Sasuke shut his eyes.
The moment he blurted out his apology, the world around him went dark.
He fainted and collapsed to the ground.
"Ah... Shikamaru, what do you think?" Akimichi Choji asked as he munched on potato chips, eyes still wide from the scene that had just unfolded.
Shikamaru gave a tired sigh and rolled his eyes. "Of course I saw it. I have eyes, don't I?"
This was getting ridiculous. All this chaos... just for a school sparring match?
Troublesome. As always.
A few minutes later, Iruka had someone carry Sasuke off to the infirmary, and the actual combat assessment continued without further drama.
Yoruha didn't really pay much attention to the rest of the battles. Only when Ino and Hinata were on the field did he glance up with any interest.
The rest of the time, his mind kept circling back to that moment Sasuke went down.
If Yoruha had seen it right…
Sasuke's Sharingan had activated just before he lost consciousness.
His thoughts grew a little conflicted.
That's it? Just that little emotional hit was enough to awaken the Sharingan?
Sasuke's emotional fragility had surpassed even Yoruha's expectations.
Maybe… just maybe… he shouldn't provoke the guy too often.
What if he ends up awakening the Mangekyō before even graduating?
What if he suddenly busts out a Susano'o and levels the entire academy?
That'd be extremely inconvenient.
By the end of the day, the last match was Naruto's.
As expected, Uzumaki Naruto lost—without any suspense—against the second-worst student in the class.
Successfully defending his title as the worst.
So it was official.
The practical combat exam had concluded.
No surprises.
Based on the results, Yoruha, just like Naruto in his own way, retained his position as the top student in class.
"Congratulations, Yoruha! Please come up to receive your certificate!"
Iruka beamed with pride as he waved him forward.
In all his years of teaching, this was the first time he'd seen someone from the Yamanaka clan perform at this level.
Did he mutate? Is that what happened?
Yoruha walked out calmly, expression flat.
Honestly, this reward ceremony was nothing special to him.
Receiving a little kid's award?
Climbing onto some cheap podium?
It was all kind of boring.
Until—
Iruka pulled out a wooden platform decorated with a painted pink pig.
Yoruha's eyes widened.
A pink pig?!
Wait—
Could it be?
That podium... that was the one from the system!
The check-in point he'd been searching for all this time!
He stared at Iruka.
Teacher Iruka, you're a grown man! Why do you casually carry around a pink pig platform like it's nothing?
But Yoruha didn't care what it meant.
He stepped onto the podium.
Mission complete.
And more importantly, it felt great.
So fragrant.
Ding!
"Congratulations to the host for completing the sign-in. Reward received: Wind Release Mastery!"
Huh?
Wind Release Mastery?!
Yoruha's eyes lit up. This was huge.
He possessed chakra compatibility with all seven nature types—Yin, Yang, Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Earth.
An incredibly rare and well-rounded potential.
But having talent for a chakra nature didn't mean one could immediately manipulate that element.
For example—if you wanted to use wind-based jutsu, you needed to first master the Wind Release nature transformation.
Wind Release wasn't just a jutsu style—it was the foundation.
A skill that converted ordinary chakra into elemental chakra.
Once you mastered Wind Release, you could manipulate wind chakra and, with the proper hand signs, perform wind-style ninjutsu.
And the better your mastery, the stronger your elemental chakra.
Which meant—
The quality of your Wind Release chakra directly affected the power of your jutsu.
That's why someone like Uchiha Madara could dominate a battlefield with a single Fire Release technique—
Because he had refined his chakra transformation to perfection.
Now—
Yoruha had just acquired Wind Release Mastery.
Sure, it wasn't anywhere near Madara's level yet.
But…
It already surpassed the Wind Release skill level of most ordinary jōnin.
Of course, chakra control wasn't everything.
Having high-quality chakra didn't mean Yoruha had the full combat strength of a jōnin.
He still had limitations.
Other than his now-refined chakra control and mastery of the flat slash, his only other reliable move was hurling hidden weapons like a seasoned assassin.