Mizuki and Iruka / Uchiha Shingen, the Jōnin Instructor

Therefore, the current Lord Hokage has every right to be right.

He's not the only one pulling Hokage, right? Besides, there are definitely a lot of outstanding students in this year's class.

"But, wouldn't the combat ability of Team 7 be too much higher than the other groups? Besides Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke, there's also Hinata Hyuga. If these three kids are in a group, there's a clear difference in combat power compared to the other groups. This would mean the testing standards would be different, which might make some kids feel it's unfair."

The Aburame Clan spoke seemed to be a straightforward person.

But he is no ordinary person; he is a legend of the Aburame Clan, the nano-level poison insect user Aburame Shikuroo, and one of the big shots among the Leaf Village Jonin.

"A ninja can't be judged solely on combat ability; other aspects are also important," said Uchiha Fugaku. "Brother Shiguro, neither Naruto Uzumaki nor Uchiha Sasuke... their graduation exam results outside of combat subjects were outstanding."

At this point, Uchiha Fugaku couldn't help but twitch his eye.

Namikaze Minato next to him, had the same reaction.

Both fathers are very worried.

The two kids' non-military exam results were so terrible; there's no doubt they were the main slackers in class.

That's terrible.

Demanding a perfect score of 100 is indeed excessive, but shouldn't one be able to get 90 points without even looking?

But neither of you got a score higher than fifty!?

Sarutobi Hiruzen stood to the side, chuckling.

Konohamaru is a master of all subjects, no wonder he's his most beloved grandson.

Unfortunately, only two of the three children can be placed in the same group at most, so Konohamaru will have to go to the other group.

"In that case, wouldn't this child Sakura Haruno be more suitable?"

"Shingen, what do you think?"

Namikaze Minato looked at Uchiha Shingen with practiced ease.

Even after Hokage for over ten years, Namikaze Minato still wasn't thick-skinned enough.

Uchiha Shingen was speechless.

How the hell can this be his business?

But everyone's attention has already turned to this.

"I don't think it's a big problem." Uchiha Shingen cursed inwardly, but smiled on the outside. "After all, the basic principle of grouping, besides allowing students to develop rapport as early as possible, also includes promoting healthy competition. It's not about pursuing absolute equality, which is neither realistic nor reasonable."

"Shingen- kun, I'm not against it," Aburame Shikuroo said. "I've looked into the students' information beforehand. Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke are very close in strength, but their weaknesses outside of combat are also very similar. This probably won't promote effective competition. It might be better if the two kids are put in different groups."

On stage, Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Fugaku were now twitching at the corners of their mouths.

Damn it, how embarrassing!

At least the Aburame Shikuroo was polite enough not to directly say that he was all brawn and no brains.

"If the gap is too big, it won't achieve the effect of healthy competition." Uchiha Shingen spread his hands. "Lord Shiguro, you are too strong. Not everyone can be as strong as you. Everyone's ceiling is different. A large gap can actually make people feel negative."

Aburame Shikuroo: "???"

What do you mean I'm too strong? Leaving aside the people on stage, isn't Uchiha Shingen the most unreasonable one here?

"Lord Shiguro, you see, only Konohamaru Sarutobi's martial arts scores are comparable to these two children's. However, the three of them can't all be in the same group. Therefore, they need a teammate who can match their pace and make up for their weaknesses in other aspects. Hinata Hyuga's martial arts scores are average, but she has Byakugan and Gentle Fist, and her academic scores are above average. Compared to the other children, she is the only suitable candidate. Sakura Haruno has perfect scores in academics, but her martial arts scores can't keep up with these two children's pace. On the contrary, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino's team is more suitable for her."

Aburame Shikuroo thought about it and felt that what Uchiha Shingen said made a lot of sense.

Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke indeed far superior to all the other students in terms of combat ability, except for Konohamaru Sarutobi. But if all three of them were put in the same group, then that team could take a break and go straight to participate in this Joint Chunin Exams.

Originally Aburame Shikuroo wasn't against the group assignments, but just felt that adjusting them would be better for the children. However, Uchiha Shingen had taught at the school the longest and held the most authority, so since Uchiha Shingen thought it was fine...

"I see." Aburame Shikuroo picked up the documents in his hand, looked at them again, and couldn't help but praise, "As expected of Shingen- kun, he has indeed taught before, and his understanding of his students is very profound."

Chapter Three: Mizuki and Iruka Umino

While a group of Leaf Village bigwigs were networking in the Jonin Council activity room... no, I mean, while the adorable students were being divided into groups and assigned teachers, the adorable students were making a ruckus in the classroom, as mischievous as ever.

The two preserved egg duo were unusually well-behaved today, which made the other preserved eggs quite uncomfortable.

"Sasuke, have you grown taller?" Eggman No. 1, who was passing by, was the first to notice that Uchiha Sasuke was different from usual.

He casually draped his arm over Uchiha Sasuke's shoulder.

Where is your calligraphy brush?

His response was not Uchiha Sasuke's usual smug expression.

"It hurts! Don't press on me!" Uchiha Sasuke's expression was contorted.

My butt is still warm from last night's spanking.

Naruto Uzumaki, standing next to him, grinned as if he wanted to laugh, but the actual result was a similarly distorted expression.

The two distorted faces startled Eggman No. 1.

To be fair, Naruto Uzumaki trains his butt more frequently than Uchiha Sasuke, but their mothers were of different rank as ninjas.

So the effect of them both being beaten was the same.

As for the reason for being beaten...

"It's all your fault! You changed the score so badly, it doesn't look like the real thing at all."

"Nonsense! It was clearly you who couldn't hold on, you traitor!"

Beside him, Egg No. 1 thought he understood.

"So your exam papers were found at home."

