The Instructor Was Actually That Late White-Haired Guy?

"Get back to your seat. You're keeping me from sleeping."

Sen rolled his eyes and kicked Naruto, who was clinging to his leg like a stubborn plaster, away.

From the podium, Iruka watched Team 7 devolve into utter chaos and rubbed his forehead in pain.

He finally understood why Lord Naruto had made an exception and put four of them together.

He clearly wanted to use one monster to suppress the other two troublemakers!

"Alright, alright, quiet down!"

Forcing himself to focus, Iruka began announcing the rosters for the other teams.

One by one, the teams were taken away by their respective jonin instructors.

The once-noisy classroom gradually became empty.

In the end, only the four members of Team 7 remained.

Along with Iruka at the podium, whose eyes had reddened at the thought of parting with his students.

"Everyone, though I hate to part with you, all good things must come to an end."

Iruka looked at the four troublesome children before him, his heart full of mixed emotions.

"Your instructor will be here to pick you up soon."

"From now on, you'll be real ninja. Make sure you get along and help each other."

With that, Iruka took one last look at the classroom where he had spent six years, then turned and left.

The door closed softly behind him.

An eerie silence fell over the classroom.

Naruto sat in his chair, swinging his legs irritably.

Sasuke, meanwhile, sat with his eyes closed and arms crossed, looking as though he dared anyone to bother him.

Sakura occasionally stole glances at Sasuke, a lovestruck smile hanging on her face.

As for Sen, he had entered sage mode the moment Iruka finished announcing the roster.

He pulled out the luxurious folding recliner Kurenai had given him yesterday from his ninja tool pouch and unfolded it with a click.

His movements were so practiced that it seemed as if he had rehearsed them hundreds of times.

He set the recliner by the window where the sunlight was strongest, then pulled out a soft eye mask and put it on.

The moment he flopped onto the recliner, he entered a dormant state entirely cut off from the world.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all dumbfounded by his seamless routine.

"Hey! Big bro! What are you doing? We're still waiting for our teacher!" Naruto was the first to shout.

"Do you think this is some beach vacation?"

Sen did not even remove his eye mask. He merely let out an impatient snort through his nose.

"Waiting is waiting. What does that have to do with me sleeping?"

"Just call me when the teacher gets here."

Time passed, second by second, amid the strange atmosphere.

One hour...

Two hours...

The sun outside had already climbed from the east to directly overhead.

The students from the other classes had long since been taken to lunch by their instructors.

Yet Team 7's instructor had not even shown his face.

"Damn it! How much longer are we supposed to wait?!"

Naruto finally reached the end of his patience and leaped up from his chair.

Like a monkey, he bounced all over the classroom, irritably clawing at his hair.

"Are we being messed with? Maybe there isn't any instructor at all!"

"Shut up, dead last."

Sasuke finally opened his eyes and cast him a cold glance.

"Wait quietly. Stop yelling like an idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot?!" Naruto instantly bristled, pointing at Sasuke's nose as if he were ready to fight.

"You."

Sakura stood up as well, hands on her hips as she spoke up for Sasuke.

"Can't you be a little more mature, Naruto? Stop disturbing Sasuke's rest!"

"Argh! This is pissing me off!"

Naruto scratched wildly at the wall. Then his eyes suddenly lit up as he thought of a prank.

He dragged over a chair and stepped onto it.

Picking up a chalk-covered blackboard eraser from the podium, he carefully wedged it into the crack above the classroom door.

"Hehehe! When that late teacher opens the door, he'll get one huge surprise!"

Naruto dusted off his hands and grinned smugly.

The instant Sakura saw what he was doing, she put on the expression of an adoring fan.

"Wow! Naruto, that's such a great idea! It'll definitely give that teacher a huge shock!"

Though she said that aloud, she was thinking, This kind of childish trap will definitely make that late guy look stupid, and it'll let Sasuke see how smart and cute I am!

"Hmph. Boring."

Sasuke looked at the precariously balanced blackboard eraser and snorted disdainfully.

"How could a jonin possibly fall for such a childish trick?"

After saying that, he coolly closed his eyes again.

Meanwhile, Sen lay in the corner, motionless from beginning to end, like a corpse.

It was as though none of the commotion outside had anything to do with him.

Another hour crawled by.

Just as Naruto's patience was about to run out completely and he was preparing to rush out and complain to Iruka—

"Creak—"

The tightly shut classroom door finally made a faint sound.

The door was slowly pushed open from outside, leaving a narrow crack.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura immediately focused their gazes on the gap.

Even Sen, lying on the recliner, made a slight movement with his eye-mask-covered head.

A man with silver, spiky hair poked half his head inside. His forehead protector covered his left eye, and a black mask covered the lower half of his face.

His listless, dead-fish eyes swept over the classroom.

Plop.

An exceptionally crisp sound rang out.

The blackboard eraser wedged above the door fell under the pull of gravity with perfect accuracy.

It landed squarely on top of the silver-haired man's head.

White chalk dust fell over his hair and face like snow.

The air froze in that instant.

Naruto clutched his stomach, wanting to laugh but not daring to, his face red from holding it in.

Sakura looked horrified, frantically apologizing in her heart, Ahhh! I didn't mean to! I really didn't mean to!

Even Sasuke's eye twitched.

This jonin... seemed kind of slow?

The silver-haired man stood rigidly in the doorway for a full three seconds.

Slowly, he raised a hand and patted his fluffy silver hair.

The chalk dust fell away.

Then, with those utterly unruffled dead-fish eyes, he swept his gaze over the four brats in the classroom again.

His eyes lingered on Naruto's goofy face for a second, Sasuke's cold expression for a second, and Sakura's terrified face for a second.

Finally, they settled on Sen, who lay by the window wearing an eye mask, as if he had already fallen into a dead sleep.

"Hmm..."

The silver-haired man drew out the sound, seeming to ponder something.

After a long while, he finally spoke, his voice as lazy as though he had not eaten his fill.

"How should I put this..."

"My first impression of you all..."

He paused, and an unmistakable trace of disgust flashed through his dead-fish eyes.

"I really don't like you."