Enrollment

"Can this system be a little more serious?"

Remembering the system's suggestive words from earlier, Yun Xi couldn't help feeling exasperated.

But his complaint received no response from the system.

Seeing that the system wasn't going to respond, Yun Xi didn't dwell on it.

He closed the Shop interface and flopped onto his bed, starting to process everything that had happened that day...

"Good morning, Uncle!"

The next morning, after washing up, Yun Xi headed out to go to the Ninja Academy.

On his way out, he greeted Uncle Heiwa, who was standing by the door.

"Give it your best, kid!"

Uncle Heiwa answered with a smile, then continued, "Want me to go with you?"

"Huh? No need. I can handle it on my own!"

Seeing that Uncle Heiwa actually planned to accompany him to the Ninja Academy, Yun Xi hurriedly declined.

"All right. Be careful on the way..."

"Mm, I will."

After saying goodbye to Uncle Heiwa, Yun Xi headed straight for the Ninja Academy.

The Civilian District where he lived wasn't far from the Ninja Academy, so it only took a few minutes on foot to reach the entrance.

"Are you a new student?"

Just as Yun Xi was looking around for the entrance, a friendly voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Iruka?!"

Yun Xi turned around. A young man wearing a Konoha Ninja flak jacket was looking at him with a smile.

Yun Xi, who knew the story, naturally recognized the Konoha Ninja. He was the first teacher of Naruto and the Konoha 12.

Umino Iruka.

"Hello, sensei. I'm a new student here to enroll."

Yun Xi didn't have a particularly strong impression of Iruka.

After all, Iruka didn't appear often in Shippuden, and he wasn't much of a presence.

Yun Xi's clearest impression of him was simply that he was an ordinary yet great teacher.

"Haha, then come with me. I'll be teaching your class."

After confirming Yun Xi's identity, Iruka led him into the Ninja Academy.

As soon as he entered, Yun Xi spotted a lot of familiar faces.

Sasuke, calm and collected...

Naruto, off to one side...

Sakura and Ino, like flower buds on the verge of blooming.

Finally, he spotted a shy Hinata in the corner.

Aside from Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten, and the others, who were a year older than Naruto's class...

The current Konoha 12 had all arrived at the Ninja Academy.

Though their faces still looked rather young at this age, Yun Xi could easily see how different they were from ordinary civilians.

Ordinary civilian children wouldn't learn how to train in various jutsu until they entered the Ninja Academy.

But except for Sakura, everyone among the Konoha 12 had already learned some basic jutsu.

They also knew secret techniques passed down through their families, so they were not to be underestimated.

Sasuke, the most talented of them, had even reached close to Genin-level strength before enrolling.

That was the huge gap between Konoha's powerful clans and ordinary civilians!

"Looks like everyone's here. Let's introduce ourselves."

As Yun Xi was observing the others, Iruka reappeared.

He held a white folder in his hand, his face beaming.

"I'll go first! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and my dream is to become Hokage!"

At Iruka's words, Naruto darted forward, his face full of excitement.

"Hey, not just anyone can become Hokage!"

As soon as Naruto finished speaking, Inuzuka Kiba stepped out of the crowd with a white puppy.

He looked impatient as he continued, "I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and my dream is to become Hokage too!"

"You're asking for a beating!"

Naruto saw Kiba's expression and immediately prepared to fire back.

"Enough, you two. Let the other students introduce themselves."

Iruka stopped Naruto and gave both him and Kiba a stern look.

"Yes..."

"Hmph, you Son of the Demon Fox will never become Hokage!"

Checked by Iruka-sensei's authority, Naruto didn't continue arguing with Kiba.

But Kiba blurted out what he was thinking, without the slightest regard for Naruto's feelings.

"Inuzuka Kiba's going too far..."

Yun Xi had watched their argument closely. That last remark had clearly gone too far.

Everyone in the village knew Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

But people generally didn't bring it up in front of him.

Part of the reason was the lingering fear of the Nine-Tails.

The other reason was an order from the Third Hokage.

Though the Third Hokage hadn't gone out of his way to look after Naruto, it was clear from what happened later that he did care for him.

Otherwise, Naruto wouldn't have been so friendly with Lord Hokage at the beginning of the story.

"Inuzuka Kiba, that's enough..."

After saying this, Kiba returned to his original spot.

But Shino Aburame spoke up, looking at Kiba with a grave expression.

"What I said was just the truth..."

Seeing that everyone in the classroom was focused on him, Kiba began to defend himself in a low voice.

Naruto didn't argue after hearing what Kiba said, but his fists clenched tightly, betraying the anger in his heart.

The entire classroom's mood grew tense.

"Kiba's not entirely wrong. Why do we have to be classmates with the Son of the Demon Fox?"

"Yeah. What if he can't control the Nine-Tails? Wouldn't we all be doomed?"

"That does kind of make sense..."

The civilian students gathered together and began sharing their opinions.

Their voices weren't loud, but in the unusually quiet classroom, they sounded especially grating...

"You..."

As the person at the center of it all, Naruto heard every word.

Stung by their words, his previously nonchalant expression turned angry. He clenched his fists and started toward Kiba...

"This is bad. The Nine-Tails Chakra inside Naruto is fluctuating..."

As the strongest person present, Yun Xi was the first to notice something was wrong.

He didn't even have time to warn anyone. With a sidestep, Yun Xi moved in front of Naruto.

He placed a hand on Naruto's forehead and said in a lightly teasing tone, "A Hokage wouldn't attack his comrades."

Yun Xi's words gradually brought Naruto's muddled mind back to clarity.

"What did you say?" Naruto murmured, his voice trembling with disbelief...

"I said, a Hokage wouldn't attack his comrades."

Yun Xi repeated himself, a helpless smile appearing on his face.

He hadn't planned to intervene at first, but he wanted to prevent an even bigger problem later.

So he had no choice but to act and keep Naruto from losing control on his first day at the academy.

After all, nothing like this had happened in the original story, and Yun Xi was only trying to prevent a butterfly effect.