Class Assignment

The Ninja Academy classroom was packed to the brim, with all the students from three classes crammed into one room.

It made the classroom feel rather crowded.

Just then, Jin walked in looking exhausted.

"Over here!" Kushina waved.

Minato Namikaze and Kiyoshi Hyuga were already seated, and they had specifically saved him a seat.

For that, he had to thank Little Chili Pepper Kushina. After all, no one dared fight the fierce-looking Kushina for a seat.

Jin walked over, flopped onto the desk, and buried his head in his arms.

"Why are you always so tired whenever I see you at school?" Kushina could not understand it.

Uchiha Jin rarely appeared in class, but whenever he did, he always looked exhausted.

Jin raised his head and looked at the three of them, the dark circles under his eyes plainly visible.

"I sparred with someone the day before yesterday. I still haven't recovered."

Once Might Duy opened the Fifth Gate, Jin truly could not withstand him.

Still, this time was much better than the first. He had lasted several dozen seconds longer.

A cause for celebration.

Even if his body had been heavily battered and he still had not recovered after two days.

Of course, it was also because his Shadow Clones had not cut back on training and learning ninjutsu.

"Who!?" Kushina was overjoyed.

"None of your damn business." Jin rolled his eyes. One look at Kushina's expression told him she was up to no good.

"Hmph, it's not like I wanted to know." Kushina curled her lips. If he did not want to tell her, then fine. It was not like she cared that much.

Just as Jin was starting to doze off, he felt someone tug at the corner of his clothes. Looking up, he saw Minato Namikaze wearing a helpless smile.

Beside him, Kushina had turned her head away.

Jin lay back down again. Since she did not want to know, he would not tell her. He would annoy her to death.

Minato Namikaze merely shrugged at Kushina. There was nothing he could do.

Kushina silently clenched her fists and gritted her teeth without saying a word.

Caught between the two of them, Minato Namikaze cast Kiyoshi Hyuga a pleading look.

Unfortunately, Kiyoshi Hyuga turned his head away.

Minato Namikaze sighed.

Jin paid no attention to the complicated thoughts between the two. Amid the noisy chatter in the classroom, which gradually became like a lullaby, he drifted off to sleep.

Perhaps it also had a lot to do with the classroom itself.

Some people simply slept especially well in classrooms.

In his haze, he heard students being called out of the classroom one after another.

Until he heard a familiar voice.

"Minato Namikaze... Kushina Uzumaki... Uchiha Jin! I'm your squad leader."

"Huh!?" Jin jolted awake and looked toward the person standing at the classroom door.

Jiraiya!!

He looked around, only to discover that they were the only three people left in the entire classroom.

Jiraiya smiled at the startled Jin.

"Surprised? Didn't expect this, did you?"

Jin raised a hand and wiped his forehead, an unreadable smile appearing on his face.

"More like terrified."

It seemed the course of the Naruto World had been completely altered. Although he knew that his butterfly effect would change the course of history sooner or later.

He had never expected it to happen so quickly.

The main thing was that Kushina had actually become Jiraiya's disciple.

In the future, Kushina's strength had not actually been very high. Aside from the Uzumaki Clan's inherited Fūinjutsu and the power of the Nine-Tails, she had nothing else particularly noteworthy.

That was because after graduating from the Ninja Academy, she had never met a good teacher.

If she became Jiraiya's disciple, then everything would change.

But why?

"You should all know who I am."

Jiraiya stood on the podium and proudly raised his head.

Kushina: "Peeping pervert."

Minato Namikaze: "An unreliable jonin."

Jin: "Heh heh."

Jiraiya lost his footing and fell to the floor.

His image in the students' eyes seemed to have been ruined before he had even started.

He got up and brushed the dust off himself.

"I think you all have some serious misunderstandings about me. To clear them up, let's introduce ourselves again."

Without waiting for anyone to respond.

Jiraiya began introducing himself first. "I'm Jonin Jiraiya... As for what I like... I want to write a book. What I dislike... I don't think there's much... My dream is peace in the ninja world."

Minato Namikaze scratched his head before continuing after Jiraiya. "...I like reading... There isn't anything I particularly dislike... As for my dream... I want to become Hokage."

"I'm the one who'll become Hokage!" Kushina protested fiercely. Seeing everyone looking at her, she began her own introduction as well.

Once Kushina finished, everyone turned to look at Jin.

Jin was still sitting in his chair in a daze. He was still thinking about how ninja history would change and whether his foreknowledge would remain useful.

After all, aside from his Golden Finger, that was also one of his advantages.

"Jin, it's your turn." Minato Namikaze patted Jin, bringing him back to himself.

"Me?" Jin rubbed his chin. "I'm Uchiha Jin. I like tsundere blonde girls, gentle mature beauties with long black hair..."

"Hold it right there!" Jiraiya hurried over and covered Jin's mouth. They were supposed to introduce what they liked, not bizarre fetishes!!

Couldn't he see Kushina's hair already floating up?!

