Sasuke knew that if Gekko Hayate hadn't lied to him earlier,
then he would definitely have the upper hand in a clash using the First Form of the Dance of the Crescent Moon!
But that only applied to the First Form: Wind Slash.
Training with the system seemed to follow a different path from Gekko Hayate's.
Hayate improved his skills as a whole, while Sasuke had to improve them one move at a time.
He figured he would have to master one move before he could unlock the next.
That left Sasuke feeling pretty frustrated.
After all, when you relied on the system, you had to play by its rules...
But when it came to his future, he could only go along with it.
Time slipped by, and the years quietly changed.
One day passed.
By the time the morning sun—who knew which ray it was—shone on Sasuke's backside,
he finally crawled out of bed, reluctant to get up.
The previous night's training had drained him, and he had nearly failed to wake up on time.
But today was the Ninja Academy graduation exam.
He had no choice but to make his way to the Ninja Academy...
So,
he splashed some pool water on his face and tidied himself up.
Sasuke was revived and, looking handsome, strode out of the Valley of the End once more.
The Ninja Academy.
Thanks to the previous owner's memories, Sasuke found his classroom without any trouble.
What he hadn't expected was that
the classroom was in utter chaos, filled with deafening noise.
The aisles, the corners, even the teacher's desk were swarming with young children chasing one another and laughing.
"Looks like Iruka-sensei hasn't arrived yet..."
Su Jian shook his head with a wry smile.
Though his body hadn't matured, he was long past the age of innocence in his heart.
He found an empty corner and quietly walked over to sit down.
He didn't like showing off in front of others. As soon as he sat down, he lowered his eyes and summoned the system panel, ready to make the most of his time and practice the Dance of the Crescent Moon.
But just as Sasuke focused his thoughts and summoned the panel,
his ears twitched. Two whispers forcibly drew his attention:
"Is that Sasuke? I'm going to die, he's so handsome!..."
"Ino, why do you always like taking things from me? I don't care about the others, but Sasuke is off-limits!..."
"Sakura, that's not fair."
"Think about it. Since we were little, have I ever had anything good that I didn't share with you?..."
"And now you'd say something like that? I really... sigh..."
"This is different! Sasuke is a person, not a thing!..."
Their voices grew more agitated, and the argument became more heated.
Hearing that, Sasuke's mouth twitched.
"Why does it sound like Sakura's insulting me?..."
He wondered to himself. Ino and Sakura were just children, after all.
He paid it no mind and prepared to clear his thoughts and focus on training.
But just then, Sakura shouted at the top of her lungs:
"Besides, I'm not sharing Sasuke with you. He's mine, and no one can take him away!..."
"Hmph! Sakura, that's exactly what I was going to say!"
"Then we're not friends anymore!"
"From now on, we'll each do our best and see who Sasuke likes! Hmph!..."
"Fine, we're not friends anymore! I won't back down for him! Hmph!..."
At that, the argument abruptly fell silent again.
"Ah... Their friendship is as flimsy as plastic. Sakura really hasn't changed at all..."
Sasuke wasn't fond of the way Sakura treated Ino.
Even if it had all started because of his good looks,
judging by their earlier argument,
Ino had always thought of Sakura and shared good things with her.
So, whatever irreconcilable differences they might have,
Sasuke didn't think Sakura should shout at a friend who had always trusted her in front of everyone and put her on the spot.
This wasn't just about principles.
It was about her character. She was too self-centered and domineering...
As he thought this, a system notification suddenly rang in his mind:
[ Ding! Congratulations, host. Charm +2. Current charm: 37. ]
Looking at the line of information only he could see,
Sasuke gave a wry smile, shook his head helplessly, and thought:
"Ah... this damn charm of mine..."
Where had those two charm points come from?
Sasuke figured it out right away.
They must have come from Ino and Sakura, who had just been fighting over him.
He suddenly realized something terrifying.
At this rate, could his charm one day throw all the beautiful women in Konoha into chaos and leave them unable to resist him?
If things got to that point...
He'd be asking for trouble. If he didn't find a way to deal with it soon,
Konoha would definitely start paying attention to him.
And then he wouldn't be able to lie low in Konoha's beginner village anymore...
At the thought, Sasuke felt a pang of frustration.
He'd never imagined that one day he'd be troubled by being too handsome...
"Maybe after school, I should follow Kakashi's example and get a mask to wear?..."
He had no other choice.
It was the only reasonably safe solution he could think of.
After all, wearing a ninja mask like Kakashi's would look much better than wrapping bandages around his face like Zabuza...
Though he had heard Sakura and Ino's entire argument,
Sasuke had kept his eyes closed the whole time.
He sat with his arms folded, completely motionless, like a statue.
But in a corner he hadn't noticed,
a blue-eyed, blond-haired boy was glaring at Sasuke in anger, gritting his teeth!...
"Damn it!..."
"Sakura-chan likes you so much, and you're just pretending not to care!..."
His fists were clenched, and the whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks seemed to twist with anger...
In fact, the boy wasn't wrong.
Even though the classroom had been noisy,
Sakura and Ino's argument had been so loud that everyone nearby must have heard at least some of it.
He had heard every word clearly, so Sasuke, who was even closer to the two girls, certainly had too.
At last, the more he thought about it, the less the blue-eyed, blond-haired boy could stand it...
He went over to Sasuke's desk, bent his knees, then sprang up in the blink of an eye, as if he had springs in his legs, and landed on the desk in front of Sasuke!
The desk shook violently. The boy steadied himself, crouched down, stared at Sasuke, and slowly spoke:
"You despicable guy!"
"Stop pretending to sleep!"
"If you don't apologize to Sakura-chan today, I won't let you get away with it!..."
With his eyes closed in thought, Sasuke was wondering what kind of mask to buy after school to hide his peerless face.
Then he suddenly felt the desk in front of him shaking.
He ignored it. The room was full of children, after all.
Making a fuss over it would only lower his standing.
But as he thought this, several shouts suddenly rang out in front of him.
"What's going on?..."
Sasuke wasn't angry; he was just baffled.
So he furrowed his brows and slowly opened his eyes.
But the next moment, his pupils shrank. He looked at the blue-eyed, blond-haired boy in front of him and exclaimed:
"Crown Prince?..."
Before you continue