Orochimaru was indeed generous; the snake venom in the sealing scroll was enough for Uchiha Ling for several years, making Uchiha Ling feel that Orochimaru was truly an honest person.
In the following days, Uchiha Ling practiced Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu with her Shadow Clone during the day, and cultivated Reincarnation Technique using snake venom at night.
Occasionally, she sparred with Might Duy and Uchiha Shisui, and certainly Might Guy, exchanging various insights, and everyone made great progress together.
Uchiha Ling's progress was the most terrifying; her physical body was strengthened by Heavenly Restriction and diluted Natural Energy.
Her spirit improved with Curse Power tempering and diluted Natural Energy; in less than ten days, Uchiha Ling already felt that her physical quality and mental strength had reached the level of an elite Chunin.
Her Chakra had also reached the Jonin stage, her Curse Power steadily increased, and her Doujutsu was close to awakening the two-tomoe Sharingan.
Time quickly advanced to the opening date of the Ninja Academy, which was an important date, and going with a Shadow Clone would be disrespectful.
Uchiha Ling packed her equipment and let two Shadow Clones practice hand seals and nature transformation at home.
She herself walked into the faint morning light, feeling the gentle morning breeze brush through her hair, a long-lost feeling of relaxation.
Arriving at the main gate, her gaze swept around, and she saw a figure waiting early by the school gate, it was Shisui, who was bored.
"Uchiha Ling, you're here. This is your admission material. I've already collected it for you. There will be an entrance exam later."
As soon as Shisui saw Uchiha Ling, a smile appeared on his face. He had felt extremely uncomfortable alone in the crowd before, and only when she arrived could he feel a sense of inner peace.
"Sorry, I'm a bit late. Also, thank you, Shisui."
Uchiha Ling took the admission materials, revealing a knowing smile, looking forward to a relaxed Ninja Academy life.
Shisui subtly observed the girl's white T-shirt and black shorts. Although slightly neutral, it still couldn't hide the girl's softness.
"It's fine, I just got here not long ago. Today is the first day of enrollment, let's go in quickly, so we don't leave a bad impression on the Ninja Academy teachers."
Shisui had actually arrived early. He had taken care of the most troublesome tasks of filling out and collecting the admission materials, but he didn't tell the girl.
"Mm, okay!" Uchiha Ling's voice was soft, and she responded with a smile, her voice having that ethereal, cool female tone.
Shisui looked at Uchiha Ling, who responded with a smile, and a sense of doubt arose in his heart. Was this cool and lovely girl really the monstrously strong girl who could punch trees to pieces on the training ground?
However, Shisui didn't know that Uchiha Ling was currently in extreme embarrassment. She had never imagined that she would walk around in neutral women's clothing under the gaze of so many people.
Previously, Uchiha Ling had always presented herself with a cool demeanor, thinking she was prepared, but now she found that she couldn't bear the gaze of so many people.
Outside the school, many parents brought their children for enrollment, and these children's faces were filled with smiles of anticipation and happiness.
Only a few orphans, like Shisui and Uchiha Ling, carried a heavy low pressure, making people hesitant to approach them.
Most of the families were commoners, and their children had not undergone prior Ninja training. So, if these children didn't have extraordinary talent after entering the Ninja Academy, they would likely fall behind.
And such a lag would make them a cold statistic of death when the Third Shinobi World War broke out, and their happy smiles would forever be frozen on their tombstones.
Becoming a false symbol, becoming a logged-out Ninja serial number.
But what could these families do? In this world where it's either you kill me or I kill you, these families, who had moved from surrounding villages less than one or two generations ago, could only hope to elevate their family's social status by enrolling in the Ninja Academy.
Therefore, although the Ninja World has a high birth rate, its natural population growth rate is very low, and even negative during special periods.
"All new students participating in the entrance exam, gather here. The test is about to begin."
A Ninja Academy teacher wearing a Chunin vest shouted loudly, quieting the mischievous or boisterous children.
"Uchiha Ling, let's go." Shisui glanced at the distracted Uchiha Ling and gently nudged her shoulder.
"Mm, okay." As Uchiha Ling walked, she looked for familiar faces. The original work never introduced the Ninja Academy Students from Shisui's class.
And Uchiha Ling indeed only found a few familiar faces, such as Naruto's homeroom teacher, Iruka Umino.
The kidney-deficient Gekkō Hayate, Anko Mitarashi eating dango skewers, and Yūgao Uzuki standing alone in the corner.
And the legendary Konoha security guards, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane.
"The entrance exam is very simple, divided into a written test of basic knowledge and a five-kilometer long-distance run to test physical strength."
The Ninja Academy teacher's words caused the new students to whisper. Many sighed in relief, thinking the entrance exam would be a test of Ninja knowledge and skills.
In reality, of course, it was impossible; eighty percent of the new students were from commoner families and had no conditions for Ninja training.
Ninja Academy enrollment wasn't about directly recruiting Ninja, but rather talented individuals.
So the written test was for a baseline assessment. If basic knowledge was too poor, they would enter a slow class to learn cultural knowledge, otherwise, they wouldn't understand a Ninjutsu scroll even if given one.
And the physical test was to screen for potential talented Ninja reserves.
Generally speaking, five or six-year-old children with naturally strong physical abilities also have a higher growth rate. If the body is strong, Chakra will also be plentiful.
The Ninja system focuses on Chakra volume. Without Chakra, no matter how good your swordsmanship or Taijutsu is, it can't compare to a Ninja's Ninjutsu.
Uchiha Ling followed the main group and entered the classroom with Shisui to take the written test.
The test paper only gave Uchiha Ling one feeling: it was simple, completely at the level of a third or fourth-grade elementary school, and anyone who could read could pass by using common sense they had encountered.
Uchiha Ling's original plan was to control her score and slack off, thereby enjoying her leisurely Ninja Academy Student life.
Unfortunately, due to sparring with Uncle Duy, the entire Konoha Village high command already knew she was a genius, so there was no point in hiding.
If they want to drag you to the battlefield, you won't be able to avoid it by pretending to be a dead last. There are plenty of ways to make you graduate.
And to prevent Konoha Village from treating her as an ordinary genius to be used up, and not to be too much of a genius to be feared by those old fogeys, she could only pretend to be a top-tier genius, meaning a level slightly below Shisui and Kakashi.
Watching the Ninja Academy teacher collect her controlled-score test paper, Uchiha Ling also breathed a sigh of relief. Hiding her true abilities was harder than getting a perfect score.
You had to make it look convincing, not let anyone see through your facade. For some questions, you had to make others see that you knew a little, but not perfectly.
Arriving at the school's training ground, the next step was the physical test: running laps.