Ding-ding-ding…
Izayoi and Hinata had only been whispering to each other for a short while when the class bell rang.
The entire classroom instantly fell silent.
This was a very rare scene under normal circumstances.
"The graduation exam topic is the Clone Technique. The examination room is at the end of the hallway on the right. Those whose names are called by the teacher should come out."
Not long after the bell ended, Umino Iruka appeared at the classroom door.
He didn't step onto the podium but instead gave instructions from the doorway before leaving.
Soon, a Chuunin wearing a green vest appeared at the door, holding a list and began calling out names: "Minako…"
One by one, names were called out by the Chuunin teacher every minute or two.
The students whose names were called either looked nervous or confidently stood up and left the classroom, never to return.
Hinata was one of them.
"…Izayoi."
Only a few minutes after Hinata left, Izayoi heard his name.
He stood up and walked out of the classroom, heading to the examination room at the end of the hallway.
Pushing the door open, Izayoi immediately saw Umino Iruka and Mizuki, the homeroom teacher of Class 2, sitting at a long table.
When Izayoi entered, Umino Iruka's face immediately broke into a warm smile as he said, "Izayoi, let's begin."
"Yes."
Izayoi nodded slightly, quickly forming hand seals and softly chanting, "Clone Technique!"
Poof—
Two sounds, like balloons popping, overlapped.
Two puffs of white smoke appeared out of thin air on either side of Izayoi.
As the smoke dissipated, two shadow clones, identical to Izayoi in every way—appearance, height, clothing, and even the smallest details—appeared beside him.
After carefully examining the two shadow clones, Umino Iruka and Mizuki exchanged a glance. Then, Iruka took out a Genin forehead protector, stood up, and said with a smile, "Your clones are perfect. Congratulations on passing the graduation exam. From now on, you are a Genin."
"Thank you, Teacher Iruka, and Teacher Mizuki."
Izayoi walked over, accepted the Genin forehead protector with both hands, and gave a slight bow to both of them.
Umino Iruka instructed, "You don't need to return to the classroom now, but don't leave the school yet. Go to our class's playground and wait for the others to finish their graduation exams. After that, I'll take you all to take your profile photos."
"Yes."
Izayoi nodded slightly, then turned and left the examination room.
As soon as he stepped out of the school building, Izayoi's first sight was Hinata waiting for him outside.
The two exchanged a smile and then headed toward the playground.
At the playground, about a dozen classmates were already waiting for them.
"Hey… Izayoi, Hinata, you're here too!"
"The graduation exam was obviously no challenge for you."
"After taking the profile photos, should we celebrate?"
"Eh—let's not. I want to celebrate with my family. They're waiting for me outside."
"That's true. Let's get together some other time."
"How many people do you think will pass the graduation exam in our class?"
"At least twenty, since we're Class 1."
"Anyway, Naruto's definitely going to fail."
"..."
As soon as Izayoi and Hinata arrived, many classmates gathered around and started chatting with Izayoi.
Izayoi smiled and joined in the conversation. Just then, a figure approached.
"Izayoi, want to have a match later?"
The one who spoke was none other than Uchiha Sasuke, who directly challenged him.
Seeing the third-ranked student in their year, and occasionally even surpassing the second-ranked Uchiha Sasuke, the other classmates tactfully stepped aside.
Looking at the battle-hungry Uchiha Sasuke, Izayoi shook his head with a smile and said, "Not for now. According to the information I've gathered, Genin will be grouped into teams of three, forming a squad, and then train under their respective Jonin Instructors."
"Both of us already know each other's strength. No matter how many times we fight, the result will be the same. Why don't we train with our Jonin Instructors for a while and then see how much we've grown?"
Hearing this, Uchiha Sasuke recalled the countless times he had been beaten.
His battle spirit instantly faded, and he nodded, saying, "Alright, let's have a match after some time then."
"No problem."
Izayoi agreed with a smile.
In recent years, the reason Izayoi had been able to upgrade his Chakra Control and still have over ten thousand points left was largely thanks to Uchiha Sasuke.
For the first two years, Izayoi had fought Uchiha Sasuke almost every week, sometimes even twice a week.
Apart from the Sage Eye (Red), which had only appeared once, talents like Kage-Level Aptitude (Purple), Uchiha Bloodline (Purple), and Otsutsuki Lineage (Blue) had appeared several times.
Izayoi had decomposed all these talent entries into points.
The over ten thousand points were all provided by Uchiha Sasuke.
The rest of the points came from Hinata and other classmates, with Hinata contributing the majority.
In their class, Izayoi's strength was in a league of his own, while Uchiha Sasuke and Hinata were in the first tier, the Ninja Clan children in the second tier, and everyone else in the third tier.
Starting from the third year, apart from Uchiha Sasuke and Hinata, whether it was Yamanaka Ino and other Ninja Clan children or other classmates, it was rare for them to drop talent entries.
Even if a talent entry occasionally appeared, it was mostly a low-level one.
Fortunately, strength wasn't measured by Chakra amount; otherwise, the only one in the entire class, or even the entire school, who could drop high-level talent entries would be Uzumaki Naruto.
Over the years, Izayoi had already milked Uchiha Sasuke dry.
Whether it was the talent entries on him or the Ninja Technique Scrolls from his family, Izayoi had taken them more than once.
During these years, Izayoi had also become friends with Uchiha Sasuke.
Fighting every now and then had become their agreement.
After fighting with Izayoi for so many years, Uchiha Sasuke's strength naturally far surpassed that of the original story.
One of the bubbles floating around him had already changed.
The Uchiha Bloodline (Purple) had transformed into Kekkei Genkai · Sharingan (Purple).
In other words, Uchiha Sasuke had awakened the Sharingan.
To be precise, he could now freely activate the Sharingan.
He had truly awakened the Sharingan on the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
Uchiha Sasuke, who had awakened the Sharingan, was extremely arrogant.
Apart from Izayoi, the only one Uchiha Sasuke could take seriously was Hinata, who had snatched the second-place spot from him. Even in a Taijutsu Duel, Sasuke wasn't confident he could defeat her.
However, in an Unrestricted Duel, Uchiha Sasuke, who had awakened his Sharingan, experienced a surge in Chakra, and learned more Ninja Techniques from Izayoi, no longer regarded Hinata as a threat.
If Izayoi, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hinata were to be placed in the same team, they would undoubtedly be the strongest Genin squad.
Whether it was the new generation's Ino-Shika-Cho Formation or Gaara and his siblings from the Hidden Sand Village, none could match them.
But obviously, this was impossible.
Whether it was the destined connection between Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto or their identities, it was inevitable that they would be placed in the same team.
In the entire Leaf Village, no one was more suited to be their Jonin Instructor than Kakashi Hatake.
(End of Chapter)