(February, year 54 AK)

  A month before, a few days after the fight between Yuta and Atsushi’s group.

  Mamoru entered the Hokage’s office and said respectfully as he handed the scroll to Hiruzen, “Lord Hokage, I’ve brought the reports that you’ve asked on the civilian background students from the class 2-A.”

  “Ah, good.” Hiruzen said softly as he received the scroll and placed it on his table, “What you can tell about them, is there some talented students among them?”

  “Yes, Lord Hokage, there is two promising students among them, I had mentioned them in my report in detail.” Mamoru replied while keeping formal and respectful attitude, “The first is Hikari, she is very talented in taijutsu and her instincts as a shinobi is quite impressive, I have no doubt she will become a great shinobi.”

  As Hiruzen nodded with satisfaction, Mamoru continued, “The second one is Yuta Arai, although he is not nearly as strong as Hikari is, he is the number one on the theoretical tests, he is quite smart and was able to come up with an impressive winning strategy in a fight against four other students, he also quite proficient with the academy ninjutsu and had used those ninjutsu well in the said fight. I believe he will become a splendid Chunin quickly.”

  “I see. Is there anyone else?”

  “No, Lord Hokage, other students from a civilian background are far behind those two.” Mamoru replied.

  “Good job, Mamoru, report to me if any of them request the early graduation.”

  “As you wish, Lord Hokage.” Mamoru bowed with respect and left the office.

  Hiruzen’s expression turned from soft and friendly to a thoughtful one, as he opened the scroll and read it.

  ‘Is these two are the ones you’ve mentioned, Shisui, I wonder...’ Hiruzen thought as he skimmed through the content of the scroll, ‘Hikari, an orphan, at the age of seven she is already this impressive? And Yuta Arai, also an orphan at the age of seven, there is nothing too outstanding about him except his perfect grades on the theoretical tests and that one fight against four other students, that are described in detail here...’

  ‘Although his proficiency with ninjutsu wasn’t actually that great to deserve much praise, it was simply executed quite fast and with a good timing, but his quick thinking and the ability to devise such a strategy to actually win the fight against four other students who are not too much different from him in terms of strength... This is quite impressive, he’ll become a good Chunin and a squad leader indeed.’

  ‘But why did Shisui pick those two instead of someone who were graduating after the sixth grade? Those that are at the age of twelve and after the full six years of the academy, there should be a better option to choose from than this two, it is a huge difference between seven years’ old Genin and twelve years’ old, only in the case of true geniuses the age didn’t matter that much, could those two actually be that outstanding? I should wait and see...’

  Hiruzen completed his analysis and put away the scroll and continued with his other work as there were a lot of more important matters he has to deal with, and the matters of Shisui’s other two teammates is not that high on his priorities list, so he quickly dismissed them from his mind.

  ...

  One month has passed in constant studying and training. Yuta practiced the new technique of chakra application in taijutsu during this time period, as well as chakra senses, he also practiced with genjutsu and occasional academy ninjutsu too.

  When Yuta started applying chakra in taijutsu, he was pushed to the limits of his chakra control from the first minutes of training, the technique was complex and required quite advanced chakra control, way beyond what a normal Genin would be capable of, but still, Yuta was managed to train with this technique, and little by little got used to it.

  By applying chakra to his legs in a specific and timely manner he was able to achieve bursts of speed that he wasn’t able to do before, same goes for his strength when he applies chakra to the specific groups of muscles. It was hard for Yuta to keep the concentration needed to calculate all the timings combined with the precise chakra control, especially during the spars with Shisui’s shadow clone in the heat of combat, but still, he was quickly got used to it.

  ‘I’m honestly surprised how my mind is able to manage all these calculations during the fight.’ Yuta thought when he recalled his taijutsu training, ‘In my past life I wasn’t that smart, my mind definitely wasn’t able to function on this level of speed and clarity, that’s for sure. Is this the effect of the high spiritual energy level, the connection with the River of Time, or is this because I have a young new body, I wonder...’

  Yuta was spacing out a little and thinking about his overall progress in the middle of one of the theoretical exams, as he was finished answering the questions and waited for the exam to be over. He could’ve submitted his answers and leave, but there was another exam right after this one, so he just waited there instead. It was March and the end of the second grade, so all sorts of exams and tests are going on at this time.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Yuta concentrated on his chakra senses and felt the chakra of all the people in his classroom, as well as from the neighboring class. His chakra senses have been improving and now Yuta can sense chakra from about thirty meters around him when he concentrates, he also recently became able to distinguish the chakra of different people.

  As Yuta focused on his chakra senses, he concentrated on the Mamoru’s chakra, it was one of the strongest in the room he felt, Mamoru was a Chunin so it was no wonder, but there was also two more people in the class that was giving him the comparable feeling, it was Itachi and Hikari.

  Yuta felt a strong, calm and slightly cold feeling from Itachi’s chakra, it was roughly on the same level as Mamoru’s, just with a different feeling to it.

