Chapter 164: The Dust Settles
In the afternoon, the entire graduating class area was incredibly lively. Even many students from other grades ran to the graduating class area to watch their practical combat matches.
Because there were too many classes, although many classes' training grounds were relatively close, some were still quite far apart, making it difficult for Ishiro and Ikura to observe everything. So, the two found the teachers and suggested that the practical combat for all classes be arranged in adjacent grounds.
Due to time constraints, several grounds held multiple matches simultaneously.
Thus, dozens of graduating classes, with over a thousand students, gathered around a few nearby training grounds. And surrounding these graduating students were an even larger number of students from other grades, spectating. Perhaps the teachers wanted to motivate the students this way, so no one stopped them.
In three adjacent training grounds, dozens of battles began at once under the teachers' arrangements.
To properly showcase the students' abilities, the teachers arranged opponents for the students from other classes with similar rankings. Each person was scheduled for two battles, allowing Ishiro and Ikura to clearly see everyone's practical combat abilities.
Ishiro and Ikura had now transformed into two lower-grade students. The two sat on a tree, overlooking the battles not far away. There were many people like them watching the excitement from the periphery, so their actions didn't seem out of place.
Unlike the morning, now, besides each person's file, they also held a thick stack of answer sheets – these were the answers students had written during the morning theory class.
Ishiro had already read Ogura Saki's answer sheet, and the result satisfied him greatly. The little girl had found several possible methods to break through physical limits, among which was chakra fusion.
Furthermore, Ogura Saki had already begun to work in this direction. Back then, Ishiro had unintentionally prepared for later chakra fusion while developing Water Release ninjutsu. But Ogura Saki was purposefully striving in this direction.
From Ogura Saki's answer sheet, Ishiro learned that she had originally tried to break her limits through overloaded physical training but had failed. She concluded that this path might be feasible but wasn't suitable for her, as those who could walk this path also needed talent.
This point surprised Ishiro greatly. Having read the original work, Ishiro knew that the only ones who truly succeeded on this path were Konoha's three "thick-eyebrowed" individuals. This path indeed required talent; it wasn't something that could be persisted through strong will alone. The body's ability to withstand training that constantly pushed beyond its limits was itself a form of talent.
Thus, Ishiro's second spot was decided.
There wasn't much to see in the matches between Ninja Academy students. At this stage, most students didn't know C-rank ninjutsu, and even the Three Basic Jutsu were generally unusable in actual combat.
So, everyone used taijutsu when fighting. At this stage, students skilled in swordsmanship or with better physical constitutions had a significant advantage.
But as it happened, neither Ishiro nor Ikura were looking for these two types of ninja. This basically predetermined that in today's matches, greater strength didn't necessarily mean more attention.
In the morning, Ishiro and Ikura had spent a long time in the ordinary class section. Additionally, when looking at the answer sheets at noon, the ordinary class's answers took up most of their time. So, Ishiro and Ikura paid far less attention to the top classes than to the ordinary classes. But in the afternoon's practical combat class, Ishiro and Ikura's focus was primarily on the top classes.
The performance of the ordinary class students was simply too poor. Basically, after one or two exchanges, Ishiro and the others knew how the fight would develop.
While the students from the top classes were also immature, their techniques and fundamentals in combat far surpassed those of the ordinary classes.
Ishiro only paid slight attention to the performance of Matsutani Shinya, Ogura Saki, and Nakata Tatsunori, whom he and Ikura were interested in. Among the other ordinary class students, there was basically no one who stood out.
Even among these three, only Ogura Saki's shuriken skills showed some promise. The performance of the other two, like everyone else, failed to arouse Ishiro's or Ikura's interest.
In the top classes, however, there were quite a few who made Ishiro and Ikura's eyes light up. For example, a student named Haraguchi Hanpei, whom Ikura had selected from the files last night, appeared very experienced in practical combat. His fighting style was indeed as Ikura had thought, quite compatible with him.
Thus, Ikura decided on his second spot.
For the rest, Ikura didn't find anyone else he favored. Although many students in the top class had highlights in their performance, Ikura stated that none of them truly moved him. In the end, Ikura still chose the student who wasn't skilled in combat but had a talent for sealing jutsus: Shimoyama Mayuzumi.
Ishiro, on the other hand, although he also didn't find a student perfectly compatible with himself, took a liking to an agile-type student.
This student not only lacked Water Release talent but actually had average ninjutsu talent overall. However, he displayed speed far exceeding that of ordinary people. In both his matches, he relied on his superior speed advantage to maneuver against his opponents.
This person was named Takumi, a student from the top class. His grades were mid-tier within the top class, and he was severely specialized. His ninjutsu talent could be considered abysmally poor for a top-class student. He hadn't even mastered all of the Three Basic Jutsu. His only specialty was speed.
At this point, Ishiro's new batch of disciples was selected. The three disciples were: Matsutani Shinya, male, father is a Chūnin, mother is a civilian; Ogura Saki, female, father is a Genin, mother is a civilian; Takumi, male, both parents are civilians.
