The Ninja Academy ran for six academic years. Each year began in April and ended in March of the following year, with the curriculum split into three terms: early April to mid-July, early September to late December, and early January to the end of March.
In this era, children were allowed to enroll between the ages of five and six. In Konoha Year 28, Nawaki - the younger brother of the Fire Country's princess and the First Hokage's grandson - entered the Ninja Academy founded by the Second Hokage. The village's true heir had officially stepped through its gates.
***
July 18, Konoha Year 30.
Today was the last day of the first term at the Ninja Academy.
For the third- through sixth-year students, who had already advanced into the second and third stages of training, the day was packed with final examinations: written subjects, practical exercises, and tests on the Three Basic Techniques. By comparison, the first- and second-year students were still throwing pebbles instead of shuriken. The only assessment where any of them might actually get hurt was the one saved for last - sparring.
That afternoon, on the academy grounds, Class 1 of the first year had formed a ring around the designated combat area. Boys and girls sat or stood shoulder to shoulder, eyes locked on the match in the center. For children their age, it was an unbelievably fierce fight.
Inside the circle, two boys with different hair colors displayed talent that left the crowd stunned. While most children their age - even plenty of older students - still relied on little more than raw strength, these two had already begun weaving chakra into their movements. Speed sharpened their attacks, and their eyes and minds moved just as quickly, predicting the next strike, dodging by a hair, or baiting the other into a trap.
It was the kind of spectacle even upperclassmen rarely got to see. The students were dumbstruck. So was the chunin instructor acting as referee, the shock plain on his face.
When he had been young, he never understood why he couldn't compare to the so-called geniuses around him. Now that he was older, mature enough to look back without excuses, he finally understood. He and they had never been the same kind of student. The two boys in front of him had already left their peers hopelessly far behind.
What made the match even stranger was how long it lasted. Most sparring bouts between academy children ended quickly - either because the pain became unbearable or because one side simply overpowered the other. This one dragged on, and every exchange only made the audience more breathless.
Only when the blond boy's stamina finally bottomed out, his reactions and speed noticeably dulled, did the white-haired boy seize a true opening. He slipped past a straight punch, caught the arm in one smooth motion, and twisted his body. The next instant, the blond boy was hurled over his shoulder and slammed onto the ground, where he was pinned under a clean grappling hold.
The chunin instructor snapped out of his daze at once and raised his voice. "The match is over. The winner is Gojo Yoru. Form the Seal of Reconciliation."
The moment those words landed, the students who had been staring with wide, vacant eyes finally came back to themselves. Then the field exploded in noise.
"Wow... that was incredible!"
"So that's Minato and Gojo's real strength? They've been hiding it this whole time!"
"It's not that they were hiding it. It's just that nobody pushed them hard enough before. If they hadn't been matched up today, we'd never have known they were this strong!"
"What a shame for Minato. If his body had developed as much as Gojo's, he might've won in the end."
"Hey, keep it down. Don't stand so close to me either. I don't want Gojo hearing you and deciding to remember my face."
"Ah! Do you think he heard that?!"
The boys' side of the crowd buzzed with fear, awe, and excitement, while the girls were no less animated.
"Minato-kun and Yoru-kun are both so handsome. I had no idea who I was supposed to cheer for just now."
"Yoru-kun is better. That cold look of his is so cool, and he's strong too. Didn't he beat up an upperclassman right after he enrolled? Being around him just feels safe."
"I still think Minato is easier to talk to."
Amid the noisy discussion, the two boys - with nearly half a head of height between them - quietly completed the Seal of Reconciliation.
"Thank you for the match, Yoru-kun," Minato Namikaze said with a gentle smile, his sincerity showing even through the bruises on his face. "You're really strong."
"You're not bad yourself," Yoru replied.
Looking at Minato's battered but open expression, Yoru's eyes grew complicated. There was no joy in victory inside him - only pressure, heavy and real.
Because he knew something no one else did.
He wasn't a genius. Not at all.
Both he and the body he inhabited were technically "superhumans from another world," born with one hundred and thirty trillion cells. But nobody in Konoha knew that Gojo Yoru's small frame contained the soul of an adult in his twenties. What was there to be proud of? He had taken this long - and only barely won - against a real six-year-old.
Far from giving him confidence, this fight had only shown him how terrifying Minato Namikaze's potential truly was. That reaction speed was absurd. No wonder Minato would one day become only the second person in Konoha to master the Flying Thunder God Technique.
And this was just the first term.
At this rate, won't I be left in the dust before long?
The thought made Yoru's mood sink all over again. On the surface, though, he only returned to his seat with his usual blank expression.
Thanks to the reputation he had built as an aloof problem child - cold, difficult, and more than capable of bullying anyone who irritated him - no one, boy or girl, dared approach him. The contrast with Minato was sharp. The moment Minato returned to his side of the class, he was immediately surrounded by classmates trying to comfort him.
The examinations went on. One sparring match ended after another, and with the last of them, the first term officially came to a close.
As soon as the teacher announced the start of the holiday, Yoru was the first student out of the academy gates.
***
Gojo Yoru lived in a three-story villa with a small yard in the center of Konoha. In terms of location and value, it ranked just below the estates of the village's great ninja clans. That alone was enough to show how wealthy the Gojo family had once been.
After changing his shoes in the genkan, Yoru crossed the living room and headed straight for the bathroom. On the way, he passed a household shrine with two memorial portraits set upon it.
Warm water sprayed from the showerhead in a fine stream, filling the room with white mist. Standing beneath it, Yoru tipped his head back and let the water drum over his scalp while he pushed his damp white hair away from his face with both hands. The white brows that had remained furrowed the entire walk home finally eased.
He stood there for a long time with his eyes closed, thinking.
Those eyes were blue, the same color family as Minato Namikaze's. But while Minato's blue was bright and clear as an open sky, Yoru's was colder - pale, icy, with a trace of white hidden in it. Combined with his expressionless face, the effect was enough to make anyone instinctively keep their distance.
After a quick rinse, he stepped out wrapped in a bathrobe. Standing before the mirror and toweling his hair dry, he looked at the small boy reflected there and let out a soft, self-mocking laugh in the dialect of his old hometown.
"Heh... same surname, nearly the same hair and eye color, and yet I didn't get some overpowered cheat. If I could've had invincible strength and spent decades living carefree, then even ending up split in half someday would've been worth it."
Once his hair was dry, Yoru glanced at the clock. His stomach was growling, but instead of making dinner, he turned and walked to the first-floor storage room. There, he lifted an unremarkable tatami mat and revealed the hidden entrance to a basement below.
When the kerosene lamp flickered to life, the underground room came into view.
It was a compact chamber, but every wall was covered in tadpole-like sealing script. Two bookshelves stood side by side, crammed with scrolls and books. Several storage boxes lined the floor beneath them.
Each section had been labeled in careful categories: ninja scrolls, secrets from the Warring States period, assorted ninja tools and soldier pills, and boxes filled with gold and silver. This was the true foundation of the Gojo family - the inheritance his parents had left behind for him.
It was also the greatest source of support Gojo Yoru currently possessed.