Dreams and Familiar Faces

Shuichi and Ishikawa Tatsuki were assigned to the same class. As expected, it was likely the Ninja Academy's Elite Class.

Since the Second Great Ninja War had ended only recently, the village had lost many ninja over the past few years. The Ninja Academy had enrolled far more students than it would more than a decade after the Third Shinobi War ended.

Although the total number of students ultimately exceeded two hundred, there was only one Elite Class.

The three parts of yesterday's assessment were among the criteria for class assignments. As long as they passed the tests and their scores were not too far behind, Konoha's Elite Class had always given priority to ninja from clans.

The second priority went to orphans like Shuichi and Ishikawa Tatsuki, whose direct relatives had included ninja of Chunin rank or above.

Only if there were still vacancies after those two groups had been selected would the best students from yesterday's entrance test results be chosen, until the class reached thirty-six students.

The Ninja Academy had also informed every student that the Elite Class roster could change. If someone in an ordinary class performed better than a lower-ranked Elite Class student, the school would consider transferring them into the Elite Class.

The Elite Class was located in the classroom nearest the training ground on the first floor of the Ninja Academy. When Shuichi and Ishikawa Tatsuki arrived, they found that the classroom was noticeably larger than the others nearby.

After passing through the central corridor, the two arrived at the classroom entrance. It was a horizontally sliding iron door—the very one Naruto would later use to set up a prank with a chalkboard eraser for Kakashi.

There were not many people in the classroom yet. Only about a third of the seats were occupied.

In the center of the classroom stood large desks that seated three people each, arranged in three rows and four columns.

Shuichi scanned the room after entering and found few people he recognized. The most distinctive were clearly from the Ino-Shika-Cho clans. In Shuichi's memories, the Akimichi Clan's body types and the Nara Clan's bun hairstyles had never changed.

Besides the three members of Ino-Shika-Cho sitting in one row, he also spotted the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan boy, the Aburame Sunglasses Man, the Girl with Dog, and others scattered across different desks.

Shuichi noticed that familiar faces from the original story—Kakashi, Obito, Rin, and Shizune—had not arrived yet, so he prepared to find a seat.

Then he spotted a very cute girl sitting by the window. Upon approaching, he saw that she had a pair of striking red eyes, slightly curly shoulder-length hair, and a round, fair face.

Good-looking people should sit together. It's not like I'm lusting after her body, Shuichi assured himself firmly.

"Hey, aren't you Kurenai? Long time no see!" Shuichi walked up beside Yūhi Kurenai's desk and began chatting with her as though they were old friends.

Of course, Shuichi had not been lying. By the time Takeda Kenta had just become a Special Jonin, Kurenai's father, Yūhi Shinkō, had already been a Jonin for quite some time.

During the Second Shinobi War, Takeda Kenta had served under Yūhi Shinkō while he was still a Chunin. After earning enough military achievements and demonstrating sufficient strength to qualify for promotion, he became a Special Jonin, and their teams had been separated for a time.

Later, during several large-scale निर्णायक battles against the Amegakure Ninja and Sunagakure Ninja, their respective squads were assigned to the same Main force. They could be considered comrades who had faced life and death together.

During rotations amid lulls in the war, Yūhi Shinkō and Shuichi's father had met up twice in Konoha. Shuichi had probably been just over two years old then, still hazy about many things.

Kurenai was a year older than him. When Shuichi spoke to her, she thought for a moment and seemed to remember who he was. "Are you Uncle Takeda's son?"

"Yeah. Can I sit here? What a coincidence, running into someone I know."

Yūhi Kurenai did not object, so Shuichi sat in the middle seat at the desk, while Ishikawa Tatsuki followed him and took the seat closer to the aisle.

"Uh, not long ago, I saw a lot of ninja returning to the village. I even saw Lord White Fang. When did your father come back?" Not long after sitting down, Shuichi skillfully began raising all sorts of topics for chatting with girls.

