That night, immediately following the announcement of the end of the first round, all the remaining qualified students were escorted back by the proctor of the first round and the homeroom instructors of their respective classes.
In the end, only 25 students advanced to the second round out of the original 28 participants.
The class 1-S and 2-S teams suffered no losses.
However, the teams from the second-year Class 3-S and 4-S lost 1 and 2 students in the first round, respectively.
Seimei knew that one of the class 4-S students, Yamamoto Fuji, had been eliminated by Ishimori Haneda. He witnessed the whole battle himself.
As for the other two students…
One of them was severely poisoned due to being scratched by a poisonous plant. Seimei was dumbfounded when he heard it.
You want to become a ninja. And yet, you are being poisoned by a plant.
This had to be the joke of the year.
And to make matters worse, that guy was from a second-rate Shinobi clan, similar to the Sarutobi and Shimura clans.
Even if he was poisoned, he should at least have several antidotes to counter common poisons in his ninja pouch.
His clan's foundation should be deep with hundreds of ninjas, multiple Jutsu, several secret techniques, a lot of money, and multiple medicine, poison, and antidote formulae.
What a dumb way to get eliminated.
What else could Seimei even say?
Well, bad luck, I guess…
…Or not.
If we were in the middle of a war, guys like that would die first because of their stupidity!
Meanwhile, the other one instantly forfeited when he encountered a Chakra Beast of B- danger rank.
It couldn't be helped.
Thanks to Nara Shikamo's intelligence reports, Seimei knew that this second guy's combat prowess barely reached the level of a Chunin.
While it was an impressive feat for a 9-year-old student, according to the S-class standards, his performance was utterly mediocre.
There was no way this guy from the Mitokado clan could resist a Chakra Beast of B- danger rating or run away from it.
He was smart to forfeit soon.
Otherwise, he would have at least suffered from severe blood loss or a few bone fractures before the patrolling ninjas stepped in to save his life.
Since he was going to be disqualified anyway, it was better to avoid unnecessary injuries and suffering.
Smart guy, indeed!
Still, it was surprising that only three students had been eliminated during this round.
He heard there had been a lot of fights and minor skirmishes between the students of different teams in these two days.
But on second thought, it was understandable.
The students here are not idiots.
Except for a few individuals, most students lack the combat prowess that is overwhelming enough to decisively defeat other S-class students quickly.
We are all from the same village. There are no enemies here.
So, whenever someone falls into a disadvantage, it's natural for them to retreat quickly.
And once a Shinobi wants to escape, it's tough to catch or kill them unless your combat power is leagues ahead of theirs.
Haneda's case was…well…an exception.
Yamamoto Fuji's fighting spirit was almost bursting out, and Haneda's Water and Lightning Release Ninjutsu combo came too swiftly.
That Fuji guy had no chance to retreat.
Poor guy!
He ended up electrocuted rather badly!
His skin was literally smoking.
That must have hurt a lot.
Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps!
Seimei halted his random thoughts and glanced toward the wall clock.
It was 8:57 AM right now.
Today should have been the third day of the first round.
But here he was, lounging around in his home.
"Hmm…Father asked me to visit him at 9 AM."
"Let's see what he has to say."
"I also want to know if they have discovered anything in the Forest of Silence after I made the report."
With that, Seimei walked out of his room and headed toward his father's study.
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Seimei arrived in front of his father's study and knocked on the door three times.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in."
As soon as the voice rang out of the room, Seimei pushed the door open and entered the room, only to find his father meticulously looking at some documents.
Hearing the door open, Tobirama finally put the documents down and stared right at Seimei with a hint of a smile.
"So, you're here," said Tobirama as he gestured for him to sit at the table.
Seeing this, Seimei wasted no time and sat on the chair before asking, "Were you looking for me, Father?"
"Yes," replied Tobirama. "Can you guess why I asked you to come here today?"
Tobirama asked as a hint of mischief flickered in his usual calm and serious eyes.
Seimei raised an eyebrow, thought for a while, and looked straight at Tobirama before speaking.
"Is it about the report I made two days ago when I summoned you through the Flying Thunder God kunai's spatial marker?"
"You said you would conduct a wide area search on the very next day at that time."
"Did the search yield some results?"
Tobirama smirked as his red eyes gleamed.
He responded, "Yes."
"We have got some good news."
"Our search party found a massive reserve of water crystal near the lake in the Forest of Silence."
"The reserve is enough to last Konoha for the next 200 years if we use it wisely."
"We no longer have to spend fortunes to import water crystal from the Land of Water."
Seimei's ocean-blue Tenseigan sparkled as he asked, "So, how did the negotiation with the other clans go?"
Hearing this, Tobirama's expression turned a little strange.
He added, "30% of all harvested water crystals will go to the village's treasury."
"As for the remaining 70%..."
"Our Senju clan will receive 25%, and Uchiha will get 20% of all the water crystals we mine."
"Damn Uchiha! They shamelessly grabbed 20%."
"If they dared to do this during the Warring States Era, I would have shown them what the combination of Bringer of Darkness and Flying Thunder God Technique felt like."
"They wouldn't even "See" it coming, even with their Sharingan."
Tobirama slammed the table and made a face that looked like he swallowed something very sour.
For real, Father?
Is your old illness flaring up again?
How did the discussion of water crystals spiral out into teaching the Uchiha clan a lesson?
Fortunately, we are at peace now.
And he still has to keep the village stable while strengthening his position as the future Hokage.
Otherwise, he might really have just grabbed the treasured thunder sword and visited the Uchiha clan district to talk about life with their clan head.
Seimei thought as he stared at his father with a deadpan expression.
Watching Seimei give him a blank look, Tobirama also reined in his temper and coughed slightly.
"Cough…so where are we?"
"Oh, right! As for the remaining 25%..."
"Uzumaki clan got 11% share. Meanwhile, the Sarutobi and Nara clans got 7% each."
"As for your friend, Ishimori Haneda, since he is a civilian Shinobi with no clan, he will receive a set amount of water crystals for his water affinity training every month until he reaches the age of 35 years."
"Of course, he can also sell some of them back if he wants money instead."
"But I doubt any Shinobi would be foolish enough to do that."
Seimei nodded.
"You are right, Father."
"And Haneda has an innate affinity to all five primary nature elements."
"His Water Release is also remarkable."
"I believe he will become a powerful Shinobi as long as he trains hard."
Tobirama just hummed before changing the subject, "Alright, Seimei."
"Go and take some rest now."
"But before that, take this."
Before Seimei could ask any question, Tobirama tossed a scroll at him.
Seimei caught the scroll and asked, "What is this?"
Tobirama responded with a proud expression, "This is my newly invented A-rank Water Release Ninjutsu."
"Unlike the B-rank Water Dragon Bullet Technique, the water dragon created by this technique is more powerful and can be controlled to attack multiple opponents."
"Plus, you can make the dragon detonate whenever you want. Your enemies will surely find peace in the Pure Land."
"I named it Water Release: Dragon Dance Bomb."
"Plus, I will also allocate a decent number of water crystals for you every week so you can improve your water affinity faster."
Hearing this, Seimei's eyes sparkled once again. "You're the best, Father."
"I'm going out."
Saying this, Seimei immediately bolted out of the room. Water crystals could wait. But he couldn't wait to test the new Ninjutsu.
It was a brand-new A-rank Ninjutsu from his father, after all.
So, Seimei forgot about resting and sprinted directly to the training ground.
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