On the day of the practical exam, Teacher Mokgetsu went to the exam site of Class 1-A to check on the situation.
This semester, even though his main body wasn't at the school, he got promoted and gained the position of Assistant Class Leader of the teacher's class.
Now, at the Ninja Academy, only Principal and Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and Class Leader and Head Teacher Shimotsuke Hisanobu hold a position higher than him.
His main body took the students on missions, but he didn't completely give up on Class 1-A; he left a Shadow Clone to teach them.
Although the Shadow Clone doesn't have the ability to teach techniques enhanced, it possesses the knowledge from his mind, which is less effective than the main body but far better than other teachers. Considering that first-grade learning content is comparatively simple, it doesn't make much difference.
The Shadow Clone is indeed a very convenient Ninjutsu, but the fatigue that comes back with it is troublesome, so Mokgetsu releases it periodically to avoid being overwhelmed.
"Everyone looks really energetic. How did the exam go yesterday?" Teacher Mokgetsu greeted the students with a smile.
"Good morning, Teacher Mokgetsu! I think it went pretty well," Anko remarked with the first greeting and a smile.
Hagane Kotetsu answered, "It was so-so."
"I feel it didn't go too well," was Kamizuki Izumo's response.
"About the same, just like that," Shisui replied calmly. Compared to Teacher Mokgetsu's questions, the Ninja Academy's were much easier.
Looking at this familiar scene from the past, Mokgetsu showed a slight smile. In the past two months, he had gotten a lot stronger, but these students hadn't changed much.
The invigilators who had just arrived also smiled and greeted Mokgetsu.
Mokgetsu watched the first round of battles for Class 1-A and then left. Compared to last semester, their rate of progress had indeed declined, but it was still in a noticeable range.
He didn't go to see the battle between Obito's class and Might Guy; he just left a Shadow Clone to check on it while his main body returned to his house in the main Konoha district to start training in Fuinjutsu, as he figured he could watch Might Guy and Obito fight the next day.
Back home, Mokgetsu began studying the Four Symbols Seal. Though learning on his own wasn't as fast as learning from Kushina, it was within an acceptable range since the Sealing Technique Scroll from Kushina had her notes as well.
Having a good teacher is great, but Kushina's status prevents him from visiting often, even if he just wants to learn Fuinjutsu.
Even though Kushina and Minato aren't married yet, they're already in a relationship. Visiting too often might lead to misunderstandings.
Mokgetsu thinks Minato would trust him, but he can't guarantee Danzo wouldn't interfere. If Danzo saw their close relationship and on a whim tried to drive a wedge between Minato and himself to win over the Jinchuriki, it would be awkward.
Even if ignoring Danzo wouldn't lead to anything significant, as he is currently somewhat aligned with the Third Hokage, Mokgetsu prefers stability and doesn't want this kind of thing to happen.
During the day, Mokgetsu teaches disciples, and at night, he usually studies Fuinjutsu and develops Breathing Techniques. His Four Symbols Seal has now reached a proficiency level of 150 points for beginners.
Knowing that Minato could combine two Four Symbols Seals to form the Eight Trigrams Seal, Mokgetsu tentatively developed the Eight Trigrams Seal, finding the difficulty beyond his expectations.
Fuinjutsu isn't like bread that you can stack on top. When casting the same Sealing Technique on someone twice, it doesn't make it stronger; instead, the second one overrides the first.
If they're different Sealing Techniques with similar effects, they can't enhance the Sealing effect and might adversely interact, reducing effectiveness.
"Minato must have made significant improvements to the Four Symbols Seal, or it wouldn't achieve the Eight Trigrams Seal effect," Mokgetsu speculated after a few tries.
The improvement allowed the second layer of the Four Symbols Seal to have the ability to convert Chakra.
Mokgetsu somewhat hopes to develop the Eight Trigrams Seal, as it can convert the Chakra leaked from the Tailed Beast into one's own Chakra, which is immensely powerful.
He currently doesn't have a Tailed Beast, but who knows what the future holds. If the chance arises, he wouldn't mind stuffing a 'power bank' into his body.
The system helped boost his Chakra by nearly 40,000 in ten months, yet Mokgetsu feels it's still too little compared to the real Chakra monsters.
Take the Nine-tails, for instance; its Chakra level is so immense that Mokgetsu dares not imagine its numerical value. During the Fourth Great Ninja War, Naruto distributed the Nine-tails' Chakra to all members of the Ninja Alliance, instantly strengthening them—originally, it was difficult for Hinata to hit a split of the Ten-tails, but after receiving the Nine-tails' Chakra, her Eight Trigrams Air Palm could affect Ten-tails' main body.
This clearly signifies acquiring Chakra several times one's own to suddenly become stronger. Naruto didn't just enhance one or two people; he strengthened the entire Ninja Alliance present, which is terrifying since the Ninja Alliance numbers in the ten thousands.
Even if only giving 10 Chakra points to 10,000 people requires 100,000 Chakra points, so Mokgetsu wouldn't be too shocked if the Nine-tails had tens of millions or even a billion Chakra points.
The Nine-tails is understandable, created from a divided Ten-tails; having more Chakra is normal.
The truly baffling one is Hashirama, whose Chakra, when combined with Naruto and a complete Nine-tails, is similar to his own. Just how much Chakra is that?
Reflecting on this, Mokgetsu feels his 40,000 Chakra is pitifully small, not enough to give 5 points each to 10,000 people.
"I need to keep striving," Mokgetsu thought silently.
His disciples have a very good chance of growing their Chakra to 100,000. A Level 4 Trust Multiplication effect grants someone 400,000 Chakra, not matching those Tailed Beasts and prodigies, but far superior to ordinary people.
