Chapter 23: Sasuke, Thoroughly Fleeced

  Ring, ring, ring...

  Izayoi and Hinata had only been whispering for a short while when the school bell rang. The entire cssroom instantly fell silent – a rare occurrence under normal circumstances.

  "The graduation assessment task is the Clone Technique. The testing room is at the end of the right corridor. Wait for your name to be called, then come out," Iruka Umino's voice announced from the cssroom doorway shortly after the bell stopped ringing. He didn't step onto the podium but simply gave the instructions from the entrance before leaving.

  Soon after, another Chunin instructor appeared at the doorway, holding a list, and began calling names: "Minako..."

  One name after another was called out by the instructor every minute or two. The students whose names were called would stand up, some looking nervous, others full of confidence, exit the cssroom, and not return. Hinata was among them.

  "...Izayoi." A few minutes after Hinata left, Izayoi heard his own name.

  Standing up and leaving the cssroom, Izayoi walked to the testing room at the end of the corridor. Pushing the door open, he saw Iruka Umino and Mizuki, the homeroom teacher for the second css, sitting before him at a long table.

  Seeing Izayoi enter, Iruka immediately offered a warm smile and said, "Izayoi, you may begin."

  "Yes," Izayoi nodded, quickly forming hand seals and calling out softly, "Clone Technique!"

  Poof— Two sounds, like balloons popping, overpped. Two clouds of white smoke materialized out of thin air to Izayoi's left and right. When the smoke cleared, two identical phantom clones stood beside him, perfectly matching his appearance, height, clothing, and even the smallest details.

  Iruka Umino and Mizuki scrutinized the two phantom clones, then exchanged gnces. Iruka picked up a Genin headband, stood up with a smile, and announced, "Your clones are perfect. Congratutions on passing the graduation assessment. From this moment on, you are officially a Genin."

  "Thank you, Iruka-sensei, and Mizuki-sensei." Izayoi walked over, accepted the Genin headband from Iruka with both hands, and then bowed slightly to both instructors.

  Iruka instructed, "You don't need to return to the cssroom. Don't leave the school grounds just yet either. Go to our css's designated area on the pyground and wait for the others to complete their assessment. Afterward, I will take you all to get your registration photos taken."

  "Understood." Izayoi nodded, then turned and left the testing room.

  Just as he stepped out of the school building, the first person Izayoi saw was Hinata, waiting for him outside. They exchanged smiles and headed towards the pyground together. About ten other cssmates were already gathered there waiting.

  "Yo... Izayoi, Hinata, you're here too!"

  "The graduation assessment was obviously no problem for you two."

  "After we take the photos, should we celebrate?"

  "Eh— Maybe not today. I want to celebrate with my family; they're waiting for me outside right now."

  "Good point. Let's get together some other time then."

  "How many people do you think will pass from our css?"

  "At least twenty, right? We are Css 1, after all."

  "Well, that guy Naruto is definitely doomed."

  "..."

  As soon as Izayoi and Hinata arrived, several cssmates gathered around, chatting eagerly with Izayoi. Izayoi smiled and joined the conversation.

  Just then, another figure walked over. "Izayoi, fight me ter?" The direct challenge came from none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

  Seeing the third-ranked student in the year – who occasionally even snatched second pce – approach, the other cssmates tactfully dispersed.

  Looking at Sasuke's face, full of fighting spirit, Izayoi smiled but shook his head. "Not for now. Based on the intel I've gathered, Genin will be formed into three-person teams under a Jonin instructor for further training. We both know each other's strength now; the result will be the same no matter how many times we fight. How about we train under our instructors for a while first, then see how much we've both grown?"

  Hearing this, Sasuke Uchiha recalled the images of being repeatedly beaten down. His fighting spirit instantly extinguished. He nodded, "Fine. We'll fight again after some time then."

  "No problem," Izayoi agreed readily with a smile.

  Over the past few years, the reason Izayoi's point total, even after upgrading his Chakra Control, still exceeded ten thousand was rgely thanks to Sasuke Uchiha. For the st two years, Izayoi had fought Sasuke almost every week, sometimes even twice a week. Apart from obtaining the Sage Eyes (Red) trait only once, he had repeatedly acquired traits like Kage-level Aptitude (Purple), Uchiha Bloodline (Purple), and ōtsutsuki Bloodline (Blue) from Sasuke, decomposing all of them into points. Over ten thousand points had been provided by Sasuke alone. The remaining points came from Hinata and other cssmates, with Hinata contributing a significant portion of that remainder.

  This was because Izayoi's strength put him in a league of his own within the css. Sasuke and Hinata formed the next tier down. The children from other ninja cns were in the tier below them, and everyone else formed the third tier. From the third year onwards, it became difficult for Izayoi to obtain traits from anyone below the Sasuke/Hinata tier, and even when he did, they were mostly low-level traits. Fortunately, the system didn't seem to scale trait drops solely based on chakra amount; otherwise, considering Naruto's potential reserves, only he might have yielded high-rank traits in the entire school.

  Over several years, Izayoi had basically fleeced Sasuke completely – shearing him of his wool, so to speak. Whether it was the traits Sasuke possessed or the ninjutsu scrolls remaining in his home, Izayoi had exploited them more than once. And throughout these years, Izayoi and Sasuke had also become friends. Fighting regurly had become their routine agreement.

  Having sparred with Izayoi for so many years, Sasuke Uchiha's current strength naturally far surpassed his original story counterpart. One of the bubbles floating around him had long since changed: Uchiha Bloodline (Purple) had transformed into Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan (Purple). That is to say, Sasuke Uchiha had already awakened his Sharingan – or more accurately, he could now activate it freely, having truly awakened it on the night of the massacre.

  The awakened Sasuke Uchiha was arrogant. Besides Izayoi, the only person he might regard highly was Hinata, who had taken second pce from him and whom he couldn't beat in pure Taijutsu. However, in a no-rules duel, Sasuke – now equipped with the Sharingan, increased chakra reserves, and more ninjutsu learned through Izayoi – didn't consider Hinata a threat.

  If the three of them – Izayoi, Sasuke, and Hinata – were somehow assigned to the same team, they would undoubtedly be the strongest Genin squad, surpassing the new generation's Ino-Shika-Cho or even Gaara and his siblings from Sunagakure. But Izayoi knew this was impossible. The destined connection between Naruto and Sasuke, coupled with their unique statuses (Jinchūriki and the st Uchiha), essentially guaranteed they would be pced on the same team. And in all of Konoha, no one was more suitable to be their Jonin instructor than Kakashi Hatake.