Even If You're Not Rich, You Still Need Gear

"Yūhi Kurenai, 9 bullseyes, 90% accuracy, time: 2.5 seconds. Assessment result: good. B-Class rating."

"Whoa, as expected of Kurenai, my fated true love." Asuma clasped his hands over his heart, only to receive the back of her head.

On the first day of school, Asuma had left a deep impression on the entire faculty and student body. On top of that, the friends he usually hung around with were all equally unpopular with girls, so Yūhi Kurenai had no interest in him whatsoever. Was there anything worse than being liked by an idiot who had confessed to another boy? Just like that Doctor Duke back then—dating someone like that was way too embarrassing. Please find someone else.

"Wasn't Duke your true love?" Obito lingered like a ghost and added, "Everyone in the village knows."

"Ahhh... the shame of my life!" Asuma collapsed to the ground, then shot Duke a resentful look. Wasn't it all because of you? My dad beat me up without even listening to my explanation that day. How was I supposed to know someone so cute would actually be a boy? Ah, I can't look. I'm going to get bent!

Faced with Asuma's expression of a resentful housewife, Duke showed no mercy. "You blamed me because you're blind?"

It really was your fault! Asuma, Obito, and Might Guy nodded furiously inside, but none of them said it aloud. In that regard, the boys in class were actually rather grateful to Asuma. Thanks to him testing the poison with his own body, they had avoided making fools of themselves.

"Next, Nohara Rin!"

Ah! My goddess!

In an instant, Obito snapped to attention at a speed that surpassed even the Kage, his eyes brimming with hearts as he stared foolishly at the girl in front of him. Born into the strictly regulated Uchiha Clan, Obito had exactly the sort of gentle and virtuous girl he liked in Rin. According to Obito, Rin was like an angel bestowed by the heavens, driving away the darkness around him, encouraging him, and giving him the courage to face all the misfortunes of the world.

However, Duke, Asuma, and Might Guy all said they had never seen Rin offer Obito any encouragement. Whenever Obito tried to speak to her, Rin usually responded with things like "Hehe," "Hehe, that's interesting," or "I have something to do, let's stop here." Yet Obito, utterly oblivious, reveled in it and could not pull himself out. King of backup options, young man, it's you!

"Nohara Rin, 8 bullseyes, 80% accuracy, time: 3 seconds. Assessment result: good. B-Class rating."

"That's amazing, Rin!" Obito moved closer and eagerly fawned over her.

"Hehe!"

After returning to the line, Rin instinctively moved away from Obito. With so many people watching, she felt somewhat embarrassed and annoyed. Kind and quiet by nature, Rin did not like Obito's excitable personality. On top of that, his friends were strange as well, making her keep her distance from him.

She had rejected him clearly enough, so why was he still pestering her? Was his mind really that simple? Should she make it even clearer next time? But would that hurt him too much... Rin's girlish heart was troubled.

"Hey, your drool is coming out!" Asuma appeared behind Obito and began mocking him without restraint.

"Ah... you lied!" Obito instinctively wiped his mouth. When he realized he had been tricked, he flew into a rage.

"Uchiha Obito, I told you that if you kept making noise, I'd give you a zero. Don't you understand? Get over here now. It's your turn!"

Under Aida-sensei's furious roar, Obito scrambled onto the throwing line.

"Obito, good luck! The lowest record in Konoha Ninja Academy's throwing examination is yours for the taking."

Normally, Obito would have snapped back with a few insults. But now, so excited that he had forgotten his own name, how could he care about insignificant little Asuma? He was after Rin in the order. How thrilling! This had to be guidance from the god of fate. I have to perform well and make Rin see me in a new light. Throwing techniques are my specialty.

Obito grabbed kunai in both hands and struck a cool pose. At Aida-sensei's signal, his hands became blurs, and ten kunai shot out almost simultaneously. With a flick of his hands, he turned around and walked back, like an unrivaled master who never looked back at explosions. His utterly cool appearance stunned the students. Even Aida-sensei's body shook once, twice, then a third time.

So cool. Rin must be completely captivated by me! Obito thought smugly. Unfortunately, his coolness did not last three seconds. Before he could decide what pose to strike as he left, Aida-sensei punched him in the head and knocked him to the ground.

"Uchiha Obito, 0 bullseyes, 0% accuracy, time: 0.5 seconds. Assessment result: poor. E-Class rating!" Aida-sensei practically roared out Obito's score. In all his years of teaching, he had never seen a result worse than this.

"What terrible luck!" Obito wailed like a defeated dog, a huge lump rising on his head as he stared at the completely empty wooden targets. He had gotten excited and his hands had slipped.

Amid the students' booming laughter, Aida-sensei drove Obito back into the line. His lifelong bad friend Asuma immediately stepped up to comfort him. "Obito, you really didn't disappoint me. You successfully broke the record. I believe that even a hundred years from now, your record will still be far ahead."

"Damn it, Aida-sensei, please give me another chance. I was just careless for a moment!" Obito pleaded, refusing to die, but the heartless Aida-sensei rejected him.

