"Phew... finally done. The guy in front of me was an Aburame. I literally watched insects crawling all over his scalp. Do you have any idea how skin-crawling that was?"
Two hours later, Tatsuma stepped out of the exam hall, taking a deep breath of fresh air as he complained to Minato. Minato had intended to offer a few words of comfort, but the mention of insects triggered a vivid memory of his recent diet at Mount Myoboku. The thought of them crawling on a human head made his stomach do a violent somersault. He swallowed hard several times to suppress the urge to gag before speaking weakly.
"Don't... please, don't talk about it. It's over. Let's just move on."
Tatsuma nodded. The written portion had gone smoothly. In times of war, the village didn't bother with the elaborate psychological mind games seen in Naruto's generation; the test was a straightforward exam.
However, the real test was still information gathering. The final, high-value essay questions were written in code, and Genin theoretically lacked access to the ciphers required to decode them.
Ciphers in the village were tiered. The Academy taught a basic universal code. Once a ninja became a Genin, they learned a new set. Further up, the security clearance—and the complexity of the ciphers—increased significantly.
Most of the questions on the paper used ciphers that only Chunin would normally encounter. A few sections even utilized ciphers restricted to Jonin. In such a scenario, the average candidate was forced to use their information-gathering skills just to find the answers within the room.
That was the rule for most, but not for these two. Tatsuma didn't know how Minato had finished his paper, but as for himself... he had solved it directly.
Tatsuma could practically recite the Jonin-level cipher dictionaries from memory. That was what happened when your teacher was Tsunade—he had spent months acting as her personal translator. Minato was likely in the same boat; otherwise, he wouldn't have spotted the errors in Jiraiya's decoding back in the Land of Rain.
As for the Chunin-level codes, Tatsuma might not have had the most current version, but Tobirama's study was full of older iterations. Most of the logic remained the same; he only had to derive the few updated variables to read the text fluently.
Tatsuma suspected Minato had also brute-forced the logic. The two of them were the first to stop writing, finishing even faster than the proctors hidden in the room who were supposed to be "leaking" the answers to observant candidates.
Just as they were about to leave the school grounds, Sarutobi Goppu appeared. He wore a satisfied grin. "You two did exceptionally well. I just heard—you both passed with perfect scores."
"The questions were quite simple this time, and the format was straightforward. It felt like a step down in difficulty from the practice tests we did before," Minato said modestly as he greeted their former teacher.
Hearing this, several passing candidates nearby froze in shock. Once they realized it was Minato and Tatsuma, their expressions became a complex "pie chart" of emotions: a mix of resignation, envy, and a sliver of genuine awe.
When Tatsuma nodded in agreement with Minato's assessment of the "simple" questions, Goppu's lip twitched. Good grief, he thought. Have I been away from real ninja work for that long?
Even he had struggled with some of those ciphers, yet these two found them simple... and compared them to practice tests? What did that mean? They could solve the legendary "impossible" tests from previous years too?
Goppu shook off the "I am a failure" thought and addressed the boys. "Tomorrow is the combat portion. Since you're both solo entries, you'll be at a significant numerical disadvantage against the three-man teams. You'd better stock up on ninja tools—smoke bombs, soldier pills, the works. Do you have enough ryo? I have a bit saved up here."
Goppu reached for his small coin pouch, revealing a few crumpled bills. Tatsuma shook his head, looking at his former teacher with a touch of concern. "Goppu-sensei... is the salary for an Academy teacher really that low?"
"Er... well... it's all for the future of the village. It's worth it."
Goppu essentially admitted it. Tatsuma smiled. "Sensei, don't worry about our tools. Our current inventory... even if we stayed on the front lines for a full year, we'd probably still have leftovers."
Tatsuma wasn't lying. He'd received a massive haul of gifts when he took his masters, and during their mission with Uchiha Fugaku, the man had handed out high-quality Uchiha-brand tools and explosive tags as if they were free samples.
On top of that, they had scavenged a significant amount of gear from the battlefield. Usually, the village counted recovered tools toward mission merits, but they had been pulled from the front so quickly they hadn't had time to turn them in.
Tatsuma wasn't just being polite; it was the literal truth. Minato nodded, confirming the statement.
Goppu's hand froze on his wallet. Looking at his meager savings, he suddenly wondered if choosing the teaching path had been the right career move.
But seeing how these two exceptional students had reached this level—partially due to his recommendation—Goppu felt his heart lighten again. It was all for the village's future. It was worth it.
"Well, since you don't need tools, let me at least treat you to ramen."
Compared to a full restock of ninja gear, ramen was much cheaper. Minato looked tempted; he was truly craving normal food after his time with the toads. Tatsuma didn't refuse either. "Then we thank you, Goppu-sensei."
At the ramen stand, Goppu watched his students with a sense of fulfillment. Though he hadn't taught them for long, he had a feeling these two would be the "masterpieces" of his career. They were talented, hardworking, and kind—exactly what a teacher dreamed of.
