hokage.
After finishing the summary of this graduation exam, she took a deep breath and grabbed a new sheet of paper as an appendix.
She didn't start writing immediately, but repeatedly replayed every detail of Uesugi Toru's two "evasions" in her mind.
Finally, she set pen to paper and wrote the title at the beginning of the appendix: "Special Ability Assessment Report on Graduate Uesugi Toru."
She didn't use words like "powerful" or "genius," but instead used an objective, almost cold tone to describe the process of those two evasions in detail.
"...The first evasion was an instantaneous backward shift without smoke or physical substitution. The estimated Chakra consumption was 0.1 standard units. The process was clean and efficient, without any excess energy dissipation, possessing a kind of minimalist beauty."
"...The second evasion was even more critical. When facing a close-range high-speed strike, the target did not perform a long-distance displacement, but instead achieved a tiny lateral shift of less than half a centimeter. With the minimal cost, he achieved the effect of absolute evasion. Its Chakra consumption is almost impossible to perceive by conventional means, demonstrating energy control as precise as a scalpel..."
Writing to this point, she stopped her pen and looked out the window.
Just recounting these things made her heart race.
She knew that once this report was submitted, it would cause a massive stir among Konoha's high-ranking officials.
But this was her duty.
She pulled her thoughts back and solemnly wrote her final conclusion and recommendations at the end of the report.
"In summary, this student's understanding of Ninjutsu, especially basic Ninjutsu, may have reached the level of some Jonin or even higher. The ability he demonstrated does not stem from a bloodline or special constitution, but is rather a technical advantage built upon powerful theoretical knowledge and calculation capabilities. Such potential is unprecedented. It is recommended to list him at the highest observation level and have a dedicated person guide him to ensure his growth direction aligns with the Village's interests."
"——Special Attention."
She put down her pen and looked at the three words "Uesugi Toru" on the report, falling into long thought.
What she had just submitted was not just a report, but a decision that could potentially change the future.
This decision might even draw her into it as well.
How would Hokage-sama react after seeing this report? And how would her report link her fate with that mysterious youth?