Qiushui stood behind them, looking curiously at their current pose. Ino Yamanaka's hand was pressed against Sakura Haruno's face, while Sakura's leg was wedged between Ino's. The two were tangled up together in a ridiculous position.
The air froze for a second.
The familiar voice made Ino and Sakura stiffen at the same time. They slowly turned around.
The next moment, their bodies sprang apart as if someone had flipped a switch. They hurriedly straightened their clothes, smoothed their hair, and put on bright smiles—all at the same time.
"Sakura, I'm two months older than you. You can go in first," Ino said with a gentle, generous smile.
"Ino, I should be the one to let you go first. You go ahead," Sakura replied with a considerate, sensible smile.
They were thinking the exact same thing: We absolutely can't leave a bad impression on Teacher Qiushui!
Qiushui looked at them, then at the space they'd cleared between themselves. The corner of his mouth twitched. He said nothing, simply turned sideways and passed between them into the classroom.
He raised his hand and clapped to get the students' attention. "Listen up. We won't have class in the classroom this morning. We're going to the training field. Everyone, gather there."
As soon as he finished speaking, the classroom erupted.
Most of the students looked thrilled.
Teacher Qiushui taught well, but they'd been sitting in the classroom every day, and their butts were sore.
Inuzuka Kiba's fondness for Teacher Qiushui instantly went up a notch.
He'd never liked being cooped up in a small space for long. If Teacher Qiushui weren't such a good teacher, he would've skipped class ages ago. Getting to go outside was exactly what he'd hoped for. Akamaru, tucked under his hat, raised his head and barked excitedly.
Naruto stood up and asked eagerly, "Teacher Qiushui, are you going to teach us ninjutsu?"
At his question, most of the students turned to look at Qiushui, their eyes full of anticipation. Naruto had voiced what they were all thinking, and they were just as eager to hear the answer.
Only Uchiha Sasuke and Ino Yamanaka, who came from ninja clans, remained calm, with a hint of indifference.
For one thing, their families had inherited clan techniques. If they wanted to learn something, they could simply ask an elder. They didn't need to wait for a teacher at school to teach them.
For another, even though they were young, they understood that the Ninja Academy taught little more than the Three Basic Techniques. These were as basic as ninjutsu could get. Most of them hadn't mastered the techniques yet, but they'd been introduced to them long ago and simply couldn't get very excited about them.
For students from ninja clans, the main reasons for attending school were to learn theory and to uphold the so-called Will of Fire.
If they never attended the academy and were raised entirely according to their clans' methods, in time these children would come to believe that their clans mattered more than the village.
That was not what Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen or the Konoha High Command wanted to see.
You think your clan matters more than the village?
Then who'll risk their lives for us when danger comes?
A bunch of civilian ninja? They can't do it either!
As for Naruto, he was an exception.
As the son of the Fourth Hokage, he should have had the highest status. But his parents were dead, and because he was a Jinchūriki, no one was willing—or, rather, dared—to teach him ninjutsu.
Qiushui glanced over the students' reactions and said unhurriedly, "You still haven't fully mastered the Three Basic Techniques. Even if I taught you powerful ninjutsu, you wouldn't be able to learn it. So today we'll focus on physical training and throwing tools."
The students immediately looked disappointed, but they knew Teacher Qiushui was telling the truth.
Qiushui led the students to the training field.
Standing beside the track, he cleared his throat. "Split into five teams and line up. First, run fifty laps as a warm-up."
One lap around the track was about five hundred meters, so fifty laps came to exactly twenty-five kilometers.
For a delicate college student, that would be no different from asking them to kill themselves.
Even for people who exercised regularly, it would be a challenge.
But for these ten-year-old students, it wasn't all that difficult.
After all, they were ninja. Their bodies were naturally stronger than ordinary people's. Forget a mere fifty laps—even if they had to run another three sets of fifty, they could still scale walls and leap over rooftops without a problem.
The students' lines were a mess: one team was far too long, another far too short. Qiushui had to walk over and remind them that each team should have five or six students.
He felt he should choose a few Class Committee Members when he had time. It was troublesome to handle everything himself, and assigning the work would save time and effort and make the class easier to manage.
Once the students were in position, Qiushui waved his hand. "Begin."
As soon as he spoke, Inuzuka Kiba and Naruto Uzumaki shot off together like unleashed hounds.
Uchiha Sasuke and Aburame Shino followed close behind, their strides steady and unhurried.
Next came Hyuga Hinata. She wasn't fast, but she kept a steady pace.
At the back were Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, Sakura Haruno, and Ino Yamanaka.
Choji muttered as he ran, "So tired, so tired."
Shikamaru wore an expression that said this was such a drag, lazily trudging along.
Sakura and Ino ran side by side, neither willing to let the other get ahead.
As a member of the Inuzuka Clan, Kiba had loved tearing around the outdoors and through the forest since he was little. He wouldn't claim to be the best at everything, but when it came to speed, he'd never placed first in a race, yet he was sure he was the fastest in class.
When he reached the fifth lap, he glanced at Naruto beside him, surprise flashing in his eyes.
Kiba remembered how, during spring break, Naruto had often joined them in the forest for races to see who could reach a designated tree first and leave a mark on it. Naruto had always been the slowest. He'd never expected that, in their first physical training session of the new semester, Naruto would keep pace with him without falling behind at all. Kiba thought Naruto must have gotten a lot stronger, too, and decided he couldn't afford to underestimate him.
Naruto looked pleased with himself as well. As a poor student, he rarely got praised by Teacher Qiushui during theory lessons. Today, no matter what, he was going to take first place and make his teacher look at him in a new light.
Besides, for the past few years, whenever he played pranks in the village and got caught, people chased him through the streets. That was how he'd built up his speed.
He was confident in himself and had even started imagining girls treating him the way they treated Sasuke.
It was a lovely fantasy, but reality was cruel.
Naruto wanted to win so badly that he'd gone all out from the start, without saving any energy. By the time he reached the thirtieth lap, his breathing grew ragged and his pace had clearly slowed.
Kiba was breathing harder, too. He often ran around outdoors, but he was still young, and sprinting hard for so long had taken a lot out of him.
When he noticed Naruto slowing down, he seized his chance and suddenly sped up, pulling five or six meters ahead.
Before you continue