Matsutani Shinya had been decided last night. Ogura Saki and Takumi were chosen today. The other few Ishiro had originally been interested in were not selected.
The three disciples Ikura chose were: Nakata Tatsunori, male, skilled in Earth Release; Haraguchi Hanpei, male, outstanding ninjutsu talent, similar to Ikura himself; Shimoyama Mayuzumi, female, talented in sealing jutsus.
The other person of the same type as Haraguchi Hanpei whom Ikura had originally selected was not chosen due to poor performance. For the others, only Shimoyama Mayuzumi was included in the end because Ikura genuinely had no other candidates.
After selecting the disciples, Ishiro didn't leave immediately. Instead, under Ikura's astonished gaze, he used the Light/Heavy Rock Technique and the Camouflage Jutsu, walking back and forth across the training ground several times.
Unfortunately, there was no second Chiko Tomoe this time; no one discovered Ishiro's presence.
Ishiro returned to Ikura's side with some regret and then said to him, "Let's go back."
Ikura nodded. After a moment, Ikura said, "This batch of graduates still has some time before graduation. Do you think it's okay for the few we've selected to graduate early?"
Ishiro was taken aback. Early graduation? It wasn't impossible. After all, they had learned everything they needed to. Graduating early would allow them to enter his planned training regimen sooner.
But wouldn't graduating early be too conspicuous? After thinking about it, Ishiro didn't care anymore. Anyway, they had already been conspicuous when selecting them.
The next day, the six individuals selected by Ishiro and Ikura were required by their teachers to take the graduation examination early.
Six spots: three from the top class: Haraguchi Hanpei, Shimoyama Mayuzumi, Takumi; three from the ordinary class: Nakata Tatsunori, Ogura Saki, Matsutani Shinya.
Among the six, only Haraguchi Hanpei, selected by Ikura, was a universally acknowledged genius. The others were not considered favored candidates by most before the teachers announced the results.
Although Ishiro had set a precedent once before, giving ordinary class students hope of being selected, no one expected that the ordinary class would take half the spots this time. And for Ishiro, ordinary class students accounted for two-thirds of his selections.
What made everyone's jaws drop again was that Matsutani Shinya, a student with no ambition whatsoever who had once been completely given up, was also selected by Ishiro.
When the teacher announced the results, Matsutani Shinya and Nakata Tatsunori were in the same class. They looked at each other, both finding it somewhat unbelievable. Only, Nakata Tatsunori was excited, while Matsutani Shinya was dumbfounded.
Among the six, Takumi and Shimoyama Mayuzumi were equally surprised.
Shimoyama Mayuzumi was surprised because although she was selected, the one who chose her was Ikura, not Ishiro. As a sealing jutsu enthusiast, she was aware of Ishiro's contributions to the village's barrier team and knew Ishiro was a top-tier sealing jutsu master in the village.
Yet, it was Ikura who chose to take her as a disciple. She hadn't heard of Lord Ikura having any achievements in sealing jutsus. This made her excited but also more puzzled.
Takumi's thoughts were completely different; he was nothing but excited. Coming from a civilian background, his training relied entirely on talent, but he didn't know how to utilize that talent. He desired a guiding teacher more than anyone.
Ogura Saki's feelings were different from the others. The little girl was mostly invigorated because, after school the previous day, her teacher had hinted to her about Ishiro's special attention.
So, Ogura Saki's strongest feeling right now was that her efforts had finally been recognized by others, and she finally had the opportunity to change her destiny and break through her own limits.
The most outwardly calm among them was Haraguchi Hanpei. Haraguchi Hanpei was already one of the top few graduates in this batch, so everyone felt his selection was normal.
Although the position of this year's top student was unlikely to be his, compared to the other five, he still stood out like a crane among chickens.
Actually, inwardly, Haraguchi Hanpei was also relieved. He knew that when Ishiro and the others selected disciples, they generally didn't go for the students' overall strength but rather selected students who were compatible with themselves.
So, his chances of being selected were actually similar to everyone else's.
Most of those selected were very excited, while those not selected were extremely disappointed. Although Ishiro didn't see this, he could guess.
However, there was one thing Ishiro hadn't expected.
Because after Ishiro and Ikura finished selecting their disciples, five or six Jōnin successively came to visit Ishiro. They all inquired about Ishiro's method of selecting disciples and his guidance plan after accepting them.
Ishiro realized they also wanted to recruit disciples. Then Ishiro patiently helped them strategize. Coincidentally, the previous files were still in Ishiro's possession, and Ishiro helped them with a detailed analysis.
Next, the Ninja Academy erupted, because after Ishiro and Ikura, eight more Jōnin expressed their intention to select disciples.
Three disciples per Jōnin, totaling 24 spots. Thus, the Ninja Academy entered a wave of frenzy that drove everyone wild.
However, these matters didn't concern Ishiro much anymore. Today, Ishiro and Ikura were going to meet their respective disciples.
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