"OEC!"
"I'm finished!"
Tatsuma finished his soup and noodles a second before Minato, picking up his system rewards. He looked at Goppu, who hadn't even touched his bowl yet. Goppu misunderstood the look and pushed his own bowl toward Tatsuma.
"Still hungry? You can have mine."
"No, I'm full. I was just wondering why you aren't eating, Sensei."
Tatsuma shook his head. His appetite had stabilized lately. Although his stomach capacity had expanded, the thought of his blood sugar levels made him decide that "seventy percent full" was the best policy.
Goppu, who had been lost in thought, scratched his head. "Haha... I was just thinking about things and forgot to eat. Besides, I'm used to cold ramen. I've actually lost my taste for it when it's piping hot."
His expression turned serious as he looked at the two boys. "Tatsuma, Minato... I know that once you pass this exam, you'll be sent straight back to the front. I know it's a terrible thing for a teacher to say, but... prioritize your safety. Even if... even if it means abandoning the mission."
Goppu's voice dropped to a whisper. He let out a long sigh. "I was a terrible ninja. I'm a coward who couldn't even stand to be on the battlefield. I shouldn't be teaching you this, but I want to see you again. I want to see you become the pillars of this village... maybe even Hokage."
Tatsuma felt a pang in his chest. In the Hidden Leaf—and the entire shinobi world—there was an absolute consensus: the mission comes first. Even if most ninjas knew that doctrine was hollow and cruel, they were forced to obey it and preach it. It was the "political correctness" of their world.
For Goppu to say this to them, in his capacity as a teacher... Tatsuma knew that in this moment, the man truly cared for them.
Tatsuma offered a warm smile, glanced at Minato, and then turned back to Goppu. "Goppu-sensei, no matter what mission I'm on, I will survive. And... I'll complete the mission with style, too."
Seeing that his students didn't reject his "erroneous" way of thinking, Goppu felt a wave of relief. He turned back to his bowl. "You have your combat trials tomorrow. Go home and get some rest. I'm going to eat my noodles now."
Tatsuma could hear the slight crack in Goppu's voice at the end. He didn't know what trauma had shaped this man's perspective, but he knew that in this world, being a ninja meant being helpless against the tide of fate when you were weak.
"Minato, let's go. We're going to train. I want to see if a month of Myoboku training is enough for that genius talent of yours to finally beat me!"
"You're on!"
The next day, the two arrived at a large indoor training arena. The floor had been partitioned into several equal-sized dueling rings. After verifying their identities, they received their room assignments.
"I'm in Arena A9. You?"
"B11. Looks like I'm over that way."
Realizing they wouldn't be in the same block, they shared a quick nod and headed to their respective stations. A Chunin proctor arrived shortly after to explain the rules.
Combat was team-based. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Bloodline Limits, Secret Techniques, and even Sealing or Cursed Seals were all permitted. The list of allowed tools was extensive, including non-standard gear and specific approved toxins.
The forbidden list included any unapproved poisons. Victory was determined by knocking an opponent out of bounds, incapacitating them, or forcing a surrender. The proctor could also intervene to call a match. Lethal force or intentional permanent injury was strictly forbidden.
Once the rules were confirmed and signatures collected, the matches began. Because there were many teams, they couldn't all go at once. Tatsuma waited through two rotations before his name was called.
He stepped onto the platform and sized up the three opponents facing him. They lacked any distinct clan features or specialized gear like ninja hounds or cats; likely, they were talented commoner-born Genin.
After a quick assessment, he looked at the proctor. "I'm ready."
The proctor, aware of Tatsuma's solo status, simply nodded. However, one of the Genin on the opposing team hesitated. "Where are your teammates?"
"I am a solo entry."
"Solo? Wait... are you that Jade-Cracker Ryoma?!"
Tatsuma's face went stiff. He shot a look at the proctor, who was visibly struggling to keep a straight face. The proctor cleared his throat and barked at the team, "Are you ready or not?!"
"Er... yes, sir. Ready."
"Begin!"
The proctor backed away. Tatsuma looked at the three boys, who seemed momentarily paralyzed by the start of the match. "It's started," he reminded them helpfully.
"Oh! Right!"
They scrambled into a defensive formation, drawing kunai and watching Tatsuma with a mix of wariness and curiosity. Tatsuma sighed internally. Based on their performance, he couldn't even find a way to offer them a compliment to trigger his system.
He gave up on the "Kudos" points; he didn't need ten or twenty points that badly. He drew a kunai of his own. "Just to correct you—my name is Sakamoto Tatsuma. Are you ready for the explosions?"
Trying to sound cool, Tatsuma prepared to move, but one of the ninjas gasped in terror. "Explosions?! You... you're going to use Explosive Tags?!"
Tatsuma's eye twitched. These guys... Meanwhile, his other hand was already surreptitiously pulling an Explosive Tag from his pouch.