The classes at the Ninja Academy were seventy percent boring, twenty percent childish, and only ten percent could pique Kagami's interest.
As the teacher talked about basic ninjutsu identification, he lost his interest. This is like teaching a fish how to swim, he suppressed a yawn.
The curriculum at the academy was divided into three parts. The first part was the basic ninjutsu course, which included fundamental ninjutsu identification, ninja tool recognition, basic ninjutsu practice, and throwing techniques training.
This part made up seventy percent of the curriculum, and Kagami found it extremely dull and tedious, akin to a student sitting through elementary school lessons.
The second part was the cultural studies, mainly teaching students basic knowledge such as language and general life skills. The higher the grade, the shorter the duration of these classes.
This section accounted for twenty percent of the curriculum. Life skills were a non-issue for Kagami. Learning the language was also easy as there was only one spoken language.
The final part was a wilderness survival theory class, which taught how ninjas could survive in the wild.
He perked up as the teacher began discussing animal tracking techniques. Finally, something the old man can't teach me.
The content included animal traps, tracking, and basic knowledge of flora and fauna, resembling survival shows like Bear Grylls'.
This class only took up ten percent of the curriculum—not because it was unimportant, but because the main stage of learning it would happen after graduating from the academy, when students would train in the field with a higher-ranked ninja. At this stage, it was merely an introduction.
However, Kagami found this class the most interesting, as it was the only one he couldn't learn from the Third Tsuchikage or his daily life.
After the last class of the morning, he was approached by Hana, her face bright with a cheerful smile.
"Hey Kagami! Want to have lunch together? I made extra onigiri!" she offered, holding up her bento box.
Kagami hesitated, torn between his need to be alone to use his spider vision and the Third Tsuchikage's advice on building relationships. I should probably accept, but...
"Thanks, Hana, but I've got some... practice to do," he replied with an awkward smile, patting his bag. "I've already got bread anyway."
Hana's smile faltered slightly, but she nodded. "Oh, okay. Maybe next time then?"
Kagami nodded and swiftly made his exit. As he walked away, he felt a weird ache. That's a strange feeling.
He quickly ignored it and he grabbed the bread he had bought earlier that morning and went to a small grove near the school to eat alone.
The grove beside the ninja academy was a quiet place, and Kagami thought he could use the lunch break to practice some ninjutsu after eating.
Which jutsu should I work on?
However, just as he reached the west side of the school with his bread in hand, he heard whispers coming from the bushes.
"Kaigo, won't the teacher scold us for this?"
"Yeah, the teacher said this thing is really dangerous. We're not allowed to touch it."
"Don't worry, we're just going to use it to scare those upperclassmen. No need to detonate it. They deserve it for bullying us."
"Don't you want to get revenge?"
Kagami immediately recognized who the three whispering people were and turned to leave, not wanting to get involved. Not these troublemakers again.
Unsurprisingly, the three hiding in the bushes stood up at that exact moment and saw him. In turn, Kagami saw the explosive tag in Kaigo's hand.
From their earlier conversation, he quickly deduced what they were planning.
Two days ago, Daiko had announced in class that Kaigo's group, along with Itachi, had fought with some upperclassmen here.
The upperclassmen had used their superior numbers to beat up Kaigo's group, and since the Itachi they had with them was just a shadow clone, the three were soundly defeated.
Although the teacher punished the upperclassmen, Kagami knew Kaigo's personality well enough to predict that they would seek revenge.
He just didn't expect that they'd use an explosive tag for their revenge.
There was no need to explain the danger of an explosive tag. Unlike a fireball that might miss its target, explosive tags were much more effective.
"Hey, did you hear what we were just talking about?" Kaigo asked Kagami suspiciously.
"No," he denied without changing his expression.
"That's impossible."
Kaigo was annoyed. He had stolen the explosive tag from his parents and planned to scare the upperclassmen with it before sneaking it back. But now, Kagami had seen him.
Kaigo already didn't get along with him, so if word got out that he had stolen the explosive tag, it would surely cause trouble.
"You definitely heard us," Kaigo accused, pointing at him.
Not wanting any part of this, Kagami said, "Whether I heard you or not, I'll just pretend I didn't. Will that do?"
