Escape from Konoha.

As an intern in the First Medical Ninja Experimental Team, Shiraishi also began his formal internship at the hospital.

The so-called internship mostly involved assisting the on-duty medical ninjas, carrying things around, and if you were lucky, bandaging wounds for the injured.

Shiraishi was assigned to drug testing and medical equipment maintenance. Occasionally, he would also assist experienced medical ninjas in creating new drugs and purifying herbs.

And so, my fifth-grade school life passed by uneventfully.

When Shiraishi entered sixth grade, he was just eleven years old and had been interning at the hospital for more than half a year.

The team leader of Shiraishi's group was a medical ninja with ten years of experience working in a hospital. Seeing that Shiraishi had a solid foundation in basic knowledge and was meticulous and conscientious in his work, he put him in charge of a laboratory by himself, where he could conduct drug testing, maintain medical equipment, and even complete more complex tasks such as herb purification on his own.

With his knowledge base, Bai Shi found these tasks not particularly difficult, except for being tedious. However, he was very upset about the hospital's practice of exploiting child laborers through overwork.

He knew that Konoha Hospital was short-staffed, not only in the hospital but also on the front lines. As a result, he could only go to school in the mornings and had to work non-stop at the hospital from noon to 7 p.m.

Moreover, half of his already meager salary was deducted by the team leader under the pretext of "education and guidance fees."

If he relied solely on the salary he earned working at the hospital, Shiraishi felt he might not even be able to make ends meet.

After all, he was penniless, and his living expenses and research funding were all paid for by Liuli on his own.

From this perspective, the decision to go and live off Liuli was incredibly wise.

Even ninjas need to eat.

Therefore, Shiraishi kept the salary he earned from the hospital as his own private savings.

At this moment, Shiraishi Yukio felt that Ruri's eyes were Sharingan, not Byakugan that could see through objects.

Thinking about accumulating hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in savings when he graduates from the Ninja Academy, Shiraishi felt a little smug.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Graduation

October of Konoha 36.

The war between Konoha and Sunagakure has lasted for two years and is still ongoing.

As the number of ninjas mobilized by both sides increased, and large quantities of medicines and supplies were transported to the front lines, it was clear that the war showed no signs of abating.

The students in Shiraishi's graduating class who didn't choose to skip a grade are now all sixth-grade students awaiting graduation.

There will be a graduation exam in March. Students who pass the exam will leave the Ninja Academy and become official Genin within the Konoha organization.

However, according to Shiraishi's prediction, the so-called graduation assessment is just a formality.

The teachers at the school must have detailed information about all the students, including which students can graduate and which need to repeat a year; it has all been arranged in advance.

After all, the situation on the front lines is critical at this time, and more fresh troops are needed to go to the front lines to provide support. For example, new generation medical ninjas like Shiraishi need to accumulate experience on the battlefield so that they can play a better role in the medical field in the future.

So at this time, Shiraishi only needed to follow his usual schedule: going to school in the morning, doing his internship at the hospital in the afternoon, and doing research when he came back in the evening.

Graduation is something that will come when it's meant to; there's no need to rush or wait. Everything will fall into place naturally.

Nearly a month passed quietly, until the morning of graduation.

The weather was bright and sunny, and the clear chirping of birds echoed in the somewhat empty courtyard. The maids quietly carried their cleaning tools and were busy working early in the morning.

Unlike that gigolo who's been freeloading here for years without doing anything productive, these maids are quite competent.

Since today is the graduation exam, in order to keep the students in good condition, they don't need to go to school too early. They just need to arrive at the exam room before 9 o'clock.

Shiraishi slept until seven in the morning before waking up, sensing that things would not be peaceful from today onwards.

A few days ago, Shiraishi had stopped his research. The large equipment in the laboratory was moved by the ninja cats summoned by Ruri and hidden in a very safe and secret location. The only thing Shiraishi carried with him was the scroll recording his research results. Of course, it was safest to keep these things on his own.

Soon after having breakfast with Liuli, they headed towards school.

After taking their seats in the designated examination room, some of the other students were nervous, while others were relaxed. For most, the graduation exam was not a particularly difficult test.

The examiner in Shiraishi's exam room was his homeroom teacher, Fujimura Taiga. Before he knew it, six years of school life had passed. Looking at Mr. Fujimura Taiga, who was still single, Shiraishi couldn't help but feel sentimental.

"The graduation exam will cover the Three Body Techniques; you only need to pass two of them. Enough with the chit-chat, let's go one by one according to our seats."

After saying that, Fujimura Taiga walked into the empty classroom next to the examination room.

Alongside Fujimura Taiga, two Chunin examiners were also in charge of the exam.

According to the seating order, the person whose name is called must go to the next classroom alone to take the Three Body Techniques test. These are the three basic ninjutsu that students frequently encounter during their six years at the Ninja Academy.

Theoretically, it's impossible for anyone to fail such an extremely simple test.

In the quiet atmosphere, it was Shiraishi's turn.

The Three Body Technique is not difficult, and you only need to meet the standard for two of the three body techniques to successfully obtain the Konoha headband.

