Naruto: Kage of Kages

It was an eye opening experience, for the students once they realized or were informed of the details of Shiki’s feat, for the teacher and even for the two spying old men that were keeping an eye on the exam.

They were just E rank jutsu, not even higher level versions that could still be used such as advanced substitutions but the most basic form taught to all academy students regardless of their background.

And yet . . .

Even if the chunin teacher’s guard was not up, it did not change the fact that an academy student had expertly used the three basic jutsu to fool a seasoned shinobi so cleanly that he could have doubtlessly killed him if he had wanted to.

A truly humbling experience and a reminder.

Most of the time it was not about the tool or technique.

It was about the one using them.

Surprisingly, Shiki himself was quite shocked at how well it all went.

‘Truly, before you reach the true upper echelons of shinobi prowess, a good tactical approach and some simple low rank jutsu along with some tools are more than enough to win most battles’

‘In the case of Naruto, just Shadow Clones and Rasengan variants were enough when combined with all his amps.’ The white haired boy pondered.

It made him reevaluate his current course that involved learning quite a lot of jutsu but if he wanted to be versatile, it was a necessity.

‘I can always make course corrections later down the line. I still have a lot of time to get strong.’ He thought.

Coincidentally, Shiki’s test had been the last so the students were left to process what they had just learned and felt while preparations for the final and most important test were being made.

*

This particular graduation class was under more scrutiny than others, owing to Shiki’s existence and since he was such an unknown, a little alteration had been made for the final exam, the combat exercise.

Normally, it was a match between each student and an examiner who would fight with proper restraint and the examinee would simply have to last for 3 minutes for a passing grade.

But while the process would remain the same, while a normal exam was merely watched by the chunin teachers and secretly by the jonin teacher who would be getting elite genin under them, this time, the audience was going to be significantly larger.

When the class arrived at an indoor venue with a dirt floor and stands on both sides, they clearly saw quite a few spectators.

Tsunade was there, as were the clan heads of the Hyuga, Uchiha, Inuzuka, Aburame, Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans along with some promising members they had chosen to accompany them.

The Third Hokage himself even made an appearance, much to the excitement of the students and thought few noticed, skulking in the shadows where he belonged, Danzo Shimura.

Shiki observed them all carefully as well as the reactions of those around him, trying to fish for some information.

Tsunade seemed to have brought Nawaki who enthusiastically waved at him while the Uchiha Clan head who Shiki knew was named Uchiha Fukutsu, looked to have brought a square jawed young man and a young girl, younger than Mei.

‘The boy should be Fugaku, his son and the next clan head . . . Is that girl Mikoto then, getting them acquainted already?’ The white haired boy thought to himself.

While Fugaku and Mikoto’s age difference was only five years, right now when Fugaku had just turned 14 and Mikoto was about to turn 9, it did look quite weird.

Hyuga Hiroshi brought his young twin sons with him, Hiashi and Hizashi, they looked about nine but carried headbands already, just like Mikoto, proving they had already graduated.

Yamanaka Inomaru brought his son Inoichi, Akimichi Torifu brought Choza and Nara Shikai had Shikaku, all three children were just a year older than Shiki and still in the academy.

‘Akimichi Torifu and the Third Hokage seem rather intent on remaining at quite a distance from each other despite being former teammates . . .’ Shiki observed, marking the discovery down in case it became more useful down the road.

Aburame Shimobe, whose name Shiki found quite amusing, had also brought his son Shibi who was two years older than the white haired boy.

‘Shimobe . . . Can’t that name be read as “manservant”?’ Shiki amusedly thought.

‘Frivolous thoughts aside, he seems to be looking at my future Aburame teammate with . . . guilt? Pain? Some other complex and not so pleasant emotion?’ He observed.

‘Speaking of my Aburame teammate . . . She has not looked in his direction once but precisely because of that, I can tell she is very conscious of good ole’ Danzo.’ The white haired boy analyzed.

‘As for the Uchiha section, the father and son duo seem to be stone faced observers but they are clearly paying close attention to Mei, the girl who might be Mikoto is much more upfront and actually waving at my future Uchiha teammate.’

‘Speaking of Mei, she is looking extra awkward and completely avoiding looking at the stands. Looks like she shares a significant connection with the Uchiha bigwigs.’

‘Poor Ryuuto, it seems he is preening and looking forward to showing off for his clan leader, unaware the man was paying little to no attention to him.’

Just as Shiki was finishing up his analysis of the situation while making a wave Nawaki’s way before the brown haired boy’s arm fell off with the violent shaking to try and get his attention, the chunin teacher who led them to the venue started speaking with a smile.

“As you see . . .” He raised his hand towards the illustrious audience in the raised stands.

“We have a few very special guests for this exam!” The teacher exclaimed.

‘Are our jonin teachers also here?’ Shiki wondered, scanning the environment.

“I’m sure you’re all ready to go and aware of the rules for this combat exam, yes?” The chunin teacher questioned, receiving eager nods from the students.

Not seeing any possible jonin teacher, Shiki quietly activated his Chakra Sensing Technique and  suddenly, three extra presences his normal sense had failed to detect showed up.

“Found them! So they are indeed here.” The white haired boy internally exclaimed.

But he was suddenly startled.

‘Oops! Looks like I got found out.’

‘I already knew my sensei was going to be a Yamanaka who was very likely a sensor. Of course I would get busted.’ Internally calling himself dumb, Shiki turned his attention back towards the teacher.

He was not planning on hiding his sensory ability so it just meant it got revealed a bit ahead of time. No big deal.

Or so he thought.

*

Back in a hidden spot on the stands, a cloaked  woman spoke with a rather sensual and mature voice.

“Ara, ara! Looks like I’ll be getting a rather mysterious little guy indeed.” 

A smile graced her perfect face, half covered by a light blonde side bang.

While revealing his ability as a sensor himself might not have been so impressive, letting another find out ahead of everyone else could arouse curiosity, something our dear Shiki did not really account for.

+++++

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 -