Nao was in the academy classroom, before the beginning of the first lesson. However, when the teacher came, she didn’t start the lesson and waited for all the students to come, even late-comers. 

The teacher went to the center of the board, extraordinarily stern and focused on her face, and said, "I have an announcement to make. Next week, we are gonna have an exam. A very important one, In fact, top scorers will be allowed to graduate early."

Almost immediately, surprised gasps filled the class. They were in the beginning of their last year, graduating now means becoming a ninja 1 year earlier. For them, 1 year is a very long time, so almost instantly the entire class determination was ignited, every one of them was determined to be one of the top scorers.

"The exam will test all of your attributes, including your academic grades, physical condition, taijutsu skills, genjutsu talent, stealth skills, ninjutsu mastery and your skill in weapons. You will all be given a leave from the academy this week to prepare, the academy will also open a training camp for those who are interested in them, though choosing to train alone or with your relatives is also perfectly fine."

"The classes are dismissed now. For those interested in the training camp, go to the principal office." Said the teacher, before she went out of the class.

'This is… interesting and suspicious to say the least,' mused Nao while heading out of class. 'Early graduation hadn't been granted since the Uchiha Massacre, Uchiha Itachi apparent madness and mental instability made the hokage stop granting those, at least for the time being.'

'However, this exam is probably legitimate, though the purpose of it is hidden. I will ask uncle Inoichi whether he has any information about this later, however, the chance of him knowing something is low and he isn't currently in the clan compound anyway.' Thought Nao.

'It's pretty risky, but I can investigate this by myself. Getting caught spying on the teachers is bad, but it's not that big of a deal, however, in the chance that there is a bigger force involved it's gonna be more dangerous. Though given that this will be taken as a child's curiosity and my status as a member of the Yamanaka clan main family, it will still be better than not knowing any of what's happening.' Thought Nao, changing his direction to that of the teachers room.

…

Nao adjusted his breathing and unpacked a black hoodie from his bag. It won't do much but delay him being discovered for a split of a second if he was in a dark place and it was useful if he wore an outfit with a light or neon colour  but that was enough of a benefit for Nao to choose to wear it.

The Nao before regaining his past life memories was more specialized in stealth, shuriken jutsu and detection. Especially detection , which is to be expected as the Yamanaka clan is known for producing numerous sensors.

Soon, Nao headed to a space near the teacher's room, in the hallway, masked his chakra signature and used his experience with the tree climbing practice, which he learned recently, to stick to the ceiling and waited at a corner in the ceiling, facing the wall that separates the teachers room from the hallway.

He had put his ear on the wall, closed his eyes and focused on listening to what's being spoken while using his sensor technique. Soon he began hearing some gibberish.

"... did….. about… hot… exam"

After staying there for a while, Nao had managed to hear the exam being talked about a bit, however, the teachers seem to know no better than him. In contrast, he found something interesting.

One of the teachers' chakra signatures was quite weird. It seemed like it's… suppressed? 

That was something that interested Nao, which was why he didn't hesitate to begin following him when he left the room.

…

Nao had gone to the school bathroom when he felt the teacher leaving, as he didn't want to risk being discovered. He then followed the 'teacher' from a considerable distance, which was only possible to do due to his sensing ability.

Of course, when the 'teacher' left the academy, Nao began taking different forms using the transformation technique. Transforming it in places like shady alleyways every time the surroundings change, to fit in better, while suppressing the smoke coming from the technique.

The possibility that some experienced ninja on the street could see through his transformations didn't worry Nao, as many ninja and academy students occasionally use it for varying reasons, so the only thing that worried him was the possibility of the 'teacher' discovering him.

Continuing, Nao was surprised when he realised the 'teacher' was going to the Hokage manor. However, before they reached there the 'teacher' stopped.

       Fuush~ 

The 'teacher' lunged at Nao with an incredible speed. However, Nao considered the possibility of that happening when the 'teacher' stopped walking, which helped Nao barely dodge his attack

"I am terribly sorry, teacher." Said Nao, quickly bowing and releasing his transformation after saying that.

The 'teacher' cornered Nso but didn't outright attack him, choosing to let him speak first.

"I was trying to gather information about the next exam, t-then teacher left the teacher's room so I decided to follow you to try to g-gather information about the exam." Said Nao, purposefully adding the stutter now that he is calmer, making himself look like a kid in trouble as much as possible while lowering his eyes.

"Kid, don't ever, ever do this to a ninja, unless you want to die," Started the 'teacher' while glaring at Nao. "We ninja are creatures that deal with death and live, traitors and murder regularly, trying to spy on us like that could easily make even a ninja you thought you can trust think you were a spy or that it's a spy impersonating you and murder you."

"Normally, I would give you a month's detention and make you write a 50 papers essay about how much you regret doing that. But, we are on the specific order of letting everyone participate in the exam, so I will let you get away with this, this time, and only this time so be cautious." The 'teacher' said with a sigh coming out of his throat.

"Thank you teacher." Said Nao, bowing and immediately moving in the direction of his house.

The 'teacher', however, instantly got rid of the emotion on his face the moment he felt Nao far away. The man, codenamed Turtle, was an Anbu.

He was under the order of the hokage to see that everything was going properly at the academy, and to give the hokage a list of prominent names that he thought could thrive in anbu.

'Yamanaka Nao,' Thought Turtle, knowing Nao's name without asking him about it. 'He has good stealth and initiative which is a good quality for an anbu, however, he is too reckless. Though such a thing can be dealt with and fixed before he joins anbu, it's still a negative, but it's still too soon to put a label on him, judging anyone without sufficient information isn't wise.'

Turtle went to the hokage Manor, wore his mask and released his transformation after entering the building, ready to report to his Hokage.

…

Meanwhile, Nao, who had used the [Mind Body Disturbance Technique] on a cockroach after he went far enough and sent it to the hokage manor, was surprised to see that the man was Anbu.

'It seems like this is bigger than I thought, which is quite concerning.' Thought Nao, 'However, every cloud has a silver lining, there is a possibility that the benefits that could be earned from the situation could be high, though the risk would be much higher, I am not optimistic but there is no positive in panicking around and ruining my mood by being pessimistic.'

***

***