"Class one! Everyone! Twenty laps around the field to warm up~"
After speaking, Hagoromo, who was standing in the shade beneath a tree, picked up his whistle and blew it.
When the little kids, who had only just assembled, heard Hagoromo's words, they all began to wail.
"Teacher, why do we have to warm up again?"
"Yeah! We should at least get to relax at the start of the afternoon's first class~"
"Hehe, no can do. Physical training class isn't for resting."
"Hurry up and finish your laps, or don't blame me if there's no break time left afterward."
Hagoromo spoke with a smile on his face, showing no sign of relenting.
When the students heard that they might not even get a break after running, they immediately shut their mouths and obediently turned around to get ready.
"Ready—run!"
At Hagoromo's command, the little kids set off at a brisk pace on their short little legs.
Hagoromo picked up the sheet in his hand, ready to start timing them.
Seeing Shikamaru and Choji running at a leisurely pace at the back of the group, Hagoromo called out with a smile:
"The last three to finish today will each run ten extra laps—"
Before he had finished speaking, Shikamaru sped forward as if a wild beast were chasing him.
"Shikamaru, wait for me!"
Choji panicked when he saw that and hurried to pick up his pace.
After a few laps, Hagoromo couldn't help nodding.
It seemed Naruto hadn't been slacking off; he had stayed in the leading group the whole time.
Hagoromo could also clearly sense that his breathing and pace hadn't faltered in the slightest, and Sasuke, who had always been in first place before, was having a hard time accepting it.
He had never imagined that Naruto, who had clearly been dead last when school started,
would overtake others this week, showing obvious signs of improvement not only in his answers in class but even in some extracurricular lessons.
That brought up the weights Hagoromo had Naruto strap on over the weekend.
Naruto was honest to a fault. Not only had he kept wearing them after going home, he hadn't even taken them off to sleep.
That morning, he had even made a special trip to see Hagoromo and ask for new weights.
He said he could no longer feel the ten-jin weights on each leg.
It had to be said, nine-tails chakra really was good at nourishing the body.
As time passed, Hagoromo watched the students standing in front of him, panting heavily.
He couldn't help laughing.
At the front, Naruto and Sasuke had been competing with each other, while a group of girls behind them had been trying to catch up to Sasuke.
At the very back were the boys in the class. Seeing Naruto and Sasuke getting so much attention, they had gritted their teeth and chased after them too.
And so the warm-up, which should have taken a relatively long time,
had been completed in less than half the time with Naruto and Sasuke leading the group. It had to be said,
the two of them had been pretty effective.
At the front of the group, Naruto and Sasuke were squabbling, neither willing to concede to the other.
Smug Sasuke, if I weren't still wearing weights on my legs, I definitely wouldn't have lost to you!
That was right. In the latter half, Naruto had gradually begun to run short of stamina too.
After all, he was carrying thirty jin of weights. In the end, if he hadn't been afraid of making Teacher Hagoromo angry,
he would have wanted to take them off long ago.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto.
That was close. I almost let that dead last steal first place.
Looks like I'll have to train with my brother again when I get home, or he'll overtake me.
Hagoromo clapped his hands and said, "Not bad. Looks like I underestimated you all before. I'll have to add more laps next time."
At the back of the group, Shikamaru's face went pale the moment he heard that.
If Hagoromo hadn't threatened to add laps for whoever finished last, he wouldn't have run like that at all.
And now he was saying he would add more later!
I'm tired. Let it all end!
Shikamaru couldn't be bothered to dwell on it anymore and lay straight down.
"Shikamaru, what's wrong?"
Choji asked from beside him, a little worried.
"Nothing. I just want to rest a bit."
Out of the corner of his eye, Shikamaru saw Naruto and Sasuke squabbling at the front of the group.
Is Teacher Hagoromo's one-on-one instruction really that effective?
Even Naruto has overtaken half the class, and besides...
He thought back to when Naruto had fallen a little behind during the run.
Shikamaru had clearly seen what Naruto had strapped to his legs. Those were weights, weren't they?
Looks like I need to have a proper talk with my father.
During the break, Hagoromo called Naruto over.
He intended to have him come for training after class on the three days before the weekend from then on.
There was no helping it. Hiruzen wanted him to go on missions on weekends, so Hagoromo could only ask Naruto to put in some extra effort.
At most, he would cover dinner.
"Huh? Why, Teacher? I'm even freer on weekends."
Naruto called out instinctively when he heard Hagoromo's words.
But the bigger reason was that Naruto didn't like being alone on weekends; it was very boring.
"It can't be helped. I'll probably have missions on weekends."
"So come see me after school from Wednesday through Friday, and I'll give you some training."
"On weekends, I'll come find you if I have time."
"If I don't, I hope you'll spend more time reviewing your coursework, Naruto."
As Hagoromo spoke, he also brought up what had always been Naruto's weak point.
There was no helping it. Even though Naruto had managed to pay attention in class,
the coursework was also gradually getting harder at this stage.
As a result, Naruto was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up.
"But, Teacher, looking at a textbook makes me a little dizzy."
Naruto scratched the back of his head, a little discouraged. Other people might remember something after studying it once or twice, while he needed to go over it several times.
He even had to ask Hagoromo more questions after class. Otherwise, at his pace,
he might be the only one in the whole class to fall behind.
"So, your training needs to continue at this stage, but you need to work on your coursework too."
"You should know that being a ninja requires more than just combat skills."
"You also need a certain amount of knowledge, so you can lead a team when you become a Jonin someday."
"Besides, what you want to become is Hokage."
Hagoromo reached out and patted Naruto's hair as he spoke patiently.
Those weren't empty words, either. After all, becoming strong required more than just exceptional combat power.
It also required abilities in all areas. Otherwise, given Naruto's development,
later on, at most, he would end up like he did in the original story, becoming Hokage but being unable to even take care of his family.
"Ah—"
The thought of all the knowledge in those textbooks made Naruto feel overwhelmed.
After all, to him, that was even more painful than being told to run a few more laps.
Seeing this, Hagoromo pointed at Sasuke, who wasn't far away.
"Look, Naruto."
"Sasuke is first in every area right now. Even in classroom tests, he's always among the top students."
"Surely you can't lose to him, can you?"
When Hagoromo brought out the ultimate weapon that was Sasuke, Naruto instinctively looked over.
Seeing Sasuke's smug expression, he imagined how self-satisfied Sasuke would look in front of him later on.
"Teacher Hagoromo, don't worry! I won't lose to Sasuke!"
Not far away, Sasuke, who was resting, heard this and looked over.
Seeing that Naruto had said it, he instinctively clicked his tongue.
"That dead last!"