A-Class Students: Obito's Tardiness

As the speech ended, the teacher began leading the students toward the classroom.

However, these students had never been trained to move in formation. The moment the teacher pointed in a direction, quite a few of them had already run off without a trace.

Uchiha Hara, who had expected them to line up and walk over slowly, was left staring blankly.

At the same time, he realized that different educational and cultural backgrounds concealed countless pitfalls. One careless mistake, and he might expose himself.

It was like a certain frog spy who had painstakingly learned Mandarin, read countless Chinese classics, and even specifically learned a dialect. After years of such meticulous preparation, he believed his disguise was flawless and that he was ready to carry out his mission.

Yet the first time he took a train, an old man traveling alongside him saw right through him.

At the police station, the spy refused to accept it and asked the old man how he had seen through him. He had clearly disguised himself perfectly.

The old man said, "Who told you to casually mention the Xuzhou-Bengbu Campaign while chatting with me? We call it the Huaihai Campaign around here."

Still, this worked out well. The teacher's assessment of Uchiha Hara now included slow reaction speed on top of physical weakness.

By the time Uchiha Hara entered the classroom, nearly all the empty seats had been taken.

The order here was not much better either. The room buzzed with chatter and the noisy clamor of children.

If this had been a teacher from his previous life, they would definitely have roared, "Why is our class always the messiest in the whole grade?"

Uchiha Hara turned his head, his gaze swiftly sweeping over the room as he took in every student in the class.

By the window, a silver-haired child wearing a face mask sat alone. His eyes were cold, and he radiated an aura that warned strangers to keep away—Kakashi Hatake. As expected of an aloof genius.

On the other side, a young boy dressed in fine clothes with slicked-back hair was surrounded by several children, chatting and laughing with an air of arrogance between his brows—Asuma Sarutobi, the Hokage's son, born with a halo around him.

Then, his gaze settled on a girl.

She sat alone toward the back. Her long, naturally curly hair flowed like drifting clouds, something exceedingly rare in this world. Her skin was fair, but most eye-catching were her bright, crystal-clear red eyes, which were currently surveying the new surroundings with curiosity and shyness.

Kurenai Yuhi.

For an instant, Uchiha Hara felt as though his heart had skipped a beat.

As a Naruto fan in his previous life, he had always liked this gentle yet resilient girl. Now that the real person stood before him, though she was still young, he could already see traces of the stunning beauty she would become.

"If I came to the Naruto world and didn't pursue Kurenai Yuhi, what would make me any different from a eunuch?" A determined voice rang out from some corner of his heart.

Besides, they were classmates from the same year. The one nearest the water got the moonlight first!

If he missed this chance, he would never forgive himself!

But he immediately suppressed every strange emotion.

Strategy. He had to pay attention to strategy!

A sickly, weak, bottom-ranked Uchiha could not pursue a girl by taking the initiative. That would not fit his persona at all, and it would attract too much attention.

His goal was—to turn initiative into passivity and let the fish take the bait on its own!

He quickly withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and hurried to the empty seat in the farthest corner of the last row. He blended perfectly into the background, like a drop of water disappearing into the sea.

Not long after he sat down, a commotion arose at the classroom door.

A boy wearing goggles and sporting a somewhat foolish grin rushed in frantically, nearly tripping over the threshold.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm late!" Uchiha Obito scratched his head with an embarrassed look on his face.

The teacher, who had entered the classroom at some point, frowned and asked, "What happened to you? It's the first day of school, and you dared to be late? You even missed Lord Hokage's speech?"

Obito stammered, "I-I saw an old granny crossing the street, so I helped her!"

The excuse made everyone burst out laughing. There were no cars or traffic lights in the Naruto world. Everyone walked slowly, so did an old granny really need his help?

Uchiha Hara, however, knew a little about Obito's circumstances. Obito depended on his grandmother for survival, and his situation was not much better than Hara's.

He had probably been delayed while taking care of his grandmother.

But Uchiha Hara had no intention of explaining things for Obito. He did not intend to befriend such an ungrateful wretch in the first place.

Just then, a gentle voice spoke up. "Teacher, since everyone is here, shouldn't we begin class?"

The speaker was a girl with short brown hair, a sweet smile, and face paint on her cheeks—Rin Nohara.

Obito looked at Rin, who had helped him out, and his face instantly turned as red as a tomato. His eyes went wide, and his silly expression made Uchiha Hara shake his head inwardly.

"Love at first sight. No doubt about it."

But...

Uchiha Hara looked at Rin Nohara. Though she was not exceptionally beautiful, she had the delicate charm of a girl next door.

Moreover, her looks were the kind that became more appealing the longer one looked at her.

What was worth noting was that Rin Nohara was not only kind and gentle, but also exceptionally talented.

She had taught herself Medical Ninjutsu, performed an eye transplant on the battlefield, and even become the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tails. That went without saying.

She could also unite a deeply conflicted team into a single force and lead them to complete missions together.

