Next, the testing continued.
After watching Mikami Yuu's fight with Hyūga Kamon up close, a lot of the students' mental states were shaken. One after another, they went all-out, wanting to show off in front of the teachers and students the same way he had.
Some succeeded—
Like Shiranui Genma and Yamashiro Aoba. As future tokubetsu jōnin, they demonstrated impressive ninjutsu talent.
And some tried to look cool and failed—
Obito, who had just declared in the classroom that he would "become Hokage," didn't get called up until near the end because of his low ranking. He strained with everything he had and managed to squeeze out a shapeless, barely-human-looking monstrosity, prompting loud laughter from the other kids:
"Hahaha, dead last is dead last!"
"Can't even use Clone Technique properly and still says he'll be Hokage—what a joke!"
"He's not even worth a finger of Asuma-bro!"
"…"
Among everyone, only Rin softly comforted Obito a few times.
Mikami Yuu stood silently to the side and didn't laugh along.
—Seriously. Who would dare laugh at Obito?
As a science-leaning top student who aced written theory, Mikami Yuu could roughly tell that Obito's problem was the same as Naruto's: chakra control.
At the same time, both of them had abundant chakra.
So they performed terribly with techniques requiring fine control, and ironically did better with brute-force "more power solves everything" jutsu like Great Fireball and Multiple Shadow Clone.
After bottling it up several times, Obito still didn't reveal that he'd learned Great Fireball. He was planning to surprise everyone later.
"Hmph. I won't bother arguing with you ignorant idiots. Just wait until the combat sparring!"
If everything went smoothly, Obito really could've shown off big with Great Fireball.
Unfortunately…
The opponent he drew in combat sparring was Might Guy.
Obito had only formed two hand seals and hadn't even spat out flame yet when Guy came screaming in, rushed right into his face, and knocked him flat with a Leaf Hurricane. Then Guy kept pressing the advantage, beat Obito like a punching bag, and finished with one last kick that sent Obito off the ring.
"Obito, are you okay?"
Rin, kind-hearted as always, hurried over to help him up, asking anxiously.
Obito lay on the ground spread-eagle, wearing a dumb grin. "Heh… hehehe, I'm fine… Rin is worried about my body—she has me in her heart…"
"…"
Mikami Yuu covered his face. He couldn't watch.
As match after match played out,
Mikami Yuu went up on the ring again.
—Strictly speaking, his bout with Hyūga Kamon earlier didn't count toward the score, because the test hadn't started yet. That was just a private spar.
This round was the real test, and the opponent he drew was…
Mizuki.
Yes, that Mizuki—
The chūnin who, in the original storyline, was still a guy who only knew the Three Basic Jutsu and Body Flicker even ten-plus years later, and who tricked Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Seals.
Mizuki was also civilian-born—a civilian among civilians. He competed with Obito year-round for last place. But because his background was so utterly ordinary, nobody paid attention to him; he didn't even "qualify" for the nickname dead last.
Mikami Yuu didn't waste time with him. He greeted him with a barrage of shuriken and kunai, then rushed in and beat him down, ending the fight easily.
As an aside, Hyūga Kamon also returned to the ring after a short rest, facing Shiranui Genma. This time he won—but he didn't look happy at all. He just stood off to the side in silence, occasionally glancing toward Mikami Yuu with a puzzled expression.
…
When the day's tests finally ended,
Teachers Ooki and Himura announced dismissal. As for scores and rankings, they needed time to compile them, and planned to announce everything together after next week's written exam.
Mikami Yuu didn't leave immediately like everyone else. He stayed behind as instructed.
"Yuu, that jutsu you used in the duel—what exactly was it? Can you explain it? Himura-sensei and I are really curious."
"This? It's just basic Substitution Technique."
At the two chūnin teachers' request, Mikami Yuu demonstrated his instant-cast Substitution on the spot and explained the general principle.
Sure, his instant-cast ability came from the galgame system—but he was still the user, so he could describe the chakra flow and execution in a reasonably convincing way. And to avoid being too shocking, he even symbolically formed a few hand seals.
The two chūnin teachers clicked their tongues in amazement.
What surprised Mikami Yuu even more was that the praise aimed at his Three Basic Jutsu seemed to make the Three Basic Jutsu themselves quite pleased.
[Clone Technique: Hmph. At least those two have taste… but why are they praising Substitution so much? Wasn't my performance—and big sis's—amazing too?]
[Transformation Technique: Oh my, oh my. Everyone's just basking in Mikami-chan's glow—don't fuss over it.]
[Substitution Technique: o(^▽^)o]
[Substitution Technique Affection +2]
…
"…Wait, can Substitution really be used like that? Why can't I do it?"
Ooki-sensei tried forming seals like Mikami Yuu, attempted it several times, and still couldn't reproduce "instant substitution."
Himura-sensei stroked his chin. "This should be Mikami's improved version—basically a new technique. It's not that easy to learn. I can't believe a student who hasn't even graduated yet has such a unique understanding of the Three Basic Jutsu. That's incredible…
"Would you mind if we took these notes and report them to the Third Hokage?"
"Of course I don't mind."
Mikami Yuu shook his head.
He'd expected this outcome.
After all, the Ninja Academy ultimately answered to the Hokage. And his year even included Asuma, the Hokage's son—so Hiruzen Sarutobi would definitely pay extra attention to them.
Being noticed by Hiruzen might bring some trouble, but it would also bring opportunities—like chances to learn new jutsu.
Because if he wanted to add new romanceable targets to the galgame system, he needed the [Encounter] process. And to "encounter" a jutsu, the prerequisite was seeing someone cast it—whether they taught him directly, whether he observed and copied it, or whether he got a scroll and taught himself.
But as a civilian-born kid, Mikami Yuu would normally have a hard time accessing higher-level jutsu through the first two routes.
So attracting Hiruzen's attention through his status as an Academy student was actually a pretty convenient path.
As for the potential trouble…
If you want benefits, you can't refuse all risk.
"Speaking of copying…"
Mikami Yuu thought of someone.
—A certain green-suited uncle who loved running laps around Konoha and still had boundless energy despite his age.
~~~
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