Studying Fuinjutsu until evening, Mokgetsu made dinner and then continued studying Fuinjutsu for a while. After 8 PM, he began developing the Water Breathing Technique.
He possesses a strong talent for Fuinjutsu and needs to develop a Fuinjutsu that can enhance his endurance, so Mokgetsu dedicates more time to Fuinjutsu.
On the morning of the third exam day, the grade's practical combat began, and Mokgetsu went to the fourth-grade exam venue to observe the fight.
Obito's nine-year-old Two-Tomoe Sharingan is still too striking, so Mokgetsu, like with Shisui, forbade Obito from using the Sharingan lightly, allowing its use only in training or missions.
To balance the power of the two and keep the students low-key, Mokgetsu also banned Mighty Guy from using the Eight Gates' Second Gate during Ninja Academy's practical exams.
Honestly, opening the Second Gate of the Eight Gates along with Breath of Rock: Full Concentration could scare the Chunin Teachers as invigilators. Might Guy's Gohyo kick could easily take out a Chunin teacher.
Showing this level of strength at the Chunin Examination is one thing, but displaying it during the Ninja Academy exam is excessive.
"All sixteen participants in the grade-level combat have become intern ninjas."
"Yes, it seems the selection criteria were mainly based on strength."
Even before the first match started, the students had already begun discussing the participants.
"The first match is about to start. Student number one, Shiranui Genma, and student number two, Ebisu, please prepare." The proctor began calling out the student names.
"Though we're friends, I won't hold back." Shiranui Genma said with a smile as he patted Ebisu.
"I could say the same to you," Ebisu retorted, walking towards the exam field with Shiranui Genma.
"He's the developer of the Deception Jutsu," someone among the students said.
Ebisu's face darkened, and he looked around but couldn't find who said it.
Once the battle began, both sides unleashed all their skills to attack each other.
Though they had a good relationship, they didn't hold back during the fight.
However, compared to Shiranui Genma, Ebisu's strength was still lacking and eventually lost to Shiranui Genma.
"Shiranui Genma wins!" The proctor announced.
"It seems their strength has truly improved; the internship must be effective." A familiar person commented after watching their performance.
In Mokgetsu's view, this was quite normal, because although the other teachers were far from Mokgetsu, they were carefully selected excellent teachers and much stronger than ordinary Chunin teachers.
Moreover, teaching them as ninjas instead of students allowed them to be taught more, and with more ample training time, it was natural they became stronger faster than just attending classes at the Ninja Academy.
"The second match: student number three, Uchiha Obito, versus student number four, Hyuga Kamon." The proctor quickly announced the next match.
"I wish Might Guy and Obito could meet earlier. I came to the grade-level exam just to see their fight," someone sighed.
No one around objected. Hyuga Kamon had indeed enjoyed a long period of fame, but no one now believed he was a match for Obito or Might Guy. Encountering either meant elimination.
Hyuga Kamon was not in a good mood hearing those discussions, knowing he most likely couldn't win, but saying it outright was quite hurtful.
"Begin the fight!" The proctor shouted as he saw the contestants form the Seal of Opposition.
Hyuga Kamon immediately activated his Byakugan, his veins bulging around his eyes, ready for battle, eager to defeat Uchiha Obito and prove those people wrong.
"Breath of Flame, Full Concentration Breathing!" Obito took in a large amount of oxygen to enhance himself.
His opponent was a fellow Ninja Academy student, and although once the top of his year, Obito, who, along with his teammates, had defeated Jonin-level opponents, didn't take Hyuga Kamon seriously, aiming to finish the battle quickly.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Obito spat out a three-meter high fiery fireball at Hyuga Kamon.
Hyuga Kamon naturally couldn't take such a level of Fire Release and tried to burst his Chakra to evade.
Obito dashed directly towards where Hyuga Kamon was trying to dodge.
With his Byakugan, Hyuga Kamon could clearly see Obito rushing towards him.
Whoosh!
Obito used Soru to accelerate and appeared beside Hyuga Kamon, channeling power into his right arm and using Breathing Technique to drive his Chakra into a heavy punch.
Hyuga Kamon could clearly see the fist approaching, desperately trying to dodge, but his body speed couldn't match his perception ability, nor could it match Obito's punching speed.
Bam!
Hyuga Kamon was sent flying by the punch, and immediately after, Obito swiftly threw a Kunai, landing beside the fallen Hyuga Kamon to make his point clear.
"Uchiha Obito wins!" The proctor straightforwardly announced Obito's victory.
If this had been a real battle, Hyuga Kamon would have been dead at Obito's hands.
"It seems Obito has improved a lot again, taking down Hyuga Kamon with just Taijutsu." Shiranui Genma felt a headache as he saw how easily Obito defeated Hyuga Kamon. By the rules, his next opponent was Obito.
He didn't even have the confidence to beat Hyuga Kamon, let alone Obito, who could take down Hyuga Kamon in one blow.
Other students were also a bit surprised that Hyuga Kamon was taken down by Obito with just Taijutsu. They expected Hyuga Kamon to lose quickly, but didn't think Obito would eliminate him without much Ninjutsu.
"With such Taijutsu, it seems like Obito's chance of winning is greater this time." A bystander student remarked.
Might Guy relies only on Taijutsu, while Obito now has stronger Taijutsu and mastery of excellent Fire Release, so they believed Obito's win rate would be higher.
With only sixteen students participating in the grade-level combat, the pace was much faster than the class-level combat, and Mokgetsu quickly saw the battle between Obito and Might Guy.
Due to their numbers, they didn't meet in the finals but encountered each other in the semifinals.
The entry of these two heavyweight contestants made the students and teachers observing them all show serious expressions.