Emerging Talent

A week later...

When Iruka saw Lin Chuan come to class as usual, he gave up on saying anything. During the first few months after school started, the boy had seemed quite well-behaved. Who would have thought he was actually a problem student who skipped class so often?

This past week, the boy had truly worried him sick. At least whenever he skipped class in the afternoon, he went home. That was the one thing that gave Iruka some comfort.

When Iruka asked why he skipped class, Lin Chuan said he went to the training grounds outside to practice with kunai, claiming there was not enough room at school. Iruka had secretly followed him once and seen that Lin Chuan really was practicing kunai, so he gave up on lecturing him.

As long as Lin Chuan knew to go home, that was enough. Iruka would not have to keep running to Lin Chuan's house either. There were over twenty students in the class; he could not focus all his attention on one student. If he neglected something else, he would not even have a place to cry about it.

Now that he knew Lin Chuan's routine and knew he went home after school, Iruka decided to let him be. The afternoon PE class was teaching the students shuriken throwing anyway, and Lin Chuan's throwing skills were quite good. He was a hardworking child with ideas of his own.

"Turn to the back of your textbooks. Today, we'll cover chakra nature transformation and the classifications of ninjutsu." Once Iruka saw that all the students had arrived, he took out his textbook, had them turn to the relevant section, and began the day's lesson.

Ring, ring, ring—

The morning classes soon ended, and it was lunchtime again. Lin Chuan took out two lunch boxes, while Naruto had already rushed over impatiently. Every lunch felt like opening a mystery box.

"Chuan, what delicious food do we have today?" Naruto held his chopsticks as he licked the corner of his mouth. He could barely stop himself from drooling.

"This time, it's seaweed rice balls and dried fish. This one is yours, Naruto." Lin Chuan picked up the lunch box on the desk and handed it to Naruto. Ever since Naruto had ordered lunch from him last time,

Naruto had paid him 2,400 ryo, covering a month's worth of lunch boxes. Lin Chuan had also told his family about it and asked his mother to prepare an extra lunch box for 1,200 ryo.

Making one lunch box was work, and making two was work too. Cooking after work could earn her some extra pocket money, and 1,200 ryo could buy twenty bowls of Ichiraku Ramen. Its purchasing power was pretty decent. His mother did not object and gladly agreed to make an extra lunch.

After lunch, it was time for afternoon PE again. There would be a kunai throwing test that afternoon. Each person had ten kunai, with ten points as a perfect score and six points as a passing grade.

Lin Chuan had deliberately not skipped class that afternoon. How could he possibly miss such a perfect chance to show off? After grinding so hard for so long, of course he had to put on a spectacular display.

Iruka intended to gauge the children's skill with kunai throwing. His gaze could not help drifting toward the cool-looking, black-haired Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga of the Hyuga clan, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and the children from other clans and ordinary families.

The clan children had encountered kunai throwing early on, so there was no need to worry about their grades. Lin Chuan was another child whose kunai throwing did not need worrying about. These children would basically all pass.

Holding the test sheet, he called the first name on it. "Sasuke Uchiha, you're up first..."

"Uchiha? That Uchiha?"

"Ahhh, it's Sasuke!" The moment Sakura Haruno saw Sasuke going first, she became excited, her eyes turning into hearts.

"Sasuke, it's Sasuke!" Ino was also so excited that she swooned, leaning against Sakura Haruno. The two of them were Sasuke's biggest fangirls.

"Tch, I can't stand that guy. He acts all pretentious every day." Seeing how popular Sasuke was and hearing all the girls cheering for him, Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Hehe, if you were as handsome as him and had skin as fair as his, you could be like that too. If your character model is bad, don't be jealous," Lin Chuan teased from the side with his arms folded.

Even Kishimoto admitted Sasuke's character design was top-tier. He was the handsome guy of Naruto, and even Lin Chuan could not compare. If he had not transmigrated here, the original owner would have been nothing more than a wild weed by the roadside, an unnamed nobody.

"Hey, Chuan, whose side are you on? Why are you speaking up for him?" Naruto was genuinely depressed. He had thought he and Lin Chuan were friends, that they could share a common enemy!

"Waaah! Nine points! That's amazing!" Some girl screamed, letting everyone know Sasuke's kunai throwing score.

"Nine points. Not bad. Next, Shikamaru Nara." Iruka looked toward Shikamaru, who was leaning against a tree. He had heard about the personalities of the ninjas from that clan; they all hated troublesome things.

"What a drag," Shikamaru muttered under his breath. He lazily got up, walked to the kunai target, and casually tossed the kunai around, scoring eight points.

When the final kunai missed the target, Shikamaru let out an imperceptible sigh of relief. He had no interest in stealing Sasuke's spotlight. Being noticed was too troublesome for him.

"Eight points. Not bad. Next, Naruto Uzumaki..."

"Wahaha, it's finally my turn! Watch me get ten points!" Naruto marched forward full of vigor, then returned looking utterly dejected, his whole body seeming to turn into a gray backdrop amid waves of laughter.

"Naruto Uzumaki, one point. Failed." A vein bulged on Iruka's forehead. Naruto's performance was simply unbearable to watch; his score was far too poor.

Next, he called out a series of names. "Choji Akimichi, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Ino Yamanaka..."

As the children stepped up one after another to throw kunai, they basically scored seven or eight points. No one scored nine. Seeing this, Sasuke also breathed a sigh of relief. No one could surpass him; he was still first.

"Shino really has no presence," Lin Chuan said as he looked at Shino, whose body was wrapped in his high collar and whose eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. Only when Iruka called his name did Lin Chuan notice that he had been standing right beside him. He truly was a ninja with remarkably little presence.

"Next, Chiba Lin Chuan." Iruka looked at the problem student who liked skipping class. What teacher did not like students with good grades? Yet this high-achieving student happened to be a problem student.

"It's that guy's turn." Shikamaru glanced sideways at Lin Chuan. He had secretly followed him last week and knew how strong he was. Mere kunai throwing could not possibly stump him.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Lin Chuan threw all ten kunai in succession, every single one striking the bullseye. Everyone was instantly stunned.

Some people could do it but did not want to. Others truly could not do it, which was why they found ten kunai striking the bullseye so impressive.

As for someone like Sasuke, he had probably only missed one bullseye because of an accidental mistake.

His kunai accuracy against fixed targets was perfect every time. This was only ten kunai throws, so it was effortless for him.

If he wanted to fleece Konoha for benefits, he had to start building his genius persona now. Geniuses always had plenty of privileges, and it would make learning other ninjutsu more convenient in the future.

And getting close to Naruto—did they really think just anyone could get close to Naruto at this time?

At this point, aside from old man Sarutobi and the ANBU protecting Naruto, it was their classmates who had the most opportunities to interact with him. Among the classmates who could casually approach Naruto without rejecting him, only the Ino-Shika-Cho trio from the Hokage's faction counted, and Lin Chuan now counted as one of them too.

"Chiba Lin Chuan, ten points." Iruka's hand paused as he held his pen. He had already seen Lin Chuan's kunai throwing before, but seeing such a performance again still shocked him. This child was only six years old, yet he had trained his kunai skills to this extent. Even the Uchiha clan's...