  ‘And then there is this mystery...’ Yuta thought as he concentrated on Hikari’s chakra, ‘Why the hell I don’t remember such a character from the anime? Her chakra feels even stronger than Itachi’s and Mamoru’s, and if Itachi’s chakra gave me the calm and collected feeling, Hikari’s chakra gives me a fierce and wild feeling from it, this unique character shouldn't be unknown to me...’

  Yuta compared his own chakra to those two with some envy, as his chakra was not on the same level as theirs.

  ‘No matter, I should be able to reach a comparable level of chakra in a time-loop if I want to, it will just take maybe two years or so. I just don't want to create such a time-loop while I’m still have to attend classes, the academy classes take most of my time, so it would be a bother to time-loop right now, I’ll rather graduate first.’

  As this exam ended and the next one, the days flew by, until the taijutsu exams started.

  Yuta was paired with his usual opponents among the strongest ones from civilian background, as well as with the weakest ones of those that are from the clans, and the opponents he usually beats with a good amount of effort, now with him applying chakra during the spars, he was able to win those spars easily with a timely bursts of speed and strength at the right moments.

  Mamoru was a little surprised when he discovered that Yuta started to apply chakra during the taijutsu spars, as that was a quite advanced technique that should be way above what academy students should be capable of. But still, he quickly calmed down seeing that the level on which Yuta was applying the technique was quite crude, also since the Hokage himself was shown some interest in Yuta and Hikari, Mamoru had risen his expectations from these two students of his significantly as well.

  Previously Mamoru wasn’t thought much of Yuta, in his opinion Yuta was only good at tactics and strategy, as well as him being smart and quick thinker, a good Chunin material but nowhere near genius, but now, seeing that he has improved so much in a short time, he was pleased that his raised expectations was being met to some extent.

  “Next, Taichi Hyuga and Yuta Arai.” Mamoru summoned the next pair for the spar.

  ‘Huh, that’s new, Mamoru never paired me with him since the initial spars in a the first grade...’ Yuta thought as he came to the center of the field, surrounded by his classmates in a circle, ready for the next spar.

  Taichi Hyuga, a stern looking guy, came to the center as well, without showing any emotions, as always, calm and collected.

  Both of them performed a sign of confrontation, and Mamoru signaled for the start of the spar.

  From the first exchange Yuta knew, he was not an opponent for the Hyuga without constant chakra infusion in his muscles.

  Yuta gave it his all, concentrating on supplementing his every move with chakra enhancements to match the Hyuga level of speed and strength, it was the hardest spar he had so far, pushing himself to the absolute limits, with that he was able to stand his ground against Hyuga guy, but it was still not enough to beat him and Yuta felt like his chakra reserves are burning out fast.

  ‘Damn... This Hyuga guy usually takes third place in taijutsu after Itachi and Hikari, why I have to fight him of all people?! There is just no way...’ Yuta thought dejectedly, as he felt how after a few minutes of intense exchanges his focus started to waver and his stamina wasn’t able to keep up with the intensity of the spar any longer.

  The other classmates were being surprised and discussing loudly about how Yuta was able to stand his ground against Taichi for so long, being quite shocked by Yuta’s sudden rise in strength all of a sudden, since before this moment Yuta was always stayed in the middle of the class in terms of taijutsu.

  But shortly after, Yuta missed a strong blow to the chest, he applied the chakra at the last moment at the area of impact to cushion the blow and was able to continue the spar, but after that, blow after blow started to slip up through his wavering defenses and one of them sent him falling to the ground.

  “That’s enough.” Mamoru said loudly, “Now, seal of reconciliation!”

  ‘Damn... If I advance with this chakra application technique a little further, I should be able to beat this Hyuga guy, right now I’m wasting too much chakra and my chakra control is still not enough for it...’ Yuta thought as he stood up with some effort and formed a seal of reconciliation with Taichi, while suppressing the feelings of pain and exhaustion, as well as the strained muscles that are still not used to the chakra enhancement.

  ‘Well, whatever other people say about Hyuga being stuck-up and arrogant, but at least they behave maturely and don’t make scenes and create needles noise. I guess Neji from the anime was an odd one in this regard.’ Yuta thought as he observed Taichi, who stayed calm, quiet, and almost emotionless during the whole process.

  Although Yuta could tell that Taichi felt shocked and pressured during the spar, not expecting that Yuta would be of a much challenge for him, but instead he had to give it his all during the fight to finally win it after a few intense minutes.

  ‘And this Gentle Fist taijutsu of his, it’s quite strong in defense and offense, and that was even without him using his ability to strike the chakra points, if he does so, I will be finished with just one missed strike, it’s a quite terrifying jutsu, anime doesn’t give it the respect it deserves, often pairing Hyuga shinobi against some freaks that have countermeasures against Gentle Fist, while those countermeasures in reality is very rare, and in any other case, facing a Hyuga in a close combat is a death sentence in the most cases...’