Ninja Academy

Ninja Academy.

"My name is Jin. As you can see, I'm an Uchiha—though they don't really want to admit it."

Jin spread his hands with an indifferent look, drawing glares from the Uchiha students in the class. If Teacher Inoue had not been standing at the front, they would have made him pay for it.

They had never seen an Uchiha with talent this trashy.

Satoru Inoue, dressed in a green ninja flak jacket with a Konoha forehead protector around his neck, was young but already had a full head of white hair. "Ahem." He coughed twice, feeling a headache coming on. There was no need to think about it—this was another problem student.

There was already one in the class. Now there was one more. And this one was seriously problematic!!

"Jin, you've finished introducing yourself. You may take your seat."

Jin sat down with his arms crossed as whispers drifted into his ears, making them twitch slightly.

The strengthening from Basic Inner Cultivation was comprehensive. Naturally, his hearing was no slouch either.

"Isn't he that Uchiha who failed to become a ninja for two years straight?"

"Why is he in our class?"

"Yeah, weren't all the ones who failed sent to Class C?"

The Ninja Academy was divided into Classes A, B, and C. Though they claimed there was no difference between the three classes, in reality, Class A was mostly made up of Ninja Clan children or outstanding civilian students.

Class B consisted of a small number of untalented clan children and most civilian students. For example, a certain Uchiha who had never successfully cast a ninjutsu had been in Class B for years—yet this time, he had been sent to Class A.

Who knew what they were up to.

As for Class C, that was the strongest class. After all, those who had been kicked out of the ninja ranks and sent back to the academy all went to Class C.

Kings during their student days, lifelong deadweights as ninjas.

Commonly known as the garbage dump.

In theory, Jin, the Uchiha everyone had given up on, should have gone to Class C. He had failed his first exam and, thanks to his Uchiha status, had been kept in Class B. This time, even the Uchiha name should not have been enough to save him.

So why had he been sent back to Class A?

Whatever the reason, Jin did not care. In fact, he was rather happy about it.

Because...

Jin turned to look at the blond boy beside him and flashed a toothy grin.

"Yo, you're Minato Namikaze, right? I heard you've been ranked first for years."

Minato Namikaze looked at Jin's fake smile and answered with a flawless, sunny grin of his own.

It was practically evil and justice meeting head-on.

(Jin: I'm definitely not the evil one!!)

"It's only the result of hard work. Senior Jin, please guide me this year."

"Sure, sure."

Jin patted Minato Namikaze on the shoulder, indicating that he would look after him for the coming year.

Just then, a wave of killing intent came from behind him.

Jin turned and saw a red-haired girl glaring at him murderously, her hair flying about. Her lips moved slowly, but no sound came out.

One of the basics of being a ninja was reading lips. Jin understood what she was saying.

"What are you trying to do to my little brother!"

Jin gave her what he thought was a brilliant smile and raised a thumbs-up.

Bang! Kushina Uzumaki slammed her fist onto the desk in anger, drawing everyone's attention.

Kushina's nickname, Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, was well deserved.

She immediately went on the attack.

"What are you looking at?!"

Everyone quickly turned away. This was the ancestor who had beaten up a genin before even graduating from the academy.

"Kushina, class is in session," Satoru Inoue reminded her.

This little miss was even harder to provoke.

Without Kushina giving any response at all, the lesson continued.

Jin ignored the aggressive stare from behind him and began to grow drowsy as he listened to the lecture.

Only those two in this class were familiar to him. He had no impression of anyone else.

Minato Namikaze, the little brother unofficially claimed by Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, gave Jin an apologetic smile.

Jin could feel the killing intent in the gaze behind him practically overflowing.

But none of that mattered. He was sleepy now.

Amid the killing intent and Satoru Inoue's lecture, Jin fell soundly asleep.

There was no need to listen. Though the classes in the final year were intense, there were actually only three subjects.

The first, and the most common, was Will of Fire brainwashing.

It described how the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had built the village into prosperity, along with a small section on how the First Hokage had founded the village and the Second Hokage's heroic sacrifice.

As for other achievements, they were not in the textbooks. Students had to seek them out themselves.

After all, how could his predecessors compare to Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage known as "the strongest"?

The other classes consisted of ninjutsu training and combat drills.

When the dismissal bell rang.

Several Uchiha Clan Members wanted to cause trouble for Jin. As a member of the Uchiha Clan with absolutely no talent for ninjutsu, he was simply too embarrassing. It would be more practical to force him to drop out.

Unfortunately, dropping out had never been an option for the Uchiha.

That was a privilege reserved for civilian students.

A path at dusk.

A boy and a girl walked home.

The evening light fell upon Kushina's profile, lending it a faint radiance and an almost sacred air.

Minato Namikaze's face reddened slightly.

Kushina did not notice anything amiss. Instead, she was fuming.

"Minato, you're my little brother. Don't give that bastard a friendly face."

He was her only little brother—how could she let someone else steal him away? Looking at Minato Namikaze's slightly flushed face, though, she did find his somewhat effeminate manner a little objectionable.

Just then, a body suddenly dropped down from the tree they were passing. Startled, Kushina let out a shriek and hid behind Minato Namikaze.

