Hinata and Ino had already come up with plans to help Takasaki cheat.
Sakura Haruno, meanwhile, planned to report him.
All three girls wanted the same thing: for Takasaki to write their names in his diary a few more times and earn them rewards.
At the same time,
they weren't the only ones hoping to earn rewards by getting close to Takasaki during the final exam.
Their teacher, Kurenai Yuhi, was hoping for the same thing.
At that moment,
in the office,
Kurenai opened the sealed bag of exam papers, but her attention was actually focused on the diary in her mind.
She had read Takasaki's first two diary entries.
The first entry mentioned her for the first time, and the diary rewarded her by increasing her chakra by 10%.
Only after feeling the chakra in her body increase for herself did she realize the diary could make her stronger.
From the second entry, Kurenai discovered that she wasn't the only one with a diary. Hinata had one too.
Hinata had taken the initiative to flirt with Takasaki, teaching him the Three Body Technique. As a result, nearly everything in Takasaki's second entry was about Hinata, which earned Hinata an extra reward from the diary.
A 10% increase in stamina.
Even little girls like Sakura Haruno and Ino would be thrilled by an effect like that.
Even Kurenai, a teacher at the Ninja Academy, couldn't help wanting it.
Hinata was a student in her class. As her teacher, surely she couldn't let Hinata outdo her, could she?
As Kurenai carefully sorted the exam papers, she pondered her plan to get close to Takasaki.
Getting close wasn't enough. Ideally, she'd leave a deep impression on him and make sure he recorded her name in his diary.
She had a plan!
"Takasaki is the class dead last. He probably won't pass the written exam, so as his teacher, I'll give him a hand."
Even Kurenai herself had never expected this.
She was a teacher at the Ninja Academy, yet one day she would help one of her own students cheat.
She couldn't help it. The diary was too tempting.
At that moment,
Takasaki, in the classroom, had no idea Kurenai had set her sights on him.
Naruto, sitting beside him, pulled down his rolled-up sleeves and clutched his head with both hands, looking confused and troubled. "Takasaki, I don't get it. Ino said her clan practices mind techniques and that she'd help a classmate. So why is she only helping you? Why won't she help me?"
They were both dead last in the class, so why was Takasaki being treated so much better?
Naruto felt that fate was unfair.
Takasaki took Naruto's hand. "It's okay, Naruto. I can help you. My pen has ink."
Naruto watched as Takasaki looked over the notes Ino had written on his palm and carefully copied them onto Naruto's.
His eyes welled up with emotion.
He knew everyone in the village looked down on him.
Ever since he was little, they'd called him the Demon Fox and said he had no parents.
He played pranks everywhere just to get people's attention, but he hadn't realized that only made them hate him more.
Naruto understood everything, really. Sakura, the girl he liked, hated him.
Ino hated him too, though she'd never said it outright.
Naruto understood. After all, he was full of flaws, and sometimes he even hated himself.
Fortunately, he still had Takasaki as a friend.
Takasaki was probably the only person in his life who didn't look down on him and still gave him hope.
"Hey, Naruto, why are you crying again?" Takasaki noticed Naruto tearing up and couldn't help laughing.
"Takasaki, you're so good to me. You're the only one who treats me like this."
"Lots of people will be good to you in the future. After all, you're going to become Hokage."
Takasaki pulled out a tissue and wiped Naruto's tears. "Don't cry. And don't use this hand—the one I wrote the notes on—to wipe your eyes during the exam, or the writing will smudge. Then I'll have helped you cheat for nothing."
"Mm-hmm!" Naruto nodded vigorously.
As if he'd suddenly remembered something, Takasaki added, "During the exam, sneak a look at the notes I wrote for you. If the proctor catches you, whatever you do, don't rat me out."
"Mm-hmm! I definitely won't rat you out this time!"
Naruto nodded vigorously again. "I promise!"
Naruto added, "Besides, I'm good at keeping my cool. Even if I cheat, I can make sure the proctor doesn't notice a thing."
That was what Naruto said, but when he saw Kurenai and Asuma walk into the exam room carrying a stack of papers, he tensed up without even thinking.
Especially after they'd assigned the seats and Naruto sat at his desk, listening to Asuma sternly announce the exam rules and the consequences of cheating. Naruto trembled with nerves.
The written exam had begun.
The classroom was silent.
The rustling of exam papers and the soft scratching of pens on paper were especially clear.
Kurenai and Asuma, the proctors, stood at the front of the room, watching the students with stern expressions.
Naruto nervously bit his finger.
As soon as he thought about checking the questions on his exam against the notes Takasaki had written on his palm, he instinctively looked up at the proctors.
When he met Asuma's stern gaze, Naruto quickly pressed his palm against the desk and didn't dare look again.
At that moment, he realized that taking an exam honestly and taking one while cheating really did feel different.
Takasaki, who was also the class dead last, must be nervous too, right?
Naruto looked toward the seat diagonally in front of him to the left. That was where Takasaki sat.
Sure enough,
Takasaki sat at his desk with his head down, staring motionlessly at his exam paper. He had his palm, with Ino's notes on it, pressed against the desk, looking every bit like he didn't dare cheat.
Seeing this, Naruto felt much more at ease.
He wasn't the only one who was going to cheat, anyway.
Once Takasaki started cheating, he'd do it too.
For some reason, he felt that as long as he followed Takasaki's lead, he couldn't go wrong.
Takasaki and Naruto looked equally nervous.
In truth, Takasaki was under several times as much pressure as Naruto.
Asuma's gaze only fell on Naruto now and then, yet that alone was enough to make Naruto tremble with guilt.
But Takasaki felt as though five people in the exam room were watching him.
Why aren't these people paying attention to the exam? Why are they all looking at me? Takasaki thought, keeping his head down.
In his memories of past exams, he'd never drawn this much attention.
It made him feel very uncomfortable.
As someone who was about to cheat, he didn't dare do it without figuring out where all those watchful eyes were coming from.
Takasaki raised his head slightly and glanced around.
The first gaze came from Hinata, seated in front of him.
The second came from Sakura Haruno, seated to his left.
The third came from Naruto, seated behind him to the right.
The fourth came from Ino, in the first row.
He understood why Hinata and Ino were watching him. After all, the two girls were kind enough to help him cheat, so naturally they'd worry that if he got caught, they'd be implicated too.
He understood why Naruto was watching him as well.
But he didn't understand why Sakura Haruno was watching him.
If Sakura Haruno was going to keep an eye on a boy in class, shouldn't she be watching Sasuke?
He'd never discussed cheating with Sakura Haruno. Could it be that she liked him?
Takasaki didn't have time to dwell on that. More than anything, the fifth gaze fixed on him made him feel especially pressured.
Takasaki raised his head a little higher and looked toward the podium.
Teacher Kurenai, with her red eyes, sat on a chair, her crossed legs revealing jade-like feet. The high heel dangling from one of them swayed as if it might fall off at any moment.
She lifted a hand to brush back her hair, sweeping the long locks from her chest and revealing her ample bosom, which stretched the red knit robe taut.
Asuma, her boyfriend, stood beside her, scanning the students in the class.
Kurenai didn't look at her boyfriend. Her rose-red eyes stared straight at Takasaki. When their gazes met, Kurenai parted her red lips.
"Student Takasaki, focus on your exam. Stop looking around, and don't even think about cheating."
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