Reward

Chapter 27: Reward

In reality, Ayato's indifference and lack of response caused the people gathered around him to gradually disperse. After all, there was no need to keep pressing a warm face against a cold shoulder. Still, if Ayato could keep holding first place in the future, they probably would not disperse so easily.

Only after everyone had left did Yamanaka Ino get the chance to approach Ayato. She nervously came over to greet him.

Ino did not know why she was nervous. She had greeted Ayato before, but after seeing him ignore everyone just now, she felt that he might ignore her too.

"Ayato, you've become really popular."

When Ayato turned and saw Ino, a helpless expression appeared on his face. "I don't want to be this popular. It's annoying. I just want to read quietly for a while."

Seeing that Ayato's attitude was the same as usual, Ino let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "There's nothing to be done about it. After all, Ayato scored far, far higher than second place."

Ayato sighed as well. "What a pain."

"So you deliberately ignored everyone?" Ino suddenly seemed to realize something.

Ayato looked around, and only nodded after confirming no one was nearby. He might not be very sociable, but if people heard him say it outright, he would offend them. Pretending to be aloof was enough; there was no need to make enemies.

"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret for you." Seeing his expression, Ino could not help laughing.

"Yeah. It'd be troublesome if someone else heard." Ayato did not say anything more.

Still, Ino left feeling satisfied. Not only did they now share a secret, but she also felt a little special. After all, Ayato had ignored everyone else, yet he had responded to her.

Ino could even feel the surprised gazes of those people as they watched her converse with Ayato as an equal, and she grew a little smug.

How could Ayato have thought so much about it? After putting on a cold front to drive everyone else away, he could not exactly keep pretending in front of someone he knew.

If Ino knew, she would probably complain, "You're already cold enough. You don't need to pretend!"

"Those terrifying people have finally left." Only then did Naruto return to his seat. Wiping away nonexistent cold sweat, he complained, "I couldn't even get back to my own seat."

"They really were scary." After thinking about it, Ayato agreed. He had seen this scene in the original story and thought it was exaggerated then. Now that he was the one facing it, it was genuinely exhausting.

"It was all because of you." Shikamaru walked over from the other side, staring at Ayato with dead fish eyes. He was deeply dissatisfied with the guy who had forced him to leave his seat.

"What could I do? It's not like I could deliberately hold back." As he spoke, Ayato glanced at Shikamaru.

"Uh, I guess that's true." Shikamaru scratched his head, unsure what to say. Was he supposed to admit that he had held back on the written test?

But did that mean Ayato had noticed? Shikamaru looked at him, only to find that his attention had already returned to his book. He could not help sighing. This guy truly deserved first place.

The day ended quickly. As usual, Ayato trained his body, practiced Void State, and completed his final Lightning Release Massage. He did not abandon those habits just because he had taken first place this time.

After all, based on what Ayato knew about himself from his previous life, if he broke the routine once, he would find all sorts of excuses to slack off afterward. He could not let that start.

Then came the familiar scene from yesterday, except this time Ayato knew Sinai wanted to ask about his grades.

Ayato had no intention of being cryptic. After handing Sinai the score sheet, he took the clean clothes and towel and headed toward the bathroom.

Looking at the score sheet in her hands, at the perfect marks and the first-place ranking, Sinai was a little dazed. Her son went out to play every day, yet his grades were this good?

Physical education was understandable enough. Ayato came home drenched in sweat every day, so his stamina must have improved from all that activity.

But how had he also gotten first place in theory? Was her son really that talented?

Sinai fell into deep thought. Thinking of how sensible Ayato had been since childhood, she felt that being a little genius did not seem so strange. Though she had been more tired recently, seeing his grades made her feel even more motivated.

Later, she could even brag about her son to her coworkers. Sinai smiled as she thought about it.

In truth, Ayato was also the reason she had become more tired. His Lightning Release Massage really could help him recover better, but better recovery required energy.

Where did that energy come from? It did not appear out of nowhere; it came from food. That was why Ayato's appetite had recently skyrocketed.

But in Sinai's eyes, this was probably the result of training diligently at school. If her wages were only used to support their daily needs, things would be tighter in other areas, but she could barely manage.

If she truly could not manage, she could borrow some money from her coworkers first. It should not be difficult. With Ayato's grades, he would definitely have a promising future, and repaying this small amount of money would not be hard.

When Ayato came out of the bathroom, Sinai grabbed him in a hug and rubbed his wet hair. "My son, you're amazing! Tell me, what reward do you want this time?"

"Can it be a ninjutsu?" Ayato thought for a moment before asking.

Sinai's smile immediately froze. Her husband's inheritance had been used up when she exchanged it for the Shadow Clone technique. There was nothing left to exchange for other ninjutsu, so she could only shake her head.

"Then I don't want anything." Ayato thought for a moment before answering. He knew their family's situation too. He had nearly eaten them out of house and home, so what else could he ask for? Fortunately, Sinai worked at the Grilled Meat Restaurant and could get meat from the restaurant more cheaply. Otherwise, there really would not have been enough food for Ayato.

"Is there really nothing else you want?" Sinai had a headache.

"No." Ayato confirmed. Rather than waste money elsewhere, they might as well buy more food.

As for Shuriken and Kunai, he could temporarily use pebbles to practice with shuriken. Stones were too fragile for kunai, but Ayato had already set his sights on something. Based on past practice, the first-place student in the First Grade final exam should receive a Special Kunai.

And Ayato had already claimed that Special Kunai for himself.

"All right." Sinai could only nod helplessly. Although Ayato said he did not need anything else, as his mother, she still felt that she should reward him for getting such good grades.

The weather was gradually turning colder, so she would knit him a sweater. It had been a long time since she had done handicrafts; she hoped her skills had not declined. Sinai smiled as she thought about it.

No matter what, with a child who was so outstanding and sensible, what parent would not be happy?

Sinai carefully examined Ayato and nodded to herself. It was time to dress him up properly too. It would not do for him to keep wearing ragged clothes like before. If he dressed handsomely, attracting a few little girls would not be bad either~