In class 6 all the students were sitting silently, in front of them was a test sheet some students found it easy and others found it difficult.
While Shinra was attempting the test he noticed some slightly interesting questions with a bunch of marks.
'Scenario: You are in the middle of a mission and you have almost accomplished your mission, but your teammate gets caught and now you have two choices: 1. Sacrifice your teammate to accomplish the mission. 2. Abandon the mission and rescue your teammate.'
Shinra looked at the question with interest, 'The white fang incident is indirectly mentioned in this question, but does this mean that students who choose option 2 will be marked as incorrect?
No, considering how much they have stressed the Will of Fire everyday then this question is likely to separate the students in to two types. 1."I will protect my teammates at any cost" type of person. 2. "The mission comes first." types.'
After careful consideration Shinra chose the option to abandon the mission and rescue his teammate, both options had their positives and cons. But Shinra didn't want to portray himself as that kind of person.
The rest of the questions were very simple and theoretical in nature, mostly about history, chakra usage and maths.
After completing the written exam, Reigen took his class to the playground and arranged them in lines.
"This exam will be a fighting competition, you can use anything in your arsenal whether it be ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu or weapons."
"To win you need to either force the opponent to surrender or knock him out, if the match gets dangerous I will stop it and announce the winner accordingly." Reigen said as his eyes swept through the students.
The crowd of students formed a wide ring around the sparring area. Reigen stood at the edge, arms crossed, watching closely.
A couple of names were called out and the matches this time were of a higher level than during practice, maybe because they were using actual weapons now.
"Next match: Uchiha Ren vs Shinra."
Ren stepped forward first. No cocky grin this time—just focused eyes and a calm posture.
Shinra followed, hands loose, breathing steady.
The atmosphere shifted.
"Begin!"
Ren dashed forward, quick and direct.
Shinra blocked the first punch, then ducked under the follow-up and swept at Ren's legs.
Ren jumped, twisting midair, and tried to land a backhand as he passed overhead. Shinra raised his forearm, absorbed the impact, and slid back a few steps from the force.
'He's not holding back this time.' Ren thought
Ren landed and came again. Jab, jab, low kick—his form was clean. Sharper than their last match.
Shinra deflected, parried, then slipped to the side and countered with a palm to the ribs.
Ren winced but twisted into a spinning kick. Shinra stepped inside the arc and jammed it with his elbow.
They broke apart.
Breathing heavier now. Both of them.
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Don't think I didn't train too," he muttered.
He rushed in again, this time mixing feints. A right hook that turned into a grab. He latched onto Shinra's arm, spun, and tried to toss him over the shoulder.
Shinra twisted with the momentum and flipped instead of resisting—landing lightly on his feet.
Without wasting a beat, he launched forward and struck Ren in the stomach with a precise punch.
Ren staggered.
But then—
He started weaving hand signs.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The air around his mouth heated—
And then—
Pfffft.
A puff of smoke. No fire.
Silence.
Ren's face turned red—not from the failed technique, but from embarrassment. His chakra had sputtered out mid-cast.
Reigen raised an eyebrow.
Shinra didn't laugh. He just advanced.
Ren tried to swing again, but his stance was off. The failure had broken his rhythm.
Shinra ducked low, swept Ren's legs, and then pinned him with a foot to the chest before he could recover.
Reigen raised his hand. "Match over. Winner: Shinra."
Ren lay flat, staring up at the sky, teeth clenched.
"I… lost again?" he whispered, barely audible.
Then tears began to slide down the sides of his face.
'Why did I lose again? I trained every day until I collapsed… yet why do I still keep losing to him?'
Shinra stood over him in silence. He didn't gloat, didn't smirk. He simply formed the unison sign, turned, and walked away.
As Shinra's silhouette receded, Ren blinked through his tears—and another figure overlapped with him.
'Even here… you still overshadow me. Itachi.'
On the other side Shinra thought 'He kept trying to create a distance in the middle of the fight, and would glance at his hands from time to time. I guess he managed to use it before, but couldn't use it mid fight. That's a shame, I really wanted to see it up close.'
As he walked away, Ren looked at his back and another figure overlapped with his. 'Even here you still keep overshadowing me.. Itachi!'
