A/N: This is a double chapter, so it's going to be a bit longer than other chapters.
——
The three-month deadline quickly flew by, and Shinra sat in a different classroom with other students, some of whom were from his class, such as Inumaki, Kenta, Aki, and Hyori, and others were either older than them or from the same year but different classes.
The first part of the exam was the written part, if the content of last year's exam was around a middle schooler level then this one was definitely around a high schooler level. Thankfully days of him and his Shadow clone cramming up the syllabus for the next two years had him quite confident in his answers.
The next test was none other than chakra control, and unexpectedly it was the leaf concentration exercise again. 'Why not introduce the students to tree climbing and water walking before graduating?' Shinra didn't comment on the exam and kept silent.
He naturally aced the exam, since he could go on for a long time he waited for the last person to drop the leaf and waited an extra fifteen minutes before doing the same. This time he didn't have any incentive to expose his chakra control, last time it was due to wanting to ask for the Shadow clone jutsu.
He still aimed for rank 1, he didn't want to end up in the genin corps after all his training.
Speaking of training, he had finally reached the 50kg limit of his seal. He could now train his body with a total of 200kg on him, he couldn't buy a higher-levelled one yet, after his expenses from his latest escapade he had only managed to save 1,500 Ryo in addition to his remaining 12,500 Ryo, which is not enough to even cover the one he has currently.
After both the written and chakra control exams, many examinees were eliminated and failed to continue to the next exam. 'Our numbers dwindled pretty quickly. There are still dozens of people left, I wonder how many would reach the final exam?'
The next exam focused on tracking, hunting, hiding, and other miscellaneous tasks that surprisingly took out a lot of students.
The remaining students were taken to a venue where they were called up one by one and taken to another room.
Upon arrival, Shinra noticed three proctors sitting in front of him, "Kamikaze Shinra?" The one in the middle asked.
Shinra nodded his head, "Yes"
"Can you perform the clone jutsu?" He asked lazily.
Shinra nodded and performed a single hand seal and a clone appeared next to him.
The examiners were quite surprised, the normal clone jutsu required the use of four hand seals. Using only one hand seal showed a deep understanding of the jutsu and familiarity with the jutsu.
The second examiner asked him, "Are you able to use the transformation jutsu?"
Shinra proceeded to transform into a middle-aged man.
The only one left was the third examiner whose question was pretty obvious.
Shinra left the examination room after performing all three of the basic academy jutsu, 'They only asked Naruto to perform the clone jutsu right? Is it because this is an early graduation and meant to be stricter or was it a direct order from Hiruzen?'
Shinra was led into the next exam, after having to undertake so many exams naturally a lot of the participants were exhausted. The remaining students were around fifty participants, which is still quite a large number.
The next examiner walked into the room and said, "Next up is the endurance exam, you guys should rest up so that you can perform your best."
Many of the students heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back on their seats to save up some energy for the next exam. Shinra kept an eye out on the instructor who had his hands hidden from sight, 'The exams covered everything that we were taught by the academy ever since we entered, now the only things left were indeed the taijutsu spars, shuriken throwing, endurance, and genjutsu… could it be?'
Shinra was quite alert and immediately felt a foreign chakra invading his body, 'it's as I thought, this was a genjutsu exam.' He quickly disrupted his chakra before the effects of the genjutsu even landed on him.
The examiner noticed him not falling into the genjutsu and signalled for him to exit the room, shortly after both Hyuga Hyori and a Uchiha boy exited the room followed by others.
In total, only 32 out of the 50 students managed to pass this exam. Somehow out of the five students from his class who participated four of them remained hanging on, the only one who failed was Sarutobi Aki.
The remaining students got lined up in a training field and were given vests, "These are weighted vests after each hour their weight will increase by twenty kilograms, you will continue running until you give up or collapse it's up to you."
Shinra put on the weighted vests and thought, 'These are like my weights but instead of being divided into four parts, they are all concentrated on the upper body. I wonder if they have the same limitation that mine has?'
The base weight of the vests appeared to be around 30kg, for Shinra it was a bit of light work. He looked around him and noted that most students seemed to be faring well, with only a few looking like they would collapse.