---
Meanwhile, two girls were walking down the hallway of the upperclassmen section of the ninja academy. One of them, a purple-haired girl, glanced out the window and saw Kagami with Kaigo's group near the grove.
"Oh? Isn't that Hayate's younger brother?"
"Naoko, you go ahead. I'll stay here and watch for a bit."
"Oh? Did you spot a cute boy?"
"Don't be silly."
"Oops, I forgot. You like your senior from the kenjutsu class."
As her friend left, Yugao continued watching the scene below.
She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she assumed they were friends since they were meeting up at lunchtime.
Suddenly, the three boys started panicking, fumbling around. The boy in the middle was blowing on something that was smoking.
That's...
Yugao squinted and saw the character on the paper.
"An explosive tag!"
---
"What's that smell?"
Kaigo, who had been facing off with Kagami, suddenly smelled something burning. When he looked down, he realized the explosive tag in his hand had ignited.
"How did the explosive tag get lit?"
"I didn't light it!"
"Blow it out, Kaigo!"
Kaigo and his friends frantically tried to extinguish the explosive tag, but Kagami had already figured out why it ignited.
The tag didn't need an open flame to light. In fact, no ninja would foolishly use fire to ignite an explosive tag. It only required contact with chakra to trigger.
In his haste, Kaigo had accidentally leaked some of his chakra, which caused the tag to ignite.
This was likely why students at the ninja academy weren't allowed to handle explosive tags—they couldn't fully control their chakra yet.
"Damn it, it won't go out!"
"Throw it away!"
Following his friend's advice, Kaigo threw the tag with all his strength toward an empty spot.
But the explosive tag was just a piece of paper. It didn't go far before the air caught it and sent it fluttering back toward Kaigo.
That's funny.
By now, more than three-quarters of the tag had burned, leaving Kaigo and his friends with no time to extinguish it. They turned and ran towards Kagami.
He wasn't far from the tag's detonation zone either. Even if he tried to run, he would likely still get injured.
No choice. Maybe I should do something.
He quickly formed hand seals, and a wall of earth rose from the ground, blocking both him and Kaigo's group from the explosion.
Boom!
The explosion sent up a large cloud of dust, covering everything in the area.
When the dust settled, Yugao saw the earthen wall Kagami had summoned. Despite the explosion happening so close, the wall was barely damaged.
Although he hadn't announced the name of the technique, Yugao recognized it as a soon-to-graduate student.
"B-rank ninjutsu. Earth Style: Mud Wall." she murmured, impressed. At his age?
In the distance, Kagami could hear the sound of approaching teachers.
So much for a quiet lunch break, he resigned to the impending questioning.
---
"Really sorry, my child caused trouble for your younger brother," Kaigo's father said.
Hayate's fingers tightened on the doorframe as he responded diplomatically, "Let the past stay in the past. Luckily, nothing bad happened."
"Hurry up and apologize, Kaigo!" his mother urged sternly.
"I'm sorry," Kaigo mumbled, eyes fixed on the ground.
At the entrance of the Gekko dojo, Hayate and Kagami watched as Kaigo's family, who had come to apologize, left. The tension in the air was visible, with Kaigo's parents' nervous postures contrasting sharply with Kagami's impassive face.
Kaigo had stolen explosive tags from his parents without permission and brought them to school. He even accidentally set one off, causing damage to the school and almost leading to casualties. As a result, the Third Hokage punished Kaigo and his parents.
In addition to compensating for the damage, he and his family were tasked with cleaning the school for three months. His parents also had to personally apologize to those involved, including the Kagami family.
Fortunately, Hayate was understanding and didn't make things difficult for Kaigo's family.
However, after they left, his face turned serious. Kagami's expression remained neutral, but there was a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes.
"Yugao told me everything," he began, trying to sound casual. "She said you used the Earth Wall Jutsu to block the explosion. Is that true?"
This will be awkward.
Kagami had hoped that only Kaigo and his family had seen him use the jutsu, so he had already told them not to mention it. His family, grateful for Kagami's help in saving them, agreed.
But Yugao had found out and revealed the information, so not only did his brother know, but the chunin teacher investigating the incident did as well.
No point in denying it now, his body tensed slightly and nodded in acknowledgment.
