Self-Introduction

"Next, I'd like each of you to introduce yourselves in the same way. Let's start with you!"

Dāhé Wàng pointed at a student seated at the far left of the first row.

Very quickly, the students in front had all finished introducing themselves.

And, as expected, the result did not surprise Yin Jie.

Among the students in his year, aside from Shiranui Genma and Ebisu, who sat in the same row as him, there was no one else who had appeared in the original story.

"My name is Shiranui Genma. I like boiled pumpkin, I dislike spinach, and my dream is to become one of the elite among jonin!"

With a senbon clenched between his teeth, Shiranui Genma rose to his feet and introduced himself to everyone in the classroom without the slightest hint of stage fright. Then, amid enthusiastic applause, he calmly sat back down.

While applauding, Yin Jie nodded subtly.

Shiranui Genma's introduction had been the smoothest of them all. His understanding of and expectations for himself were exceptionally clear, and his dream was realistic rather than as distant and unattainable as those of the other students.

Although, in Yin Jie's memory, Shiranui Genma had ultimately only become a special jonin in the original story and never grew into the elite jonin he dreamed of becoming, he was still far from weak. He had been able to trade blows with Maki, the jonin who served as the face of the Hidden Sand Village, without falling into a disadvantage.

He had even earned the Hokage's deep trust and, together with Raido Namiashi and Tatami Iwashi, formed Genma Squad, serving as a guard for both the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade.

"My name is Ebisu. The things I like are..."

Ebisu looked at the classmates whose gazes were all fixed on him, seeming slightly nervous. After a brief pause, he said, "Fish cakes and grilled crab!"

"The things I dislike..."

"As long as it has carrots in it, I hate it!"

"As for my dream..."

"My dream is to become an elite teacher!!!"

By the end, Ebisu was so nervous that he simply squeezed his eyes shut and shouted it out. Compared to the dreams of the other students, his did seem somewhat modest.

However, after he finished speaking, although the classroom fell silent for two or three seconds, equally enthusiastic applause soon rang out, led by Dāhé Wàng.

Ebisu's plain and unadorned dream was not mocked by any of his classmates. Instead, it received Dāhé Wàng's approval.

Yin Jie applauded as well, because he knew that Ebisu would indeed become an elite teacher in the Hidden Leaf Village.

Although Ebisu lacked—or rather, had never mastered—sufficiently advanced ninjutsu, leaving his combat strength only at the level of a chunin, his fundamentals were as solid as those of a jonin. Coupled with his specialization in guidance and teaching, as well as his talent for nurturing children and building strong foundations for them, he too was promoted to special jonin, specializing in education.

And what Yin Jie remembered most clearly was Ebisu's statement: "A ninja's bloodline determines everything."

Whether he had said it unintentionally or had truly seen through the essence of ninja, it had to be said that this sentence was indeed the truth of the ninja world.

After all, as everyone knew, Naruto was also known as The Legend of Eyes in the Five Villages' Brawl. Without a good bloodline, Kage level was probably the upper limit one could see at a glance.

The applause died down, and Ebisu took his seat.

Then it was Yin Jie's turn. He stood up, looking utterly relaxed and natural.

He was the last one.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Uchiha Yin Jie!"

"There are many things I like, but what I like most is probably making friends!"

"As for things I dislike, there are many of those too, but what I hate most are people who destroy peace!"

"And my dream is to become the first Hokage of the Uchiha Clan!!!"

His flawless acting kicked in once more. Yin Jie fully stirred up his emotions as he delivered that long speech.

However, not everything he said reflected his true thoughts.

Because he knew that although Hiruzen Sarutobi was not spying on him at this very moment, it would not be long before his words reached Hiruzen Sarutobi. This speech had, in truth, been meant for Hiruzen Sarutobi to hear.

Yin Jie was sincere about making friends.

After all, a great man had once provided a strategy proven correct by time: make more friends, make fewer enemies, and unite all forces that could be united!

Yin Jie agreed with that deeply.

If the Uchiha Clan wanted to reclaim everything that rightfully belonged to them, they needed to slowly change their strategy. They absolutely could not continue as they were now, isolating themselves and having almost no dealings with the other ninja clans of the Hidden Leaf Village.

However, the friends Yin Jie wanted to make needed to be valuable to him—or rather, to the Uchiha Clan. After all, friendship was mutual.

As for what he had said afterward about hating people who destroyed peace, that was merely based on his experience of having been brought back from the war-torn Land of Rain. Combined with his knowledge of the plot, he had deliberately tailored it to Hiruzen Sarutobi's ideals in order to display his breadth of character.

He was no saint. What did peace in the ninja world have to do with a six-year-old Uchiha child like him?

Of course, if he eventually grew powerful enough to become a second Sage of Six Paths, then so-called peace would be no more than a casual matter to him.

In the end, everything still depended on strength...

Besides, saying that becoming Hokage was his dream was not exactly a lie. As the saying went, a Hidden Leaf ninja who did not want to become Hokage was not a good Hidden Leaf ninja.

What was more, it was about time the position of Hokage came around to the Uchiha Clan.

After all, the name Hidden Leaf Village had been chosen by Uchiha Madara.

And Hashirama Senju had once proposed that Uchiha Madara become the First Hokage.

It could be said that if that innately evil old ghost, Tobirama Senju, had not pulled some tricks, then Uchiha Madara should have been the First Hokage!

Therefore, for Yin Jie, who had already integrated into the Uchiha Clan, reclaiming the Hokage position they deserved could indeed be considered a dream. As for who ultimately became Hokage, that did not matter.

As long as it was an Uchiha.