The next day, the sun was shining and the skies were clear.
Under normal circumstances, the students of the Ninja Academy would have found the weather comforting and pleasant.
But today, that was not the case for Uzumaki Naruto.
At this moment, all he could feel was fear and nervousness—
because today was their class's graduation exam.
And unfortunately, the exam subject was Clone Technique, which happened to be Naruto's weakest skill.
Inside the classroom where the graduation exam was being held—
Kamisato Yuehua stood in front of Iruka and Mizuki, forming seals with both hands.
"Clone Technique!"
The next moment, over a dozen clones appeared throughout the classroom.
Seeing this, Iruka smiled warmly.
"Excellent! You've even surpassed Sasuke in the number of clones. Congratulations, Yuehua—you pass!"
With that, Iruka handed the ninja forehead protector to Kamisato Yuehua.
"Thank you, Mr. Iruka. And thank you as well, Mr. Mizuki—you've both worked hard," Yuehua replied politely as he accepted the forehead protector, earning a pleased look from Iruka.
"Next up is Naruto. Mizuki, would you please go call him?"
"Of course, Mr. Iruka."
After giving instructions, Iruka watched Yuehua leave, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Such a hard-working genius… Yuehua is sure to become an exceptional shinobi!
Mizuki merely smiled in response, his thoughts already drifting to Uzumaki Naruto.
As Kamisato Yuehua returned to the classroom, he immediately drew everyone's attention—especially from the girls in class.
"Wow! It's Yuehua-kun! He already got his forehead protector!"
"Well, of course! Yuehua-kun is a genius on par with Sasuke-kun—there's no way a basic technique like Clone Technique could stop him!"
"And both Yuehua-kun and Sasuke-kun are so handsome!"
"He's so handsome... Yuehua-kun, I love you!!!"
Listening to the excited chatter from the girls, Kamisato Yuehua remained calm—he was used to this kind of attention by now.
After all, it couldn't be helped.
He was simply too handsome—
and a genius on top of that.
Genius + good looks—what girl could possibly resist?
Not only the average girls in class—even Yamanaka Ino couldn't help but gaze at him with sparkling eyes.
As for Haruno Sakura... her attention was still completely fixed on Uchiha Sasuke.
And Sasuke himself, hearing the comparisons—"equal genius," "as good as Sasuke"—looked at Yuehua with clear displeasure.
That was to be expected. After all, just one year ago, Sasuke had been the undisputed top student in class.
But now, someone stood on equal footing with him.
For a proud Uchiha, carrying the honor of his clan, this was not an easy thing to accept.
He now saw Kamisato Yuehua as his greatest rival—second only to Uchiha Itachi!
Of course, Yuehua was well aware of Sasuke's hostility.
But he didn't care.
Right now, they were both only twelve years old.
It would take Sasuke at least five more years to reach the level of the Six Paths.
And in those five years, Kamisato Yuehua was confident that he would reach that level first.
"Hey, Naruto—Mr. Iruka asked you to head to the next classroom for your assessment."
Hearing this, Naruto looked at the forehead protector in Yuehua's hand, and his heart grew even more uneasy.
But no matter how nervous he felt, Naruto could only force himself to cheer up and head toward the exam room.
"Alright... here goes..."
As Naruto passed by, Yuehua could clearly sense his nervousness.
But on the surface, Yuehua remained composed—
because he was looking forward to what would happen next.
Without the interference of the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto's Clone Technique should actually be excellent.
After all, in the future, his Shadow Clone Technique would become one of his signature skills.
But for now... Naruto's Clone Technique was a complete mess.
That was actually for the best—it created an opportunity for tonight.
As expected, not long after, Naruto returned to the classroom looking completely dejected.
Without the forehead protector that symbolized passing, it was obvious: Naruto had failed the exam.
But that wasn't even the worst of it.
The real blow came when, after all the students had finished their tests—
Naruto was the only one in the entire class who had failed.
Later that day—
While the other students celebrated their graduation with their families and friends, excited and full of joy, Naruto sat alone on the swing in the corner of the playground, looking as though he had melted into the dim surroundings.
Kamisato Yuehua watched him quietly from afar, but didn't approach to offer comfort.
Instead, he calmly left the school and began his usual daily training, as he had been doing for the past year.
Before Kamisato Yuehua had reincarnated into this world, the original "him" had been an ordinary Academy student. No standout talent—just average.
But after reincarnating, Yuehua would never allow himself to drift along the way his predecessor had.
Even with heaven-defying comprehension, he made an intense and methodical training plan for himself.
Not because he enjoyed suffering—
but because even with that comprehension, he could not guarantee that he would have the power to protect himself once he was inevitably exposed.
If he showed his true strength too soon, before he was ready, and drew suspicion from Konoha's higher-ups, things could become very dangerous for him.
So hard work was the best cover.
As long as Yuehua worked hard enough, people would think his growth from "average" to "genius" was simply the result of effort and natural talent.
"He was lazy before, but now he's working hard—he must have always had potential."
And this training also helped his ultimate goal—
earning Might Guy's trust and being taught the Eight Inner Gates Technique.
After all, without enough determination and the true Will of Fire, how could Might Guy have accepted him as a student?
Train, rest briefly, then train again.
Kamisato Yuehua repeated this process until the sun had set and the moon rose high in the sky.
Looking at the moon, he roughly calculated the time—then began his next phase of training:
Running laps around the village.
As for why he always ran at night—
it was for tonight.
He had been preparing for this night for an entire year.
Because tonight—
Kamisato Yuehua would claim the Scroll of Seals for himself.