Once she saw who it was, Kushina rushed forward again, her hair flailing wildly in anger.

"You Uchiha bastard!!"

It was Uchiha Jin, hanging upside down from a tree branch.

"Well, you were the one who badmouthed me first. Scaring you was just returning the favor."

"I wasn't scared at all!!" Kushina stubbornly retorted.

"That isn't the issue right now, is it?"

Jin looked at Kushina speechlessly. When it came to tsundere types, he still preferred blonde girls.

He then looked at Minato Namikaze and smiled. "Minato, want to have a friendly match between classmates?"

After all, this was Minato Namikaze, one of the few ninjas in the Naruto World who could truly be called a genius. Jin had his eye on him.

Minato Namikaze scratched his head, wanting to refuse. He did not like these inexplicable sparring matches.

But Kushina would not stand for it. Planting her hands on her hips, she stepped in front of Minato Namikaze.

"If you want to bully my little brother, you'll have to get past me first!"

"No." Jin shook his head. "I'm afraid I'll make you cry, and then someone will come looking for trouble with me."

More than that, he was afraid that stimulating the Nine-Tails inside her might make it emerge. Then he would really be finished.

"I'll beat you until you cry first!! Bastard!!"

Kushina charged forward furiously, throwing a right hook. Her fist was fast and heavy, even slicing through the air with a whoosh.

Unfortunately, no matter how powerful a punch was, it was useless if it could not hit its target.

Jin merely took one step back, neatly avoiding the right hook. Kushina immediately followed with a left hook, which he easily dodged as well.

No matter how fiercely Kushina attacked, Jin weaved left and right amid the afterimages of her fists. Other than the wind from her punches stirring his hair, she did not inflict a single injury on him.

Only when Kushina stopped, panting heavily.

Jin had not even broken a sweat, and a teasing grin rested on his face.

"That's all you've got?"

"Bastard!!"

Unwilling to accept it, Kushina threw a right roundhouse kick. Jin stepped back, narrowly evading it, then kicked her left leg with his own left foot. Her balance instantly gave way, and she spun through the air before landing face-down on the ground.

Jin clasped his hands behind his back, exuding the air of a master.

"This is called the Falling Goose on the Flat Sand Style."

"I'm going to kill you!!"

Kushina sprang up, intending to give Jin a real beating, but Minato Namikaze rushed over and grabbed her in a hold.

"You're no match for him. I'll avenge you."

Kushina looked at Minato Namikaze skeptically. He gave her a sunshine-bright smile, and she could feel his confidence.

"Minato, beat him to death for me!!" Kushina shouted.

Minato Namikaze smiled confidently, released her, and walked toward Jin.

The two stood facing each other.

A gentle breeze blew past.

Without a word, the two moved in the next instant.

They became two dark blurs that collided at high speed. Their fists and kicks met, kicking up a fierce gust that sent Kushina Uzumaki's red hair and hem fluttering.

She stared wide-eyed as the two exchanged blows at lightning speed.

"So amazing... are they really still Ninja Academy students?"

One was Minato Namikaze, who had consistently ranked first; the other was Uchiha Jin, known as a good-for-nothing. Their taijutsu had even surpassed that of ordinary genin.

Though she could beat them too, she relied entirely on her physical abilities.

These two, however, relied completely on speed and technique.

Yet Minato Namikaze's heart grew heavy during the fight.

He had underestimated him.

Every time he collided with Jin, the other's fists and kicks were incredibly heavy. If Jin had not been wearing short sleeves, Minato would have thought he had Tekkai hidden up them.

And wasn't the guy's reaction speed a little too fast?

Jin was like a machine built specifically for killing. He switched between offense and defense at incredible speed, and he could evade every one of Minato's attacks.

That was right—evade. From beginning to end, Minato had not landed a single hit. He had only been taking blows.

Jin punched Minato Namikaze in the face.

Bang.

Minato Namikaze instantly turned into a puff of smoke, leaving behind a log. His figure darted out from behind Jin, launching a kick at him.

In that split second.

Jin pressed both hands against the log and lifted himself up, then spun and kicked Minato Namikaze in the chest, sending him flying backward.

Bang.

Minato Namikaze slid across the ground for a distance before hurriedly steadying himself and dropping to one knee.

A sharp kunai pressed against his forehead.

Minato Namikaze looked up and saw Jin's brilliant smile as his lips parted.

"You lost."

Minato Namikaze scratched his head. Rather than feeling discouraged, he smiled brightly.

"I lost."

Then he looked at the dumbfounded Kushina Uzumaki and said awkwardly, "It seems I can't beat Jin-senpai."

"He's bullying someone younger than him. That's nothing impressive," Kushina Uzumaki said, showing no resentment toward Minato Namikaze. Instead, she looked disdainfully at Uchiha Jin for picking on someone younger.

The two were two years apart in age.

But Minato Namikaze instead looked at Kushina Uzumaki seriously. "A loss is a loss."

Seeing Minato Namikaze's serious expression, Kushina turned her head away.

"Don't be so absolute. I have a secret to becoming strong."

"Do you want to learn it?"

At that moment, Jin revealed his fox tail.

"I'll teach you!"