"Where leaves dance in the wind, fire burns ever bright. Its light will illuminate the village and nurture new leaves!"
At the Konoha Ninja Academy, rows of new students listened to the speech of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Many of the students' faces glowed with admiration, some even with a sense of fervent excitement.
Among the newcomers, Minato Namikaze wore the same excited smile. Once he calmed himself, he glanced at Tatsuma and asked, "Tatsuma, do you think we'll be in the same class?"
Tatsuma shook his head. "How would I know? But if we perform well enough, we might be placed in the elite class. Then we could be together."
"Elite class? There's a class like that?"
Minato looked puzzled. He hadn't heard of such a class, and the Hokage hadn't mentioned it either. Tatsuma just shrugged, saying nothing.
There wasn't an official "elite class" at the Academy, but Tatsuma had already noticed several children wearing clan emblems, seated closest to the Third Hokage.
Slightly further out, more students wore clan emblems, while some others had fully equipped gear. These were likely non-clan children, but their parents were probably active ninjas.
The third layer consisted of commoners, with no emblems on their clothing and only basic equipment. Their ninja tools and outfits looked new, suggesting well-off families.
Tatsuma and Minato sat on the outermost row. Around them were children with sallow faces, faded or ill-fitting clothing, and worn-out ninja pouches—most likely, like them, orphans.
But unlike other war orphans, Tatsuma and Minato didn't look malnourished. The village didn't discriminate; all war orphans received the same allowance. They just knew how to manage their limited resources wisely.
Tatsuma, having lived two lives, understood budgeting and planning. Minato… perhaps he was just precocious.
This clear stratification of seating made Tatsuma skeptical that the Academy randomly assigned seats. Minato, however, might simply think the seating was arbitrary.
"Come this way. Next, we'll conduct an entrance exam."
Soon after Hiruzen Sarutobi finished speaking, several Konoha ninjas wearing Chunin vests led the new students to the training field.
Tatsuma glanced around. In the distance, rows of targets were set up. Five meters in front of each target, a long table was arranged, displaying kunai, shuriken, and senbon—standard ninja tools.
Tatsuma instinctively looked at Minato, who returned the gaze with a thankful smile. Yesterday's surprise training had taught Minato the basics of throwing ninja tools.
His technique was still average, but at least he could hit the target reliably without mistakes in direction or power.
Tatsuma smiled. "Good luck. With your talent and yesterday's practice, you should do well. How about we compete to see who performs better?"
Faced with this overly competitive friend, Minato, unlike yesterday's overwhelmed expression, nodded decisively.
Reflecting on their time together, he realized that setting these little challenges gave him clear goals and motivation to complete each exercise. Perhaps that was why his friend liked arranging these matches.
"Choose your preferred tools and throw five times at the target in front of you. Don't stress—it's just a simple test."
After batches of students completed the task, it was finally Tatsuma and Minato's turn. The ninja instructor smiled at them. Tatsuma responded politely:
"Could you please tell us our scores afterward? Thank you very much."
Using respectful language didn't bother Tatsuma, especially when requesting a favor. The instructor paused, observing the two children who looked vastly different from other war orphans, then nodded.
Tatsuma smiled at Minato, who nodded in return. They both picked up kunai from the table.
The instructor was slightly surprised. For five- or six-year-old children, kunai were heavy and somewhat large. For adult ninjas, there was little difference between kunai, shuriken, and senbon in terms of throwing difficulty. But for young children, shuriken were ideal, kunai too heavy, and senbon too light.
Yet the two children handled the kunai with skill, showing no signs of carelessness. The instructor, who had little expectation for war orphans, now looked toward the targets, curious about their performance.
Thud, thud, thud…Thud, thud, thud…
Without adjusting mid-throw, Tatsuma and Minato quickly picked up new kunai and continued. All five kunai hit the targets five meters away in rapid succession.
For ninjas, five meters was practically nothing, but for pre-academy children, hitting the target at all was impressive.
The instructor blinked, looked at the targets again, and then asked, "Have you practiced this before?"
"Usually at the training grounds," Tatsuma replied with a smile.
The instructor nodded. "Very good. You both show great potential to become ninjas. Fifty points for you, forty-five for your friend. Hand me your admission letters: Sakamoto Tatsuma, Minato Namikaze."
He marked a few notes on their letters and returned them. "Alright, proceed to the next test."
The instructor recorded their scores. He hadn't heard other students' kunai hit the targets.
Tatsuma and Minato saluted respectfully before leaving. Tatsuma said to Minato:
"Your talent is impressive. If you had started training a month ago like I did, maybe you'd have beaten me."
Ding! [Physique +2]
Minato scratched his golden hair. "I wouldn't have done this well without your guidance. Even if I tried my hardest, I could only match your score. Tatsuma… if I'm right, five meters isn't enough for you to fully show your talent, is it?"
Tatsuma smiled but didn't answer. He knew that if he hadn't acquired Minato's talents yesterday, today would have relied entirely on luck.
"Let's go. More tests await. One strong performance isn't enough to be placed in the same class. Let's keep it up."
"Yeah, let's do our best."