Chapter 4: Entrance Exam (2)
Hatada was in group 5. It seemed a decent chunk of his line had some kids who had awakened their use of chakra, so they should pass.
There were a few kids from the Hyuga and Uchiha clans here, and one from the Akimichi clan, but none of the others seemed to be represented there. Although, it was admittedly harder to tell for the others, since they didn't have extremely distinctive features or doujutsu which Hatada could point out, nor did he have much experience inspecting those in the other clans.
After walking for a little bit, they arrived at training field 5. It was quite large, probably close to 100 to 150 meters long and wide, but other than being surrounded by some trees, it was barren.
"You will run 8 laps around this field without stopping! The path is already marked, so don't think about cheating! If you do, we will remove you from this test and you will be denied entry!"
A decent chunk of the group gulped after seeing how large the field was. Hatada, however, was a little disappointed. 'Is that all for the physical? It seems like they really are only testing that they didn't sit on the couch the whole time. I could do even without a lick of physical training over the last 6 years.
'I guess I was so worried about having my rings discovered that it leaked over to other facets of training.'
"Start!"
Hatada simply shook his head and got the activity over with.
'I said 8 laps, no? Why is that kid going out so fast?' group 5's proctor thought. 'Screw it. If he can't pace himself, then it would be dangerous to both him and others to even let him become a ninja.'
The few other ninja that were watching field 5 had similar thoughts, however…
'He's still going?
'Hold on…'
The proctor flipped through his group's list of students. Under each of their names gave some information. Granted, it was limited, but he wasn't looking for what the kid had for dinner last night.
'There's no way a kid could keep up that pace without proper training. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would have thought he trained every day since he popped out of the womb!'
If he, or anyone else knew how right that statement was, their jaws would probably grow legs and run away.
'I digress, it's suspicious…' the proctor thought. 'I'll have to report this to lord Hokage…'
He wrote a few notes down in Hatada's section, but let the exam continue.
.
.
.
Slowly but surely, the rest of group five finished. Hatada noticed many eyes looking at him, but he was used to the attention. 'At least this time it isn't because of my looks…'
-That wasn't entirely the case.
A Hyuga girl was looking, no, staring at Hatada with a blank expression. However, her inner thoughts were anything but blank.
[A/N: NOT HINATA GUYS. Don't worry, no NTR here.]
'Oh no… oh no… oh no!
'I think I…
'no…'
Earlier that day, Hyuga Nisi was tag-teased by both her older brother and mother about how a Hyuga boy from another branch family "proposed" to her. Although they were kidding, and the two of them were only six years old (so neither her brother nor her mother took him seriously), Nisi was mortified.
For one, Hyuga Ume was a "Bushy eyed dummy!" and "Too childish!"; in her words. Essentially, she didn't LIKE like him. He followed her around and kept pestering her without rest, and it only infuriated her more.
His family lived close by hers, and they were born just a few minutes apart, so they were essentially brother and sister. All this culminated in her saying- "I'll never marry anyone!"
In her naive mind, this equated to "I'm not going to date anyone" (which was an overreaction, and she knew it, but was too stubborn to revoke or not act on it), while Ume's words were influenced by both Nisi's mother and brother. What he meant to say was "let's be best friends forever!", as he too only saw her as his 4-minutes-older sister, but the two troublemakers had easily gaslit the gullible boy into thinking that marriage was synonymous with BFF.
Even now, he was extremely baffled at her reaction. In fact, he accidentally tripped while completing the 8 laps around the field while wracking his brain over what he did wrong.
However, right now, she had developed her first crush, and it hit her like a freight train. Not only did she just "vow" to never date anyone, but hours after the fact she "fell in love" (developed a crush).
She was a stubborn girl, though, and had a near constant poker face, so she was now hell bent to find a reason to not like Hatada. 'He's probably a dummy like Ume anyway!'
After all the teasing and misunderstandings, she was the only one suffering!
Hatada had no clue, as expected. A couple dozen people were looking at him, so he had no reason to pay attention to some random Hyuga girl that wasn't even using the Byakugan to do so.
"Okay. All that made it, follow me. The rest, you can go home."
Hatada and the rest of the kids in his group followed the ninja back to the first field they met up on.
"We will now check for signs of chakra within your bodies," He said. Although no explanation was given, everyone knew this was the main differentiator between a civilian and a ninja, so naturally it is a requirement to be accepted in the academy.
Due to the importance of this, many children were positively shaking, at least 90% of which were civilian born/orphans, as they had no prior training or help in awakening their chakra, so they don't even know if they can pass or not.
'I assume that essentially anyone with chakra could assist in awakening someone, but since we are in a time of relative peace, the village isn't pressed for ninja,' I thought. 'Either way, there are a limited number of kids they can teach at one time, so I'm sure this is also a way to cut down on wasted time teaching untalented or unmotivated individuals.'
Hatada's intuition was right. As of right now, times are in a relative state of peace, allowing for the village to ease up on pumping out ninja ASAP. In fact, the academy has returned to a state of not allowing early graduation.
As the proctors inspected their group, Hatada zoned out.
While he was confident that what he thought was mana would be interpreted as chakra by whomever inspects them, he wasn't so sure he would be able to use it in the same way.
"Pass."
Hatada nodded as the proctor confirmed he had awakened chakra.
Although it didn't show on his face, the man who just inspected Hatada became even more suspicious of Hatada. 'Either he's a spy, or a genius. Either way, we'll find out in a day or two.'
Again, he made more notes on Hatada's note sheet and continued on with the exam. Overall, only about 30% of the original applicants made it through, many of which failed the chakra inspection.
A few of the kids were crying (they were 6, after all), and a few looked to be on the brink of tears. The dichotomy between them and the relief and satisfaction seen on those who were accepted into the academy was nearly comical.
'They must be brainwashed in some way. Mages and Knights don't have nearly as bad a time as even I, a civilian orphan, can tell ninjas do. This world is constantly at war, while my old one was, at least on a surface level, in constant global preparation to fight against the eventual reincarnation of the Demon King.'
Hatada shook his head in exasperation. 'The only way forward, as usual, is to train my ass off. I have neither the time nor energy to worry about naive or brainwashed kids.'
After the announcement that classes started in three days, and a small congratulations on being accepted into the academy, the group slowly began to disperse. Naruto, as expected, was ecstatic about getting in, heading off to his favorite ramen shop to brag.
Other kids made their way to their parents to give them the "good" news. Hatada noticed the obviously conflicted looks on the civilian parent's faces; a mix between pride and worry, yet they managed to hide it from their kids and congratulate them. The clan parent's faces were far less conflicted.
By far, the minority of kids accepted into the academy were orphans. While it was one of the most lucrative career options available for such people, it was also one of the most inaccessible.
'Soon, I'll get my own apartment, and I'll have access to the training fields,' Hatada mused. 'If there are enough, and are spread enough apart, then I might be able to find one far removed enough to practice openly.'
The fact that he was an orphan without any guidance forced Hatada to practice in relative solitude. Thankfully, he didn't need much space to use "Mana Meditation", another of the neutral spells he knew.
Mana Meditation is less of a spell and more of a technique, since it requires no chants or magic circles to cast, just the skill to do so (which isn't saying all that much, as basically every Mage or Knight was proficient in it). It works by overcharging the rate at which mana rings convert ambient mana into personal mana by increasing said ring's RPM.
Now that he is at the second ring, Hatada can now train even harder thanks to the few spells he is now capable of using.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone