Chapter 3: I Want to Study Medicine, So Bring the Exam Forward!

On the day of the exam, Chiba was tested not only on the basic Three Techniques and academic knowledge, but also on his understanding of mission duties, scene judgment, and choice of action in practical situations.

The written portion also went deeper.

Beyond that were taijutsu and live combat. That part was rather special. Chiba had assumed the Third Hokage would probably assign a jounin instructor to evaluate him, but instead, the old man had sent a shadow clone.

"Your combat assessment will be handled by me. As long as you can force me to use something beyond taijutsu, I will count you as having passed."

The Third Hokage's true body took out his pipe, but, remembering this was a school, he did not light it. Instead, he held it in his hand and tapped it lightly against the desk.

"No need to go outside?"

"No matter. We can do it here."

The Third Hokage smiled faintly.

Chiba bowed slightly to show he understood, then he and the Hokage's clone formed the hand seal of opposition at the same time.

And then, in an instant—

Bang!

Chakra gathered around Chiba's fist, and he drove it forward. The Hokage's clone did not use ninjutsu, but instead reinforced himself with chakra and blocked it barehanded.

But at that very moment, the chakra on contact exploded outward.

In the next instant, Chiba closed in for another strike. At the same time, his right hand, which had just been used, was secretly condensing a Rasengan. As his left hand attacked, his right hand flipped over and sent the spinning sphere slamming toward the Hokage's body.

It was only a shadow clone, after all. There was no need to hold back.

The Third Hokage's eyes widened slightly.

This boy had extraordinary control. Not only could he precisely detonate chakra without injuring himself, he could also form a Rasengan one-handed at remarkable speed.

Few jounin possessed that level of control.

What terrifying talent!

The clone blocked the attacks from both sides, then vanished in a Body Flicker, appearing behind Chiba. It swung a leg in a sweeping kick toward his lower body, but Chiba responded just as quickly, flickering away in retreat. His speed was faintly comparable to the clone's.

The Third Hokage was inwardly stunned.

Though age had caused his speed, strength, and stamina to fall far below their peak, in pure taijutsu he still had the ability of at least an elite chuunin.

For this boy to perform at this level in taijutsu, Might Guy truly had not exaggerated in the slightest.

After several exchanges, the clone still could not bring him down through taijutsu alone.

The moment the clone withdrew, Chiba hurled four or five kunai.

The Hokage's clone immediately sensed it—

Tiny chakra threads were tied to each of those kunai!

His eyes lit up. He drew two kunai and slashed at the threads, severing three of them. The remaining ones were steered away by Chiba, maneuvered in chaotic but orderly paths as they closed in on the Hokage's clone.

Thud, thud!

The clone turned into wood, and two kunai were stuck in it.

He had used the Substitution Technique.

"So you have already mastered chakra threads, and can even use them in actual combat. Very good. Quite good indeed."

The Third Hokage's eyes shone.

As the professor of ninjutsu, he understood that Chiba had studied chakra threads in depth. His threads were finer and tougher than ordinary ones, making them difficult for most ninja to notice at first glance.

More importantly, his use of the threads to evade attacks was clever as well.

And these were only kunai.

What if there were explosive tags attached to them as well?

Judging from the few techniques and the taijutsu skill Chiba had displayed, he already fully approved of the boy's ability. He absolutely possessed the strength of a genin, and in some respects exceeded many of them.

A genius!

Even if he could not master nature transformation, as Chiba had said, shape transformation still offered enormous room for development.

"Lord Hokage, then I—"

"You have passed. From now on, you only need to submit one study report each week to the medical corps and the ninja school. There is no need for you to attend classes at the school in person anymore."

The Third Hokage smiled faintly.

He had no intention of fully opening the door to early graduation, but he could permit a little flexibility within that framework.

"Thank you very much."

Chiba let out a quiet breath.

Being able to enter the medical corps was crucial to him.

For one thing, health and training required medical knowledge. For another, creating many taijutsu-based techniques demanded a sufficient understanding of the body's structure and muscles.

For example, the Strength of a Hundred style—if one tried to imitate or experiment with it without understanding it...

That would not be development; that would be suicide.

"You earned my approval with your own abilities, so there is no need to thank me. If you must thank someone, thank yourself."

The Third Hokage nodded gently, smiling. "How did you come to think of training chakra threads?"

"At first, I was not thinking of training chakra threads at all."

Chiba explained his original idea.

To condense chakra to the point where it could shatter objects, then integrate it into taijutsu for combat?

No wonder the boy had wanted to learn the Chakra Scalpel.

Borrowing from others to make up for one's own shortcomings.

The Third Hokage understood Chiba's intention—

He wanted to take reference from similar techniques to compensate for the flaws in his own.

Clear-minded. Very clear-minded.

His mood grew somewhat complicated.

In Chiba, the Third Hokage faintly saw the student he had once been proud of, and now that man had become a traitor ninja to the Hidden Leaf.

He remained silent for a long while, and in the end waved his hand with little enthusiasm, signaling Chiba to leave.

Chiba did not know what the Third Hokage was thinking.

So he merely bowed lightly, then left the classroom.

Once outside, he let out a quiet breath.

It would be a lie to say there had been no pressure facing the Hokage's clone. During the battle just now, he actually could have satisfied the Hokage's requirements in a simpler way.

For example, by unleashing a faster Rasengan.

He had already completed most of that optimization yesterday. With the aid of his chakra control, he could now release the Rasengan within two breaths.

But if he had done only that, it would have been a waste of the opportunity he had worked so hard to create.

Chiba needed to show himself more comprehensively, so as to draw the Hokage's attention and gain the chance to obtain the Third Hokage's books later on, rather than merely displaying his strength—

Even in the world of ninja, books and scrolls still held far greater value than money for common people.

He returned to the classroom as if nothing had happened, continuing to listen attentively to the lesson. The teacher seemed unaware of the details and did not announce anything to the class.

After school, he continued as usual, running laps around the village for training.

After a while—

"The Hokage went to your school?"

"Yes. He found me and allowed me to study under the medical corps."

Chiba did not hide it, and said earnestly, "Teacher Guy, thank you very much. I will never forget your kindness!"

"Hahahaha, what are you thanking me for? You have the skill yourself."

Guy laughed, then suddenly realized something was off. "Wait, why are you going to the medical corps to study? To learn medical ninjutsu?"

"I cannot even master normal nature transformation, so I probably would not be able to learn medical ninjutsu either. I only want to learn more, and more comprehensive, knowledge."

"Huh???"

Guy froze.

If you can't learn it, why go to the medical corps?

He could not make sense of it.

Then he scratched his head and burst out laughing. "Never mind, I don't understand the things you are saying. You're a clever one, so there's no need for me to remind you. Come on, the fiery youth is burning! Let's go find Lee together!"

"..."

The two of them ran onward beneath the sun, one in front and one behind.

The end.