Mizuki's gaze landed on that handsome, smiling face, and a dark, bitter rage boiled up inside his chest.
Last year, after the incident where he'd been exposed for harming his own teammates, he lost out to Iruka and forfeited his chance at becoming an Academy teacher.
He could accept that. Fine.
He thought this year the position would finally be his—until Nara Shikage suddenly appeared and snatched it right out from under him.
A kid who had just graduated from the Academy had stepped on his head!
How the hell was he supposed to swallow that?
There was no way he was weaker than some fresh graduate!
It had to be nepotism!
Totally unfair!
Mizuki was convinced that Shikage had used his Nara clan connections. Staring at the young man's calm smile, his blood boiled. He gritted his teeth and snarled:
"Heh. You've got guts, I'll give you that."
Licking his lips, Mizuki leaped onto the assessment field and glared at Nara Shikage with murderous eyes.
He swore to himself—he was going to teach this little bastard a brutal lesson.
Killing him was out of the question… but beating him half to death? That was fair game.
Nara Shikage ignored Mizuki's trash talk. Once he received the signal from Hiruzen Sarutobi, he gave a small nod to his opponent and calmly formed the seal of confrontation.
"Let's begin."
The moment the words left his mouth, Mizuki kicked off hard and shot forward like an arrow.
At the same time, three glinting kunai flew straight toward Shikage's chest.
Faced with the incoming blades, Shikage didn't move. He simply watched Mizuki's movements with a somewhat blank expression.
With a dull thud, the kunai pierced straight through his body.
But when Mizuki looked closer—Shikage was gone. It was just a wooden log.
Mizuki's pupils shrank violently.
—When the hell did he use Substitution?!
Feeling the wind at his back, Mizuki didn't have time to think. He rolled forward using his momentum, but still got slashed across the arm.
Shikage now stood where Mizuki had been rolling, casually twirling the blood-stained kunai in his hand.
"Not bad reaction time."
"Damn it!"
The humiliating feeling of being toyed with, combined with the burning pain in his arm, sent Mizuki into a fury. He was about to cast the Clone Technique when the "Shikage" in front of him suddenly puffed into a cloud of smoke.
"Like the clone?"
The voice came from behind him. Mizuki's face drained of color. Before he could turn around, a kunai was already thrusting mercilessly toward his neck.
In a normal shinobi duel, killing blows were forbidden—but Shikage showed zero hesitation, as if he truly intended to end Mizuki's life.
Facing this lethal intent, a mocking glint flashed deep within Mizuki's feigned look of terror.
—Idiot!
Another dull thud.
Mizuki's body turned into a similar wooden log.
The real Mizuki, who had hidden using Substitution, suddenly burst out from the side, stabbing viciously toward Shikage's heart.
Since the kid was going for the kill, he couldn't be blamed for doing the same!
"Die!"
Looking down at the log Mizuki had left behind, Shikage let out a helpless sigh.
"Why do people always treat Substitution like it's some kind of ultimate move?"
"Your hand seals and movements are so obvious. Do you think I'm blind?"
—What does that mean?
Mizuki froze for a split second… then realized he wasn't moving at all.
Shikage stood with one hand still forming the seal, slowly turning around to look at the copycat version of himself.
"Teacher Mizuki, the match is over."
...
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had watched the entire duel, now had a sharp glint in his eyes. Nara Shikage's performance had genuinely surprised him.
"He used one-handed seals!"
One-handed hand seals were an extremely difficult skill, only mastered by a handful of elite shinobi.
Not to mention that the Shadow Imitation Technique was a secret art of the Nara clan—making it even harder!
"Excellent! Truly worthy of being a shinobi of my Konoha!"
"A once-in-a-generation talent!"
Hearing the Third Hokage's praise, Nara Shikage first released Mizuki from his shadow binding, then flashed a bright smile:
"All thanks to your guidance, Lord Hokage!"
Hiruzen, already in a good mood, became even more pleased. He turned to Mizuki, his smile fading:
"Mizuki, do you accept the result now?"
Mizuki bit his lip hard, fists clenched, and unwillingly lowered his head.
Seeing his expression, Shikage thought for a moment before speaking:
"Lord Hokage, Teacher Mizuki was simply unlucky today. His strength is still outstanding."
"After this duel, I realized I still have many shortcomings. In the field of education, Teacher Mizuki is clearly more suitable to be an Academy instructor than I am."
"Therefore, I've decided to withdraw from this assessment."
Honestly, if he could've killed Mizuki cleanly, Shikage wouldn't have hesitated.
After all, having a petty villain hold a grudge against you could cause trouble down the line.
But right now, killing him would stir up too many problems, and Shikage had no intention of becoming a missing-nin anytime soon.
Instead of leaving Mizuki seething with hatred, it was better to just hand over the teaching position as a favor.
He wasn't planning to become a teacher anyway.
"Is that so? Well, since this is your choice, we'll go with what you want," Hiruzen said with an even bigger smile.
He wasn't just pleased with Shikage's maturity and conduct.
More importantly, making someone of Shikage's caliber an Academy teacher was clearly a waste of talent.
Even if Shikage hadn't said anything, he would've arranged something privately.
Both of them were satisfied with the outcome.
Mizuki, however, was not.
Listening to Hiruzen and Shikage chatting so casually, he felt utterly humiliated.
Head bowed, teeth sinking into his lip until the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
—I'm not some leftover scrap!
Clearly, Shikage had still underestimated just how disgusting Mizuki could be.
...
After leaving the assessment building, the golden light of dusk washed over him.
A faint smile played on Shikage's lips as he replayed the recent events in his mind.
Although he was already stronger than Mizuki, he shouldn't have been able to "toy with" him that easily.
The main reason he could dominate so thoroughly was the system.
The effects of the "Outsider" title far exceeded his expectations. Those three "Absolute" attributes had at least doubled his overall strength.
On the surface, his five basic stats hadn't increased at all.
But in actual performance, everything felt completely different—like he had finally crawled out of the deep ocean and stepped onto solid land.
Aside from the title, what excited him even more was the "Power of Shadow" talent from his Shadow Lord class.
The passive boost it provided actually allowed him to bypass hand seals entirely and cast the Nara clan's secret shadow techniques directly.
In short—seal-less shadow jutsu.
As for the one-handed seals he used during the fight with Mizuki? Purely for show.
Keeping one card hidden was always smart.
After calming his excitement, Shikage's thoughts returned to the system panel.
He needed to start planning his future growth path.
"If I want to level up quickly, I'll need a massive amount of experience."
"The peaceful route is off the table."
After a brief moment of thought, he locked onto his target.
"Anbu!"
"But with my current strength, it might still be a bit early."
With that, his gaze shifted downward, landing on [Shadow Lord].
...
[Shadow Lord]
[Current Compatibility: 3%]
[Compatibility can be increased through class quests]
[Class Quest · First Stage]
[Command Shadows: 0/5]