Beizawa came back to his senses and found that Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuga had paused their training.
There was no helping it—Sasuke Uchiha had laughed far too loudly.
Both girls' attention had been drawn over, their faces full of confusion.
If the occasion had been appropriate, they definitely would have asked, "Sasuke, what are you laughing at?"
"Don't mind him."
Beizawa coughed lightly and said, "Continue your training."
Sasuke Uchiha finally woke from his fantasy.
He silently wiped the smile off his face and froze in place.
Because of a momentary breakthrough, he had failed to control himself, utterly shattering his cool and aloof persona.
"Teacher Beizawa."
Suppressing the embarrassment in his heart, Sasuke Uchiha stepped forward and said, "I want to proceed to the next stage of training."
The enlarged Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique had not only boosted his confidence, but also strengthened his trust in Beizawa.
"You'll train with Hinata."
Beizawa explained the training method once more.
"I don't need any advance warning."
Sasuke Uchiha spoke with a confident expression.
After saying that, he coated his feet in Chakra and climbed up the tree.
Clearly, he was in Sunny Helper mode now.
Beizawa raised an eyebrow.
How was that any different from saying, "Come hit me, then"?
As his teacher, he naturally had to fulfill Sasuke Uchiha's request.
Beizawa casually took out a Wooden Kunai, then threw it at the right moment.
Sasuke Uchiha heard the whistle of it cutting through the air. The corner of his mouth lifted as he shifted to the left.
But in the next second, he let out an "Ow!"
The Wooden Kunai struck his left arm.
His ability to judge positions by the wind was still lacking. He had failed to account for the kunai's speed.
"Again!"
Sasuke Uchiha got back up, his face red as he spoke stiffly.
Beizawa had not wanted to laugh, but he had never received professional training, so he laughed anyway.
He had to admit, watching Sunny Helper get knocked down a peg was pretty entertaining.
Time slowly passed, and Combat Class came to an end.
Though Sasuke Uchiha had been beaten until his face was bruised and swollen, he still persisted.
And his improvement was noticeably faster than Hinata Hyuga's.
The effectiveness of getting beaten was plain to see.
Combat Class was the final lesson of the day.
After saying goodbye to Hinata Hyuga and the others, Beizawa headed to the conference room on the second floor.
Mizuki had informed him last Thursday that there would be a meeting today to discuss April's Monthly Exam.
"Senior Beizawa!"
Umino Iruka noticed him and waved.
Beizawa walked over, greeted him, and sat beside him.
Not far away, Mizuki's expression immediately turned cold.
He and Umino Iruka had been good friends since childhood, though Mizuki considered it nothing more than an act.
Then Beizawa had shown up and stolen his good friend away. It was truly hateful.
Ten minutes later, the conference room was packed.
Although there were many teachers, aside from Mizuki and Umino Iruka, none of them had even been given names in the original story.
Finally, a middle-aged man entered.
He was the Vice Principal of the Ninja Academy, Hisao Sarutobi, a Jonin.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was the Principal, but he was also the Hokage and did not have much time. Therefore, the Ninja Academy's actual manager was the Vice Principal.
"I will now announce the rules for this month's Monthly Exam."
After taking his seat, Hisao Sarutobi spoke.
Beizawa listened for a while and found that it was much the same as last year.
Teachers from each grade would prepare questions, the best ones would be selected, and finally each grade would compile two exam papers: one official paper and one backup paper.
"The Monthly Exam has been scheduled for April 30."
Hisao Sarutobi said unhurriedly, "I hope you can submit your questions to me before the 20th."
"Yes."
Everyone answered in unison.
"One last reminder: the more of your questions are selected, the more likely you are to be named this year's Outstanding Teacher."
Hisao Sarutobi stood up and said, "Meeting adjourned."
"Senior Beizawa!"
Umino Iruka caught up with Beizawa and asked sincerely, "I'd like to ask for your advice. Is there anything I need to pay attention to when writing questions?"
