The next day.
"Morning." Uchiha Nagi yawned as he sat down at his desk and greeted Namikaze Minato beside him.
"Good morning, Nagi," Minato replied.
Suddenly, Nagi jolted and looked at Minato with a serious expression.
"What's wrong?" Minato asked, puzzled.
"You can call me Nagi, or just Nagi. Uchiha Nagi is fine too, but whatever you do, don't call me 'Nagi-kun.'"
"Is that so?" Minato seemed a little confused, but nodded anyway. "Then I'll call you Nagi from now on. In return, you can call me Minato."
"Mm, Minato." Nagi agreed, then looked toward Uchiha Enichi, who was surrounded by a crowd on the other side of the room.
"What's going on over there?"
"It seems Enichi has successfully learned to extract chakra. He announced it in class, and that's how things ended up like this," Minato answered after a moment's thought.
"Oh, I see. Minato, you've probably learned to extract chakra too, right?" Nagi asked, a little bored.
As the future Fourth Hokage, Minato's talent was no joke.
Nagi didn't think Jiraiya's assessment of Minato—"Compared to the Fourth Hokage, everyone else pales in comparison"—was exaggerated at all.
The only pity was that in this world, where bloodline abilities reigned supreme, Minato's potential as an ordinary person was more or less capped, no matter how talented he was.
At that, Minato simply smiled gently without answering.
But his response gave Nagi the answer he wanted.
"So, Minato, you don't plan to announce it? Even if you weren't the first, you'd still attract plenty of attention."
Minato shook his head. "That's exactly why I don't want to let people know."
"Looks like you really like keeping a low profile, Minato."
Nagi sighed. With Minato's talent, graduating early would be easy.
Although the signs of unrest were already stirring during this period, with undercurrents running through the various regions, nothing had yet come out into the open. The Second Shinobi World War hadn't begun.
So hardly anyone graduated early from the Ninja Academy. Once the war broke out and the Shinobi World was engulfed in it, Minato graduated early at once.
Just then, Uchiha Enichi noticed Nagi and Minato chatting nearby.
His face, which had been full of pride as he basked in the flattery of others, turned cold. He led a group of lackeys over to Nagi's desk with an aggressive air.
"Hmm? What do you want?" Nagi asked, leaning back in his chair and raising an eyebrow as he looked at Enichi.
"Hmph, you disgrace the Uchiha Clan! Have you managed to extract chakra yet? How do you still have the nerve to come to school?" Enichi demanded.
"Young Master Enichi, do you think everyone's like you? There's no way someone like him has managed it yet," one of the lackeys chimed in.
"Exactly..."
"Did you come over here just to say that?" Nagi suddenly asked.
Enichi froze. Apart from mocking Nagi, what had he come over here to do?
"If there's nothing else, then please leave. Class is about to start. Also, you really are amazing to have extracted chakra so quickly. I admire you."
Although Enichi sensed that something seemed a little off, he couldn't figure out what, even after thinking it over.
Suddenly, his expression changed as he looked at Nagi. He felt that Nagi was a bit of a slacker, but at least he had good taste.
"Hmph! Don't think saying that will make me happy. You're a member of the Uchiha Clan too. You mustn't bring shame on the Uchiha, understand?!"
With that, Enichi left with his group of lackeys.
"He's pretty easy to placate," Nagi muttered to himself.
Beside him, Minato chuckled. He felt that Nagi was treating Enichi a little like a child.
And that was exactly what he was doing. Nagi was already several decades old if he counted his previous life. Why would he pick a fight with a six-year-old?
Someone like Enichi could be handled by going along with him and praising him a few times.
"Nagi, have you really not managed to extract chakra?" Minato suddenly asked.
Nagi paused at the question. He didn't answer either, only smiled.
Minato understood at once. "Looks like I'm not the only one who likes keeping a low profile."
"Mm, same wavelength, same wavelength~"
Minato couldn't help laughing again. What did he mean, "same wavelength"?
"Besides, extracting chakra isn't difficult. Plenty of people in this class have probably done it already. Some even finished before school started; they just haven't said anything."
Nagi spoke casually. Minato nodded in agreement. He thought so too.
Only someone with a personality like Enichi's would enjoy making such a show of himself.
Over the next few days, the school continued teaching basic knowledge and hand-sealing techniques.
Once all the students had learned the most basic chakra extraction, the teacher finally began teaching the Three Basic Techniques.
Although they were the most basic three ninjutsu, they were relatively difficult for students whose chakra control was practically nonexistent and whose chakra extraction was still unstable.
Once they had mastered the Three Basic Techniques, it would mean they had built up some fundamentals. Learning more advanced D-rank ninjutsu would even become easier.
Of course, that was the path for ordinary students. There would always be some geniuses in this world whose foundations were already solid after only a short time.
Nagi was watching Teacher Inoue's demonstration of the Three Basic Techniques with rapt attention. His eyes subtly shifted in color, but in the end, no tomoe appeared.
That was because he had prepared a pair of colored contact lenses in advance, in case he needed to use his Sharingan without exposing it.
However, contact lenses like these could easily fall out during intense exercise, let alone in a fight.
So they could only help him use his Sharingan in everyday situations, like this one.
Nagi's Two-Tomoe Sharingan fixed on Teacher Inoue's movements. The way he formed his hand seals and the flow of chakra through his body as he did so were completely visible to Nagi.
Finally, once Teacher Inoue finished demonstrating, Nagi let out a breath and leaned back in his chair, feeling somewhat tired.
Actively using his Sharingan still took a lot out of him at his current level.
Minato noticed Nagi's sudden weariness and glanced at him, puzzled, but didn't see anything unusual.
"Nagi, are you sick?" Minato thought for a moment, then asked.
"No, I'm just a little tired." Nagi was startled that Minato was so observant. He'd only been acting a little off, yet Minato had noticed right away.
"Mm. If you don't feel well, don't push yourself," Minato said with concern.
"Okay."
Before you continue