Ninja Academy

In the blink of an eye, the ten-day break flew by, and today was the official start of the Ninja Academy school year.

Lihuo got up early. Unlike the black Uchiha training clothes he wore for his usual workouts, he chose a blue Uchiha T-shirt and white shorts (like Sasuke's first appearance).

After breakfast, he packed an extra rice ball and set off to begin his school life.

Along the roads in the Uchiha Clan Grounds, he saw many kindhearted aunties and uncles, who warmly checked in on him.

"Hey, little Lihuo, have you eaten? Come have one of Uncle Teuchi's pancakes!"

"No thanks, Uncle Teuchi. I've already eaten. But if you see Obito later, tell him to hurry up. He's going to be late!"

Amid this friendly atmosphere, Lihuo left the clan grounds.

The Uchiha outside their clan grounds were usually members of the Konoha Military Police Force on patrol. They all looked stern, and some even wore haughty expressions from time to time.

"So this is the Uchiha Clan—a complicated bunch, proud, arrogant, kind, and stubborn all at once," Lihuo thought.

As he walked along Konoha's main streets, he occasionally heard passersby whispering.

"Wow, that kid's so cute—and kind of handsome, too!"

"Right? If he were just a little older, I'd definitely chase after him."

"Calm down, Jingbo, you're already fifty! (;￣O￣)..."

Lihuo couldn't help feeling speechless as he glanced at the older woman buying breakfast nearby, and he inwardly grumbled.

"So this is what Sasuke must've felt like back then."

Suddenly, he sensed a gust of wind behind him, accompanied by rhythmic shouts.

"Another ten laps around the village! If you can't finish, you're doing five hundred leg raises! Burn, my youth!"

It was Guy training. Although he'd passed this year's entrance exam, he'd been refused admission because he had no talent for chakra (as seen in Kakashi's memories).

Dai had encouraged Guy, telling him that if he kept working hard and burning with the fire of youth, he would surely make something of himself and protect the people he wanted to protect.

So Guy trained even harder, which made things tough for Lihuo, who trained alongside him. To avoid falling behind, Lihuo had steadily increased his own training load as well.

"My good friend, are you going to school?" Guy shouted. His thick eyebrows and green jumpsuit were so eye-catching that his shout drew even more attention from passersby.

Lihuo wasn't shy, but he couldn't shake his habit of feeling embarrassed on other people's behalf. Though his toes curled in secondhand embarrassment, he still steeled himself and answered.

"That's right. Let's train together after school!"

"By the way, where's Uncle Dai? Isn't he training with you?"

"My dad? He went on a mission. I think it's a C-rank mission..."

Seeing Guy's face, drenched in sweat from training, Lihuo wiped it for him. He took the opportunity to fix Guy's hair, and sneakily patted him on the head.

"Ding! Headpat C-rank ninja: Might Guy. Choose one of the following rewards."

"One green jumpsuit"

"One tube of eyebrow thickener"

"Konoha Strong Fist"

Without hesitation, Lihuo chose "Konoha Strong Fist."

Then, along with a faint headache, the moves of the Konoha Strong Fist style were deeply imprinted in Lihuo's mind.

What's more, he could feel his muscles growing stronger.

Not only could they better adapt to the way the Strong Fist style generated power, but it was as if muscle memory had been forcibly instilled into his muscle groups, allowing Lihuo to react as quickly as possible. This was undoubtedly a tremendous improvement to his Taijutsu.

Good fortune lifted his spirits. Thrilled with his reward, Lihuo was in even better spirits—but it was almost time for class.

The two exchanged a few brief words. Guy continued training hard, while Lihuo set off for school. As he walked, he couldn't keep his frustration bottled up and grumbled to himself.

"Seriously, which idiot moved the Uchiha Clan Grounds to the edge of the village?!"

"Even getting to school takes this much effort. No wonder that idiot Obito is late every single day."

