Reliable Adults

A sudden spark of inspiration fully unleashed his innate imagination!

Soji could hardly wait to start experimenting with the bonus effects of his new conversion method on his magic spells!

However, the constraints of the objective environment ultimately forced the boy to abandon such unrealistic thoughts...

The positive cycle of accepting missions and completing commissions serves as the underlying logic for the normal operation of the ninja order, and its seriousness and legitimacy are beyond doubt.

Even the renowned White Fang of Konoha would later be trapped by this narrative system, which centers on submission to collective interests, ultimately meeting his end by seppuku. As a mere fresh graduate from the Ninja Academy, Soji naturally dared not challenge the rules so casually.

Thus, he used his superhuman willpower to forcibly suppress his inner impulses. Before Nara Motonari could order the march, he cast aside his dreams of poetry and distant horizons, refocusing on the mundane chores at hand and calculating the use of every step with precision.

By the time the main force reached the checkpoint and set up camp as dusk fell, Soji still had not made any rash moves.

He joined Todo, Erina, and two other genin squads for the evening's operational briefing.

They coordinated the night watch rotation with their colleagues at the temporary outpost.

Shift changes, a late-night snack, and mental recovery.

Only after all his official duties were properly settled did the boy approach Nara Motonari to explain his thoughts and request thirty minutes of personal time.

"I see, I have a general idea of your thoughts. I'm truly impressed you could hold back until now." Nara Motonari stopped fiddling with the candlelight and studied the boy's silhouette in the lamplight: "As your teacher, providing timely guidance to students in my squad is my duty. Why didn't you report this sooner?"

"The construction of the Jingu Forest Field Hospital is a major matter affecting the border security between the Fire and Wind nations. My personal ideas are but insignificant matters of individual development. From a rational perspective, the mission should naturally come first." Soji answered honestly, rarely playing any mind games.

This was not only his true inner thought but also aligned perfectly with the mainstream values of the ninja world.

Combined with his actual actions, his persuasiveness increased exponentially!

Yet, such high ideological awareness in an eleven or twelve-year-old boy actually made Nara Motonari feel uneasy.

"I am gratified that you think this way... but Soji, getting used to a tool-like ninja life too early is not a good thing. I don't want you to become a heartless executioner."

Nara Motonari leaned forward, adjusting his casual posture slightly: "Let's put it this way: do you know why, since the Third Hokage took office, Ninja Academy graduates are usually divided into groups of two boys and one girl to execute missions?"

"Of course."

Soji didn't play by the rules!

With a single sentence, he forcibly turned his teacher's rhetorical question into a direct inquiry, choking back the words the other man had been about to say!

"On one hand, this extreme profession that serves in the shadows naturally faces the reality of having more men than women;

On the other hand, for young boys and girls whose secondary sexual characteristics are beginning to develop, pairing opposite genders can often improve work efficiency, and even utilize the budding stirrings of puberty to foster healthy competition, cultivate teamwork, and create favorable conditions for inheriting the Will of Fire."

"..."

Nara Motonari was speechless...

The boy's answer was far too direct, completely failing to avoid the topic of gender as he had expected, leaving no room for him to provide supplementary interpretation!

What happened to the bashfulness?

What happened to the blushing?

What happened to the coy hesitation?

Looking at the anomaly before him who seemed to have no concept of shame, the teacher, whose rhythm was completely disrupted, felt a sense of resignation, and the flavor of a middle-aged "salty fish" began to emerge in his words.

"Fine... since you've analyzed it so clearly, what is your opinion of Erina? She is not only the grand-niece of the Third Hokage, but also excels in both academics and combat. If it were her making the request, would you still be so strictly professional?"

"Teacher, we are currently discussing the new chakra conversion method, which has nothing to do with my private life, right?" Soji sighed.

"Oh? Are you deliberately avoiding the question?" Nara Motonari's eyes lit up.

"I have nothing to hide." Soji looked calm, taking the opportunity to turn the tables: "As peers, I naturally have a favorable impression of an excellent and beautiful classmate like Erina.

But don't you think that as the jonin in charge of Team Five, advocating for puppy love so blatantly would get you called into the Third Hokage's office for a talk?"

"..."

"Even if I did have some thoughts... don't you think that if you truly like someone, the more important responsibility is to protect their safety rather than chatting about life?"

Soji adjusted his strategy to follow the other's line of thought and continued: "Right now, Team Five is in a dangerous situation. To avoid dragging my teammates down, I believe that making up for my shortcomings and supplementing our combat power is the top priority.

In other words, I am asking for your guidance on difficult problems to protect my companions. If I couldn't even complete my basic duties, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"

"Alright, alright, say no more... Let's go. We'll move a bit further from the camp so we don't cause too much of a stir and disturb everyone's rest."

Having witnessed Soji's power of verbal therapy, Nara Motonari completely abandoned the first half of his "teaching by example" mission.

However, noticing the slight upturn of his student's lips after the debate ended, Motonari suppressed the unease in his heart for the time being...

He realized that Soji was not a cold-blooded, emotionless anomaly by nature; he just expressed himself differently from others.

Of course, if one were to switch to the perspective of Yamada-kun himself, whether this smile was a genuine outpouring of emotion or a carefully designed finishing touch was entirely ambiguous...

On one hand, the script Soji received after transmigrating was indeed that of an orphan whose "parents were both dead."

But the soul from another world was not, in essence, filled with the various obsessions and lack of release that plagued characters like Kakashi, Itachi, or Sasuke.

The calm and indifference he displayed daily were more due to his age and the sense of urgency brought by knowing the plot in advance, having nothing to do with any deep-seated, bitter subjective emotions.

Therefore, the fundamental disagreement between him and Nara Motonari was not a debate over whether a ninja is a tool.

It was that he could not tell the other man the truth: he had already lived through those colorful, formative experiences in his previous life...

Fortunately, neither master nor student were the type to be ruled by sentiment.

Once he entered teaching mode, Nara Motonari's professional competence was immediately on full display!

After Soji poured out the creative ideas he had been bottling up all day, Nara Motonari only pondered for a brief moment before reaching a conclusion.

"I understand the basic principles. The idea of swapping the chakra conversion sequence is also quite interesting.

However, I must remind you that neither the Second Hokage, Akimichi Torifu, nor I are explicit wielders of a Kekkei Genkai. Therefore, it is difficult to say at this stage whether this method will be effective for the secret bloodline technique you possess."

"It doesn't matter," Soji shook his head decisively. "Experimentation is always accompanied by failure; this student is already prepared to endure the setbacks."

"Since you say so... very well then. We shall scale down the experiment and start with your palms, where you are most familiar with chakra emission."

"I'll be troubling you!"