And between two geniuses, she had quickly found her own place, worked hard for it, and ultimately achieved remarkable results!

Compared to her, that girl with the surname Haruno was lacking far too much in both talent and character.

If he had the chance, he could not let someone so talented slip away either!

With Rin Nohara smoothing things over, the teacher stopped pursuing Obito's lateness. He merely said coldly, "Find yourself a seat!"

Obito did not stand on ceremony. Seeing that no one was seated beside Kakashi, he immediately sat down next to him.

Then, the teacher wrote his name on the blackboard: Daisuke Nakano.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Daisuke Nakano. I'm twenty-seven years old and a Special Jonin. From now on, I'll be your homeroom teacher. I'll be responsible for teaching literacy and practical classes. If you have any questions in the future, you can ask me after class if they're related to the lessons. If they aren't related to the lessons, you can also ask me privately. Next, we'll do introductions. You can tell us your name, hobbies, dreams, and so on. We'll start with you two and go one by one!"

Daisuke Nakano pointed at the two students by the door.

Both were boys. The one closest to the door stood up first. "My name is Izumo Kamizuki. I like..."

After Izumo Kamizuki finished, the other one stood up as well. "My name is Kotetsu Hagane..."

Well, damn. Konoha's Gate Guards had started guarding Konoha's gates while they were still in school!

Next, the introductions began one after another, and Uchiha Hara heard several familiar names.

Asuma Sarutobi, Kakashi, Tonbo Tobitake, Hoheto Hyuga, Anko Mitarashi, Uchiha Obito, Hayama Shirakumo, Aoba Yamashiro, Genma Shiranui, Gekko Hayate...

There were also Nai Inuzuka from the Inuzuka Clan, Enshin Nara from the Nara Clan, Shiraishi Yamanaka from the Yamanaka Clan, Shiiichi Aburame from the Aburame Clan, Hisayoshi Kurama from the Kurama Clan, and Akira Uzuki from the Uzuki Clan.

Most of them would become Konoha's future backbone!

When Uchiha Hara saw Gekko Hayate, he had thought Yugao Uzuki would also be in this class, so he specifically looked for her, but could not find her.

Only later did he learn that Yugao Uzuki was six years younger than them and had not even been born yet.

When it was Uchiha Hara's turn, he stood up and said softly in a slightly hoarse, weak voice, "M-My name is Uchiha Hara..." His voice was not loud, just enough for the whole class to hear, yet it carried a listless air.

"Your dream?" the teacher prompted gently.

He fell silent for a moment, as if thinking hard, before saying earnestly, "I-I want to become stronger as soon as possible. I don't want to be at the bottom anymore..."

The original owner might have been weak, but his personality was not. So he could hide his strength, but there was no need to hide his character.

Besides, being weak while still stubbornly talking tough could create a sense of contrast.

"Pfft..." Several suppressed snickers came from below the podium. Asuma's little group in particular looked at him with undisguised contempt.

Uchiha Hara's eyes were blank, and his face was full of confusion, as though he had no idea what was funny about his introduction.

Inside, though, he remained completely unmoved. He even wanted to laugh.

"Perfect. This is exactly the effect I wanted."

He quietly sat back down and continued playing the role of an insignificant nobody.

Then came the introduction of the student beside him.

"My name is Kurenai Yuhi. I like sweet food and hate spicy food. My dream is to become a powerful ninja like my father!" That was right—Kurenai Yuhi sat beside him.

It was not a coincidence. Children in the Naruto world matured early, and there was more than one or two boys who developed feelings for someone as pretty as Kurenai Yuhi.

But children were also thin-skinned. They did not dare reveal their feelings openly, so although there were empty seats around Kurenai Yuhi, no one had dared sit there.

As a result, Uchiha Hara got lucky.

It was just a little unfortunate that they were not desk mates. An aisle separated them.

Uchiha Hara's desk mate was a civilian ninja named Mitate. Uchiha Hara had never heard of him, but since he had made it into Class A, he was probably talented.

However, after hearing Kurenai Yuhi's introduction, Uchiha Hara was somewhat surprised and wondered whether his memories had gotten mixed up.

"If I remember correctly, Kurenai Yuhi liked drinking alcohol and eating spicy food..."

Or perhaps the girl who loved sweet food as a child had changed her preferences after Asuma died?

That was indeed possible. If someone lost their lover, eating the things they had once enjoyed could remind them of that person. Changing their preferences was not impossible.

But with me around this time, you won't need to change what you like. Eating sweet food for the rest of your life wouldn't be so bad!

Perhaps noticing Uchiha Hara's gaze, Kurenai Yuhi gave him a gentle look after she sat down.

It left Uchiha Hara dazed. I haven't even started planning yet, and it already seems like you've taken the bait?

All he could say was that his looks carried him. Although Uchiha Hara looked sickly, his face was truly beyond reproach.

But class was in session, so Kurenai Yuhi only glanced at him once before withdrawing her gaze.

After the introductions, the teacher led several students to collect their textbooks, and a whole class period passed just like that.