Chapter 13: Team Assignment
Five days later.
Early morning.
Standing before a full-length mirror, Seimei swept aside the long hair over his forehead and tied the Konoha forehead protector to his head, adjusting his clothing neatly.
In that moment, a faint but distinct aura of severity settled over him.
Graduating from the ninja academy meant officially stepping onto the path of a shinobi. Whether he lived or died from this point on would depend entirely on himself.
Standing silently for a while, Seimei summoned his proficiency panel.
[Name: Uchiha Seimei
Age: 10
Physique: 6
Spirit: 7
Chakra: 312 (622 → 862)
Bloodline: Sharingan · Not Awakened (52/100 → 57/100)
Skills:
Chakra Refining Technique: lv2 (9/500 → 69/500)
Clone Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Transformation Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Substitution Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique: lv0 (75/100 → lv1 (1/200))
Reflection Technique: lv1 (10/200 → 65/200)
Basic Taijutsu: lv2 (1/500)
Ninja Tool Throwing: lv2 (120/500)]
Over the past five days—
Aside from the first two days, where he spent chakra to grind the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique to beginner level—adding a trump card to his arsenal—the rest of his time and effort was spent practicing the Reflection Technique.
After pouring in over ten thousand chakra points, the Reflection Technique's proficiency surged by 55 points.
As a result, the Sharingan awakening progress also advanced by five points.
Roughly speaking, every 10 proficiency points in the Reflection Technique moved the Sharingan progress by 1 point.
With this, Seimei finally understood why no one in the Uchiha clan had ever managed to awaken the Sharingan using this method.
While it might seem like every ten casts of the Reflection Technique pushed the Sharingan forward by one point, that was only true because Seimei's every use resulted in improvement.
For others, without the assistance of a proficiency panel, gaining 10 points of progress wouldn't be so simple.
Especially as the level increased, it only got harder.
If the Reflection Technique didn't reach a certain proficiency threshold, it wouldn't contribute to the Sharingan's awakening at all.
In other words, only by continuously improving the Reflection Technique could one maximize the chance of awakening the Sharingan.
Seimei could track exact progress, so he remained motivated.
But others...
Most would probably give up once they no longer saw visible progress.
Even he, if his Sharingan progress had started above (70/100), and both lv0 and lv1 Reflection Technique proved ineffective, would likely have hesitated.
Would someone else spend years—or even over a decade—cultivating a difficult, low-utility genjutsu to an advanced level?
Even setting aside whether they had the talent, without positive reinforcement, few could persist that long.
What's more, Seimei had a hunch—the last few steps toward awakening the Sharingan would likely be even harder to break through.
Which meant it would be even less likely anyone could stick with it to the end.
Still, Seimei wasn't worried.
With the proficiency panel guiding him, as long as this path proved viable, he would follow it unwaveringly.
Putting those thoughts aside, Seimei left the mirror, locked the door, and headed straight for the ninja academy.
······
Ninja Academy.
Inside a classroom.
Seimei sat in the back row, quietly observing the other graduates—some familiar, some not—wondering who would be grouped with him.
Tap tap tap~
About half an hour later, a young instructor entered the classroom carrying a roster.
It wasn't Kichiro. Seimei vaguely recognized this teacher from another class—his name seemed to be Miyakanbo.
"Everyone, quiet down!"
Standing at the podium, Miyakanbo clapped his hands and spoke in a gentle tone.
Upon hearing this, the room gradually quieted.
Then they heard Miyakanbo introduce himself, "I'm Miyakanbo. Some of you may know me, some may not—but that's not important.
First, congratulations to all of you. As of today, you are officially shinobi."
At his words, the once-quiet classroom immediately grew noisy again.
Clap—clap—clap—
Miyakanbo clapped once more, signaling the class to settle down.
After everyone had quieted down, he continued, "I believe your instructors already told you—today is team assignment day.
Team assignment means grouping you into teams of three, each led by an experienced jōnin who will guide you in carrying out missions.
From now on, you'll be the closest of partners and the most trusted of comrades."
At those words, some students whispered to each other in excitement, others argued over pairing with their friends, and a few sat nervously, unable to keep still. In short, the atmosphere was lively.
Seeing this, Miyakanbo smiled without interrupting them.
Only after several minutes, once he felt the time was right, did he say, "Everyone, save your words for later—let's quiet down first and begin the team assignments."
At his voice, the room immediately hushed. All eyes were fixed on him in tense anticipation.
Miyakanbo smiled, picked up the list in his hands, and began reading aloud, "Team 11: Nakajima Sōta, Hanako, Feilong. Team 12: Kimura Sōta, Yamanaka Haru, Kuroda Ichirō. Team 13…"
One name after another was called. The students responded with excitement or disappointment, but no one spoke out loud.
Very soon, Seimei heard his own name.
"Team 17: Uchiha Seimei, Mizutani Shizuko, Ryoji. Team 18…"
"Mizutani Shizuko... Ryoji."
Hearing the names, Seimei quickly scanned the front of the room.
Two figures soon entered his sight—one male, one female, with distinct expressions. The boy seemed outgoing. Seimei didn't know him personally, but had some recollection from his predecessor's memories—likely a student from another class.
The girl had a quiet and studious demeanor. She had been in Seimei's class. Her father was a jōnin. Physically weak, but solid in theory.
Without the Sharingan awakened, Seimei couldn't assess their potential directly, but he figured it wouldn't be too poor.
Even putting aside his Uchiha identity, based on his final exam results alone, the upper ranks would never assign teammates with significantly lacking potential to him.
Even if the Uchiha clan said nothing, the assigned jōnin instructor wouldn't accept it.
When the gap in potential was too great, the team would be unmanageable.
As for geniuses—
Come on, Konoha didn't produce geniuses every year.
Overall, geniuses were rare. For most graduates, being able to reach chunin level was already considered an achievement.
So Seimei had no unrealistic hopes of being teamed with a genius.
In fact, to him, teammates were just teammates. The battlefield was dangerous—who knew who would survive in the end?
Getting emotionally attached would only cause unnecessary pain if something went wrong.
Given that, it was better to treat things strictly as business.
In just a short time, Seimei had already made up his mind.
At that moment, Miyakanbo finished reading the list, and every student now had their assigned teammates.
"Now, take some time to get to know each other. Your jōnin instructors will arrive shortly—just follow them when they do," Miyakanbo said in conclusion.
With that, he left the classroom.
And the moment he stepped out, a wave of chatter and movement exploded inside. Students moved about, excitedly searching for their teammates.
[End of Chapter]
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