"This is our first real exam. I'm so nervous... what if the questions are impossible?"
"I hope they're easy. If I fail, my dad is going to skin me alive when I get home."
"It shouldn't be that bad. Teacher Luke gave us those mock exams last week, remember? If we could pass those, the real ones should be a breeze."
The air in Grade 1, Class 1 was thick with anxiety. For many of these five and six-year-olds, this was their first encounter with the cold, hard reality of academic ranking.
"Anko, Izumo—are you guys feeling the pressure?" Kotetsu Hagane asked, his voice a bit higher than usual.
"Pressure? Please. It's just a bunch of paper," Anko scoffed, leaning back in her chair with forced bravado. "Watch me crush it."
"Of course I'm nervous," Izumo Kamizuki admitted. "This isn't like a quiz. They post these results on the bulletin board for everyone to see."
"I'm shaking a little too," Kotetsu nodded. "On Teacher Luke's mock exam, I only got an eighty. The real thing is always harder. I'll be lucky if I hit a sixty or seventy."
"Wait... you guys got eighties?" Anko's confidence faltered. On that same mock exam, she had barely scraped a sixty-five.
"Those mock scores were probably inflated anyway," Izumo sighed, looking miserable. "We really need to push ourselves. I heard a rumor that if our class average is too low, the administration might swap out our teachers. They might take Teacher Luke away."
"Swap him!?" Anko slammed her hands on her desk. "They can take any of the others, but they are not touching Teacher Luke!"
Though he was their homeroom teacher, Luke didn't teach every subject. They had a rotating roster for things like medical theory and geography, but Luke was the one who made the day bearable.
"Exactly," Izumo agreed. "The other teachers are so boring. Luke is the only one who actually makes sense."
"We have to tell the class," Izumo decided, his eyes narrowing with a sense of mission. "We need to rally everyone. If we fail, we lose him."
Anko loved the idea. She hopped onto her chair and announced the "threat" to the entire room. The news of Luke's potential departure hit the class like a lightning bolt.
"Listen up! If we don't ace this, they'll replace him with someone as dry as a Medical Ninja!" Kotetsu shouted, adding fuel to the fire.
"WE WON'T LET THEM!"
"I'm scoring a ninety, or I'm not coming home!"
"If anyone fails today, don't talk to me! Teacher Luke worked too hard for us to blow it!"
Shisui sat quietly in the back, not joining the shouting. He didn't need to. He would simply take the number one spot in the entire grade. With a student like him at the top, the Academy wouldn't dare move Luke.
"Everyone, settle down. It's almost time. Just do your best."
Luke's voice drifted in from the hallway. The room went silent instantly. He stood in the doorway, a calm, encouraging smile on his face.
"I believe in all of you," he said softly before heading to his assigned proctoring station.
Luke was touched by their loyalty, even if their fears were misplaced. The Academy didn't swap teachers mid-term over a single test. Plus, the mock exams he had given them were actually significantly harder than the official curriculum. They were going to over-perform, and he knew it.
Luke walked into Grade 4, Class 2. "Quiet down, everyone. Clear your desks. The exam begins now."
As it happened, he had been randomly assigned to proctor the class containing his other two disciples.
"Teacher Luke!" Several students called out. He nodded and smiled at them individually. Because of his frequent subbing for Ikeya Yu, he was arguably more popular in this room than their actual homeroom teacher.
"Teacher Luke is watching... I have to pass this," Might Guy whispered, taking a deep breath.
If you gave Guy a choice between a written exam and a life-or-death battle against a Jonin, he'd pick the Jonin every time. At least in a fight, he could push past his limits and win. But a math problem? You couldn't "Will of Fire" your way into the correct answer if you didn't know the formula.
"Just watch, Rin," Obito whispered to the girl next to him, his face a mask of smug determination. "I'm about to turn your whole world upside down with my score."
"You're going to pass this time, Obito. I know you can," Rin Nohara encouraged with a gentle smile. Even though she'd heard this a thousand times before, she never stopped believing in him. "Just focus on the ones you know first. Double-check your work and leave the hard ones for the end."
"You got it," Obito nodded.
Another teacher, Sam Kimura, walked in to help proctor. As the bell rang, they began distributing the papers.
"Poor Ikeya," Sam whispered to Luke as they stood at the podium. "His bonus is definitely gone this year. He's got the two biggest dead-lasts in the school in this room."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Luke replied with a small smile. "Maybe they've finally found their motivation."
"They haven't passed a theory exam in three years, Luke," Sam sighed. "The curriculum only gets harder as they get older. If they couldn't do it in Grade 1, they won't do it now."
Luke didn't argue. He just watched his disciples.
The Academy would be closed for three days for the testing cycle. Day one was theory; days two and three were the physical and combat evaluations. For Luke, it was a bit of a "dry spell"—no classes meant fewer rewards.
However, his "Legacy Rebate" was still active. After the theory test ended, Luke caught up with Obito and gifted him a set of high-quality shuriken.
[Legacy Rebate: Success! Reward: Chakra +50]
"Thank you, Teacher!" Obito beamed, gripping the new weapons. "Just you watch. I'm going to use these to take down everyone and claim that number one spot!"
The theoretical battle was over. Now, the real fireworks were about to begin.