Hearing the News

"Wow, I feel like my whole being has been elevated. Anyone else?"

After washing his eyes, he'd finally gotten rid of the disgusting feeling.

By the time he got back to the classroom, class had already ended. When he went to reclaim his throne, he found another butt already occupying it. How could that be allowed? How could two people share one seat?

"Tsk, tsk! Someone looks pretty miserable."

The person sitting there even tilted her head back and taunted him.

"Phew..."

He took a deep breath, sat down beside her, and looked at Tong with a serious expression.

"Tong, we're both from the Uchiha Clan, and we're close deskmates. Let bygones be bygones. I sincerely apologize. I'll give you this seat and let it serve as a testament to our friendship. From now on, we'll be friends bound by a deep bond. How about it?"

Kaede held out his hand, his little face full of sincerity. Take a step back, and the world opened up. Making peace with this girl, who seemed to have some kind of issue with him, was the best way to enjoy his time at the Ninja Academy.

He really had no interest in bickering with a little girl. He liked older women, the well-endowed kind.

With his handsome, sunny face and charming smile, he was confident he'd maxed out his appeal at that moment. Surely a girl in the bloom of youth wouldn't be unmoved. Hadn't he seen the female classmate beside them gazing at him with stars in her eyes?

But—

"Hah! I don't agree!"

She glanced at him indifferently. Her watery eyes held not a ripple, and her crisp voice carried an unmistakable refusal. Tong seemed rather aloof at that moment.

"If I can't win, I can at least avoid her, right?"

He turned to look at a classmate in the last seat of the middle row, who was watching him with little stars in her eyes.

"Beautiful, sweet young lady, would you mind switching seats with me?"

"Sure, sure!"

When the handsome, charming Kaede looked at her with such a tender gaze, her heart raced so fast she thought it might leap out of her chest.

"Could this be what falling in love feels like?"

In a daze, she was already being coaxed into the seat on the other side.

Kaede lifted his chin and glanced at Tong, pursing his lips as if to say:

"See? I've got plenty of ways to get what I want."

Tong greeted him with a confident, pretty face.

"Teacher, someone switched seats without permission."

She raised her delicate white hand and, with Kimura Oishi's permission, loudly and brazenly tattled on him. Then she glanced at Kaede and gave him a victory sign.

Switching seats was such a trivial matter. What was the big deal? He didn't want to get involved. But from what he'd observed over the past couple of days, Uchiha Tong and Uchiha Kaede seemed to be at odds with each other.

Their bickering had livened up the class, which was a good thing.

So...

"Uchiha Kaede, how can you change seats without the teacher's permission? You may still be students, but you must hold yourselves to the standards of the shinobi code. If you were a Genin, would you disobey your Jonin commander's orders during a mission?

Switch back!"

With a dark expression, he pretended to be furious as he scolded Kaede.

"All right, Teacher. I'll switch back right away."

Kaede forced a crooked smile and obediently let himself be sent back.

He greeted Tong helplessly. "Hey, Tong~ I'm back. Happy? Surprised?"

Tong sat up straight and had already begun listening attentively to the lesson. She wasn't like Kaede, who had no interest in theory at all and spent every class slacking off. In theory, Kaede ranked only in the middle of the class.

And even that was thanks to what he'd learned before.

Tong, on the other hand, was the teacher's model student: polite, diligent, and eager to learn. She was an undisputed top student in the class.

"Your afternoon class will be a practical lesson on Training Ground No. 3. Get ready during lunch."

As class ended, Kimura Oishi announced where they would be holding the afternoon lesson.

"Practical training? On the third day of school?"

Did that mean he could take on the whole class?

From what he'd seen, only a few students in Class B had managed to mold Chakra. The rest were still ordinary kids. Even if he didn't want to stand out, he at least had to perform normally.

As a member of the Uchiha Clan with a Jonin for a father, if he couldn't beat everyone in his class under these circumstances, then either he had no talent as a shinobi or something was wrong with him.

He couldn't afford to make a mistake over something this basic. That would be a failure to understand the obvious.

So...

He glanced at Tong beside him.

Wasn't this the perfect chance to get his revenge in broad daylight? This time, he'd spank her little buttocks.

It wouldn't hurt to show a little of his strength. As long as he stayed within the normal range, the Third Hokage wouldn't notice him.

But things didn't go the way he'd expected.

"In today's practical lesson, I'll teach you all the Chakra Extraction Technique. This technique is dangerous, so listen carefully and learn it properly. Is that clear?"

Kimura Oishi scowled as he tried to frighten the restless children.

"Understood!"

The warning worked remarkably well. Just moments ago, they'd all been eager to give it a try. Now, one by one, they grew nervous.

Seeing that the effect was better than expected, Kimura Oishi secretly smiled.

The Chakra Extraction Technique wasn't particularly profound. For six-year-old students at the Ninja Academy, it wasn't difficult to learn. Even the slowest student could master it within a week.

Some clan children like Kaede had learned the technique long ago. With nothing to do while Kimura Oishi taught, he sat quietly beneath a tree and began extracting Chakra, silently striving to become the God of the Shinobi World.

The Ninja Academy arranged for teachers to teach the basic Chakra Extraction Technique mainly for the sake of civilian children. Many of them had never been exposed to real Ninjutsu. The Ninja Academy was where their path as shinobi began.

The sun sank in the west, nearly setting, while the students of Class B kept at it. They were drenched in sweat, but their earnestness was plain to see.

Kimura Oishi furrowed his brows. Not a single student in Class B had managed to extract Chakra yet, and it was hardly a reason to feel good.

"I did it! I did it!"

The chubby kid sitting in the front row opened his eyes and jumped up excitedly. Kaede thought the ground had trembled slightly when he leaped. He was certainly a hefty boy.

"Quiet! Don't disturb the others."

The chubby boy hurriedly covered his mouth, his round little eyes sneaking a glance at Kimura Oishi. He was still afraid of the teacher.

"All right, get up. That's enough for today. We'll continue tomorrow afternoon. You can go home now."

"I still haven't extracted Chakra! I failed. This is so frustrating."

"Miko, don't be discouraged. None of us managed it."

"Get away! I don't need you telling me what to do." Miko slapped away the hand of the boy trying to ingratiate himself with her. She gazed at the quiet boy beneath the distant tree, finding herself wanting to look at him more and more.

"Tch, that Uchiha is so annoying."

Having been rebuffed by the girl he liked, he naturally directed his resentment at the person who had caused all this.

"Eita, you've still got time to worry about other people? I heard that anyone who can't extract Chakra this time will be expelled."

Just as Eita was about to go pick a fight with Kaede, someone called out to him. It turned out that the neighboring class had just finished as well.

"Yoshii, what do you mean, expelled? Didn't we already pass the Ninja Academy entrance exam?"

"Heh! If you extract too little Chakra to perform Ninjutsu, how can you become a shinobi? You're too naive, Eita."

"Is that really true?"

Yoshii's words immediately drew all the students around him.

Seeing everyone crowd around him, Yoshii was satisfied. The vanity of being the center of attention made him feel respected, and he began explaining it all to them.