Instead of the joy a parent might usually express upon discovering their child's talent, Hayate looked at him with a complex expression, which eventually softened into a smile.
"Mom and Dad would be proud of you," he said, his voice catching slightly.
After saying this, he patted Kagami on the shoulder and went to make dinner, his movements slower than usual, lost in thought.
Kagami had thought Hayate would ask him where he learned the jutsu, but he didn't. After all, such basic jutsu weren't highly classified and could be learned from books, though mastering them without guidance required either immense talent or a lot of time.
His brother clearly believed Kagami was the talented type.
But he would never know that Kagami had received training under the 'guidance' of the Tsuchikage, which is how he reached this level.
---
Meanwhile, in the center of the hall, the academy teacher Daiko was presenting the annual academic report to Konoha's senior leaders: the Third Hokage, advisors Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, and the leader of the Root, Danzo.
He could barely contain his excitement as he began, "We have not one, but two prodigies this year!"
"Not only did Uchiha Itachi master the clone technique from last year's graduation exam, but he's also mastered the advanced Shadow Clone Jutsu."
"He's outstanding in every area. Keeping him in the academy any longer serves no purpose."
"But isn't he only in his first year?" Sarutobi asked, puffing thoughtfully on his pipe.
"Yes."
Hearing this, Danzo looked at Sarutobi with some dissatisfaction. "Isn't this a good thing? There's even a precedent for this."
"He's not from that era, and this isn't a time of war," Sarutobi responded calmly, his words deflecting any further argument.
"He's a genius, isn't he?"
Danzo, still wary after the Orochimaru incident, chose not to argue further and settled for this comment.
Daiko nodded and added, "I've never seen such a student before. But this year, it's not just Itachi—there's also Kagami from the same class."
"During the explosive tag incident, he used the Earth Wall Jutsu, a technique on par with the Shadow Clone Jutsu, to block the explosion. His performance was exceptional."
"Oh?" Danzo raised an eyebrow, intrigued by this new name. Interesting.
"Is this the youngest son of the Gekko family?"
"Yes. Though I didn't see it myself, it was confirmed by the top student, Yugao. It was a well-executed Mud Wall Jutsu."
"Moreover, Kagami's scores in other subjects are nearly on par with Uchiha Itachi's."
Sarutobi, deep in thought, took a puff from his pipe.
One genius, two geniuses... I hadn't expected my earlier musings to come true—Konoha now has two rising stars.
But is it too soon to let them graduate?
Keeping them in the academy would be a waste of time since they've already surpassed the curriculum.
In the end, Sarutobi made his decision.
---
Back in the Gekko dojo, Kagami broke the news to his brother in the tatami room.
"Graduation? From the academy in your first year?" Hayate asked, his tea cup freezing halfway to his lips.
"Yes. The teacher said it would require the guardian's consent, so they want you to go to the academy," Kagami explained.
This left Hayate conflicted. From the beginning, he hadn't supported Kagami becoming a ninja. His wish had always been for his younger brother to live a peaceful life.
But now, Kagami's talents were so extraordinary that even the six peaceful years of academy life were out of reach.
No, it's too soon. He's not ready. I'm not ready. Hayate found this hard to accept.
However, from another perspective, Kagami's early graduation meant his talent was undeniable.
Even though Hayate had never taught Kagami any jutsu, he hadn't stopped his brother from shining.
If I hold him back, will I lose him in a different way? Hayate wondered, memories of Kagami's time in the hospital flashing through his mind.
Having experienced a year as a genin himself, Hayate knew that the skills learned as a real ninja were far beyond what the academy could offer.
If Kagami was truly a genius, becoming a powerful ninja sooner would reduce the dangers he would face.
Outside Konoha... it's dangerous.
The last time, the explosion had been a safe distance away. Next time, it might be right on his body.
After much internal conflict, Hayate left the decision to Kagami.
"Kagami, the choice is yours. Whatever you decide, I'll support you," he finally said.
Kagami thought for a moment before responding, "I choose to graduate and become a real ninja, like you."
Seeing the fire in Kagami's eyes, Hayate opened his mouth but said nothing. Instead, he silently pulled Kagami into a hug, pouring all his pride, fear, and love into the embrace.
---
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