Bai Shi stood in the center of the examination hall, began to form hand seals, and concentrated his mind to perform the Three Bodies Technique.

"Congratulations, Chiba, you've passed."

After watching Shiraishi's display of the Three Bodies Technique, it was clear that all of them met or exceeded the standard, which was not unexpected by Fujimura Taiga.

Bai Shi was one of the few students in his class with a very solid foundation. As long as he followed the usual pace, the graduation exam would just be a formality.

"Thank you, Professor Fujimura."

Shiraishi bowed slightly to express his gratitude.

Having successfully obtained the Konoha headband from Fujimura Taiga, Shiraishi was now a qualified Konoha ninja.

That's probably what other people think.

The graduation exams ended in such a calm and uneventful atmosphere.

There was nothing to do all day; all I had to do was wait for the class assignments the next morning.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing who our team leader will be tomorrow. I heard that only outstanding students will be assigned a Jonin as their team leader after graduation. For someone like me, who has joined a team, the team leader might be a Special Jonin."

On the way back, Shiraishi began to wonder who his team leader would be tomorrow.

"You're in my group."

Liuli suddenly spoke.

"Huh?"

Shiraishi looked at Ruri with a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

"What's with that expression? Are you unhappy about being grouped with me?"

"Oh, no, I've never heard you mention this before."

"Because I don't think it's necessary to ask for your opinion, and your opinion isn't worth considering. Since you've brought it up now, I'll just give you a brief explanation."

Liuli speaks the truth.

To be honest, that's a bit of a blow.

However, Shiraishi is not the kind of person who cares about such trivial matters.

"If that's the case, then the teacher leading the team is probably a very powerful Jonin."

Shiraishi had a very intuitive understanding of Ruri's strength.

At almost twelve years old, her strength was already comparable to that of a typical Jonin.

Given her strong personality, it's highly likely that a typical Jonin leading a team would be unable to control Ruri, leading to a serious rift within the team.

If I and Ruri are in the same team, then the teacher leading the team is definitely not an ordinary Jonin.

"The clan only told me that he was a very powerful Jonin, but they didn't reveal who he was."

"I don't know if this is bad luck or good luck."

A skilled Jonin leader can significantly improve a squad's mission efficiency and survival rate.

However, the stronger the Jonin leading the team, the more likely his true strength is to be discovered.

Good and bad are always relative.

"At that time, you just need to make use of your medical ninjutsu skills."

"That makes sense. After all, having a medical ninja in the squad is the most reasonable team composition for the village right now. The Jonin squads, which are more efficient at carrying out missions, will naturally be the first to benefit from the medical ninja's skills."

Thinking about it this way, it seems reasonable that I was paired with Liuli.

Due to the scarcity of medical ninjas, although the village has devised a perfect formation for assigning medical ninjas to squads, the supply of medical ninjas cannot meet the demand, resulting in only a very small number of elite squads being qualified to be equipped with medical ninjas.

Her demonstrated strength was commendable, but as a medical ninja, her importance was no less than that of a regular Chunin, so it was not surprising that she was assigned to the elite group.

◎

the next morning.

The students who successfully graduated yesterday and received their nursing degrees will gather in their respective classes for a final class assignment meeting.

Standing in front of the podium, Fujimura Taiga's voice could be heard throughout the entire classroom.

"First of all, congratulations! From the moment you received your headbands, you became independent ninjas. Since there's a war going on outside, don't think becoming a ninja is something to be happy about. You're all still rookies. Remember, don't bring your game mentality to the battlefield; that will get you killed!"

Unlike his usual homeroom teacher, Fujimura Taiga, today his face was very serious, and his eyes were filled with reluctance and worry.

Stunned by his words, even the usually lively and active students who wanted to make some jokes to lighten the mood swallowed nervously and sat obediently in their seats when they saw Fujimura Taiga's serious and cold expression.

Fujimura Taiga realized that his words might have been a bit harsh, but he preferred to describe the path of the ninja as bloody and cruel rather than let them die with naive ideas.

Fujimura Taiga started taking attendance in groups of three.

Soon, Shiraishi heard the name of his group.

"Team 5, Uchiha Ruri, Hyuga Ayane, Chiba Shiraishi. You three will form a group."

While Fujimura Taiga was still calling out names, Shiraishi and his two companions exchanged glances, seemingly reassessing their future teammates.

"You're really lucky. Well then, please take care of me from now on, Shiraishi-kun, Ruri."

Ayane was dressed in a white ninja outfit, her long, straight black hair flowing smoothly over her shoulders, and her fair eyes held a smile that was both distant and polite.

"As long as they don't drag me down, it's fine."

Ruri did not express any dissatisfaction about being paired with Ayane.

It's more accurate to say that this is the most perfect combination.

She usually pays attention to Ayane, after all, like her, they have bloodline inheritance, and the Byakugan is more functional than the Sharingan in many ways.

"By the way, this guy is very weak. He's only good at medical ninjutsu. You'd better be prepared."