This Burden Is Too Heavy, I Won't Carry It!

But none of this was any of his business. Though he found it bizarre, Teacher pretended not to notice and continued the lesson as usual. As for little brats barely a few years old falling in love, that was practically nothing unusual.

Teacher was lecturing, but none of the students below had any interest in listening. Even Orochimaru was no exception. Jiraiya, who usually loved sleeping, had his eyes wide open as he stared at Hiko and Tsunade in astonishment.

Here it came again. Hiko gave a faint bitter smile inwardly. He did not even know what Tsunade wanted. Teacher was teaching; if she did not want to listen, she did not have to keep staring at him, did she? Did he have flowers growing on his face? Though he was handsome, she did not have to be so blatant about it.

The atmosphere grew increasingly strange. At last, Teacher noticed while lecturing and had no choice but to stop. "Tsunade, Teacher doesn't object, but could you attend class first?"

"..."

"Ha ha ha..."

The classroom fell silent. A few seconds later, led by Jiraiya staring at Panda Eye, everyone except Hiko, Orochimaru, and the furious Tsunade burst into laughter. This was too hilarious.

"All right, everyone, quiet down. Stop laughing. Let's continue the lesson." Teacher clapped his hands, signaling everyone to settle down.

At that moment, Tsunade truly wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it. Hiko's mouth twitched imperceptibly. He felt that he should apply for early graduation sooner rather than later. If this continued, the Senju Clan would probably want nothing more than to slaughter him.

The charge of seducing the Senju Clan's little princess was no small matter. Ordinary people could not bear such a burden. It would have been fine if Tsunade were grown up, but she was still a little brat—that was where the problem lay. Not to mention Hiko was from the Uchiha Clan.

"Hiko, wait for me!!!"

Jiraiya was the type to forget the pain as soon as his wounds healed. His injuries had barely recovered when he started courting death again by provoking Tsunade. After all, among the entire class, Jiraiya was the one Tsunade had beaten up the most.

Other kids, after getting beaten by Tsunade once, would feel a little afraid whenever they saw her. Only Jiraiya forgot the pain as soon as his wounds healed.

"Something wrong?!"

Hiko did not stop walking and continued toward the Training Ground, merely slowing his pace a little. He bore no ill will toward Jiraiya; it was just that the things this guy did left people speechless—and both exasperated and amused.

In truth, Hiko really did not understand how Jiraiya, at only five years old, had gone to the women's bathhouse to watch women bathe. What was he even hoping to see?

"Ha ha, nothing. Where are you going?"

Jiraiya laughed awkwardly. He was the sort who acted familiar with everyone, grinning and sidling up to anyone regardless of who they were. He had no bad intentions, but his mouth often said the wrong things, so he got beaten up quite often.

Sometimes, no matter how enthusiastic you were about making friends, the other person might not appreciate it.

Hiko answered frankly, "The Training Ground. To train."

"Ooh~~~~"

The moment he heard the word training, Jiraiya immediately lost interest. Though the future Jiraiya's achievements would be no worse than Orochimaru's or Tsunade's—and in some areas would even surpass theirs—the current Jiraiya was merely a mischievous brat who hated training more than anything.

Of course, that did not mean Jiraiya was lazy. In truth, he simply did not want to do it. This would continue until after graduation, when he, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were assigned to the same team, and only then would he begin to change.

In fact, among the three of them, Tsunade was the laziest!! On the contrary, Jiraiya was the most diligent. "Diligence makes up for lack of talent" was the perfect phrase to describe Jiraiya and the later indomitable Naruto.

The same carefree personality, the same love of mischief, the same lecherous nature.

Among the three, Orochimaru had always been shrouded in the halo of genius. He had always worked hard, always been strong, and far surpassed those his age. Tsunade was the same, always carrying herself as if she stood above everyone else.

Only Jiraiya looked like the dumbest and least reliable one.

Yet once someone with his carefree personality suffered a blow to the heart and resolved to work hard, they could become terrifying.

Orochimaru's mind was too cluttered, and Tsunade was too careless. Only when Jiraiya truly decided to work hard could he be fiercer than anyone else. Failure after failure would never knock him down.

Hiko valued that about him. No matter how unreliable or carefree he was, he was still better than the cold-blooded, reptilian Orochimaru.

"Together?!"

Hiko asked. Jiraiya looked troubled. In truth, he wanted to go play, but since Hiko had invited him, Jiraiya could not refuse. After thinking it over, he decided to go to the Training Ground with him.

He nodded hard. "Together, together. Ha ha, I haven't trained in ages."

Watching Jiraiya walk ahead with his feet turned out, laughing loudly, Hiko sighed. He raised one hand to cover his eyes, then lifted the other and pointed toward the Training Ground, saying speechlessly, "Idiot, this is the way to the Training Ground. That way is the bathhouse!!!"