"I have Kukyo permanently active . . . If this Yamanaka Inori can read emotion and intent . . ."
"Ugh!" Shiki could only face palm with the expression of a person fed up with life.
If his performance failed because of his lacking skill it was one thing but failing because he was too good at something? Such a stupid reason?
"Kukyo, in its passive state, does not fake or block emotions so empathetic individuals and more emotionally attuned sensors can read me just fine and not notice anything strange but it does cut off emotion from intent so . . ." Shiki started but trailed off with a sigh.
"So to her, you felt like a heartless monster that could sever emotions and disregard deep bonds on a mere whim!" Mito said with mirth.
Clearly, Shiki being found out, at least partially, did not worry her a single bit. She even found Inori's misunderstanding quite amusing.
However . . . Perhaps Inori has just picked up the beginning of a thread neither Mito nor Shiki himself had noticed . . .
Or maybe the latter did indeed notice something, but willfully ignored it . . .
*
The next day, the results of the exams would be announced.
Nawaki had gone on a mission with his team, along with their sensei Orochimaru, but Tsunade who avoided going on missions and lazed around whenever possible, adopted the attitude of a supervising elder and used the excuse of looking after Shiki's "graduation".
His passing was a done deal, there would be nothing but perfect marks in his practical exam either, even the other students felt the same.
However, the permanent holder of the top scorer seat in all theoretical exams and tests, was hoping to teach Shiki a lesson in humility this time.
'Sure you've worked hard and you're probably so talented it's unfair. But I'll show you that the real world is not so easy.' Uchiha Mei thought with a sullen expression as she made her way to the academy.
Today, her older brother Fugaku had come to cheer her on . . . By standing in the background like a cold, expressionless statue.
Just inside the entrance hallway to the SHinobi Academy, there would be a notice board that had the results, whoever was noted as having a passing grade, should enter the building and head to their classroom while the others could only go home to wallow in their disappointment.
As Shiki arrived, not too early, not too late, he noticed there was already quite the crowd around the notice board.
'Looks there are people from multiple classes here.' He made a quick estimate and deduced at least three classes were there.
'I took the exam with the A class who are considered the best and brightest in the academy. Most of the Elite Genin that get an assigned Jonin sensei came out of the A class.
While Shiki was quietly thinking and not going to impatiently check his results, Tsunade was not being nearly as patient.
"Come on brat! Stop acting cool and go check the results!" The Senju princess hurried the boy.
He looked at her with a stink face.
"Why are YOU being impatient? Gambled on the scores or something?" Shiki questioned with suspicion.
"Can't I just be curious? Am I really that kind of person in your heart?" The blonde questioned back with an offended expression.
The white haired boy feigned an exaggerated amount of shock.
"No Tsunade-sama! You are not that kind of person in my heart-" He paused.
"You factually are that kind of person."
Shiki's face instantly returned to his default neutral look after he finished his sentence, leaving the Senju princess with an unbearable urge to strangle him.
Not wanting to look at Shiki further and risk losing control, Tsunade simply decided to go over to the notice board and check the results herself.
When the blonde marched over with a face like she was plotting murder, people, students and their families, immediately got out of the way.
But none of them were actually offended or even displeased.
Though Tsunade lacked the legendary reputation of her later years, the reputation she would attain in the upcoming Second Great Shinobi War, at this time, she was widely known as the precious princess of the Senju clan, granddaughter of the First Hokage and Lady Mito.
In the current age where the Senju's legendary reputation had yet to fade, these titles held far more weight.
And so, with everyone clearing the way, not only Tsunade, but even Shiki hanging further back, both got a clear view of the notice board.
Academy scoring was simple to understand yet difficult to apply.
This was because of how easy the learning material was for some students. Perfect scores were not only doable, they were the expected norm for these geniuses.
So how would one go about distinguishing these geniuses from the true prodigies and monsters that were far rarer but did show up from time to time.
For this purpose, there were stars of excellency.
Whenever a student performed far above academy level in a test, it would be recorded and tallied at the end of the exams to see if they merited any stars.
There was no maximum limit. One merely had to follow the system of evaluation and count.
*
Student: Ryumon Shiki
Theory Exam:
Math: 100/100
Languages: 100/100
History: 100/100
Shinobi Theory: 100/100
Will of Fire: 100/100
Stars of Excellence: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Practical Exam:
Obstacle Course: 100/100
Kunai and Shuriken Throwing: 100/100
Ninjutsu Evaluation: 100/100
Combat Exam: 100/100
Stars of Excellence: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
*
Seeing the result, Shiki allowed himself a wide smile of satisfaction.
'Now that's what I call an unbeatable score!'
'No one will break that record for generations!'
Supremely confident, the white haired boy internally spouted all manner of flag raising statements.
In the midst of his satisfaction however, his violet eyes suddenly caught Tsunade turning towards him with a murderous expression.
'So she was indeed gambling over the results.' Shiki internally nodded at being proven right.
'But why is she mad? She couldn't have been stupid enough to bet against me right?' HE thought to himself.
Other might be that stupid but Tsunade actually knew somethings about his abilities and saw him train taijutsu with Mito sometimes, even taking her grandmother's place for a few of them so even if she was not as informed as the Uzumaki matriarch, there was just no way!
Right . . . ?
The Senju princess marched back towards the boy who had now become the center of attention, her beautiful face a truly murderous expression full of evil intentions.
Although maybe Shiki's perception was a bit prejudiced.
"Did Tsunade-sama really bet against me?" The boy questioned with disbelief.
His voice was low enough that the crowd could not hear as he would not ruin the, still relatively clean, reputation the woman had.
"No . . ." Tsunade replied with a defeated tone, not even bothering to keep up the lie she had not been gambling.
"So how did you lose?" This time Shiki was completely at a loss.
Was Tsunade's bad luck so powerful that it could bend the laws of reality and make her somehow lose even when she won!?
"The bets were on how good you would do . . ." The Senju princess began explaining.
"I bet that you would break the previous record of five stars of excellence in both the theory and practical exams but . . ."
Everything seemed perfect so far.
"There was an option to double the payout if the player bet on the specific number of stars you would get . . . I specifically bet on six stars . . ." The blonde sounded utterly defeated.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -