In one of the Academy classrooms, Shinra sat at the back, giving him a clear view of every student in his class.
'I've done almost nothing except train my body for the past year. Unlike what most people believe, the chakra that exists in the body can't be used without a special technique known as chakra refinement. It's the absolute foundation of being a ninja—and the method villages use to separate civilians from shinobi.'
'This refinement technique combines both physical and mental energies to produce usable chakra. So even though I was able to sense my chakra reserves—my physical energy—after some time, I didn't attempt to fuse it with mental energy until I received proper guidance on how to do so.'
As a result of a year of training, Shinra's body underwent a qualitative change, allowing him to pass the entrance exam with ease—an exam that was already lax to begin with.
Before Shinra could sink deeper into his thoughts, the classroom door slid open.
A ninja wearing a standard chūnin vest stepped inside, the left half of his face wrapped in bandages. He walked calmly to the center of the room before speaking.
"My name is Kimura Reigen. I'll be your instructor for the time being," he said flatly. "I dislike disruptions and hate tardiness. If you don't plan on putting in the effort, I will personally expel you from the Academy."
His eyes swept across the room. The expressions staring back at him were filled with nervousness and fear.
Reigen sighed inwardly.
"Now that you know who I am, you'll introduce yourselves," he said. "Starting from…"
He pointed toward the front row.
"You with the metal helmet."
The boy jumped to his feet, excitement written all over his face. "My name is Hashimoto Kenta! I like playing hide-and-seek, and I dislike spicy food. My dream is to become a ninja as great as the Fourth Hokage!"
Reigen nodded stiffly. It was clear he had little experience dealing with children.
"Next."
By the time the introductions ended, Shinra counted thirty students in the classroom. Ten were from established clans, while the remaining twenty were civilian-born.
'One Uchiha. One each from the Ino–Shika–Chō trio. Two Sarutobi. One Inuzuka, one Hyūga, one Aburame, and a Shimura.'
'Assuming the same distribution applies to every class—and that only a handful receive jōnin instructors after graduation—civilian shinobi will need to work significantly harder if they don't want to end up stuck in the genin corps.'
"You with the blue eyes," Reigen said suddenly. "You're the last one."
Shinra stood.
Blue eyes were rare in the shinobi world. In the year he had spent in the village, he had not seen a single person who shared the trait.
"My name is Kamikaze Shinra," he said calmly. "I like training and trying new foods. I don't have anything I particularly dislike. My goal is to become a strong ninja and protect the village."
Reigen nodded once before turning toward the blackboard.
"Our first lesson today will be the Will of Fire."
'Brainwashing already?' Shinra thought. 'With his personality, I expected him to drag us straight into the field. I guess orders from higher-ups take priority.'
After enduring two hours of lectures praising the greatness of the Will of Fire, Reigen led the students outside—true to his temperament.
"I'll be calling out names for practice matches to assess your skill level," he said. "The use of weapons is prohibited to avoid unnecessary injuries."
A few students swallowed nervously.
"First match," Reigen announced. "Hyūga Hyori and Kamikaze Shinra. Step forward."
Shinra moved ahead alongside a small girl with brown hair and the unmistakable pale eyes of the Hyūga clan.
"The match ends when one of you surrenders or is rendered incapable of continuing," Reigen continued. "Afterward, form the sign of reconciliation as taught in the first lesson."
Both nodded.
"Begin."
Shinra positioned himself roughly six feet away, considering his opening move.
'Here goes nothing.'
He closed the distance and threw a straight punch toward her face.
Hyori deflected his fist aside with her palm, then struck his shoulder with her other hand, forcing him back.
Before Shinra could process the exchange, his head snapped backward instinctively—barely avoiding a kick that passed inches from his face.
'An opening!'
While her leg had yet to fully recover its balance, Shinra kicked the one she was standing on, causing her footing to falter.
Before she could recover, Shinra drove forward with his entire body, thrusting into her like a spear. The impact sent both of them skidding several feet across the ground.
Hyori gasped as Shinra's weight bore down on her. She struggled, planting her palms against his chest and attempting to force him off, but his momentum pinned her in place.
Before she could reposition herself, Shinra shifted.
He slid an arm around her neck and locked it in place, transitioning smoothly into a chokehold. His other arm reinforced the hold as he pressed his weight down, preventing her from breaking free.
Hyori thrashed, trying to create space between them, but the angle was wrong and her movements grew increasingly frantic.
Seconds passed.
Her resistance weakened, and her strikes lost their strength as the pressure cut off her air.
Realizing she could no longer escape, Hyori tapped against Shinra's arm in surrender.
Shinra let go of her and breathed heavily, although the fight wasn't long after being nearly defeated in a few seconds he had to lock in with every fibre of his being.
He didn't want to lose his first fight so embarrassingly, thankfully he managed to dodge that kick by a few inches.
"Fight's over, the winner is Shinra." Reigen said with his facial expression not even shifting slightly.
The classmates however cheered up, as short as that fight was, Shinra launching himself like a spear tackling Hyori to the ground was flashy.
"Hyuga Hyori, although your techniques weren't bad you tried to go for a finishing blow early leaving you quite open. When you were tackled to the ground you took too long to recover, allowing Shinra to transition to a chokehold."
Hyori looked downright disappointed with herself when she heard Reigen's assessment, her father would most likely increase her training for losing to a civilian.
"Kamikaze Shinra, your issue lies in that your techniques are nonexistent be it footwork or punching your form is terrible. If that kick had connected with your head, then you would've immediately lost. Your wrestling skills although useless in the battlefield allowed you to win the fight."
Shinra nodded his head, he had already understood his shortcomings after reviewing the fight in his mind.
"Hyori, you need to focus on training your body more than your technique. While what Shinra needs to do is the exact opposite, good fight both of you."
"Form the seal of reconciliation."
Both Shinra and Hyori stepped forward and formed the seal of reconciliation, though Hyori's gaze never left the ground.
Shinra sighed inwardly, he didn't know how to console a sad child.
He scratched his head and said, "You don't need to feel bad that you lost to me, you were pretty strong."
She looked at him for the first time after the fight, she could tell that he was trying to console her.
At the end all she replied with was "hmm"
"Next up, Shimura Hanami and Hashimoto Kenta"
A kid with a metal helmet and a black haired girl stood in front of each other.
Unexpectedly it was the Shimura that won the fight, although Kenta did put up a good fight he was ultimately defeated.
The next fight was also a girl against a boy, it appears that Reigen was trying to eliminate any notion of holding back because of gender differences.
The fights slowly played out with only two fights being notable, one was Uchiha Ren and the other was Inazuka Inumaki.
After the field training was over, Reigen rounded the students and returned to the classroom where he continued to spread the propaganda of the leaf village.
When all the classes have ended, Shinra went to the library to check if there is anything worth reading. Afterall although he is still unable to use chakra, outside the academy it was extremely difficult to get his hand on ninja related techniques.
He walked around the library, until a book caught his eyes. It wasn't actually the title of the book but the author, 'Orochimaru'.