Yuhi Katsuyo was registering students at the school gate. She watched the trio approaching while chatting nonstop.
She greeted them with a smile. "Good morning, Uka, Furin, Sawa!"
"Good morning, Teacher Katsuyo!" The three who had been called looked up, politely returned her greeting, then continued talking about what they'd been discussing!
Seeing the trio's unhurried response, Yuhi Katsuyo, holding the registration book, paused in surprise and instinctively raised her left hand to check the time.
8:28:01
She hadn't remembered wrong!
She shook her head helplessly, thinking that these kids were unreliable, then reminded them, "Stop chatting and head inside! You've got less than two minutes before you're late!"
"You don't want to get punished for being late on the first day of the New Term, do you?"
At their teacher's reminder, the trio came to their senses, remembering that mortifying punishment for being late!
They exchanged glances, then hurried off toward the classroom!
As they ran across the Playground, Uka Senju spotted what looked like a crowd near the stairs in the distance, so he led his two friends straight to the side of the Teaching Building.
He glanced at the open window on the side, then gestured to the other two. "Let's go up this way. There are too many people on the stairs!"
"Okay."
"Sure!"
The three circulated the Chakra in their bodies, letting it cling to their feet as they stepped up the wall of the Teaching Building!
"Why didn't you take the main route? You're taking a shortcut again!" Kurama Shimei asked with a laugh, watching his three friends take an unconventional route.
He took off his backpack and set it on his desk, hung the New Sword beside it, and looked at the friends he hadn't seen in a month. Uka Senju shrugged and teased, "We're all ninjas now, after all. Isn't taking a shortcut perfectly normal?"
"Besides, the world had no roads to begin with. The more people who walked a path, the more it became a road. If we keep walking on walls, maybe one day we'll make a new path!"
Hearing Uka's perfectly serious theory, several classmates nearby laughed and teased the trio who had climbed the wall.
"Don't laugh. I'll show you why we didn't take the stairs!" After putting down his backpack and dog, Inuzuka Sawa stood beside his desk and casually picked up his deskmate's cup, then tossed the water out the window.
"Don't! That's hot water!"
"..."
Inuzuka Sawa shook the empty cup in his hand and looked at his deskmate, utterly confused.
He really hadn't expected anyone to put hot water in a cup in the middle of summer. Somewhat puzzled, he said, "Yoshino, it's summer!"
Looking at the stunned Sawa, Aburame Yoshino habitually pushed up his glasses and replied unhurriedly, "It's fine. With your form, the water should cool down by the time it hits the ground!"
As soon as he finished speaking,
a string of curses came from outside the window!
"Ah, shit!"
"Who the hell did that? What a jerk!"
"Hey, upstairs! Why'd you dump water? And it's fucking hot!"
"Who did that? Are you asking for a beating? Looking to get your hide tanned?"
He had been about to lean out and apologize, since he'd thrown hot water, but after hearing that last curse, Inuzuka Sawa stopped.
As their sworn enemy, everyone recognized who had shouted that last curse.
The group, who had been laughing together, fell silent and all looked at Inuzuka Sawa, wanting to see how he'd respond!
Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Inuzuka Sawa didn't hesitate. He leaned straight out the window and yelled, "You little Sarutobi brat! Your grandpa here did it. Got a problem with that?"
Seeing Sawa's response, his friends started egging them on.
"Ooh!"
"Monkey, don't chicken out! Get up here and teach Sawa a lesson!"
"Monkey, if I were you, I wouldn't let that slide. Get up here and teach Sawa a lesson!"
Seeing that everyone had already gotten fired up, Uka Senju paid them no more mind. He sat at his desk and played with the puppy Furin had brought.
Including Uka, there were ten of them in their group, from the Senju, Inuzuka, Aburame, Hatake, and Kurama clans.
The five clans had been allies since the Warring States period. They had grown even closer after founding Konoha, and the ties between their families extended to their children.
After the Ninja Academy opened, in accordance with the agreement reached years earlier, each clan sent one or two children to the Academy every year!
Coming to an unfamiliar place, the children were influenced by their family ties and instinctively formed groups!
Uka's class was no different. Given their status and numbers, no one in the class dared provoke them, and of course, they didn't go looking for trouble with anyone else!
Unfortunately, starting with this class, the three Sarutobi students and their allies had begun acting arrogantly for some reason.
After bullying the others into silence, they turned their attention to Uka's group.
Over the past year and a half, the two groups had clashed many times. Uka and his friends had won more often than they'd lost!
But all those clashes and humiliations had caused the hostility between the two sides to deepen.
So whenever they got the chance, they'd egg the other side on like they'd just done!
Below the Teaching Building, the people who'd been splashed heard the cheering from upstairs. Those who knew they couldn't afford to provoke the group shut up and walked around the building to leave.
Meanwhile, a whole bunch of heads appeared at the windows on the first, second, and fourth floors to watch the commotion.
"Quick, quick!"
"Save me a spot!"
"Move over!"
Most of the students had heard about the conflict between these two groups in Class One of the second year. They wanted to see whether they'd actually start fighting on the first day of the New Term.
"Will they fight?"
"Not on the first day of school, probably!"
"Who knows? Let's watch!"
Seeing heads poking out from every floor to watch the commotion,
and hearing their chatter beside him,
Sarutobi Genshi realized he couldn't afford to lose face. He bellowed at the people on the third floor, "Aburame Kaun, Hatake Bunkei, what does my business with Inuzuka Sawa have to do with you two? Get lost and stop sticking your noses where they don't belong!"
"Inuzuka Sawa, don't get cocky! Watch out, or Grandpa Sarutobi will skin your dog alive!"
"Woof, woof, woof!" Before anyone else could speak, the two Ninja Dogs immediately started barking wildly at the window when they heard that.
The little white-and-brown dog belonging to Inuzuka Furin was especially amusing.
It barked at the window while retreating into Uka Senju's arms.
Only when it felt someone behind it did it bark even louder!
Uka Senju couldn't help laughing at the little spotted dog's antics.
In his previous life, he'd only seen this kind of dog acting tough because its owner was nearby on Douyin. He hadn't expected to see it in real life today!
So he put a hand on its back, giving it more courage and letting it run wild to its heart's content.
Sarutobi's threat to skin the dog had struck right at the Inuzuka's weak spot. As the most dog-loving clan in the Shinobi World, how could they tolerate that?
Inuzuka Sawa reached out to hold back his Ninja Dog, which was so worked up it nearly jumped out the window. Pointing fiercely at Sarutobi Genshi below, he said, "Sarutobi, remember what you said. We'll settle this in Practical Combat Class this week. Don't go crying home and playing the victim, saying Dog Lord hit you too hard!"
Sawa had fought this all-talk Sarutobi many times already.
Even without a Ninja Dog, they could fight to a draw. Now that he had one, beating him would be easy!
If he dared to say that, then next time Sawa wouldn't let him off without breaking something. Otherwise, Sawa's foul mouth would have gone unpunished!
Inuzuka Sawa's challenge left Sarutobi Genshi at a loss for words. He thought he'd just heard a Ninja Dog barking. The Inuzuka had a dog!
But in this situation, he couldn't afford to lose face, no matter what. Besides, he'd trained a secret move over the summer vacation!
So he summoned his courage and shouted back, "I'll see you in Practical Combat Class. We'll find out who ends up worse!"