The First Lesson of the School Year

The days of being mocked and humiliated felt as though they had happened only yesterday. Back then, I had fantasized countless times about suddenly gaining great power one day, so I could teach those who had bullied me a lesson.

But no matter how I prayed, such a thing never happened. In the end, I simply died a hasty, unremarkable death.

When I opened my eyes again, I had gained the great power I had once longed for.

I had also overcome the fear in my heart, stepped onto a campus once more, and even made friends.

Hey, the me from back then, did you see it? I had regained the confidence I once possessed.

"Although school has only just begun, the Ninja Academy is not a place for playing house, so we'll begin the first lesson right away! First is the most important thing a ninja must understand: chakra. Whether it's ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu, chakra is indispensable. It is the source of our strength as ninja..."

On the podium, the Chunin teacher was explaining chakra. But I could not focus on it at all. After all, anyone who had watched the anime could understand this stuff, not to mention that I had my loving mother and Teacher Hill, who was practically a god, teaching me.

Chakra was, in essence, a peculiar kind of energy. In short, in this world, chakra brought by Kaguya stood above everything else.

But honestly, after reading the scroll Mother had left for me, my first thought was that this world's people used chakra in an absurdly extravagant and wasteful way.

The method Hill taught me for converting chakra into Battle Aura was simple. First, draw out the chakra within the body and tear it into strands. Then knead those strands back together into something new, before attaching it to the body. That was Battle Aura.

With only the chakra required for a small Fire Release ninjutsu, I could use Battle Aura to snap a tree stump with one punch, and it did not even count as truly consuming it.

My chakra reserves were not actually that large. Even if I had trained continuously since infancy, at most, I would only be comparable to Kakashi when he became Hokage in the future.

No wonder Hill had never allowed me to learn ninjutsu. She had only taught me Battle Aura and trained my physical abilities.

Otherwise, without overwhelmingly vast chakra reserves, it would be difficult to make a name for myself by throwing around ninjutsu.

Battle Aura was far more cost-effective by comparison, and the chakra required for Battle Aura was actually different from the chakra used for ninjutsu.

How should I put it? It was something like glycogen and creatine.

Battle Aura was a storage-type power. As long as I did not deliberately use it for things like destruction or defense, it was hardly consumed at all.

That meant I could keep Battle Aura active twenty-four hours a day, effectively guarding against unknown dangers.

Unfortunately, the energy it could store was limited. Otherwise, if I stored it for a few years, I might be able to shatter Susanoo with a single slash.

The most important part was that after chakra formed Battle Aura, the Battle Aura remained, while the chakra used to create it began recovering.

One portion of chakra, used twice over. The value for money was simply outrageous.

And once I mastered Haki, I would basically have no use for ninjutsu anymore. My Mythical Zoan Fruit allowed me to control lightning, flames, and wind anyway, so I did not lack long-range attack options.

Unlike me, who was practically drifting through class in a daze, Rin beside me was diligently taking notes, afraid of missing even a bit of knowledge.

Rin was not from a major clan, so this foundational knowledge should have been especially important to her. Later, I should ask Hill to help revise her notes too.

As for Obito behind us... well, he had been extremely serious at first, but soon started dozing off. Though he aspired to become Hokage, that did not mean he would listen during theoretical classes.

There had to be a reason he was dead last. Still, he was the late-bloomer type, so I would let him be.

As for Hatake Kakashi, that super genius, I even had reason to suspect that the one sitting here was his Shadow Clone.

The children from the other major clans were also absent-minded. After all, their elders had all been ninja, and the talented ones might have already learned their clan's secret techniques.

Those people came to the Ninja Academy mainly to socialize, and to go through the motions.

It was not exactly guaranteed graduation, but they definitely had little need to study.

The textbooks and such had been handed out long ago. A casual glance was enough to tell that the Ninja Academy taught almost nothing useful on the battlefield.

The ones who came to teach were all Chunin. If they had chosen teaching, they definitely did not have much real combat experience on the battlefield.

If they were truly outstanding ninja, they certainly would not be standing behind a podium.

[Teacher Hill, do I need to learn any ninjutsu or anything like that now?]

Mother had rarely given me a scroll, so of course I wanted to learn from it. But my training schedule was already packed, and learning ninjutsu required time as well.

So, it was better to ask my teacher about this kind of question.

[Most ninjutsu would not provide Lord Qingyue with a direct advantage at present. With Battle Aura covering your body, you can fight opponents of a higher rank. It is estimated that by the age of twelve, your physical strength combined with Battle Aura will allow you to completely ignore ninjutsu cast by Chunin-level opponents.]

That was already an incredibly exaggerated figure. In other words, once I turned twelve, fighting Chunin would be as easy as killing chickens, and even some Jonin would be unable to pose much of a threat to me.

[Just learn things like the Clone Technique well enough to fool people. For now, your focus should remain on cultivating Haki and Battle Aura. Techniques like the Body Flicker and Substitution Technique are not particularly practical. The movement techniques created through Battle Aura are enough.]

