A few days had passed rather uneventfully since the last spar between Tobirama and Seimei. He just trained, read books, practiced sealing techniques, and spent the rest of the time with his family.
And now?
He was standing at the entrance of the Central Ninja Academy—the same academy that taught him many ninja arts, showered him with incredible insights, and allowed him to make new friends and find like-minded individuals.
On the other side of the entrance gate lay the buildings, training grounds, and ninja facilities, where he spent a significant amount of time in the last five years.
Five years. Five damn years.
Did anyone know how he spent those five years?
No, he was neither complaining about the subjects nor about their learning difficulty.
Not at all.
He aced them all. No matter which ninja art, whether it's Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Fuinjutsu, tactical expertise, tracking, trapping, or any other discipline, he breezed through all of them.
As the possessor of a cheat-like growth-type system that turned every effort into tangible skills and the wielder of the Otsutsuki bloodline, if he still couldn't master those ninja arts, he might as well jump from Hokage Rock.
Oh no, with his vitality, even that wouldn't kill him, probably.
Anyway, he had mastered them all, never tarnishing the reputation of his fellow transmigrators.
If there was any student who baffled him, it was Uchiha Reina.
Her raw talent was off the charts. A little girl with astonishing talent. Once she grew up, she could crush full-powered Madara under her boots.
Forget about Naruto, Sasuke, and Boruto. In this alternative Narutoverse, she was the ultimate protagonist.
Fortunately, he had a system.
Even then, he was beaten black and blue by that girl in the early academy years.
But now he could fight Reina to a standstill. When it came to raw chakra reserves, sheer physical prowess, and brute force, Seimei never lost to her.
Still, thanks to her superior techniques, incredible innate battle instincts, and the ability to create unique Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, she could always keep up and sometimes, overwhelm Seimei.
It felt as if he were fighting a battle-hardened Shinobi rather than a kid when battling Reina.
But after all those grueling years of training, the advantage was his.
Well, at least he had more than 2.5 times as much chakra as Reina. In other words, Reina 'only' had around 300K chakra points compared to Seimei's 700K chakra points.
But even such a number was absurd for someone of Reina's age. After all, an average ninja without any special bloodline who had just reached the Kage-level only had 110K chakra points.
Damn. Did the combination of the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki genes in Reina trigger some kind of ancestral bloodline regression, pushing her bloodline purity to a near-Otsutsuki level?
Seimei had no idea.
So, where was he?
Yeah, apart from Reina, Seimei could beat the shit out of any S-class kid in the graduating class. And he aced all the subjects.
But the real torture in the past five years was none other than their Kamishiro Kirito-sensei.
That sadistic bastard created a unique training regimen for every single student after considering their strengths, physical condition, and weaknesses, which forced everyone to train until they felt as if their bones were breaking apart.
And sparring with that demon was even more brutal.
This damn guy just loved targeting everyone's family jewels. Kirito controlled the force, but it still hurt like hell.
Even Seimei wasn't spared from such agony.
But those were matters of the past.
After all…
"The graduation exam is starting today," murmured Seimei as he looked at the academy entrance with a complex expression.
No matter how tough it was, this was the institution where he spent his last five years, striving to become a powerful Shinobi.
So, even though he wasn't a masochist who found pleasure in pain, the thought of saying goodbye to this place still made him somewhat emo.
If only it were a full moon night, the drifting wind carried scattered cherry blossoms, and he were holding a cup of sake in the Senju clan's outer courtyard while playing sorrowful music in the background, the mood would have been perfect.
But as an adult soul who had experienced the harsh office hours, his mentality was solid as rock. After being emo for a while, he quickly snapped back to reality.
Seimei sighed like a tired old man and said to himself, "Ah! Such is life. But time waits for no one, so I should head inside now."
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
With that, he didn't dilly-dally anymore and walked inside.
It was time to see what surprises this graduation exam had for him.
Meanwhile, a middle-aged ninja stood as a guard to watch over everyone entering and exiting the academy grounds, scratched his head, and looked weirdly at Seimei's silhouette.
Why is a young sprout who hasn't even entered his teens sighing like an old man? Weird Kid.
He thought inwardly but didn't dwell on it. After standing guard for so long, he had seen all kinds of weird bunches.
After a second or two, his focus quickly shifted to the others.
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Seimei walked into the 1-S classroom and gave it a quick scan.
He had arrived more than 50 minutes early, so less than one-third of all 1-S class students had arrived so far.
But it was fine.
At least, some of his friends were already present in the class.
"Yo Seimei, fancy seeing you after a long time."
Sarutobi Yuto, one of the most overactive kids among his friends, nearly jumped from his seat and waved his hand at him.
Hearing this, Seimei's gaze quickly shifted toward him.
Indeed, this kid is as jumpy as ever, just like a monkey. Perhaps such traits ran deep in the Sarutobi (Its literal meaning is "Monkey Leap") bloodline. Or maybe Yuto was the odd one?
But who cares? He was a good friend.
Seimei smiled at him and waved back.
He quickly walked toward his desk beside the window and sat down in the chair. Yuto's desk was actually positioned at the front of his own desk.
Seimei relaxed and let his back rest against the chair's backrest.
He said to Yuto, "True. Our specialized classes and schedule made it hard to see each other every day. Then those missions. We haven't met each other for nearly two weeks."
Yuto nodded his head like a pecking chick and replied, "Yeah, man. Although both of us have Anti-Personnel combat specialization, our schedules are different."
"And you only signed up for the Anti-Army combat division's minor course and extra mandatory classes, so seeing you there is even more impossible."
Seimei chuckled and said, "Can you blame me? That Anti-Army division? Please, I don't want to deal with battlefield commands. If a war erupts, let Shikamo worry about the battle formations and command structures."
"Hehe…as a Nara, if he doesn't go through all that shit, then who will?"
Seimei broke into a malicious laugh, but Yuto couldn't join in.
His family and other peers tricked him into majoring in Anti-Army combat specialization. They said it would be a breeze.
But only after joining did he realize he had fallen into a merciless swamp of battle tactics, military formation lessons, paperwork, and other tedious tasks related to large-scale deployment.
It was a division that could make your hair turn grey with all the tedious workload.
For someone like Yuto, who found it hard to stay put in one place for a long time and hated brain-teaser-like situations, it was practically a nightmare.
Seimei saw the almost constipated expression on Sarutobi Yuto's face and laughed even harder—so hard that a few glistening drops of tears came out of his eyes.
Finally, Seimei stopped laughing and patted Yuto's shoulder and said sympathetically, "Don't worry, my friend. There will surely be a Nara clan Shinobi there. Just delegate your tasks to them, and they will handle it."
Hearing this, Yuto's face immediately brightened.
His eyes shone in excitement and mischief. "Right, right. Their IQ is so high. They would surely love it."
Seimei gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Yup, Yuto. If you are in trouble, just dump the heavy workload into Shikamo. He can always find a solution."
At that moment, a sleepy, lazy, and mildly irritated voice chimed in. "Can you two not talk about making my life hell in front of my face? I am here, you know."
Hearing this, Yuto and Seimei both suppressed their smiles and simultaneously turned their heads toward their friend with the signature pineapple hairstyle.
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