This Is Passing Intelligence

The next day, on the way to school.

Hayate walked ahead alone, carrying his bento box. His cheeks were puffed out, and his eyes looked fierce.

Last night, the five-hundred-word reflection on the Transformation Technique had taken him a full three hours. By the time he finally finished writing it, he realized it was already nearly eight-thirty!

A sense of guilt had welled up in Hayate's heart, and he had rushed to the backyard to practice his swordsmanship.

Gekko Hayate, meanwhile, had happily copied—no, transcribed—his little brother's reflection, then destroyed the evidence!

Around nine o'clock, Gekko Hayate had told his little brother to go inside and sleep, not giving him too much time to practice his swordsmanship.

Because of this, Hayate was throwing a tantrum.

On the way to school, Hayate kept walking in front, not saying a single word to Gekko Hayate.

Gekko Hayate didn't mind. Kids will be kids; who hasn't thrown a tantrum before?

A little coaxing would fix it.

When they got home from school, he would teach him the Clone Technique, and then... make him write a five-hundred-word reflection?

Yes, this anti-addiction measure was definitely necessary!

When they arrived at school, Hayate's tantrum hadn't subsided yet. He said goodbye to Gekko Hayate with a fierce expression and headed to his own classroom.

Gekko Hayate found that young Hayate was actually quite cute.

Especially when he was bullying him.

Gekko Hayate arrived at his classroom and immediately handed his homework to Ito Ni.

Ito Ni put the homework away and suddenly called out to Gekko Hayate, "Gekko Hayate, there's a theory exam tomorrow morning, and I..."

"A one-on-one combat training session in the afternoon?"

Gekko Hayate knew exactly what he was up to the moment he saw him stick his butt out, so he rudely interrupted him right then and there.

Ito Ni glared at him. "The theory exam tomorrow morning, I definitely want to..."

"One-on-one in the afternoon?"

"The theory exam, I absolutely want to..."

"One-on-one?"

"I..."

Ito Ni was so angry: I'm trying to talk to you about theory, and you're talking to me about combat?

The two stared at each other. Ito Ni felt aggrieved, angry, and sad all at once. Finally, he huffed and turned his head away, deciding he would never speak to Gekko Hayate again.

Returning to his seat, Iruka had already arrived and was sitting there smiling. "Hayate, is it really okay for you to bully Ito Ni like that?"

"Hey! You've gotten addicted to calling him Ito Ni, haven't you?" Hayate retorted.

"Isn't that because you've been calling him that all day?"

Iruka hummed, then couldn't help but laugh. "But the nickname Ito Ni really suits him."

Hayate recalled Ito Ni's earlier provocation and asked, "Is there really a written exam tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, the written exam follows the practical test, though the time for the written exam isn't fixed," Iruka explained. "Hayate, how is your grasp of the theoretical knowledge?"

Hayate felt a headache coming on. "What kind of theory are they testing? Is it what was taught two days ago, or the stuff from last year?"

"Of course it's last year's knowledge," Iruka said.

Hayate pondered for a moment, then whispered, "Iruka, for tomorrow morning's exam... hmm, hmm, hmm?"

"Hmm?" Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm!" Hayate nodded with a serious expression.

"Hmm, hmm!" Iruka shook his head.

Sigh.

Hayate let out a sigh. His own desk-mate wouldn't even help him; their friendship was truly superficial.

Fortunately, Hayate had a calm mindset. Even if he failed the written exam, he would remain composed. This temperament was forged through countless exams in his past life, something most people simply didn't possess.

This morning's theory class was taught by Kashima Isamu himself. After the bell rang, Kashima Isamu walked into the classroom with a grave expression, holding a stack of notebooks in his hand.

It was impossible for the reflections on the Transformation Technique they had just handed in to be graded so quickly, so these assignments had to be the reflections on the Ninja Tool Throwing from last time!

"Students!"

Kashima Isamu scanned the room, his tone heavy. "I know none of you like doing homework, but homework is the best way to reflect whether a student is listening carefully in class! And judging by the assignments on the Ninja Tool Throwing reflections, I discovered that a small number of you weren't listening at all! I am very disappointed!"