Reigen nodded slightly to himself.
'Ren's progress was remarkable, if he didn't try to perform the jutsu then he might have continued a bit longer, but ultimately he would've still lost.' Reigen looked at Shinra's back, others might not have noticed but Shinra was leading Ren from the beginning he even baited him to perform the jutsu before finishing him off.
A few more matches passed before Reigen called out again.
"Next match: Hashimoto Kenta vs. Inuzuka Hiru."
Kenta stepped forward, already breathing a little hard from nerves. His hands trembled slightly as he raised his fists. Across from him, Hiru cracked his knuckles and sneered, his small ninken growling beside him.
Shinra, watching from the crowd, narrowed his eyes. 'Bloodlust?'
"Begin!"
Hiru shot forward instantly. Fast—faster than Kenta expected.
The first punch landed clean in his gut. Kenta wheezed and stumbled back.
The second hit knocked him down.
Gasps rang from the students watching, and some even looked away, already expecting a quick end.
But Kenta got up.
Shaking, panting—but stood upright.
He raised his fists again.
Hiru frowned and dashed forward again, sweeping Kenta's legs and landing a punch on his face sending him crashing onto his back.
"Why do you keep getting up? You are just gonna get beat up more." Hiru muttered.
Kenta coughed, wincing. Then pushed himself up again.
"I can't give up not again, How can I become hokage if I keep giving up."
Reigen watched silently, arms folded.
Again and again, Kenta was knocked down. His kunai slipped from his grip after the third knockdown. He didn't reach for it again.
He just stood. Over and over.
Blood trickled from his nose. One eye was swelling. But he stood.
"You're not even strong," Hiru barked. "What makes a weakling like you think you can become Hokage?"
Kenta froze.
"I can't become Hokage? Who decided that? it doesn't matter if I wasn't born a genius, it doesn't matter that I am not from a clan. I will work hard, and if it's not enough I will work even harder… I will become just like him, That is my Dream!"
The ring of students had gone silent.
Then… he moved.
Not fast. Not elegant. But with sudden focus.
Hiru smirked, stepping in with a lazy punch—
—and Kenta weaved under it and drove his fist straight into Hiru's gut.
The Inuzuka boy doubled over, shocked.
Then Kenta twisted and launched a brutal uppercut into Hiru's jaw.
The hit connected clean. Hiru's feet left the ground—and he hit the dirt with a dull thud, out cold.
Silence.
Then—
Reigen raised his hand. "Winner: Kenta."
Kenta dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.
"I… won?" he muttered.
Shinra walked over and offered him a hand. "You did."
Kenta grinned through his bloody lip. "Told you. Lord Fifth, remember?"
Shinra smirked faintly.
…
Later that evening, after the students had been dismissed, Reigen sat with two other instructors in the Academy's small staff room. Steam curled from his teacup as he gazed out the window.
"How was your batch this year?" asked Instructor Midori, a tall kunoichi with a sharp tongue.
"Mixed," Reigen said. "A few standouts. A few disasters. Most are where you'd expect."
"Still no prodigies?" asked Yuza, the taijutsu instructor from class 4.
Reigen sipped his tea.
"There's one. Maybe two. Hard to say yet."
"Let me guess—an Uchiha?" Midori smirked.
Reigen shook his head. "No. Ren's decent, but reckless. He tried to use ninjutsu he didn't master in the middle of the fight."
Midori laughed. "He tried the Fireball Jutsu, didn't he?"
"Blew smoke like a chimney," Reigen muttered. "Shinra baited him into it. Ended it right after."
"Shinra?" Yuza leaned forward. "That civilian kid, you keep mentioning?"
Reigen nodded. "He's precise. Disciplined. Not flashy, but calculating. If he keeps this pace, he might finish top of his class."
"And the other one?" Midori asked.
Reigen smiled faintly. "Hashimoto Kenta. No talent, no pedigree—but more guts than half the class combined. I've seen worse candidates make it to Chūnin."
Yuza raised a brow. "Chunin? You're getting soft, Reigen."
"Maybe." Reigen drained his cup. "Or maybe I'm just finally seeing what the Will of Fire looks like."