With a dull "thud," Shiranui Genma threw his shuriken at the target, though it didn't hit the center.
"Your form is fairly standard. Does anyone in your family serve as a ninja?" The teacher, who had been watching Genma intently from the moment he picked up the shuriken, asked with seeming casualness.
"Yes, my father is a Konoha jōnin." Genma nodded.
"I see. Have you had any exposure to the Three Basic Techniques?" Picking up a form and writing something on it, the teacher continued his questioning.
"Clone Technique!"
Hearing the teacher's inquiry, Genma chose to answer with action rather than words.
Seeing the clone Genma created, the teacher immediately spotted its flaws.
"Though there are some imperfections, for someone your age, this is quite acceptable." Nodding and setting his pen back on the desk, the teacher indicated that Genma could wait to the side.
"Mitarashi Anko, correct?" Looking at the girl before him, the teacher pulled out a fresh form.
"Yes." The normally boisterous Anko became uncharacteristically well-behaved in front of the teacher, nodding obediently.
"Yes~" Feng Bai couldn't resist mimicking Anko's tone from behind, earning himself a sharp glare from her.
This also caught the teacher's attention.
However, the teacher didn't comment, merely giving Feng Bai a long look before returning his focus to Anko: "Same as the previous student—throw a shuriken for me to see."
Using a reasonably standard form, Anko threw her shuriken. The teacher routinely inquired about her family situation, then began testing her ninjutsu and genjutsu aptitude.
"Alright, next." After Anko completed her test, Feng Bai slowly approached the teacher.
"Name."
"Shimura Feng Bai."
"Shimura..." Upon hearing this name, the teacher's hand froze mid-air as he reached for the form, then he deliberately pulled it out and wrote Feng Bai's name on it.
Simultaneously, he recalled the conversation with his colleagues before work that morning.
"Did you hear? Among this year's applicants, there's not only the Third Hokage's young master, but also the biological son of that Hokage Advisor."
"Really? That Hokage Advisor actually has a son!"
"You didn't know? He's the most adorable one among those kids who've been wandering—I mean, strolling—around the streets with Young Master Asuma lately."
"We'd better be careful. If we accidentally fail the children of these important figures, the consequences..."
"Teacher?" Seeing the teacher suddenly fall silent while holding the form, Feng Bai cautiously prompted him.
"Ah, oh yes, Shimura Feng Bai, right? Let me ask you some simple questions." Snapping back to attention, the teacher quickly forced a smile.
"Did the teacher smile when he was testing us?" Anko asked Genma with some irritation.
Chewing his toothpick, Genma appeared unsurprised: "If your dad were the Hokage Advisor, the teacher would smile at you too."
"As a ninja, the most crucial quality is mental agility, so I need to test your thinking ability." Directly skipping the shuriken and ninjutsu/genjutsu tests, the teacher gave full marks for these sections on the form, then posed his so-called question:
"Which is larger, 8 or 4?"
"Uh, 8 is larger."
"Correct. Konoha ninja typically operate in four-person squads, but other hidden villages don't use this formation. For instance, Iwagakure prefers large-scale collective operations, so when facing eight opponents, our four-person squads are indeed at a disadvantage." As the teacher explained, he wrote "mentally agile, exceptionally intelligent" in the remarks column.
"What does 4 plus 4 equal?"
"Uh, 8."
"Exactly. Two four-person squads combined make eight—this is the significance of teamwork." The teacher nodded approvingly and added "possesses excellent cooperative spirit" to the form.
"..." Feng Bai was somewhat speechless.
He now seriously suspected that even if he had said 4+4=2, this guy would have found a way to rationalize it.
"Alright, next." Smiling as he gestured for Feng Bai to wait with Anko, the teacher's smile instantly vanished upon seeing Might Guy appear before him.
"Teacher, I..."
"Enough, go throw a shuriken first." Raising his hand to interrupt Guy's words, the teacher directly wrote his name on the form.
The son of Might Duy, the eternal genin? Always performing strange behavioral art around the village—truly disgraceful to Konoha ninja.
Shaking his head with barely perceptible movement, after testing Guy's ninjutsu and genjutsu abilities, the teacher's expression became visibly grim.
This kid—aside from his commendable physical condition, his ninjutsu and genjutsu abilities are simply unbearable to watch...
"Tsk tsk, looks like that kid's in some danger..." Seeing the teacher's expression, Anko blurted out, then received a gentle tap on the head from Feng Bai.
"Don't speak carelessly, Anko."
Anko and the others didn't know, but Feng Bai was well aware that the future Might Guy would use his life to demonstrate what it meant to fight bloodline monsters with mortal flesh, nearly kicking his way to the finale, and roaring for ordinary people in this world obsessed with bloodline supremacy.
"Oh." After being tapped, Anko obediently agreed and fell silent.
"Thank you for the support!" Their voices weren't particularly loud, but in this spacious room they were exceptionally clear. Guy, despite being looked down upon, didn't show any hurt expression, instead giving Anko a thumbs-up.
"This kid..." Anko showed a surprised expression.
...
With the last student exiting the school building, this enrollment recruitment came to a successful conclusion.
Looking at the thick stack of report forms before him, Hiruzen showed a helpless smile: "Looks like I'll be busy for quite some time."
"This is your duty as Hokage." Danzō remained as steady as ever, raising his teacup for the umpteenth time.
Seeing Danzō's leisurely demeanor, Hiruzen somewhat petulantly pulled out a portion of the forms and placed them in front of Danzō: "Are you really just here to drink tea?"
"I'm merely here as a parent waiting for my son." Glancing at the forms before him, Danzō didn't even have the motivation to reach for them.
Root was undergoing secretive reforms for his ambitions, so Danzō had no intention of recruiting personnel recently. As for the ANBU trained for the Hokage...
Let Hiruzen worry about that himself.
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