As he spoke, Kashima Isamu opened the top notebook and read, "'The most important thing about Ninja Tool Throwing is to follow your heart; throw it however you want...' Whoever wrote this, stand up!"

A student stood up, looking aggrieved, and struggled to explain, "Teacher, during the practical training sparring, I saw Gekko Hayate throwing them just like that!"

"What the—!"

Hayate was furious. This was truly a case of sitting at home while disaster struck from the sky. How could this blame be thrown onto him?

Doesn't your conscience hurt?

Kashima Isamu pointed at the student, his hand trembling with rage. "You, you, you... The Ninja Tool Throwing reflection was the assignment for the first day of school, and the practical combat training was on the second day. When you wrote this reflection, did you already know what was going to happen the next day? You are going to rewrite this Ninja Tool Throwing reflection for me tonight, no less than eight hundred words!"

"Eight hundred? Please don't, teacher, I was wrong!" The bronze-ranked student panicked. Five hundred words had already cost him countless brain cells and precious playtime; with eight hundred, he would be pinned to his desk all night.

"If you were wrong, you have all the more reason to write it!"

Kashima Isamu flipped to another assignment and read aloud, "'Ninja Tool Throwing relies mainly on luck...' Is that how I taught it?! Stand up!"

A bronze-ranked student stood up hesitantly. Before Kashima Isamu could even speak, the student preemptively admitted his 'mistake': "Teacher, my mother was sick when I was doing the homework. I had to take care of her, so I didn't have time to think and just wrote whatever came to mind."

"Taking care of your sick mother?"

Kashima Isamu's lip twitched slightly. "And were you taking care of your mother during class as well? I'm too embarrassed to even call you out! You are also going to rewrite your Ninja Tool Throwing reflection, no less than eight hundred words!"

"Yes..." The student sat down, crestfallen.

Following this, Kashima Isamu called out a few more unreliable students for criticism, ordering them to rewrite their reflections, before moving on to praise.

"You should all learn from Yui, Ito Ni, and Inuzuka Sa. Look at how they wrote their reflections. Also, Hanfu has shown the most improvement this time and deserves praise. Everyone, give Hanfu a round of applause!"

Clap, clap, clap...

Clap, clap, clap...

The applause was sparse and filled with resentment. Since Hanfu used to be a dead last, seeing him suddenly become the 'model student' didn't sit well with anyone.

"I hope Hanfu will continue to work hard!" Kashima Isamu looked at Hanfu and said, "Don't let me down on tomorrow's theory exam!"

"Uh..."

Hanfu felt awkward. He had just decided to give up on trying.

Now that Kashima Isamu had put him on the spot, if he bombed the exam, wouldn't that be a slap in the face to Kashima Isamu?

Hanfu's remaining survival instinct kicked in. He turned to his deskmate. "Iruka..."

Although Iruka's talent was average, the fact that he would become a teacher in the future meant his grasp of theoretical knowledge was comprehensive and flawless.

Iruka looked conflicted. "But Hanfu, that's not right."

His parents were both Jonin of the village, and they had always taught him to be upright, honest, and clean. Cheating was something he found very hard to accept.

"Iruka, you're looking at this the wrong way!"

Hanfu said earnestly, "We are going to be ninjas in the future. We will go on missions outside the village. If we go to an enemy country to gather intelligence, we don't just need to gather it; we need to pass it on. We need to ensure our comrades can safely and accurately deliver that intelligence back to the village, right?"

Iruka nodded instinctively. That logic was sound.

"So, just treat tomorrow's exam as a mission. You gather the intelligence, and then quietly pass it to me to complete the mission!" Hanfu said solemnly.

He wasn't just twisting the logic—after all, the first stage of the Chunin Exam that Naruto took was literally about cheating, which was essentially about gathering and passing on intelligence!

Iruka struggled for a moment, but in the end, he was convinced.

Thanks to book friend 20190212183155890 and The Weeper for their tips and support!

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