Chakra

"My name is Kushina Uzumaki, and my dream is to become Konoha's first female Hokage!!!" Kushina stood up and shouted with her eyes closed.

"My name is Uchiha Matsuri. Like most of my classmates, my dream is to become Hokage." Uchiha Matsuri stood up and said flatly, without changing his expression.

"Wow, so that boy's name is Uchiha Matsuri!" a girl said to her deskmate, turning to look at him.

"I didn't expect his dream to be becoming Hokage, too."

"Right? But he's more likely than us to become Hokage!"

"Yeah, I heard he's staying with Lord Jiraiya. And with his Uchiha blood, he's sure to become an incredibly powerful ninja in the future."

Uchiha Matsuri paid no attention to the comments. Instead, he turned to look out the window, which meant he didn't notice the strange look Ino Yamanaka was giving him.

"The Uchiha Clan, huh? This should be interesting," Ino Yamanaka said with amusement.

What Uchiha Matsuri didn't know was that before the Second Shinobi World War, no Uchiha Clan members had ever enrolled in the Ninja Academy. This was naturally related to the Uchiha Clan's inherent arrogance and pride, as well as the Uchiha Clan Head's insistence on educating the clan's members internally. As a result, Uchiha Matsuri had become the first member of the Uchiha Clan to enroll in the Ninja Academy.

When everyone had finished introducing themselves, Ino Yamanaka gave a soft snort. By the time they grew up, hardly any of these brats would even become jonin. And they wanted to be Hokage? They were getting ahead of themselves.

Still, even if their dreams weren't realistic, having dreams was better than having none at all.

"Good. You all have wonderful dreams! But..." Ino Yamanaka's lips suddenly curled into a smile. Then he raised his voice. "You have one month. After that, I'll hold a test. If you still haven't learned to extract chakra, you can get out. The Ninja Academy isn't a marketplace where you can come and go as you please, or graduate whenever you want!"

The classroom fell completely silent. Some students, still caught up in their dreams after sharing them, turned ashen. It was so quiet that you could hear people swallowing. Only a few, including Uchiha Matsuri, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki, remained unfazed as they stared at Ino Yamanaka.

I didn't expect this teacher to put these kids in their place right off the bat. Uchiha Matsuri gave a soft snort.

"Hahaha! Are you scared? If you are, then get out of here! Anyone who gets scared by a few words has no right to become a ninja!" Ino Yamanaka struck the ground hard with his cane.

"Hmph, we're not scared!"

"Right! We're not just going to become ninjas—we're going to become great ninjas!"

The chatter in the classroom seemed to vent everyone's frustration at Ino Yamanaka for looking down on them.

Good. I've finally stirred up these kids' enthusiasm and determination to learn, Ino Yamanaka thought.

"Good. Let me start by teaching you about chakra," Ino Yamanaka said with a satisfied nod. "Chakra is a form of energy produced when the body controls and perfectly combines its various types of energy. It's the source of energy used to perform ninjutsu, genjutsu, and Taijutsu, as well as to create threads for binding opponents or to cut through substances made of chakra."

"Chakra is transformed from a combination of physical and spiritual energy. It has seven natures: fire, water, wind, lightning, earth, yin, and yang. After extracting chakra, you need to form Hand Seals to use a technique..."

Over the course of the day, Ino Yamanaka only taught them some basic information about chakra and how to extract it.

By evening, Uchiha Matsuri had returned home and switched on the light.

"Lord Jiraiya really isn't home," Uchiha Matsuri muttered, looking around the empty house.

"Chakra, huh?"

Uchiha Matsuri stared at his hand, slowly closed his eyes, and held his breath. A few seconds later, he felt a warm current darting around inside his body.

"Looks like I can already extract chakra," Uchiha Matsuri said to himself. "But the chakra I'm extracting is still unstable. I'll have to practice more."

At almost the same time, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were each trying to extract chakra in their own bedrooms. However, even after trying for two hours straight, neither of them succeeded.

For the next month, Ino Yamanaka spent his time teaching the history of Konoha. Uchiha Matsuri was so bored during the day that he would doze off, then focus his mind on extracting chakra at night. He didn't pay much attention to his deskmate, Kushina Uzumaki. After all, in the original story, she would grow up to be Minato Namikaze's wife.

One day, a month later, Ino Yamanaka held a test on chakra extraction.

Uchiha Matsuri passed the test in first place, while Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki followed close behind in second and third. The test reduced the number of students in Uchiha Matsuri's class from fifty to thirty-three.

"Only seventeen got eliminated? These kids aren't bad," Ino Yamanaka said to himself.

Uchiha Matsuri looked around. Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, Chōji Dōtō, Akimichi Chōza, Kiba Inuzuka, Yamanaka Inoichi, Shikaku Nara, Nohara Shin... All the familiar names were still in the classroom.

Clearing his throat, Ino Yamanaka spoke loudly. "I didn't expect so many of you to remain. I'm quite pleased. But don't get too excited. Since the Shinobi World War is nearing its end, the Third Hokage has decided that, starting with your class, everyone must study at the Academy for three years before graduating."

"Also, you'll take a final exam at the end of every term, consisting of a written test and a practical exercise. And in three years, if you want to graduate, you'll have to pass a final graduation test. Anyone who fails will have their graduation delayed by a year."

Just as Ino Yamanaka expected, the classroom erupted as soon as he finished speaking.

"What? We have to sit here for three years before we can graduate?" Nohara Shin, sitting at the back of the classroom, couldn't help complaining.

He was an unremarkable-looking boy. Although he hadn't done well on the test, he was the most lively student in the classroom, so Uchiha Matsuri had remembered him well.

"Ugh, compared to spending three years here, I hate the end-of-term exams even more," Chōji Dōtō said, staring blankly ahead.

"Yeah, and there's the final graduation exam, too. It's such a headache," Shikaku Nara complained, looking at Ino Yamanaka with a pout.

Hearing Shikaku Nara complain, Uchiha Matsuri turned around without thinking and glanced at him.