"Shut up, Uchiha Obito. Even if I gave you another chance, what would it change?" Aida-sensei entered lecture mode and spoke earnestly to everyone. "At school, I can give you chance after chance. But once you leave this school, who will give you another chance? Whether it is sabotage, assassination, intelligence gathering, disrupting the rear, or fighting head-on, you will never get a second opportunity. Missing a single chance means your mission has failed. It also means the end of your ninja career. It means death!"

"The ninja world is cruel and allows no failure. Once you choose to become ninjas, you must understand clearly that this world is merciless!"

Aida-sensei continued with heartfelt sincerity. "If you want to survive in this cruel world, you must sweat more than others. I know many of you are children of great clans, or have powerful ninja parents. Some of you have even been called geniuses since childhood. But so what? You must remember that this world only has geniuses who work hard. There have never been geniuses who gain everything without effort."

Everyone fell silent. Aida-sensei stopped crushing their spirits and comforted them instead. "Be grateful. As students of Konoha's Ninja Academy, you are luckier than children from other ninja villages. At the very least, you still have three years. Balance, agility, strength, endurance, and special techniques—these are the only things I can teach you. I hope that in your daily training, you will face yourselves honestly. Training may be dull and tedious, but these are the foundations that will keep you alive."

"So that's why you want to raise a dog?" Mitarashi Shixiao looked strangely at Duke. He was clearly from the Yuki Clan, yet he wanted to develop in the direction of Konoha's Inuzuka Clan. This did not fit the style at all.

"Yes. I think Aida-sensei made a lot of sense. Even geniuses need to work hard to survive better, let alone an ordinary person like me." Duke spoke seriously. In the Hokage World, geniuses could be found everywhere, but how many truly reached the summit and became part of that tiny handful? Beneath the title of the strongest, how many geniuses died with resentment? Whether it was luck or circumstances, in the end, it all came down to insufficient strength. As an ordinary person without much talent, Duke had to plan for his future. He needed to arm himself. If talent was not enough, then he would rely on external strength.

Originally, the powerful summoned beasts from the original story would have been a better choice. Unfortunately, Duke's chakra reserves, which were somewhat mediocre even at the Ninja Academy, meant he had no chance with those powerful summoned beasts. Besides, those summoned beasts had been passed down through generations in the hands of top-tier ninja. Since childhood, those people had all carried one title: genius.

Things had fallen into a vicious cycle. Geniuses shone even brighter, while commoners became even more ordinary. Put simply, a talentless idiot like you was best off choosing a dog. Stop dreaming about powerful summoned beasts.

"What you say makes sense, but Ninja Dogs aren't so easy to train." Mitarashi Shixiao rubbed his clean-shaven chin. Buying a Ninja Dog was not difficult. The Inuzuka Clan in Konoha specialized in selling all kinds of Ninja Dogs. But powerful Ninja Dogs needed secret techniques to bring out their full strength. Otherwise, they were merely search-and-rescue dogs that could talk and had sharper noses, offering little help to their owners. As for borrowing secret techniques from the Inuzuka Clan, he had not even considered it. Unless the entire Inuzuka Clan got bitten and came down with rabies, there was no way they would leak the foundation of their clan. Even the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, might... might be able to do it, but he was the Hokage. What was an Anbu Captain like him worth? If he really tried, he would probably be taught a lesson on the spot!

"I'm fairly confident about that!" Seeing there was hope, Duke hurriedly said. Though he had never raised a dog, he knew the general process well enough. Bring it home and beat it half to death first. Three days later, beat it half to death again. If it dared talk back in the meantime, starve it for three meals and do not let it rest. Three days per course of treatment. Before three courses were over, if told to catch chickens, it would never dare chase ducks; if told to face east, it would never dare look west. That had to be right. Probably!

Well then, let us observe three minutes of silence for Duke's Ninja Dog, which had yet to arrive...

"Since you're so confident, I can't refuse to support you. We have time now, so come with me. Let's go take a look at the Inuzuka Clan." Seeing Duke so full of confidence, Mitarashi Shixiao did not dampen his spirits. It would be best if he succeeded. If not, they could just consider it another pet in the household. Anko had also reached the lively and active age, so having an intelligent pet dog at home would not be bad.

"Thank you, Uncle Zixiao!" Duke bowed in thanks. Though this inexplicable guardian often observed him for inexplicable reasons and said inexplicable things, he had never been harsh with him in daily life, nor had he ever been perfunctory in his guidance on ninjutsu. He could be said to be conscientious and responsible. Whatever Anko had, Duke had as well. He treated his adopted son as his own. Duke knew in his heart that he could not do the same. So he could not bring himself to use the embarrassing title of Dad, but calling him Uncle came from the bottom of his heart.

"I'm not used to you being this polite!" Mitarashi Shixiao put on his coat and led Duke slowly toward the Inuzuka Clan's territory. Not every ninja was suited to Ninja Dogs, and the Yuki Clan had never produced a ninja who fought alongside one. Mitarashi Shixiao was only willing to swallow his pride because he did not want to crush Duke's enthusiasm. Having ambition was a good thing, and as a parent, he should support it. As for how far the child could go, that depended on him.