- 44 - 3 Year Time Skip

Two days had passed since the spar, and Izuna was in Aurora Valley. The early morning sun cast a gentle light.

He had new storage seals on each of his forearms. His waist bore two small ninja bags, one on each hip, while each leg was adorned with two small pouches. They were filled with kunai and shurikens and his father's old chakra blade that he was currently using.

Izuna, thinking ahead, had also saved room for essentials he might need in the future on a mission, like a first-aid kit, rope, scrolls, element storage seals, additional weapons, explosion tags, ration bars, and more if needed.

Izuna then practiced using the seal; with fluid movements, he pulled kunai and shurikens out of thin air, to the surprise of Sugi, and with precision and speed, threw them at his targets that were scattered throughout the valley, all while maneuvering his body with agility through the forest. Sugi watched from the side.

Knowing his job was done, Izuna nodded his head, then went and collected all the kunai and shurikens he had just thrown. Once gathered, he continued his training without a moment's delay.

For the rest of the vacation, the days unfolded in a similar pattern. Each morning, after his physical workouts, he would summon Sugi to let him know that he wanted to go to Aurora Valley, and then they would spend hours training together, with Sugi trying to master Wood Style while Izuna trained in all the various jutsu he needed to learn and master.

In his third year at the academy, Hiroto shifted his focus toward the foundational skills of a ninja, which made the year a lot more enjoyable. He taught them the art of moving stealthily by having them play games, which Izuna was always the best at due to him being a sensor while no one else was.

Toward the end of the year, he was surprised to notice that Minato seemed to figure it out himself, that, or Hiruzen got someone to teach him, and Fugaku also must have learned from his father.

The wilderness became the classroom under Hiroto's guidance, where the students learned the essential survival skills of hunting. Each student was also tasked with securing their first kill, a rite of passage in this ninja world. Hiroto didn't stop there either; he delved deep into the process of skinning, cleaning, and cooking their game, ensuring the students understood the importance of self-sufficiency while in the wild.

At the beginning of the year, Hiroto introduced the students to tree climbing, an exercise in chakra control. By the end of the year, all the students had mastered the art, and they had moved on to water walking.

The year continued in this manner, learning a lot of practical knowledge imparted by Hiroto with the intent of equipping his students with the skills necessary for a ninja.

Izuna continued his training, and after six months, he could now perform all his E-rank jutsus with one hand sign, which was as low as they could go. He then started to work on his D-rank jutsus, and after another six months, just before the third-year final exams, he managed to get all his D-rank jutsus down to one-hand sign as well. He could even use Body Flicker and Substitution with no hand signs. He even managed to get his two C-rank jutsus, Great Fireball, and Great Breakthrough Jutsu, down to just two hand signs and Shadow Clone Jutsu down to three.

He now considered his E and D-rank jutsus to be mastered. Of course, there was always room for improvement, but that would come with time.

He also saw a huge improvement in the output of all his jutsus due to his increasing chakra control, and his Great Fireball Jutsu had increased by 50 percent.

As he continued his training into the fourth year, Yama finally told him that both his chakra and elemental control were good enough to learn Wood Style. He had thought that it had been good enough for a while now, but Yama insisted he train more. But he was now finally able to start practicing it.

He learned from practice that the difference between a Kekkei Genkai and a regular jutsu was that, when performing a regular jutsu, you just need to use one chakra nature, while with the Kekkei Genkai, you not only had to use two, but the two chakra natures had to be able to meld together.

He also learned that there was a different percentage for each jutsu. It wasn't always 50 percent water and 50 percent earth.

He learned from Yama that the reason most people couldn't use Kekkei Genkais, even if taught, is the melding part. Most people simply didn't have the ability to meld chakra natures together.

By the end of the 4th year, Izuna's chakra reserves had more than doubled from the moment he hit Jounin level, and he was now getting closer to Elite Jounin level, which he learned when he became a sensor was more than merely a step above Jounin level, but was a vast leap.

As the 5th year started, Izuna had left Yama utterly surprised at how fast he managed to learn all the E and D-rank Wood Style jutsus. Considering that learning a Kekkei Genkai was 10 times as hard to learn compared to a regular jutsu.

More time went on, and they were now only 1 week away from the final exams, which left the atmosphere in the classroom thick with anticipation and a hint of anxiety for the upcoming graduation exams.

It was in this charged environment that Hiroto stood in front of the class and said, "This year, those of you who wish to take the graduation exam may do so. Now, if you would like to take the exam, come up to the front of the class and form a line, then write your name down on this sheet of paper."

Izuna, sitting in the back of the class like always, was surprised when the entire class stood up with anticipation and ran forward to sign the sheet of paper.

With Izuna just sitting there, Hiroto was surprised, so he walked up to him and asked, "Izuna, you are the best student in the class, aren't you going to try and graduate this year?"

With a nonchalant shrug, Izuna answered, "I am. I'm just waiting for the crowd to thin out."

Hiroto exhaled a deep sigh of relief, his thoughts swirling with the weight of potential chaos. 'If Izuna didn't graduate this year, that would mess up the Hokage's plans.'

After the last kid signed his name, making their aspirations and goals official, Izuna walked down and put his name on the piece of paper.

Hiroto, seeing that all the kids had signed up to take the graduation exam, felt a surge of pride and responsibility, then said to the class, "It's good that all of you wish to graduate this year and become genin. Just remember to keep training hard; your life might depend on it, especially with the war that's going on right now."

The war had continued in earnest, but the fog of uncertainty still hung over Izuna. He still had little information to go on, so he didn't know where the ninja world stood at the moment or where the balance of power currently lay.

Hiroto cleared his throat, capturing their attention. "In one week, you will all take the final exam, and most of the test will be similar to the graduation exam, so you all need to do your best. Just because you're about to graduate, don't slack off on your last exam. Then, the next day, all of you, being a part of the special class, will take the final exam with the remaining 6th-year students."

After imparting a few more pieces of advice, emphasizing the importance of hard work and dedication, Hiroto dismissed the class.

Izuna, his thoughts on the war he was still too weak to affect, returned home. After his daily training was over, he looked over the syllabus for the written exam and was surprised, as always, at the difficulty of the exam.