Hmph Hah!

After Shennong left, Gekko Hayate had no reason to continue staying at the Might household.

"Senior Duy, I shall take my leave as well."

Gekko Hayate bid him farewell.

"Stay safe on your way, little Hayate. You're welcome to come over and hang out at uncle's place whenever you have time," Might Duy said with a smile as he walked Gekko Hayate to the door.

Looking at Might Duy like this, Gekko Hayate hesitated, words caught in his throat. He wanted to expose Shennong, but doing so would be tantamount to flipping the table. While Shennong would certainly be hunted down, Gekko Hayate, having ruined Shennong's plans, would likely face the wrath of Shennong and all the remnants of the Sky Ninja.

That wasn't all. Shennong's identity was so mysterious that no one in the entire Konoha knew about it. How would Gekko Hayate know?

Everything is fine until it's investigated, and Gekko Hayate, in particular, really couldn't afford to be scrutinized!

Therefore, he had no choice but to choose to develop discreetly!

Walking out of Might Duy's house and facing the warm sun, Gekko Hayate suddenly remembered something.

Hmm... right, he hadn't used his three daily chances for the Collection Technique yet.

Gekko Hayate turned back and saw Might Duy slowly turning to head inside.

Collection!

Gekko Hayate cast the Collection Technique. The green orb of light in his mind surged instantly, then spewed out a pale blue speck of light.

Gekko Hayate raised an eyebrow. Seeing Might Duy about to disappear into the doorway, he hurriedly cast the remaining two Collection Techniques as well. The next instant, two more pale blue specks of light shot out from the green orb.

Gekko Hayate was overjoyed: This guy Might Duy... he really is a good person!

At this very moment, Gekko Hayate's mood was exactly the same as Shennong's!

But was it a bit unfair to Might Duy to think this way?

Gekko Hayate shook his head, then happily wrapped his consciousness around the three pale blue specks of light.

The first was the Body Flicker Technique!

Unfortunately, this Body Flicker Technique wasn't a ninjutsu, but a taijutsu—a high-speed displacement technique that relied on the force of muscles, tendons, and bones. Without a powerful body, it was impossible to use!

The second was Taijutsu—Nunchaku!

Uh... the smile on Gekko Hayate's face stiffened.

The third was even more impressive: Finishing Move—Nunchaku—Twin Attack Fangs!

The smile on Gekko Hayate's face became increasingly forced.

Was he being forced to go "hoo-ha-hoo" now?

But he wasn't some bubble tea princess; who was he supposed to show off his nunchaku skills to?

Sigh, why couldn't I have gotten some decent taijutsu?

Something like Konoha Whirlwind or Konoha Great Whirlwind would have been nice.

Hayate felt a bit helpless, but since he had already collected the skill, he had no choice but to absorb and digest it. Who knew? It might come in handy someday.

Hmm... actually, this isn't bad!

Half an hour later, Hayate walked through several streets and arrived in front of Gekko Izakaya, which was a few hundred meters from his home. He then paused.

Going home at this hour... wouldn't that be a bit inappropriate?

Keiko worked the night shift at the hospital and rested at home during the day. Since it was almost noon, Keiko should be at home by now.

If Hayate went back, it wouldn't matter if he got caught skipping class, but disturbing his mother's rest would be a huge deal!

No, no, that won't do!

Hayate thought for a moment and decided to go to school instead. He couldn't disturb his mother's rest under any circumstances!

Wait, school?

Hayate frowned. Had he forgotten something important?

Ninja Academy.

The noon bell had already rung, and it was lunchtime. The scent of food wafted from the shady corners of the playground, the various classrooms in the teaching building, and the cafeteria.

When Hayate left the house this morning, he had forgotten his bento. His stomach was feeling a bit empty now, so he needed to find Anko, Inuzuka Sa, and the others to help him out.

He quickly ran to the classroom for Class 2-8.

However, as soon as Hayate stepped inside, he was blocked at the door by a chubby boy.

"Gekko Hayate? You... hmph, I didn't expect you to be that kind of person, I, Ito Ni, pfft..."