"Introduce yourself properly." Jiraiya planted a fist on Jin's head.

This kid was completely out of line.

Jin clutched the bump growing on his head and hurriedly rubbed it. Jiraiya really hit hard.

"Fine, fine." Jin gave in helplessly and continued talking about his preferences.

"I like ninjutsu, all kinds of ninjutsu. I hate anything beyond my control. As for my dream, for now, I want to live a few more years."

After all, his goal was immortality.

First, he would set a small goal of one thousand years.

"Really..." Jiraiya carefully examined Jin from every angle.

Although his personality and appearance were nothing like Orochimaru's, their core natures were extremely similar.

But he was supposed to be unable to use ninjutsu. Was he a research-type talent?

Jiraiya knew that the Four Forms they used were supposedly invented by Jin.

No wonder Orochimaru had unusually asked him to take Uchiha Jin as a disciple.

"Did you awaken some weird fetish or something?" Jin could not help crossing his arms over his chest and backing away from Jiraiya's stare.

"Stop steering everything in weird directions, brat!"

Jiraiya rubbed his fist against Jin's head.

"Alright, alright, I get it." Jin struggled free from Jiraiya's control.

Jiraiya was an Elite Jonin. He was not an opponent Jin could deal with yet.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Gather at the training ground at five tomorrow morning. And remember, don't eat breakfast, or you'll throw it up."

Jiraiya wore a malicious grin.

Like hell I'd believe you.

Jin looked up at the ceiling.

That was exactly how Kakashi had tricked Naruto in the future.

After leaving the Ninja Academy and parting ways with Minato Namikaze and Kushina.

Jin was walking home.

When he encountered someone unexpected.

On the gloomy path, a bitter wind howled.

A man like a snake, dressed in a kimono, stood in his way.

His cold face was not as sinister as it would be in the future. It even carried a faint sense of righteousness.

This damn passage of time really was a butcher's knife.

"So, how do you like the teacher I chose for you?" Orochimaru spoke first.

Jin knew it.

Jin sighed helplessly. It had been Orochimaru's doing that he had become part of Jiraiya's team.

"He's alright."

"You seem rather dissatisfied."

Orochimaru was instead curious. Jiraiya was an Elite Jonin, after all. Becoming his disciple was something many people wished for.

"It's not that I'm dissatisfied." Jin blew at his bangs. "But I can feel that we're incompatible."

He did not want to get involved with a mystic. Who knew whether those toads on Mount Myōboku would one day slap him with the title of Child of Darkness.

Jiraiya might even kill him.

After all, he was a huge variable in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.

"Is that so?" Orochimaru neither confirmed nor denied it.

In the past, Jiraiya had been his closest friend. Their bond connected them as they protected the village.

But now, he felt that he and Jiraiya were ultimately people walking different paths.

Orochimaru spoke again, his voice extremely low.

"Jin-kun, how much do you know about the village's darkness?"

Jin looked at Orochimaru in surprise. Was that the kind of subject one could casually discuss?

He scratched his head, putting on an innocent smile.

"The village is full of light. How could there possibly be any darkness?"

Orochimaru stared at Jin without moving, not even blinking. Soon, he smiled.

"It seems Jin-kun knows quite a lot."

"Lord Orochimaru, please stop joking. What exactly is your purpose in appearing here?"

Jin questioned him directly. He had no intention of playing guessing games with Orochimaru here.

"I hope that after tomorrow is over, Jin-kun will accept my instruction."

"What about Teacher Jiraiya?"

"He has already agreed."

Jin looked up at Orochimaru's smiling face. That pale face was actually somewhat handsome.

So what had been the point of taking such a huge detour?

Jin did not understand, but he was deeply shaken.

Did this count as cuckolding?

Jiraiya hid in a tree.

Yet his gaze could not help drifting toward the two figures strolling along the street.

A blonde kunoichi and a blue-haired male ninja.

Tsunade and her boyfriend, Dan Katō.

"I was still too late."

Jiraiya, quietly nursing his heartbreak, took out a notebook and began to write and draw.

Tsunade's portrait soon appeared on the page.

Then he swiftly blackened it out.

"Tsunade, I'm happy that you were able to move on." Jiraiya's smile was somewhat bleak.

He looked up at the starry sky, but his thoughts turned to the three students he had received that afternoon.

As well as the Great Toad Sage's new prophecy.

"Little Jiraiya, I had another dream. I dreamed of light and darkness becoming entwined, and I also saw two paths for the ninja world."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"The Child of Prophecy has disappeared. Only the Child of Light and the Child of Darkness remain in the ninja world, and they will bring new changes to it."

"And the direction of fate will be decided by whichever of those two emerges victorious."

"If the Child of Light wins, the ninja world will usher in lasting peace."

"And if the Child of Darkness wins?"

"The ninja world will fall into eternal conflict and endless evolution. Ninja will become gods, and the stars will become battlefields, but endless war will arise."

"The Child of Light and the Child of Darkness will become your disciples. You must guide them, teach them, and help them grow."

"And then make a choice."