Ninja World: I, Kisame Hoshigaki, am no longer human!

Trains, railway tracks, the internet, skyscrapers, and even airplanes—things that only existed in the 21st century—have sprung up in Wuyin like mushrooms after rain in just a few years.

This is due, on the one hand, to the ideological guidance of Kisame, the behind-the-scenes ruler of Kirigakure, and on the other hand, to the scientific technology and engineers brought back from the Land of Snow, as well as the efforts of Kirigakure's native researchers like Hebihime.

In short, the appearance of Kirigakure has undergone tremendous changes. The village's area has expanded more than five times in just a few years, and it's almost become a large city.

However, no matter how the Hidden Mist Village changes, the sacred tree in the center of the village will always stand tall.

This giant tree was originally brought back from Takigakure by Kisame. After being transplanted to Kirigakure, it grew more than a hundred meters taller over ten years, becoming a truly towering tree.

Because the sacred tree is the abode of Tsunade, the goddess of ninjas, it gradually became a spiritual totem in the hearts of the villagers.

It was also during these few years.

Kisame and Tsunade joined hands to teach the geniuses of Kirigakure, imparting the power of the tailed beasts, the power of the cursed seal, and sage techniques to Kimimaro, Deidara, Gaara, and others.

During this process, the group of kids made rapid progress in their skills, and together they forged ahead on the path of the ninja in a healthy competitive atmosphere.

Finally, the year 61 of Kirigakure arrived.

This is the year the original story begins. The Konoha 12 have just turned twelve and graduated from the Ninja Academy, becoming genin.

For Kimimaro and the others in Kirigakure, after years of arduous training, they also ushered in a significant day in their lives.

Today, the boys and girls will take turns to be tested. As long as they can defeat the teacher's shadow clone, they can gain his approval and graduate successfully to become genin.

Early in the morning.

Inside the treehouse, Kisame, lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes.

He glanced to his left, where a snow woman with long, snow-white hair was curled up in his arms, sleeping soundly like a baby, with a sweet smile on her face.

Kisame had told Yuki-onna the truth about his relationship with the live slug long ago.

When Yuki-onna learned of this, she found the emotional entanglement between Kisame, Katsuyu, and Tsunade utterly unbelievable. At the same time, she felt a deep sense of loss.

She never dared to hope that she could marry Kisame, whom she admired so much, after all, she had killed her husband with her own hands and was a widow with a son.

Therefore, the Yuki-onna expressed her blessings to Kisame and Katsuyu and resolved to withdraw from the relationship.

But things changed later, and it's hard to explain in a few words.

In short, Kisame glanced at his right side again, and there was Katsuyu, sleeping soundly in his arms.

Kisame, who was once unloved, is now surrounded by beautiful women and has become a true winner in life.

"Ugh."

He suddenly sighed, not wanting to wake the two women, and carefully got out of bed, preparing breakfast for the three of them and placing it on the table.

After having breakfast, he returned to his room, picked out a light blue suit from the closet, and put it on.

"Lord Kisame, is today a special day?"

A voice suddenly came from behind; it was the Snow Woman who had woken up. Seeing that Kisame was dressed in formal attire, she couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Today is the day that Haku and Kimimaro graduated."

Kisame turned his head, smiled at Yuki-onna, and asked her, "When the live slug wakes up later, have her put it on them herself."

Upon hearing this, the Snow Maiden nodded hurriedly, quickly dressed, and got out of bed. She said anxiously, "Oh dear, on such an important day, I should go home and prepare a sumptuous feast to reward the little ones."

"Don't rush, there's still plenty of time. Those kids won't graduate from my tutelage so easily."

Kisame grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

Upon hearing this, Yuki-onna covered her mouth and laughed, then stepped forward to tie his tie for him, before watching Kisame leave.

She didn't notice that the live slug on the bed had opened its eyes at some point, but its gaze was a little strange.

The live slug's face alternated between white and red, looking quite strange.

Clearly, it wasn't the live slug that woke up, but Tsunade.

304. The Twelve Genin of Kirigakure

Today is a special day.

After years of arduous training, Kimimaro and the others have finally faced their ultimate test. Whether they can become genin depends on today.

The training ground for the assessment was not the Great Stage of the Divine Tree, but a secluded open area outside the Hidden Mist Village, ten times larger than a typical training ground.

Here, all the disciples participating in the assessment can fully unleash their abilities, whether it's bloodline limits, sage seals, or even tailed beast transformations—all are permitted powers.

Their goal was singular: to defeat their teacher's shadow clone and prove that their years of hard training had not been in vain.

Woo woo woo.

A cold wind blew across the open ground. The disciples stood in a row, each with a serious expression, like soldiers being inspected and about to go to battle.

The boys and girls' hearts raced, their minds filled with trepidation. The surroundings were so quiet that the only sound could be the nervous swallowing of saliva.

"Are you all ready? Let's begin."

Kisame's gaze swept across the crowd, finally landing on Kimimaro, and he instructed, "Kimimaro, you go first."