He was not so excessive as to use love stories from his previous life to fool a girl, but he did pick topics that easily stirred a girl's curiosity. For instance, he told her about his experience catching fish and shared some amusing stories from working at the Hot Spring Inn.

A little girl Kurenai's age really was easy to win over. Before long, she and Shuichi were chatting happily. Well, that was probably because Shuichi was currently the most handsome boy in the class.

As more and more people gradually entered the classroom, Shuichi reluctantly brought the conversation to a stop. Suddenly feeling as though he had forgotten something, he turned to look in Ishikawa Tatsuki's direction—and the sight made him shudder.

Ishikawa Tatsuki's expression at that moment looked like something out of a horror film. His face was gloomy, and he seemed to be looking at Shuichi with contempt.

When Shuichi looked over, Ishikawa Tatsuki grabbed him by the neck and pulled him close, whispering, "Shuichi, I never would've guessed. You usually act like a man of few words, so I thought that was just who you were. But the moment you saw a pretty girl, you forgot all about your friend. Shota and I never saw your true colors!"

"Cough, cough. It's really just that her father knew my father, and we hadn't seen each other in a long time. Hahaha, today was an exception. Just an exception..." Shuichi could only beg Ishikawa Tatsuki to spare him for now.

Seeing that most of the students had nearly arrived, Ishikawa Tatsuki kept the same expression and released Shuichi for the time being, seemingly intending to settle the score with him later.

"Whew..." Shuichi relaxed slightly and scanned the classroom. He found that nearly all the familiar characters from the original story had arrived by now.

The quality of students in their cohort could be said to rank among the best in Konoha History.

Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, Asuma, Might Guy, Yamashiro Aoba, Morino Ibiki, Yūhi Kurenai, Shizune, Nohara Rin, and the rest were all figures who would influence the future direction of the ninja world.

Of course, now that I'm here, their influence will definitely be much smaller. Sigh, what a hassle. Shuichi began secretly indulging in narcissism.

"Alright, everyone is here. These are all the students in this year's Elite Class. Take a good look at your classmates for the coming years. Of course, they may also become your future teammates.

"You are all the most talented children jointly selected by every teacher at the Ninja Academy, so I will do everything I can to teach you to become outstanding ninja. My name is Sanada Tomohisa. You may call me Teacher Tomohisa. I look forward to working with you."

"Please take care of us, Teacher Tomohisa!" the students shouted together with surprising uniformity.

Sanada Tomohisa was a middle-aged man with a gentle expression. His ordinary face carried a hint of weariness, and he had wheat-colored skin and an average build.

"Good. Before I introduce the Ninja Academy's curriculum, I would first like to get to know each of you. I believe everyone is curious about their future classmates, right? Next, each of you will come up and introduce yourselves. Tell everyone your name, hobbies, and dreams so we can get to know one another."

Without waiting for the teacher to call on them, they went up one by one from left to right, front to back, to introduce themselves.

"My name is Momochi Ryuji. I like Sushi and Squid Skewer, and my dream is to become Hokage." The first to take the stage was some random extra. Shuichi thought, I don't really know this one.

"My name is Sarutobi Asuma. My dream is to become a ninja who surpasses the Third Hokage." Shuichi mused, Has he been drilled really hard by his family since he was little?

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like eating fish, and my dream is to become a great ninja like my father." Hatake Kakashi stared expressionlessly at everyone below with his dead-fish eyes. Shuichi commented inwardly, He's totally obsessed with his father right now. He's really different from how he'll be later.

"My name is Takeda Shuichi. I usually enjoy reading, and my dream is to become Hokage, protect the village, and protect the people I love." Shuichi had long planned how he should present himself.

No matter how he might truly act when faced with death in the future, at the Ninja Academy, he had to show that he loved Konoha. That was what it meant to be a qualified inheritor of the Will of Fire.

Quite a few students after him likewise expressed dreams of becoming Hokage. That was perfectly normal at the academy.

Kushina and Naruto would be mocked because their identities were special. Even if they chose different dreams, it would not change how others saw them.