Ninja Academy.
"Hey, Neji. You okay?" Tenten glanced at the silent Neji, who was shoving his fingers in the desk.
"Neji-kun, you..."
"Where's Mizuke-sensei?" Neji cut her off.
"Uh, Sensei's not here yet... probably still in his office," Tenten stammered, caught off guard by the sheer intensity in his eyes.
It was the first time she had ever seen Neji look so furious, his expression almost predatory.
Without another word, Neji slammed the classroom door open and stormed out, sprinting down the hall toward the teachers' office.
"What the heck just happened?" Asked a blonde girl who had a crush on Neji. She walked through the rear door with papers in hand. She narrowed her eyes at Tenten. "Hey, you must've annoyed him, right?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Tenten snapped back, cheeks flushed.
In the corner, Lee jumped from his seat and shouted, "I think I know the problem. It's probably because of our classmate, Toji Fushigura, right?"
"He just graduated yesterday and got recruited into the medical division for special training."
"What?!" Tenten gasped, stunned. So that was why she hadn't seen him all morning.
The rest of the students had similar shock expressions. It had been years since one graduated early that they almost forgot it was a thing.
"When I met him yesterday, he told me that the Hokage himself came to the school and tested him." Lee clenched his fist. Feeling motivated for another training.
Silence filled the room.
If the Third Hokage had personally shown up, then it wasn't just some rumor. It was real.
"So, Neji now…"
"Hmf, he probably felt jealous and wanted to complain." Snorted a boy who disliked Neji's arrogant behavior.
A few girls who liked Neji jumped off their seats and lashed out at the boy, trying to defend their crush.
The classroom became chaotic as every student either watched the confrontation with amusement or clapped and added to the flames.
'CLAP!'
It wasn't until Mizuke entered the classroom and clapped his hands that the students calmed down.
Neji returned with a sulking expression, hands clenched in frustration.
Mizuke scanned the class, then sighed. "I'm sure by now, you've all heard the news. It's true. Toji has officially graduated early. But the tests he took weren't standard academy exams. He completed chunin-level assessments."
A collective gasp rippled through the room.
"Anyway, I'll hand you the test papers he took, just so you have an idea of the difficulty. Get ready to start."
Mizuke began distributing thick stacks of test sheets.
Originally, he hadn't intended to tell them the news or test them, as he knew the results would probably distract them or make them feel inferior. But Neji had insisted.
He had demanded the chance to take them. So Mizuke thought it would be a harsh but necessary reality check for everyone.
They had to understand just how far ahead Toji truly was.
The classroom sank into a heavy silence, broken only by the scratchy whisper of pens on paper. Mizuke leaned back against the desk, shutting his eyes to rest.
He didn't even bother policing for cheating, not because he trusted them, but because their attempts at cheating were so clumsy it made him want to flip a desk in frustration.
It was better to just let them struggle, honestly.
Minutes dragged into an hour. Sweat beaded on foreheads.
It was brutal.
Tenten bit her lip as she scribbled furiously. She found herself uncertain on the battlefield analysis sections, definitely not her strongest suit, but she gritted her teeth and managed to finish.
Lee just looked at the test and set his pen aside. There was no need for meaningless struggle. He already woke up to reality.
Finally, Mizuke opened his eyes and called out, "Time's up! Pencils down!"
"Wha... already?!" groaned several students.
Even the likes of Neji looked irked. After all, being a genius didn't mean you studied hard.
Mizuke collected the tests, sat down, and began grading on the spot.
It took some time, but when he finished, he smiled faintly. "Top score goes to Neji, eighty points. Next, Tenten, seventy-five. As for the rest... well, either you failed outright or you know how you got your score. Lee, you left the paper clean."
No one dared protest.
Tenten glanced at Neji, who seemed ready to explode with frustration, and swallowed her congratulatory words.
She raised her hand. "Sensei, are eighty points enough to pass?"
Mizuke gave a wry chuckle. "Toji got a perfect score."
The class collectively winced.
"And there's more," Mizuke continued, voice softening. "Hokage-sama personally tested him. The second part of his exam was to force the Hokage's clone to use any jutsu beyond taijutsu."
"What?!" Tenten blurted out.
Even Neji's fists clenched at the desk, trembling slightly. Forcing a shadow clone to use actual ninjutsu sounded simple, but it was insanely difficult. Especially since even a mere clone of the Hokage was terrifyingly strong.
And yet, Toji had succeeded.
'Dammit!' Neji seethed internally. 'All these years, what have I been doing?'
As a branch member of the Hyuga clan, Neji had a secret ambition. He wanted to prove to those arrogant people from the mainline that even as a secondary member, he was much better than them.
He already managed to achieve the first phase by defeating that unworthy cousin of his but was still unable to achieve complete success in the academy.
Whatever in academics or other subjects, Toji always managed to rank first, except for the Ninjutsu.
For the first time, the gap between them made him doubt that he was a genius, as everyone claimed.
Mizuke calmly looked at his students but was burning with jealousy inwardly. Just how many times the young students he taught will keep surpassing him.
Even he wasn't confident enough to force the Hokage to use Ninjutsu, which means Toji had already surpassed him.
He wasn't reconciled. He didn't want to be stuck in this terrible job and play a supporting role. He wanted strength, but his talent wasn't good.
'No, I just need to find someone useful. If I could use them to steal that thing for me, then I'll…' Mizuke thought with a smile.
Meanwhile, similar discussions were playing out in Naruto's class.
Hearing about full marks on chunin-level exams and personal endorsement from the Hokage caused Sasuke to clench his fists.
"That man also graduated early." He gritted his teeth. "Just what I'm doing, playing house. I'll never get revenge if I keep this up."
The news of early graduation sent a ripple through the whole
school, making some smart students itchy to achieve similar feats.