An hour passed and as they were told twenty more kilograms were added to the base weight pushing the weight up to 50kg. After a bit, some students collapsed and were quickly taken off the field by the examiners.
After three more hours of running, with a weight of 110kg Shinra was the only one running in the field, 'Aren't they going to stop me like in the academy exams?'
After two more hours of running the sun was beginning to set and the examiners still didn't tell him to stop, even with Shinra's endurance he was beginning to feel tired after running six hours non-stop.
'How long should I keep on going? Do I stop right now or wait for a bit longer? If the test's true objective is willpower rather than endurance then I might be disqualified.' Shinra began overthinking the exam's rules and forced himself to run for a bit longer.
The examiners were looking at Shinra and questioning how long it takes for him to stop, one of the instructors even reported to the Hokage that the shuriken-throwing exam would have to be delayed due to a participant still undergoing the previous exam.
Seeing that it was getting quite late Shinra stopped and said, "I wish to stop here." While internally he thought, 'If they truly eliminate me due to failing in willpower, I can still try next year.'
It was currently nighttime so Shinra made his way back to his house after confirming that there were no more exams today and slept comfortably.
The next day Shinra woke up and made his way to the academy to meet up with the rest of the remaining participants, where they were taken to a larger venue to undergo their final two exams.
Shinra observed that a total of 12 students were eliminated by the endurance exam leaving them with 20 students.
First up was the shuriken throwing, with only 20 students it didn't take long for the exam to finish. Shuriken throwing was mostly thrown under the bus after the second year of the academy, those who were eliminated by this exam were zero.
'I guess it's not surprising that none of the participants failed in the shuriken throwing, considering most of the 3rd years are already able to hit the bullseye from a good distance, unless someone wants to become a sniper with shurikens.'
Next up was quite probably the most important part of the exam after the ninjutsu section, the taijutsu sparring exam. Unexpectedly the Third Hokage was present in the venue standing at the top. 'I guess he wouldn't miss a chance to brainwash the new generation.'
Soon enough the spars began and they truly didn't disappoint, the level shown in these spars are levels higher than the second year exams.
'With the current number of students being 20 it means that there will be four students who will have to fight an extra match.' Shinra hoped that the first four matches would fly by quickly so that he wouldn't have to fight an extra fight.
And as if mocking him the examiner called up the names for the fourth match, "Uchiha Kagimasa vs Kamikaze Shinra."
Both Shinra and the older-looking Uchiha Kagimasa stepped forward and formed the sign of confrontation, the examiner glanced at both of them and said "Same rules as before, only taijutsu allowed and it stops when you forfeit or are unable to continue the match."
Both of them nodded their heads to show their understanding, seeing both sides ready the examiner created some distance and said, "Start!"
Kagimasa rushed at Shinra and used the signature Uchiha style taijutsu to pressure him back, having already had enough experience against the Uchiha style taijutsu Shinra used his endurance as a means to win over Ren in taijutsu.
Since having an endurance match is no longer on the table due to having to undergo multiple matches, Shinra decided to go with his trump card 'Although my weights are nowhere close to Lee's weights during the chunin exams, I still made sure to take them off for today.'
Shinra sped up heavily disrupting Kagimasa's rhythm and striking him multiple times in his ribs, to say that Shinra was overwhelming him with pure speed would be accurate.
Kagimasa who had a larger body gritted his teeth and started trading blows with him. Shinra understood Kagimasa's tactic and started increasing his offense, unfortunately for him trying to pull Shinra into a blow-for-blow fight was not enough. 'If only using jutsu was possible, I could easily end this with a shadow clone.'
After being struck multiple times in the same place by a strong force, the pain had finally gotten to Kagimasa dulling his mind for a moment allowing Shinra to get a clean kick in his guts.
"Match over, winner Kamikaze Shinra."
It was a truly unfortunate matchup, two of the most-seeded participants to win got matched early on. 'Fortunately he hadn't unlocked his Sharingan yet, if he had then my advantage would have been much lower.'
