{Classroom #401, Konohagakure Academy, Konohagakure}
{11:01 AM, 18th Jan 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
"Everyone put down your pencils immediately," Iruka shouted from his table in front of the class while Ren was leaning back and resting. The written exam was not challenging as his memory has improved a lot in the past year and the questions weren't nearly as difficult as he expected. Most of the high-mark questions were based on different field scenarios about any and all situations that could happen on the field.
'Why was the exam so drastically different this time, although the questions weren't hard their answers weren't so straightforward anymore... Quests'
Ren focused on his active quests, he quickly scanned the opening quest and thankfully he still got the highest marks in the written exams according to the quest block.
...
[Side Quest I: Gain Perk: [Enhanced Focus], Gain {Chakra Scalpel Jutsu}, +5000 EXP, +100 Reputation [Iruka], +100 Reputation [Rookie 9]{Collect}]
...
Ren looked at the block and then looked around him as everyone got ready to leave towards the academy training ground for the shurikenjutsu exam. Ren looked as Ino walked towards him in a hurry, "What happened?"
"Come with me," she spoke hurriedly and then pulled Ren towards the training ground. Ren was a little puzzled but followed her.
...
"Will you tell me now, what happened?" Ren asked as they arrived at one corner of the training field.
Ino looked nervous before she spoke, "Dad told me that the Academy principal decided to add an additional optional portion at the end of the exam. Anyone can now show any jutsu other than the basic 3 for some additional points to pass the exam."
...
'That's sudden, why would the exam change,' Ren thought as he looked at the 4 senseis that were following the class. The red name of Mizuki once again was gleaming against the 3 blue boxes floating above the rest of them.
'The principal should be here soon right this is supposed to be the elite class for this year so he should be here to observe the physical and ninjutsu portion...'
"Thanks for telling me Ino-chan," Ren gave her a smile to ease up her worries, he looked at Mizuki once again but decided rather to focus on the next part of the exam.
"Alright everyone gather around, I'll start calling everyone one by one, you will have 20 seconds to shoot 10 kunai and 10 shuriken at those targets. Like always you will be graded on the number of targets hit divided by the time taken to get those points," Iruka instructed and everyone quickly gathered around.
'So the shurikenjutsu exam is also a little different, the time-limit division is new but it works in my favor, I will just do what I did in practice the last couple of weeks.'
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Ren wasn't wearing his resistance seals today since he had decided to go all out there was no point in hiding stuff when he knew that the Jounin-sensei would be watching and his advanced physical capabilities would be found out rather quickly after he got assigned to a team anyway. He was still wearing weights but the DEX restrictions due to the weights would only affect his movement speed and kick frequency.
...
[Intermediate Shurikenjutsu (Intermediate Shuriken and Kunai throwing Techniques) C-Rank:
Lv MAX (-) Shurikenjutsu is a fundamental aspect of a ninja's arsenal, focusing on precision, agility, and strategic use of shuriken and kunai. Skilled practitioners of Shurikenjutsu are able to wield these weapons with incredible accuracy and incorporate them into their combat techniques While most ninja master only the basic throwing forms of these aspects some clans or ninjas are known to utilize more advanced forms.
• Increases attack power of shuriken and kunai by 50% during combat
• Increases accuracy when thrown during combat by 100%
• Accuracy when thrown outside of combat = 100%
• Able to handle multiple shurikens and Kunai simultaneously = 10
...
Ren read through the shurikenjutsu skill once again, he was relaxed because he had confidence in his skill that he had grinded all throughout the past year to Max level and the fact that he knew he was faster than Sasuke. Ever since he had reached MAX level in intermediate shurikenjutsu he had always had 100% accuracy at a fixed target and even at a moving target.
'That's only if the target does not change its direction after I have already released the shurikens...'
Handling 10 shurikens at the same time was difficult for Ren at first but when he figured out that you had to use chakra to stick the kunai and shuriken to your fingers before flicking them he managed to get the trick down.
'Sasuke was able to do that when we started this year and somehow he still wasn't able to figure out the tree walking exercise by himself.'
The one drawback of using this skill to throw shurikenjutsu was the target selection, since both the direction and power are decided by the flick of the wrist all the shuriken or kunai are fired at the same target which makes the skill a little pointless in real life battle scenarios.
That was a problem for another day though as Iruka called up Ren to the throwing line. He walked by the table and collected all the shuriken and kunai and then walked to the throwing line.
"Ready?" Iruka-sensei asked as Ren pocketed the shuriken before sticking one kunai each to his fingers.
"Yes Iruka sensei," Ren replied as he got ready, his muscles were tense and ready as he selected the leftmost target for the kunai.
"Go," Iruka sensei shouted and Ren focused, immediately his hands flashed as he flicked both of his hands in the shape of an 'X' releasing his chakra at the perfect time when his fingers completed the flicking motion. Both his hands continued their motion and dipped into his shuriken pouches, one by one 10 shurikens were quickly attached to all of his fingers and Ren flicked both of his hands upwards targeting the middle post together.
His focus snapped back as exclaims erupted from all around him, Iruka sensei paused the stopwatch that he was holding and looked at the timer in disbelief.
"0.97 seconds..."
There was a brief period of silence before whispers started breaking out from the students. Ren sighed as he started walking towards the target, Mizuke seemingly woke up from a daze and arrived beside him and started counting down the points as Ren removed the kunai.
'Tch- one of the shuriken's missed a little, the bullseye area is too small to accommodate all the shuriken.'
"199 points" Mizuki spoke up in surprise once again as Ren collected the last shuriken and dumped them on the used box on the way back.
...
'I should have an advantage in the taijutsu portion too and thanks to Sasuke I'll probably get the highest marks for the ninjutsu portion. The only thing left would be the hidden quest, I don't know what it is so I can only do my best and hopefully it will work out...'
...