It was his first time serving as a question-setting teacher, so he knew nothing about it.
The reason he had asked Beizawa was that Beizawa had been the teacher with the most selected questions for three consecutive years.
"Iruka, I can teach you."
Mizuki suddenly appeared with a smile on his face. "Beizawa is rather busy, so let's not trouble him."
Umino Iruka paused. Without suspecting anything, he was about to agree when he was interrupted.
"Mizuki, you teach the second grade, while Iruka teaches the first grade. It's more appropriate for me to teach him."
Beizawa said with a smile.
"Thank you, Senior Beizawa!"
Umino Iruka immediately thanked him.
Mizuki's smile froze.
"Come to my office."
Beizawa glanced at him, then turned and left.
"Mizuki, thank you for your help too."
After saying that, Umino Iruka hurriedly followed Beizawa.
"Bastard!"
Mizuki clenched his fists, his face twisted.
But aside from raging impotently, there was nothing he could do.
Beizawa returned to his office. After chatting with Umino Iruka for half an hour, he went home.
Time moved on to Tuesday.
Early in the morning, Beizawa went to the school Archives.
He found the exam papers from previous years and took one set with him.
"Teacher Beizawa."
Hinata Hyuga was punctual as always.
"Your task today is to complete all of these exam papers."
Beizawa took out two papers and said.
"Okay."
Hinata Hyuga obediently nodded.
The Ninja Academy's Monthly Exam was divided into a theory exam and a Combat Exam.
Under normal circumstances, Hinata Hyuga would have no problem placing in the top five, but taking first place would be rather difficult.
After all, there were quite a few geniuses in the class.
Combat ability was not easy to improve in a short time, but theory was.
The Monthly Exam used combined rankings. As long as she took first in the theory exam and placed in the top three in the Combat Exam, she would most likely rank first overall.
Beizawa's method was simple: drill practice questions.
First, he would have Hinata Hyuga complete the previous years' exam papers. Then he would prepare targeted questions and likely exam questions to further reinforce her training.
As for whether this would affect his mission to take first place in the Monthly Exam—
Beizawa could only describe it with a saying from his previous life: the referee and judges are all on my side. What are you going to use to compete with me?
After eating breakfast, Hinata Hyuga began answering questions.
Without question, she had skipped class again, but it was as if she had not skipped at all.
If she skipped class to work on exam papers, was that really skipping class?
Hinata Hyuga worked on questions while Beizawa prepared them.
All the questions he wrote were related to the Konoha History and Will of Fire that he taught.
That was his advantage, and it was also an open scheme. Hisao Sarutobi had no choice but to select them.
Of course, Beizawa was not writing questions at random. He had come prepared, ensuring that every question would satisfy Hiruzen Sarutobi.
In the afternoon, it was Combat Class.
After working hard, Ino Yamanaka completed Tree Climbing Training and joined Hinata Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha in their next stage of training.
But the one who surprised Beizawa most was Naruto Uzumaki. His Running Training had progressed at an astonishing pace.
"Teacher Beizawa, how was that?"
Naruto Uzumaki grinned and asked.
"It really was impressive. You gave even your teacher quite a scare."
Beizawa patted his shoulder and said, "At the physical training session the day after tomorrow, I'll be counting on your performance."
"Mission guaranteed!"
Naruto Uzumaki gave a thumbs-up, his teeth gleaming as he spoke.
Wait!
What the hell was that pose?
Oh no!
"Do you know Might Guy?"
A bad feeling rose in Beizawa's heart, and he hurriedly asked.
"Huh? How did you know?"
Naruto Uzumaki's eyes widened, shocked by Beizawa's uncanny foresight.
A single Combat Class lasted only forty-five minutes, which was far from enough for him.
On top of that, he had nothing to do after school, so he continued his Running Training.
That was how he met Might Guy.
The corner of Beizawa's mouth twitched.
If Naruto Uzumaki was led astray by Might Guy, would Hiruzen Sarutobi come looking for trouble with him?
Before you continue