Naruto: Kage of Kages

Break time was over and the afternoon of gruelling practical tests was about to begin.

Well, gruelling for most.

Shiki believed that every one of the 9 top graduates of each class that were already selected as elite genin, could clear all the tests without issue, even if some of their performances might not be too impressive.

The chunin teacher had already said what the exams were going to be but he had kept the details purposefully vague since dealing with the various tests on the spot was part of the challenge.

Even the order of the tests was not shared though Shiki had his guesses.

‘Shuriken and kunai throwing, the obstacle course as well as the ninjutsu evaluation should be upfront in no particular order with the final attraction being the combat exam.’ The boy theorized.

His idea was that the more casual and less challenging of the tests would get taken care of first. 

The combat exam would then be a chance for the elite to show off their superiority, possibly to an audience of jonin sensei and some village higher ups.

“Alright students!” A chunin sensei, not the super ordinary one from before, just an averagely ordinary one, clapped to get the students’ attention.

“Follow me to the venue for the first part of your practical exam.”  He commanded and so, the class of 27 followed him outside on a short walk to one of the village training grounds.

‘Academy graduation is much more complex than in the series.’ Shiki internally muttered.

‘I wonder if this is because the actual process was just simplified when the world was made into a story or the actual graduation procedure became more lax as time went on.’ The boy pondered.

The exam venue was the 33rd Training Ground which Shiki learned was always the case.

Academy students often practiced there but the examiners would make several changes to the terrain and equipment set up at the place, right before graduation exams so as to create more of a challenge.

It did not change the fact that someone like Shiki who was entering the place for the first time would be at a bit of disadvantage though the boy himself was not worried in the slightest.

Upon arriving at the exam venue, the boy soon realized he was hugely overestimating these graduation exams.

‘Then again, it is just a test to become a genin, one not specifically for the future elite genin but a common test for the entire class. Being utterly trivial to me was something I should have expected.’ Shiki thought to himself.

Based on Mito’s evaluations of him and his own experiences from the Enlightened Mind’s Eye, the boy had begun determining the real world translation for the various ranks of his basic stats on the status sheet.

As far as he could tell, E was for weak genin and below, D was for both standard and elite genin that have yet to grow.

C was for chunin, all the way from low ranking chunin to elite chunin, the number of stats that hit C and how far along within that rank they were, determined the classification.

B was for jonin with at least one stat at that rank, a shinobi could become a special jonin if they managed to fully take advantage of it while regular jonin had to have most if not all of their stats at B.

A was for stronger jonin and, if achieved on several stats, elite jonin.

S was the gateway into Kage level. SS marked the Super Kage Level as it was known in the fandom, the power level of Madara and Hashirama during their lives. SSS was Six Paths level.

The only exception to this standard seemed to be Chakra Potency which seemed generally low for most people. Even the Third Hokage only seems to have top B lower A rank potency according to Shiki’s estimations.

With Strength and Endurance at C rank and the rest of his stats at B, Mito placed the boy at the Elite Chunin level but only due to a lack of experience. After a couple of “real” missions, special jonin at least according to the redhead.

So yes, even discounting the majority of Shiki’s jutsu, his base stats alone ensured his dominance in the upcoming exam.

Looking at the obstacle course that was set up in the training ground, Shiki could clearly see that it was set up to be completable by students that had no experience with the Tree Walking Exercise.

That training had the final goal of sticking to non horizontal surfaces and walking on them but it also taught students to focus chakra on their soles to burst into movement or jump higher. It served as a substitute for the Body Flicker Jutsu that was hard to use in combat.

Most lower rank shinobi lacked the necessary control to manage the high speed of body flicker in combat situations and only used it for travel where precision and dodging sudden attacks was not important.

So bursting with chakra on their soles for a speed boost was a much less challenging alternative for them, based on its ease, speed of use and low chakra cost, even high level shinobi used it in some situations.

Shiki could see that pretty much all of the obstacles in the course could be cleared easily with a boosted leap or by using chakra to stick to them.

With his expectations for the exam suitable cratered, it was time for the first test.

“Attention students!” Another chunin teacher, the super ordinary one Shiki had seen before, called out to them.

“As you can see, your regular obstacle course has been suitably altered and is your fist challenge in the practical exam. The order has been randomised so no complaining.” The teacher announced.

What followed was the students’ loud complaints about wanting to be first and about how boring it was to wait.

“SHUT IT!” The teacher bellowed.

“You haven’t even checked the order so why are you already complaining you idiots!?” He questioned with a loud voice.

Embarrassed, the students waited for the announcement of the order in which they would be challenging the obstacle course.

But the teacher showed a grin full of teasing.

‘Oh wait! You don’t get to know the order. You’ll just have to wait your turn with bated breath not knowing when it will come!’ He said with gloating and the students could only look at him with resentful expressions.

Satisfied with bullying his students, the teacher began the test, calling out the first taker as every child listened attentively, hoping to be quickly called to show off. Clearly, all of them were very confident in their abilities, at least for this exam.

‘Look at them, finally quiet and willing to listen.’ The teacher thought, dragging out the calling out process to enjoy the silence and irritate his students further who could only grit their teeth and bear it.

‘With this kind of undisciplined mentality. It’s no wonder most of these child soldiers never become more than cannon fodder.’ Shiki disinterestedly thought to himself as he analyzed the situation.

Meanwhile, the test started with a student far too unimportant for their name to actually be remembered.

+++++

Hey, Author here!

Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.

I’m trying to become a full time Author now and I’m not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.

Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -