"You—you!" Hyuga Toda stared into Uchiha Inabi's eyes, frozen in shock.
"Hahaha!" Uchiha Inabi laughed smugly, hands on his hips. "Hyuga, thanks to you, I awakened my Sharingan!"
Uchiha Inabi's words struck like a thunderclap, and the quiet classroom erupted.
"Impossible!" Hyuga Toda shook his head, unwilling to accept that he had helped Uchiha Inabi awaken his Sharingan.
Pointing at his eyes, Uchiha Inabi said smugly, "I only just turned six and awakened my eyes. Now I'm qualified to talk to you, aren't I, Hyuga~?"
Hyuga Toda was furious. Just as he was about to retort, he suddenly felt someone pat his shoulder. Instinctively, he turned to look.
"Hyuga, please sit down. Class is about to start." Kizaru smiled pleasantly, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"Oh!" Hyuga Toda answered instinctively and obediently sat down.
Only after sitting down did Hyuga Toda realize what had happened. He looked up at the smiling Kizaru, wanting to say something, but unable to get the words out. In the end, he could only swallow them down.
"Haha, Hyuga—"
"Inabi, please sit down too." Kizaru smiled at Uchiha Inabi, cutting him off.
Overawed by Kizaru's presence, Uchiha Inabi also wanted to say something, but couldn't get a word out. He could only sit down reluctantly.
"Thank you." Kizaru smiled as Uchiha Inabi took his seat.
Then Kizaru surveyed the classroom, and the noisy room fell silent once more.
Satisfied, Kizaru smiled, kept his hands in his pockets, and strolled leisurely to his seat.
"Yaaawn!"
After stretching comfortably and yawning again, Kizaru was just about to lie down when he heard a voice in front of him.
"You're getting more and more intimidating." The speaker was Nara Shikaku, who sat in front of Kizaru.
"A little." Kizaru grinned and made a "C" sign with his fingers.
Nara Shikaku rolled his eyes at Kizaru's answer, then turned around and went back to sleep.
Watching Nara Shikaku lie down again, Kizaru rolled his head from side to side, then rested his own head on the desk, ready to sleep.
When Yamakawa Kiyoshi walked into the dead-silent classroom, he was surprised. But when he saw the two sleeping in the back row, he seemed to understand.
Getting ready to start class, Yamakawa Kiyoshi picked up a piece of chalk and threw it straight at Nara Shikaku's head.
Just like on the first day of school, Yamakawa Kiyoshi shouted to make an example of him. "Nara Shikaku, stand up and go stand at the back!"
With a heavy sigh, Nara Shikaku got up from his seat. As he walked out, he said to Kizaru, who was still lying on his desk, "You'd better graduate soon, you know!"
Hearing him, Kizaru didn't lift his head. He simply raised his right hand, made an "OK" sign, then lowered it again.
At the podium, Yamakawa Kiyoshi saw that Kizaru hadn't lifted his head today. He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
"Let's begin class!" With no choice but to ignore Kizaru, Yamakawa Kiyoshi began the day's lesson.
"Kizaru! Kizaru!" Kizaru, deep in a pleasant dream, vaguely heard someone calling him.
He lifted his head from the desk, propped his chin up with one hand, and looked toward the voice.
His eyes slowly opened, and Kizaru saw who had woken him.
With a warm smile, Namikaze Minato looked a little embarrassed to have woken Kizaru.
Rubbing the back of his head, Namikaze Minato said sincerely, "Kizaru, I'm really sorry for waking you."
Kizaru yawned. Instead of answering right away, he looked out the window, trying to figure out how much time had passed.
"It's already the third period. Everyone's on the training field, and it'll be lunchtime soon." Attentive as ever, Namikaze Minato had guessed what Kizaru was wondering.
"Is something up, Minato?" Kizaru smiled as he asked.
"Zen-hiko told me you go to the training ground to practice after school every day." Namikaze Minato looked at Kizaru and hesitated before continuing. "I was hoping I could train with you after school. Would that be all right, Kizaru?"
After asking, Namikaze Minato grew a little nervous. His small hand, resting beside his leg, unconsciously gripped his pants.
This request wasn't an impulsive decision. Namikaze Minato had thought it over for many days before making up his mind.
An orphan, he had a lofty ambition: to become Hokage.
But after getting into the Elite Class, Namikaze Minato had realized the gap between himself and the children from shinobi clans, as well as those with shinobi parents.
He had received no basic education, and had no family to guide him or pass down their knowledge. Though Namikaze Minato worked incredibly hard, his grades in class remained merely above average.
For an ordinary orphan with no one to teach him, those grades were already outstanding.
But for Namikaze Minato, who dreamed of becoming Hokage, they weren't enough!
Namikaze Minato wasn't satisfied with his grades. He wanted to do better, but hard work alone couldn't get him there.
In the Shinobi World, knowledge of training was valuable and expensive—and as an orphan, Namikaze Minato had no way to access it.
So, after thinking it over for many days, Namikaze Minato had approached Kizaru.
He wasn't hoping to learn some secret ninjutsu or training method from Kizaru. He simply believed that training with someone strong would help him grow.
Hearing Namikaze Minato's request, Kizaru didn't answer right away. It wasn't that he was unwilling; Namikaze Minato had simply brought some things to mind.
"Kizaru, I won't get in your way. I just want to train with you." Seeing that Kizaru still hadn't answered, Namikaze Minato hurriedly added, worried he had misunderstood.
Kizaru smiled and spoke.
"Of course! That kid Zen-hiko keeps pestering me to train with him, anyway. From now on, you can train with me and Zen-hiko after school!"
Hearing Kizaru's answer, Namikaze Minato was delighted, and his smile grew even brighter.
"Thank you, Kizaru." Namikaze Minato bowed sincerely to Kizaru. His eyes were filled with joy and gratitude.
"Don't mention it, Minato."
Kizaru had two reasons for agreeing to Namikaze Minato's request. First, as someone who knew the story, he understood the potential of Namikaze Minato, the future Fourth Hokage, and was naturally happy to bring him closer to himself and the Shimura Clan.
The second reason was that, when Kizaru heard Namikaze Minato's request, he suddenly thought of a ninjutsu that the "little sun" of the class would create in the future.
A-rank, natureless, hand-seal-free ninjutsu: Rasengan!
This hand-seal-free technique would pair quite well with Kizaru's high-speed movement abilities.
More importantly, creating a new A-rank ninjutsu would help him harvest more renown and push forward the progress of the Fusion Progress Bar.
Kizaru had already pictured it: on the day of the graduation exam, he'd say "How scary!" after every victory, land a Light Speed Kick with every step, fire a Laser with his left hand, and launch a Rasengan with his right!
Then, after winning, he'd say, "Uchiha monsters really are terrifying!"
That would be quite a sight, wouldn't it?
Thinking of it, Kizaru's smile turned mischievous.