"If only the Uchiha Clan Grounds were as centrally located as the Hyuga or Sarutobi compounds—or even the Ino-Shika-Cho families' homes."

"Come to think of it, why would someone as strong as Uncle Dai take a C-rank mission? Oh, right, because he's still a Genin. No wonder Konoha's so bad at recognizing talent..."

After weaving through streets and alleys, Lihuo finally reached the classroom on time. The moment he stepped inside, he was swept up in the lively din.

They were children, after all, and couldn't sit still. Everyone was chattering away, talking excitedly.

Among them, Lihuo spotted many familiar faces.

Asuma, Kakashi, Nohara Rin, Shiranui Genma...

The only one missing was Uchiha Obito. It looked like he was late again.

There was also one unexpected person—the phone-scrolling menace, Uchiha Aotian.

But Aotian no longer seemed as haughty as he had ten days ago. His face was bruised and swollen, and he sat at the back by the window, reviewing his lessons.

Lihuo looked around and decisively picked the seat next to Aotian. Why? The back row by the window was the king's homeland. If he wanted to rule the school, this was surely the place where his empire would rise.

Lihuo tossed his schoolbag onto the desk by the window and patted Aotian on the shoulder.

"Uchiha Aotian, mind if I sit on the inside?"

Aotian's nose, plastered with a bandage, twitched. Then he looked up at Lihuo.

"Uchiha Lihuo, I know I lost to you. If you want to humiliate me, you don't need to go about it like this."

"Aotian, your name isn't Xiao Tian. No one's going to humiliate you on purpose. I just want to look out the window when I don't feel like listening to class."

Aotian didn't say anything else. He silently moved aside to let Lihuo through.

Lihuo took his seat and unpacked. Then he pulled a bottle of liniment from his schoolbag and tossed it to Aotian.

"What happened? Did you get jumped? Why are you in such bad shape?"

"It's from training. Lihuo, one day I'll surpass you!"

Lihuo found this amusing. He hadn't expected the boy he'd defeated to show such determination.

"Good. Keep at it. You can keep the liniment; I've got plenty."

Aotian rubbed his shin, but the pain instantly twisted his face. In the end, reason won out over pride. He took the liniment and quietly said,

"Thanks."

Suddenly, the noisy classroom fell silent, as if someone had hit the mute button.

"Based on my ten-plus years of student experience, the teacher's here," Lihuo deduced.

Sure enough, a sturdy, square-faced, kind-looking middle-aged teacher walked in.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Ryunosuke Oshima, and I'll be your homeroom teacher. I hope we'll get along..."

The ordinary, monotonous school days began.

The Ninja Academy had arranged morning theory classes and afternoon combat practice for Lihuo and the others.

Although Lihuo prioritized personal training, he was just as interested in theoretical knowledge.

Just as Lihuo was eagerly absorbing knowledge like a sponge,

the hallway erupted with a commotion like an army bearing down, a complete battlefield rout.

"I'm going to be late!!!"

The voice stopped outside the classroom. It had to be Uchiha Obito.

"I... I'm sorry, Sensei. I'm la... late because there was an old... old lady on the way..." Obito panted.

Teacher Oshima smiled kindly. "It's all right. Uchiha Obito, right? Come in. Don't let it happen again."

Little did he know that Obito would be late every day from then on.

At that moment, Obito looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hurried into the classroom and sat beside Lihuo.

The last row now looked like this:

Aotian　Obito　Lihuo

Obito edged away from Aotian in disgust, nearly pressing up against Lihuo.

Seeing the rice ball in Lihuo's desk, Obito didn't hesitate. He popped it into his mouth.

"Obito, being late is bad enough, but now you're stealing my rice ball?"

"Haha, come on, we're practically brothers. I'll bring you one next time."

"The thing is, this rice ball is several days old."

"Really? I was wondering why it tasted a little strange."

"Yeah. It's expired."

"Whaaat??? Then why did you bring it?"

"I only noticed after I brought it."

Obito: (ﾟoﾟ;;