In the ninja academy, Shitsuya waited in a line outside a room.
Shitsuya watched as each student entered the the room before proudly exiting a few minutes later wearing a ninja headband, signifying their promotion to ninja.
'Looks like the old man was right.' Shitsuya thought before pushing the door open.
The room behind the door was small and dimly lit, stand inside was an academy teacher along with the Hokage.
Shitsuya gave a small bow that was acknowledged by the third Hokage.
Shitsuya stared at Hiruzen, this was his first time seeing him so close.
Unlike when he would fight Orochimaru, the third Hokage of this time was still young and brimming with vitality.
His eyes were bright, Hair brown without a bit of gray and his skin tight and free of wrinkles.
Hiruzen Noticed Shitsuya's gaze but he didn't mind it as he was already used to it.
Hiruzen himself was quite intrigued by the young man Infront of him.
More than a week ago he was approached by an elder of the Uchiha clan.
The elder made several claims about his grandson, even claiming that his grandson already possessed the Sharingan even at the tender age of 7 years old.
Mitsuki asked him to graduate Shitsuya early as he believed that he would be to contribute greatly to the village.
Under normal circumstances Hiruzen would not have agreed to approve him for early graduation but considering their urgent need for Shinobi he decided to give Shitsuya a shot.
If the child was as extraordinary as Mitsuki claimed, Hiruzen would approve of making him a ninja but only if he thought that Shitsuya was capable.
Unlike Danzo and Tobirama, Hiruzen had no distaste or distrust against the Uchiha as his comrade Kagami was also an Uchiha who served the village with the utmost loyalty.
That aside, the Uchiha clan also held the highest contributions of any other clan.
Although the Hatake clan had Sakumo and the Senju had Tsunade.
Those two were only singular individuals, even if exceptional they couldn't be deployed to the multiple battle fields at the same time.
The Uchiha clan on the other hand although it didn't have any extraordinary individuals, still offered a steady supply of capable ninjas.
Just the Sharingan by itself gave the Uchiha shinobi a huge advantage against any opponent of similar strength.
Hiruzen dispelled his contemplation and spoke. "Preform the the clone Jutsu and produce 5 clones."
Usually the test was to produce any clones but Hiruzen wanted to see if Shitsuya was at least somewhat competent before allowing him to join graduate and Join a team.
Shitsuya weaved the three hand signs required for the Jutsu and five identical clones appeared behind him.
The academy teacher nodded, it was a perfect clones Jutsu with no mistakes, although he didn't know Shitsuya he acknowledged his talent.
Hiruzen also nodded but for a different reason, Hiruzen was quite impressed Shitsuya's chakra control, most children poured chakra into their Jutsu recklessly so he was impressed at how little chakra Shitsuya wasted.
'With his chakra control and with a Sharingan he might become an expert at Genjutsu.' Hiruzen assessed.
Hiruzen smiled and said, "You passed, congratulations."
Hiruzen then personally handed Shitsuya a leaf headband, Shitsuya accepted it before bowing.
"Please come back here tomorrow morning, you'll be assigned to your teammates." The academy instructor spoke.
Shitsuya left the room and left the academy, he put the headband in his pocket as a kid like him wearing it would draw unwanted attention.
*****
On his way back, Shitsuya met with Minato.
"Yo." Minato waved at Shitsuya.
"So how did it go, did you pass?" Minato asked Shitsuya.
Shitsuya only tossed his headband at Minato who held it with shining eyes.
Returning it to Shitsuya he grabbed his hand and said, "I'll treat you to some dango to celebrate."
Shitsuya accepted and allowed himself to be dragged by Minato.
*****
The next day.
"You did well, Lord Hokage was very impressed by your performance." Mitsuki said.
"Ok."
"You'll Join a team under Shikane Nara, a chunin from the Nara clan, I was hoping for a Jonin all Jonin are either at war or retired."
"Still, he's from the Nara clan with a good head on his Shoulders and a knack for strategy, you can learn a lot under him."
"Your two other teammates will be Nishimaru Hyuga and Hikari Reina, You'll be a replacement for their recently deceased teammate so expect a cold welcome from them."
"Anything can happen while on a mission so be prepared for anything." Mitsuki advised.
Shitsuya simply nodded.
****
The next day.
Shitsuya put on his clothes and wore his ninja headband around his neck and opened the door to leave the house.
Before he left his mother suddenly hugged him from behind.
"Be careful." His mother said.
His mother had been unusually quiet after learning about his approval for a graduation test, not speaking to him for a week.
Maybe her fear of losing her son the same way she lost her son clashed with her desire to not hold her son back or maybe it was something else, either way Shitsuya didn't care.
While on his way to the academy, Shitsuya walked past several students, seeing him wearing a ninja headband, several of them had their jaws drop while others discussed heatedly with their friends in hushed voices.
Feeling their gazes which had turned from disdain to shock, Shitsuya couldn't help but feel some schadenfreude.
Arriving to the academy, he was placed in a classroom with the other newly graduated Ninjas.
The room emptied gradually as students were called one after another by their new teachers.
After a whole 3 hours of waiting, His teacher finally arrived.
With swept back black hair, his new teacher rubbed his eyes and yawned before gesturing for him to follow him.