After forming the seal of reconciliation both Shinra and Kagimasa returned to the crowd of participants and watched the next matches, the next match was one of his classmates Hyuga Hyori vs a civilian girl.
The match was completely one sided, it truly was a shock to Shinra 'Was she always able to use the Byakugan? The gentle fist is not an issue on its own I have experienced it many times but the combination of the Gentle fist and the Byakugan is quite bad for most opponents.'
With Shinra winning his next two matches relying on his speed, Inuzuka Inumaki was placed against Hashimoto Kenta in the quarterfinal with Inumaki winning in a close match.
In the semifinals, it was Hyori vs Shinra and Inumaki vs a talented Aburame boy. Surprisingly three of the four semi-finalists were from the same class.
Shinra and Hyori both stepped forward and before even the fight began Hyori activated her byakugan, they both formed the sign of confrontation and the fight began.
Hyori immediately adopted the gentle fist stance and Shinra used the generic Konoha style taijutsu, Hyori was able to react to Shinra's rapid aggressive attacks and even block them with her palm.
'Damn it, what's with the sudden power up? I know that the Hyuga clan is meant to be strong in taijutsu but why is she reacting better than the Uchiha kid?' Shinra kept on trying to break her defence but it seemed to be futile.
After a long time of defending Hyori was finally unable to defend and was promptly kicked out of the arena, Shinra stood in the middle breathing heavily. It was a repeat of his fight against Ren, he had to rely on his endurance to win but this time he was the one on the offensive.
Shinra observed the heavily breathing Hyori and his eyes widened, 'She doesn't have it? I have totally forgotten about it since I never saw it, but those from the branch family are always engraved with the caged bird seal from a young age. Since Hyori doesn't have it, does that mean that she is from the main family?'
All of a sudden Shinra didn't feel bad about struggling against her, 'With her status, she is most likely trained by some of the elite of the clan. My speed is nothing special compared to theirs, not to mention the Hyuga fighting style is extremely difficult to counter in a one-on-one.'
The figure of a black-haired kid appeared in his mind for a second, 'If the byakugan is this strong, how strong would the sharingan be?
In the next fight, Inumaki lost against the Aburame boy, making the final between Shinra and him.
The finals started almost immediately leaving no room for rest, this is due to the extremely drawn-out match by Shinra in the semifinals. This fight didn't last nearly as long as the last fight, with Shinra quickly overwhelming him and securing the victory.
The examiner stepped forward and revealed those who passed the graduation exam and became Shinobi, none of those who lost early in the taijutsu tournament were eliminated leaving the total graduates for this exam be 18 students. Two students were failed due to poor performance.
As for whether or not most of these genins would get a jounin sensei that is pretty doubtful, shortly after the announcement the third hokage stepped forward and made a grand speech about shinobi and sacrifices before congregating everyone and leaving the venue.
Shinra looked at the forehead protector in his hand and grasped it tightly, 'At least give me a damn reward for ranking first, I feel stupid for not giving up early.'
Shinra left the venue still quite grumpy, but he saw a figure waiting for him outside. "Reigen-sensei?"
"Congratulations on becoming a shinobi, Shinra," Reigen said as he handed him a scroll.
Shinra was quite surprised by the gift and was even more pleased when he read the title of the scroll. 'Lightning Release: Lightning Flow.'
'An 80,000 Ryo gift, I take back everything bad I said about you! You are the best sensei.' Shinra stuffed the scroll into his backpack and bowed his head deeply.
"Thank you very much Reigen-sensei!"
Seeing Shinra's antics, Reigen laughed out loud. "You really are a piece of work, by the way your jounin sensei will contact you soon, so make sure that you are ready ."
Shinra looked at him with shock, 'That strict Reigen actually laughed? Maybe underneath that false-bravado is a kind hearted man who will teach me ninjutsu.'
He then eyed him for a bit, '…Well maybe not.' Reigen wasn't exactly the kindest looking guy in the village he had bandages running around the left half of his face and a very strict expression on his face most of the time.
Shinra decided to treat himself today to celebrate this milestone, naturally he found himself standing in front of Ichiraku Ramen.