That made sense too. After eating a Mythical Zoan Fruit, I naturally had to make the most of my close-combat advantages.

Then I could slack off in class without worry!

Fortunately, the Ninja Academy ended fairly early, so with a few adjustments, it would not affect my daily training.

Ah, I almost forgot about Hatake Sakumo!

Judging by the timing, the incident that led to his suicide would happen soon. Preventing him from failing that mission was definitely unrealistic. All I could do was figure out how to stop him from killing himself after those events occurred.

I still needed to spend more time around Kakashi. Hatake Sakumo's suicide could probably only be resolved by Kakashi himself.

"Alright, that concludes today's theory lesson. This afternoon, we'll conduct a practical assessment outdoors!"

Class was finally over. I immediately took Rin's notes and began revising them.

"Is something wrong? Did I write something down incorrectly?"

"Not really. I just feel the teacher did not explain things very concisely, so I'm rewriting it a little more clearly for you."

I really wanted to teach Rin how to cultivate Battle Aura, but then I thought about how she wanted to become a medical ninja. In that case, Battle Aura was not really necessary for her.

Besides, cultivating Battle Aura consumed a great deal of energy. It would be terrible if it kept her from paying proper attention in class.

The school did not provide lunch during the noon break. Everyone brought their own bento from home.

Since my parents were not home, and I had no talent for cooking in either of my two lives, I had shamelessly asked Rin to prepare one for me the day before.

Though we were only five, the children of this world were truly capable.

Rin had added extra rice to my bento. She knew I underwent intensive training every day.

The meat consisted of simple grilled fish and some pork, while the vegetables were salad.

It would have gone cold anyway. If she prepared cooked vegetables, they would turn yellow and taste bad, so salad was better.

After finding Obito and Kakashi, the four of us ate our bentos together.

Neither of them had adults at home, so they had simply bought quick food like bread and milk. Thankfully, thoughtful Rin had prepared an extra serving of vegetables and shared it with them.

"Say, Obito, don't you want to become Hokage? Isn't it bad to doze off in class?" Seeing him sleep through the entire lesson, I could not help reminding him.

"Didn't you slack off for the whole lesson too..." the scarecrow-faced mask wearer said coldly.

"How could that count as slacking off? I was taking a reasonable break."

That was not a lie. If I did not rest properly, I simply could not endure Hill's training. Children could die from that.

If this world had jeeps, I felt Hill would definitely start one without hesitation, charge straight at me, and shout for me not to run.

Heh. I had no obligation not to run.

"Qingyue wasn't slacking off. He helped me revise my notes, and he made them very easy to understand. How could he have done that without listening in class?"

I was so touched. Rin was already defending her husband!

"What? You're serious?" Kakashi wore an utterly incredulous expression. "But that guy was obviously..."

Heh heh, Hatake mask guy, this was the special privilege of a noble reincarnator.

"Ah, there's nothing I can do about it. The material here is too easy for me, so listening to class makes me look like I'm slacking off." I mocked them while imitating Light Yagami's expression as he tried not to laugh.

"As expected of Qingyue. You're the only one who can pull off such a shameless pose..."

By the time we finished bickering, the lunch break was over.

The afternoon was for the practical assessment. According to the teacher, its purpose was to gauge everyone's ability so they could assign people according to their strength during future combat simulations.

"Then, who would like to be the first pair to set an example?"

The moment the teacher finished speaking, Obito, who sat behind me, immediately volunteered.

"Kakashi and I will go first!"

"Uchiha Obito and Hatake Kakashi, is it? Neither of you paid much attention in class this morning, so let's see what you can do!"

Hatake Thousand Years of Death wore a speechless expression. It looked like he had wanted to fight me or delay his turn as much as possible, but Obito had directly called him up.

After the two stepped onto the field, they formed the Sign of Confrontation at the teacher's instruction.

The moment the teacher said, "Begin," Obito took the initiative, stepping forward and throwing a punch that Kakashi easily dodged.

Knowing he had exposed an opening, Obito immediately adjusted his stance and prepared to throw another punch, only for Kakashi to launch him into the air with an uppercut.

It was not over yet. Kakashi unleashed a barrage of punches, battering him before finally sending Obito flying.

The teacher was about to raise his hand and announce the end when Obito got back up and charged at Kakashi again.

The result was obvious. Obito did not land a single hit before Kakashi easily suppressed him.

"That's enough! Obito, Kakashi, form the Sign of Reconciliation!"

Obito, looking thoroughly unconvinced, reluctantly held out his hand. Kakashi looked disdainful, as though he did not regard him as a worthy opponent at all.

Next, in order to avoid drawing too much attention, I voluntarily chose Rin as my opponent. Although that caused many people to gossip that I was bullying a girl, I did not care in the slightest.

After walking up hand in hand with Rin, I assumed a serious stance and waited for her to attack first.

Of course, I could not use my real abilities. Basically, I followed Rin's movements and gave her a practice match.

Perhaps everyone else saw me as someone who could only fight a girl to a draw, but the teacher, Rin, and Kakashi all knew what I was doing.

That was enough.