[Konoha Village]
[Ninja Academy]
Rengoku stood on the podium with Kimimaro and Haku.
Below were some of the little bean sprouts from the school.
"A month ago, I already announced the matter of forming the future elite class."
"So today is the time to divide classes."
As Rengoku's words fell, the whole class let out a collective, "Ah?"
After all, they were not very old. What happened a month ago had long been forgotten.
Only Neji remained calm. He had remembered the matter of the elite class the whole time.
"This is Kimimaro, this is Haku. They are newly enrolled today, and like you, they are competing for spots in the elite class."
"For your class, the competition method is simple: take the five strongest people. There are only five spots this time."
"Everyone, gather on the training field."
———
The same method was unfolding in each class of the ninja academy.
Class after class of students were taken to the academy's training field.
The elite class Rengoku planned would have roughly ten or so people in total.
The main target group was the prominent noble families in the village.
Currently, the class Naruto was in was one where the Third Hokage had deliberately placed the heirs of various clans.
But the ninja academy was very large. Naruto's class was just a microcosm.
In reality, whether it was Uchiha, Hyuga, or the Ino–Shika–Cho trio clans, and a few other major clans, they didn't only have one child in the school.
Precisely because it wasn't wartime, none of the clans were in a hurry. They slowly let their children go through academy life.
But Rengoku's intention was to get all of them moving.
The elite class had a fixed number of people. Once the class was full, if someone from a normal class wanted to enter the elite class, they first had to be in the top three of their class, and then could choose to challenge someone from the elite class.
If they won, they'd enter. If they lost, they'd go straight back to their original class.
These kids had never seen such a thing. Under Rengoku's command, they began one-on-one matches.
Today, Rengoku wasn't only looking at battle results. After all, how could a medical ninja fight a combat ninja?
If you couldn't use ninjutsu, then it was fists that would decide the winner.
Kimimaro's combat strength needed no explanation, but since he was new, Rengoku still sent him up to the field.
Needless to say, in three consecutive matches, he defeated the opponent in a single move.
He beat the group of eight-year-old brats to the ground, crawling all over.
Haku as well, he started off with Hidden Mist Technique, and in the next moment, his thousand needles were already at his opponent's throat.
In front of these kids who didn't even know any ninjutsu, it was a complete dimensional suppression.
Rengoku watched from the side of the field and directly gave two of the spots to Kimimaro and Haku.
Of course, the other bean sprouts had no objections. After all, the two were indeed way stronger than them.
Only Neji looked eagerly at Kimimaro.
He trained in taijutsu and could naturally tell Kimimaro's taijutsu was very strong.
But since Kimimaro had already stood out, Neji could only wait for another chance later.
Although Rengoku's plan was for Neji, Lee, and Tenten to all enter the elite class, the unfortunate thing was, Tenten was still too young and didn't even know she had a space affinity.
Her actual combat performance wasn't great and she lost quickly.
Lee as well. He was quickly beaten by a classmate.
He had found out that he had no chakra nature and couldn't use ninjutsu.
Now he had already started training in taijutsu, but not as crazily as after graduation (his body couldn't handle it yet).
It's just that Lee's current body coordination wasn't as good as in the future, so naturally, he couldn't beat anyone.
During the time period of becoming a genin after leaving the academy, Lee would suffer a lot because he only knew taijutsu and not ninjutsu.
But once Lee's body started developing, the situation would change.
Iron Fist style taijutsu ninjas naturally needed basic stats as a foundation.
Once Lee became the disciple of Might Guy, who matched him 100% in compatibility, he would improve rapidly.
Lee had always set his rival not as the ordinary students in class, but Hyuga Neji.
If not for Gaara in the Chunin Exams, Lee would have beaten anyone else into the ground.
In Neji's class, only three were selected in the end: Kimimaro, Haku, and Neji.
At the edge of the field, Rengoku gathered those who passed here, "Interact with each other here. Once your classmates are all gathered, I'll speak to you together."
After Rengoku said this, he ran off to see how Naruto's class was doing.
Neji walked up to Kimimaro, "Hello, I'm Hyuga Neji."
Kimimaro saw that among the whole class, only this person had fighting ability, the others were just a bunch of kids.
He nodded, "Kimimaro."
"You're strong," Neji looked at Kimimaro with blazing eyes.
Kimimaro replied politely, "I'm a little older."
"Let's spar sometime," Neji invited.
Kimimaro looked at Rengoku in the distance, "Let's do it now."
Neji was surprised, "Right here?"
Kimimaro nodded and said nothing more.
Haku and Nakamura both stepped back two steps. Haku shouted from the side, "Begin!"
Neji spread his hands, stretched his body, and drew a line with his foot, he had already set up a standard fighting stance.
Then…
BANG!
Kimimaro had already rushed in and punched Neji in the stomach.
Neji sucked in a cold breath and staggered back several steps.
He wanted to fight again, but the twisting pain in his abdomen had already drained his strength.
Kimimaro asked curiously, "What were you doing?"
In his eyes, Neji seemed stiff and rigid, not knowing what kind of pose he was trying to show off.
Neji coughed twice, rubbed his belly, and slowly stood up, "Thank you for holding back."
"I was too slow."
Neji could afford to lose.
Kimimaro was a bit confused, "If you don't pose, you can't fight?"
Neji looked a little dazed. Right now, he couldn't distinguish between forms and combat, and Hiashi hadn't taught him yet.
Seeing Neji speechless, Kimimaro didn't say anything else, shook his head, and stood next to Haku.
———
On the other side—
In Naruto's class, Rengoku had already stuffed Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara into the elite class.
From a while ago, Naruto's life had completely changed. Every day he no longer wasted time on meaningless mischief.
Instead, he followed a regular schedule of cooking and training. With sufficient energy, the physique of the Uzumaki clan quickly made Naruto strong.
Although Naruto still didn't know ninjutsu, his physical strength had greatly increased.
In terms of willpower, Naruto also had a huge difference compared to other kids.
Even turtle punches could knock his opponents down.
After Naruto defeated two of his classmates, Rengoku sent him into the elite class.
He also brought Karin and Hotaru in. Karin was currently still learning sealing techniques, so naturally it was hard to demonstrate.
But she had already learned the Clone Technique.
As for Hotaru, under his grandfather's teaching, he also knew the basic Clone Technique.
Other classmates could only sigh in admiration. After all, they didn't know even one ninjutsu.
Hinata was now training Gentle Fist under Hiashi's guidance.
Although her attacks were hesitant and timid, she was still much stronger than the other bean sprouts. Rengoku directly sent Hinata into the elite class too.
As for Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Ino and Shino, none of them had learned their clan's ninjutsu.
They were all eliminated in one sweep.
Seeing Hinata enter the elite class, this group of clan heirs who ate, drank, played, and lazed around every day felt somewhat ashamed. And that's exactly the effect Rengoku wanted.
He didn't say any comforting words. Instead, he directly took all the elite class members away.
Everyone looked visibly depressed.
Iruka spoke to the rest of the class at this time, "The elite class isn't full yet. In one month, you'll have another chance…"
[🎉 Shoutout to James, Shem & Celestial for joining patreon. Thank you very much.🤗]
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.