He suddenly realized, and looked at the two of them with an expression as if they were idiots.

"Aren't your parents ninjas too? What's the point of changing the grades? Can't you tell from your answers that you failed?"

Uchiha Sasuke: "..."

Naruto Uzumaki: "..."

Thinking back carefully, it seems that's how I was exposed.

"It's all your fault! Why did you have to say it? It's so embarrassing!"

"You stinky Sasuke! Do you want to fight?!"

Come on!

Seeing that the two were only waving their hands around without moving their buttocks, Egg Number One got bored and walked away.

The two men, who had been bluffing, instantly went from moving to still, carefully protecting their buttocks.

Just then, the classroom door opened, and two Ninja Academy teachers wearing green vests walked in.

One of them had silver hair.

"Huh? Mizuki- sensei seems to be in a bad mood?" Naruto Uzumaki glanced up and noticed that both teachers weren't in a good mood today, mainly because the white-haired guy's demeanor was off.

"Idiot Naruto, he's not a teacher at the school." Uchiha Sasuke seized the opportunity to berate his friend, mercilessly mocking, "Shingen- nii already said that Mizuki- sensei is no longer a teacher at the school."

"So what if it's not? What's the big deal?"

"So what if you're that great? What are you going to do about it?"

The two academic underachievers couldn't stop arguing for a moment and started arguing again.

Their voices reached Mizuki's ears well on stage.

This made him even angrier, as he was already in a bad mood.

After all, from his perspective, these were two brats using his misfortune as gossip.

[You two brats from wealthy families, if it weren't for your family background, you'd be nothing!]

Mizuki didn't show anything on her face; she maintained her smile and still looked like a reliable teacher who cared for children.

Although, as Uchiha Sasuke said, he had actually been stripped of his teaching qualifications, the process was not yet complete, and he was still temporarily staying at the school.

Only the Hokage has the authority to disqualify Ninja Academy teacher, and it was Uchiha Shingen who advocated for doing so.

The reason is quite simple: during a mission, Mizuki deliberately killed his injured comrade in order to complete the mission.

However, his setup was decent, but the evidence was insufficient.

However, after Uchiha Shingen overheard the case from Uchiha Fugaku, he recalled his impression of the white-haired devil and, with a single sentence, Mizuki was expelled.

He was unlucky, as he happened to be assigned to Uchiha Sasuke's class, which is why Fugaku took notice of the case.

Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke were arguing quite loudly, and the whole class could hear them. This made the students look at Mizuki strangely. Iruka Umino, who came in with Mizuki, saw this and quickly patted the podium.

"Naruto! Sasuke! You two can't use rumors as an excuse to argue! No... you're not allowed to argue! You're always the noisiest!"

"It's alright, Iruka-sensei, children are adorable because they're lively," Mizuki said with a smile.

[You pretentious jerk, do you think you can win over these rich kids? They look down on commoners like you!]

That's what Mizuki thought, but he knew that Iruka Umino was a very peculiar character at the Ninja Academy.

Take Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke, two spoiled brats, as examples. They are fearless and listen to no one but Iruka Umino.

The students' parents also trusted Iruka Umino.

The school leaders also spoke highly of Iruka Umino, and both the retired Third and the current Fourth Hokage clearly remembered Iruka Umino.

Mizuki and Iruka Umino grew up together and were both from impeccable Konoha Ninja backgrounds. However, Mizuki noticed that those with power and influence were very kind to Iruka Umino.

This makes absolutely no sense!

They were both commoners, just like him!

Why do those wealthy families treat Iruka Umino with more respect?! They treat him like a completely businesslike person?

This guy is an idiot, okay? He doesn't know how to use resources at all, he's such a moron!

He's different. He worked so hard to get into the Ninja Academy to become a teacher, but it wasn't for the sake of being a teacher!

It's been like this since I was little; everyone around me fucking loves Iruka Umino!

What's so good about this idiot?

Suppressing her jealousy, Mizuki continued to maintain the gentle smile she had practiced countless times.

On stage, after Iruka Umino gave the egg duo a good scolding, the classroom finally quieted down.

"Now, I'll announce everyone's group assignments." Seeing the children return to order, Iruka Umino was satisfied, but also somewhat disappointed.

He knew that some of the children, after passing the final test, would no longer be students, but would begin a new stage in their lives as Genin.

After becoming Genin, they will face many challenges, some of which will be fatal, such as war, in which countless Genin lives are lost.

Iruka Umino had tried his best to hold these students to the highest standards while they were at school, but he was only a Chunin, and this was the limit of what he could do.

Composing himself, Iruka Umino said, "After the group assignments, you will all be carrying out missions as Jonin under the guidance of Jonin. What the academy can teach you is actually not enough to deal with the dangers you may encounter in the future, so you must obey the Jonin's orders and not miss any learning opportunities, understand?"

"We know!" the students responded in unison.

Children may be mischievous, but they will still know who truly cares about them and who doesn't.

This is also the main reason why Iruka Umino can command the respect of these spoiled rich kids.

Next, Iruka Umino began to read out the names of each group in order.

Chapter Four: Instructing Jonin Uchiha Shingen

"Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Uchiha Sasuke, Hinata Hyuga."

In the classroom, Iruka Umino had just finished reading the names of the Team 7 when he saw someone raise their hand.

"What's wrong, Konohamaru?"

"Teacher! Can I switch with Hinata?" Konohamaru Sarutobi asked loudly.

Are you kidding me? If they're not in the same group, how can he defeat the despicable Naruto and become his boss?

There's no such thing as a leader who isn't part of the same group!

Mizuki's eyes lit up, and he was about to speak.

"No way." Iruka Umino refused bluntly. "The grouping is to balance the strength of each group. It is precisely to ensure that the strength of each group is comparable that the teachers have grouped them this way."