Kimimaro stepped out of the group without a word, bowed to Kisame's shadow clone on the opposite side, and instantly unleashed a strong fighting spirit.

Ten minutes later.

"The Dance of the Early Ferns!"

With Kimimaro's sharp shout, countless sharp bone spikes emerged from the ground, instantly forming a dense forest of bone spikes that covered most of the training ground.

Peng!

The Kisame clone, caught in the middle, had no way to escape and was engulfed by bone spikes, turning into a wisp of white smoke and disappearing.

A moment later, the bone spurs formed by chakra gradually disappeared, and the training ground returned to its original state.

"ho ho"

Kimimaro was panting heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead onto the ground.

"You defeated my shadow clone using only the power of the Corpse Bone Pulse. Very good." Kisame walked up to him, commented, and announced that Kimimaro had successfully passed the test.

On the sidelines, the other boys looked on in astonishment, filled with admiration for Kimimaro.

During the battle just now, Kimimaro was in grave danger under the continuous attacks of Kisame's shadow clones, but he insisted on using only the power of his own bloodline limit and did not use the cursed seal, Sharingan or the power of the Nine-Tails.

"Hmph, what's so great about it? I can do it too."

Deidara snorted, crossed his arms, and looked unconvinced.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Kisame's voice rang out: "Deidara, you're next."

"It's about to start."

Upon hearing this, Deidara's eyes lit up. He immediately rubbed his hands together and eagerly walked into the training field, brushing past Kimimaro as he left, and even giving the latter a provocative look.

Another ten minutes or so passed.

"C4 Garuda!"

In the training field, Deidara roared and spat out a ball of explosive clay, which quickly formed a puppet that looked exactly like him after landing.

Immediately afterwards, the doll rapidly expanded to over ten meters tall, instantly enveloping Kisame's shadow clone inside its belly.

This move is Deidara's ultimate bomb. Unlike C3, which can destroy a village, it is composed of countless tiny clay spider bombs that can be absorbed into the bodies of any living being.

It is a miniature bomb at the cellular level.

At this moment, the Kisame Shadow Clone, which was devoured by Garuda, experienced thousands of small explosions simultaneously within its body, resulting in complete destruction from the inside out.

"Haha, I won! My art is truly invincible!"

Deidara jumped and danced with excitement, forgetting his injuries, when suddenly he felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

However, he still kept his promise and passed the test without using the cursed seal or the power of the Four-Tails within him, relying solely on his own art of explosion.

Whoosh.

Karin rushed onto the field, checked Deidara's injury, and took him to the sidelines to treat him diligently.

Next.

Gaara, Haku, Yamato, Temari, Hinata, Jugo, Hozuki Suigetsu, Otsutsuki Toneri, and Kankuro all underwent Kisame's test in turn.

Karin, as the team's medical ninja, treated all her comrades in succession before going on stage last. She still passed the test beautifully and even received special praise from Kisame.

In this process.

Terrifying chakra fluctuations constantly emanated from the training ground, sometimes transforming it into a frozen wasteland, sometimes into a lush forest, sometimes into a hurricane, and sometimes into a sandstorm.

Even more, phantom images of tailed beasts appeared, their roars echoing for dozens of miles.

If these strange phenomena were seen and spread, the entire ninja world would undoubtedly be in an uproar.

However, Kisame had anticipated this and set up a barrier nearby in advance to prevent any energy leakage.

These boys and girls were born geniuses, one in a thousand, and later had tailed beasts and Sage Mode seals implanted in them by Kisame. Over the past few years, under the careful tutelage of him and Tsunade, two Six Paths level powerhouses, even a pig could probably become an elite Jonin, let alone this group of geniuses.

In fact, among these twelve geniuses, the four most powerful—Kimimaro, Gaara, Deidara, and Haku—have all reached Kage-level strength.

The five who are slightly less skilled—Temari, Yamato, Karin, Hinata, and Toneri—are also very close to the Kage level and could cross that threshold at any time and enter the inner sanctum.

Even the weakest three—Hozuki Suigetsu, Jugo, and Kankuro—are stronger than elite Jonin; in other ninja villages, they would be more than qualified to be ANBU captains.

During the assessment process, Kisame had different requirements for different disciples. He would be lenient with some and stricter with others, but in the end, everyone passed.

After all, it's just a genin exam, there's no need to make it seem like an insurmountable challenge.

Even so, after the assessment, all twelve boys except Kimimaro were exhausted. Some were panting heavily with their hands on their knees, while others lay sprawled on the ground, not wanting to move at all.

"Everyone, stand up!"

Upon seeing this, Kisame suddenly let out a fierce shout, like a thunderclap rising from the ground.

Upon hearing this, everyone instinctively straightened up in fright, even Deidara, who had been unconscious, was jolted awake and jumped up.

Then, Kisame glanced at the barrier not far away, and saw a ripple appear on its surface, from which a figure walked out.

It turns out it was Tsunade who arrived.

Tsunade walked into the training ground without saying a word, glaring at Kisame with gritted teeth, her eyes seeming capable of killing.