On March 18th, it was once again the day of the annual major exam.

At the same time, this was also the last major exam for Liu Sheng and his classmates.

In April, they would be promoted to the sixth grade.

By next March, the major exam would serve as their graduation assessment.

As usual, Liu Sheng woke up early that day.

He started with his morning training in the yard, followed by a shower and breakfast.

After downing a full glass of fresh milk, he headed straight to the ninja school.

“Liu Sheng, good morning!”

While walking to school, a familiar girl’s voice suddenly rang in Liu Sheng’s ears.

Immediately, he felt a weight behind him, causing him to lean slightly forward.

A blonde girl had stealthily jumped onto his back from behind.

“Good morning, Ino.”

Liu Sheng smiled in response, skillfully prying apart the arms wrapped around his neck and letting Ino down, after which they walked side by side.

Along the way, this handsome pair attracted a lot of attention.

In nearly four years, both 11-year-old Liu Sheng and Ino had undergone tremendous changes.

Firstly, in terms of height, Liu Sheng initially matched Uchiha Sasuke and the others.

However, after integrating Asura’s chakra, Liu Sheng’s growth seemed to accelerate dramatically.

Unlike Naruto, who struggled with malnutrition, Liu Sheng inherited a fortune from his parents and received a pension each year, which was enough for him to grow up healthily.

His development was akin to Naruto and Jiraiya going out to train together, gaining the necessary nutrition, and transforming from a short kid into a tall one.

Liu Sheng's current height is 1.63 meters.

At the fifth grade, this height isn't remarkable in Liu Sheng's past life, nor in the Cloud Village where physical prowess is revered, but in this generation of Konoha, it stands out significantly.

After all, when Uchiha Sasuke graduated, he was just over 1.50 meters tall.

Liu Sheng would definitely grow taller; by next year, he might reach over 1.65 meters or even surpass 1.70 meters.

At that time, it would be difficult to find anyone in the new generation even 1.55 meters tall.

Standing next to Liu Sheng, they would certainly feel overshadowed.

His height of 1.63 meters also made Liu Sheng's youthful innocence fade quickly.

His fully developed features gave his face distinct angles, making him exceptionally handsome.

His silver short hair, which just covered his ears, and his eyes that sparkled like rubies, combined with his mature thinking, lent his gaze extraordinary depth, exuding a charm that made girls' cheeks flush and their hearts race.

Along the way, countless infatuated girls cast envious glances at Ino, who was standing next to Liu Sheng.

They could hardly contain their jealousy!

In the past few years, Ino had also changed significantly.

She had similarly shed her childishness, growing to about 1.45 meters, with her long blonde hair constantly changing styles.

Sometimes she wore a high ponytail like in the original, sometimes it was straight, and sometimes it was even styled into twin ponytails.

This was because Liu Sheng had previously mentioned that Ino's temperament would change with different hairstyles.

Thus, over the years, Ino had become very skilled at managing her hair.

Whether it was long straight hair, a high ponytail, twin ponytails, or braids, she could quickly style them.

——————

“Liu Sheng, good morning.”

“Liu Sheng-kun, good luck on the exam!”

“……”

Upon arriving at the ninja school, many classmates greeted Liu Sheng along the way.

There were some from his class and others from different classes.

Unlike the aloof Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji, Liu Sheng was very well-liked at the ninja school.

If it weren’t for his silver hair, he might have been dubbed the “little sun” like Minato Namikaze.

Liu Sheng didn’t overlook their enthusiasm and responded patiently as usual.

As always, this was his persona.

Before, it was to leave an impression on the heirs of various ninja clans; now, it was for Sarutobi Hiruzen to see.

Surpassing the top students of all major ninja clans, and having a personality similar to Minato, Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn’t allow Shimura Danzo to take Liu Sheng away, even if he didn’t prioritize him.

This mask was Liu Sheng’s means of self-protection.

When he reached the classroom, Liu Sheng found that Sakura and Hinata had already arrived.

Seeing Ino come in with Liu Sheng, Sakura leaned over to tease her, “No wonder when I went to your house, your mom said you had already left, but when I got to school, I didn’t see you. Turns out, Ino, you were waiting for Liu Sheng again.”

“Ahem... it was just a chance encounter, just a chance encounter.” Ino lightly coughed to retort.

To this, Sakura merely rolled her eyes.

“Liu Sheng-kun, good morning.”

Hinata, on her side, still greeted Liu Sheng with respect.

“Good morning, Hinata.” Liu Sheng smiled and waved back.

Just like Ino, Hinata and Sakura had also changed tremendously over the past few years.

Among them, Hinata had changed the most.

Unlike her short hair in the original, knowing Liu Sheng liked long hair, Hinata had secretly been growing her hair long, just like Sakura and Ino.

With long straight hair, a black fishnet top, and a white trench coat, Hinata now looked like a miniature version of her character from the original Shippuden.

More importantly, Hinata’s height in the original was less than 1.50 meters.

Now, in the fifth grade, Hinata's height had surpassed 1.50 meters, reaching 1.52 meters.

Among the three girls, Hinata was also the tallest.

This change was naturally brought about by Liu Sheng.

Liu Sheng was very aware that Hinata had the trait of being a big eater, which was a necessary talent for a strong person.

Being able to eat is a blessing; it’s the best way to describe this trait.

So during outdoor training, Liu Sheng often took Hinata and the other two girls, who had learned Body Flicker Technique, hunting and then cooked barbecue for them.

During this time, Liu Sheng deliberately pointed out Hinata’s hidden trait.

When Hinata heard Liu Sheng say she was a big eater, she nearly fainted in shock.

However, when Liu Sheng praised and envied her talent, Hinata, who had always been afraid of Liu Sheng and Ino saying she ate too much and had been controlling her food intake, immediately felt relieved.

After Liu Sheng’s encouragement, Hinata no longer restrained her appetite.

The spiritual energy brought by her Byakugan and the physical energy from her big eater trait not only allowed Hinata to exceed the expected height but also led to an excess of chakra.

If it weren’t for Hinata’s inherent shyness and low profile, she would have definitely made Uchiha Sasuke, who only saw Liu Sheng as a rival, feel the pressure of being on the same level.

As for Sakura, she also wore long pink hair, a red qipao on top, and various colored long pants below, looking just like in the original.

However, internally, she had also undergone tremendous changes.

Firstly, the Sakura who was saved by Liu Sheng did not awaken a second personality; her character remained a lady, and her temperament now bore hints of a married woman from Boruto.

With Liu Sheng’s help, her talent for chakra control had also been well-developed.

If she were to graduate next year and end up in the same group as Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, they would surely be very surprised.

Thinking about how all these changes were due to his efforts filled Liu Sheng’s heart with a sense of achievement.

If he were to be transported to the Pokémon world, Liu Sheng felt he would definitely become a master of raising Pokémon.