Cangyue listlessly lifted his eyelids.
"Morning."
For some reason, he never seemed to get enough sleep.
He looked at the energetic Naruto and felt a fierce pang of envy.
The restorative effects of nine-tails chakra really were impressive.
Last night, this guy had gone through Mental Guidance, practiced tree climbing, and fallen off the courtyard wall. Yet after a single night's sleep, he was already bouncing around again.
Once he had enough valor points, he would have to get a similar recovery ability for himself.
As for keeping a Tailed Beast...
Cangyue glanced at Naruto's stomach and decided that idea was a little unrealistic for now.
The two entered the classroom together.
Cangyue took a seat in the back, slumped over his desk, and soon fell asleep.
Naruto, however, behaved completely differently than he had in the past.
After Iruka began his lecture, Naruto neither sprawled over his desk spinning a pencil nor secretly doodled Hokage Rock in his textbook. Instead, he sat up straight and watched the blackboard intently.
Chalk scraped across the board.
Naruto lowered his head and rapidly scribbled notes.
At first, Sasuke paid him no mind.
But after a while, he noticed certain sounds were missing.
There were no impatient sighs from Naruto.
No creaking as he rocked his chair.
And certainly no paper balls flying over from beside him.
Sasuke turned to look.
Naruto was biting the end of his pen, diligently copying down Iruka's explanation of chakra properties.
He looked even more focused than when he was planning a prank.
Sasuke's brow furrowed slightly.
He held out for a while before finally asking in a low voice, "Do you understand any of this?"
Naruto did not even look up.
"Not really, yet."
"Then what are you writing down?"
"Not understanding it now doesn't mean I won't understand it later."
Naruto kept writing, copying everything on the blackboard into his notebook.
Before last night, it was not as though he had never tried to pay attention in class.
But all those theories about extracting, controlling, and distributing chakra had always sounded like a jumble of unrelated symbols.
Even when he managed to memorize them, he could not put them to use during training.
Over time, Naruto had naturally lost patience.
But after successfully walking up a tree trunk last night, everything had changed.
For the first time, he realized that the things his teacher had taught him could actually be done.
Chakra was not just a lump of energy he could only expend at random.
With the right method, he could control it too.
With that thought in mind, even the once-boring information on the blackboard no longer seemed quite so irritating.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto's notes.
There certainly was a lot written down.
So much that Naruto had copied every word Iruka wrote, and even his offhand examples, verbatim.
Rather than notes, it was more of a transcript.
The corner of Sasuke's eye twitched, and he turned to look toward the back of the classroom.
Cangyue lay sprawled over his desk, sound asleep.
Someone who used to cause trouble every single day had started paying attention in class.
Yet the person who had actually brought about that change was snoring away.
What exactly had those two done last night?
Sakura turned around from the front row and noticed Naruto's unusual behavior too.
She stared at his notebook for a while, then could not help taking his pen away.
"You don't have to write down every single word Iruka-sensei says."
Naruto blinked.
"Then how should I take notes?"
Sakura pointed at the blackboard with the pen tip.
"Pick out the key points. Write down the conclusions first, then note anything you don't understand."
She crossed out several repetitions in Naruto's notebook, then circled the information that truly mattered.
Naruto looked down, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Once the same material had been reorganized, it really was much simpler.
"Oh, so that's how it works!"
"Sakura, thank you!"
Naruto took his pen back and resumed taking notes using the method she had taught him.
Sakura had been about to remind him to keep his voice down, but when she saw Naruto genuinely lower his head to study, she suddenly did not know what to say.
For the next few theory lessons, Naruto remained quietly in his seat.
Kiba turned around several times to check.
Choji even stopped eating his snacks to examine whether someone had replaced Naruto using the Transformation Technique.
After a couple of glances, Shikamaru's gaze settled on Cangyue, who was sleeping soundly in the back row.
People did not change without a reason.
And the biggest change in Naruto's routine was that he had visited Cangyue's house last night.
The gazes around the classroom gradually shifted.
The harder Naruto studied, the more often everyone looked at Cangyue.
[Valor points +10]
Cangyue's eyebrows twitched in his sleep, and he groggily lifted his head.
He scanned the classroom.
Iruka was still lecturing.
Naruto was still taking notes.
He himself had done nothing.
I can earn points from this too?
Cangyue blinked, then buried his face in his arms again.
Apparently, as long as his influence ran deep enough, valor points would come knocking even if he just lay there doing nothing.
Riiing!
The bell rang, signaling the end of class.
Iruka announced that the next lesson would be outdoor training.
After sitting quietly through several lessons, Naruto instantly reverted to his old self.
He snapped his notebook shut and was the first to leap out of his seat.
"Come on, come on!"
"Everyone, let's head to the training ground!"
Naruto grabbed his ninja tool pouch and ran excitedly toward the door.
When he reached the doorway, he turned around again and spread his arms to block the way.
"Today, I'll show you the results of my training!"
Kiba raised an eyebrow.
"What results?"
Naruto puffed out his chest, planted one hand on his hip, and pointed the other toward Cangyue at the back of the classroom.
"From today onward, I'm Konoha's number one Dream Training practitioner!"
Halfway through his declaration, he suddenly remembered Cangyue was still there and hurriedly corrected himself.
"Wait, no!"
"I'm Konoha's number two Dream Training practitioner!"
Naruto planted his feet against the doorframe, hanging sideways across the classroom doorway, and flashed everyone a grin.
"Let me show you what I learned in my dreams!"
The classroom fell silent.
Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, and Shikamaru exchanged looks.
What the heck?
"Hehe, come to the training ground and you'll find out."
Naruto was being mysterious, but he looked extremely confident.
His friends all wore deeply skeptical expressions.
Still, they followed him.
Cangyue continued sleeping in the classroom until the bell rang for the next lesson. Only then did he yawn and push himself up from his desk.
He was ready to head to the training ground and lie down some more.
But in the next instant...
Cangyue suddenly stopped, tilted his head toward the back door, and spoke calmly.
"Come out. My sword has already sensed your presence."
His previously lackadaisical expression turned serious.
As his words fell...
A shadow suddenly dropped out of the wall.
Upon landing, the shadow burst into white smoke with a bang, and a man emerged from it.
The man chuckled. "What keen perception. It seems you're even more capable than I thought."
Cangyue did not recognize this guy at all.
Where did this ninja come from, and why did he like getting stuck in walls?
It did remind him of a certain white-haired acquaintance, though.
"Don't be nervous. I'm Gojō Ryūsen, a Jonin of Konoha."
The man introduced himself.
His surname is Gojō?
Then this guy sounds like he'd be pretty strong.
"So, Jailbird Gojō-sensei, what can I do for you?"
The words slipped right out of Cangyue's mouth.
Gojō Ryūsen froze for a moment.
"How did you know I wanted to take you as my student?"
"Huh?"
Before you continue