As Ito Ni said this, his mouth seemed to leak air. His round face suddenly flushed bright red, as if he had suffered a great injustice. His eyes turned red, and he glared at Hayate fiercely.

"Huh? What's wrong? What are you trying to say?"

Hayate was a bit confused. What kind of opening was it to get suddenly furious halfway through a sentence?

Facing Hayate, who had no idea what was going on, Ito Ni became embarrassed and angry. Unable to voice his grievance, he could only let out a heavy, angry snort before shoving past Hayate and leaving the classroom.

"Hayate, are you feeling better?"

Hanfu was still dazed when Anko's teasing voice drifted over from the back of the classroom.

Hanfu looked up to see Anko, Iruka, Inuzuka Sa, as well as Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, all looking at him with strange, mocking grins.

Hanfu immediately grew wary. Were these little brats planning a mutiny against him?

"Youth is truly a wonderful thing; sickness comes just in time and leaves even faster."

"Yeah, I wish I had that too."

"What a pity, though. The teacher isn't a pushover, haha."

"Woof, woof, woof!"

The tone of these guys was snide and sarcastic, and they kept winking at each other. Hanfu got annoyed instantly, charging over to snatch food directly from their bento boxes.

"Hey, hey! You didn't come here without eating lunch, did you?" Anko was furious; before she knew it, half her meal had been snatched away.

Inuzuka Sa was more generous and didn't stop Hanfu, though her little puppy, Shiromaru, felt its status was under fatal threat and couldn't help but bark.

After filling his stomach a little, Hanfu asked, "I'm saying, none of you can stand me taking sick leave, right?"

Iruka looked Hanfu up and down and retorted, "Hanfu, looking at you, you don't seem sick at all."

"That's because I took my medicine in time."

Hanfu certainly couldn't just admit he was faking it. Did he not have a reputation to maintain?

"Is that so?" Anko hummed. "It wasn't because you were worried about failing the exam and took leave on purpose?"

"Failing the exam?"

A bolt of lightning flashed through Hanfu's mind, and he suddenly realized, "The written exam?"

No wonder he had felt like he'd forgotten something earlier!

So that was it!

Kotetsu Hagane laughed strangely. "Hanfu, including you, five people took leave this morning. The teacher is very angry and said he's going to give you five a separate written exam! There will be punishment if you don't do well."

Hanfu couldn't believe it. "How many people took leave?"

"Including you, five!" Izumo Kamizuki's eyes were filled with amusement.

Hanfu covered his forehead, feeling exhausted. These bronzes—it's just a written exam, is it really worth so many people taking leave?

You have to realize there were only thirty people in their class in total; to think one-sixth of them had taken leave...

Hanfu looked irritably at Iruka. "Hmm?"

Iruka spread his hands and shrugged, indicating there was nothing he could do. Even if he were one of the five people taking the make-up exam, he wouldn't dare to intervene; it would be far too obvious!

"When is the make-up exam?"

Hanfu asked, feeling listless.

"Who knows? We'll have to wait until all five of you are present before they can test you." Izumo Kamizuki patted Hanfu on the shoulder, wearing a solemn expression that seemed to say, take care of yourself, good luck, and may you rest in peace.

"Let's not talk about this. Let's chat about something else."

Since things had reached this point, there was no use dwelling on it. At worst, Hanfu would just rely on his own "true ability" to score a zero; it wasn't that big of a deal.

Anko's eyes darted around, and she suddenly said in a mysterious tone, "I heard that for this afternoon's combat training, the teacher invited upperclassmen to instruct us on Ninja Tool Throwing!"

"Upperclassmen?"

Inuzuka Sa showed no interest.

"And it's going to be together with Class 1!" Anko chuckled.

"Really?"

Inuzuka Sa was instantly excited. She grabbed her puppy and squeezed its head for dear life. "Then, then I can learn alongside Shisui! That's amazing! Shisui is the best! Shisui is the greatest!!"

"How about... we change the subject again?"

The others were having a hard time dealing with Inuzuka Sa like this.

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