The morning fog still carried the dampness of the day before.
Inoue Satoru tidied his hair before stepping into the teachers' office. The moment he walked in, his eyes locked onto Kenyama Meimei, who had been teaching since the first year.
Her flax-colored hair was tied into a clean, practical ponytail, and not even the ninja tactical vest could hide her voluptuous figure. Meimei was busy organizing materials to begin teaching a new class of children. At the Ninja Academy, teachers stayed with the same class from the first year until graduation, then started the cycle over with a new first-year group.
Inoue Satoru adjusted his clothes one more time and approached her desk with what he considered a charming smile.
"Teacher Meimei, would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"
"No." Meimei replied without even looking up, keeping her eyes on her lesson plans.
Inoue returned to his desk, defeated. It was still early, the prep time before classes began.
After arranging the textbooks, Kenyama Meimei picked up a few notebooks and suddenly asked Inoue about Uchiha Jin.
"Teacher Inoue, I heard Uchiha Jin was transferred back into your class?"
Inoue instantly regained his energy and posture. "That's true. If I remember correctly, last year he was transferred into your class, wasn't he?"
Meimei had also been Jin's teacher for a year. Thinking of that Uchiha who seemed to never sleep at night and spent classes catching up on lost sleep made a headache bloom behind her eyes. That kid was an even bigger headache than Kushina, who exploded at everything. At least Kushina paid attention in class.
Right now, Jin's ninja combat evaluation was still zero. That was not the teacher being malicious. It was because Jin did not care and slept all day. How was anyone supposed to grade that?
Seeing the worry on Inoue's face, Meimei felt a bit of sympathy. "That kid is a serious problem. He not only sleeps through class, he's always trying to invite me out to dinner."
Meimei sighed. She knew her figure was attractive, but being constantly invited out by an underage child was strange. Was the problem with her, or with that brat? And the look in his eyes was no different from the look Inoue gave her. He was only twelve. Did kids today mature that early? What was she doing at twelve? She had been secretly crushing on a handsome boy from the Hyūga clan.
No, forget it. Early maturity at the Ninja Academy was practically tradition.
Even so, Jin gave her a lot of headaches. There had been a time when he kept sending her flowers and constantly asking her out. It was like he only came to class because of her. But since he was a child, you could not exactly call it harassment.
"What? That brat dared to harass Teacher Meimei?" Inoue's eyes widened. He did not expect that kid to have the same taste as him, cough, or rather, to dare harass his goddess.
"He's just a child, it doesn't matter," Meimei said, brushing it off. "But I think you should be careful, Teacher Inoue. He really likes skipping class."
Meimei remembered last year. Uchiha Jin's attendance rate had been only fifty percent. Especially after she rejected him decisively, he vanished and was never seen again.
"What?" Inoue Satoru's expression turned serious. If Jin skipped classes, it would be a stain on his career as a teacher. It would not affect his future job, but it would make him doubt his own ability to teach. With that thought, he dashed out of the office toward the classroom.
When he arrived, every student was present except one. As expected.
"Uchiha Jin!!"
Yes, Uchiha Jin had skipped class shamelessly. He walked down the street, yawning. He knew the Academy textbooks inside and out. If he had to compare, he knew the curriculum better than Inoue Satoru did.
Unfortunately, the teacher was not Meimei with her sculpted body, which drastically reduced his interest in attending class.
Even though Konoha's streets looked prosperous, there were few pedestrians. Jin watched the people passing by. They wrapped themselves in thin clothes, wore worried expressions, and hurried along. Most of the shops that were open were restaurants. Besides the rushed civilians, he also saw ninja running with furrowed brows. The war had not officially started yet, but the smell of conflict was already spreading through the village.
On the commercial street, Jin spotted Might Duy helping a merchant unload goods. Duy was bent over with five or six heavy sacks on his back, and there was no sign of his teammates.
Jin clicked his tongue in admiration. "Tsk, tsk." The current Duy was not at his peak yet, but opening up to the Sixth Gate should not be a problem for him. And yet he was here doing porter work.
Jin walked over to greet him. "Yo, uncle, we meet again."
When Duy saw Jin, his expression turned into pure terror. "Uchiha!"
He leapt back in one huge hop. The trauma from last night's scare was still fresh.
"Be careful!" The merchant beside him complained, annoyed by the sudden movement.
"Sorry, sorry." Duy hurried to apologize.
Jin raised an eyebrow. The merchant only glanced at the Uchiha emblem on Jin's clothes and, not daring to say anything else, backed away a few steps. In Konoha, being an Uchiha was intimidation all by itself.
"Wait a bit for me," Duy whispered to Jin. Then he hit the turbo. He carried more than a dozen sacks in one go and finished the work in an instant. After that, he bowed humbly to the merchant, who finally looked satisfied and let him go.
Leaning against a post, Jin watched with raised brows. The shinobi world was a deeply twisted society. The people who held the true power were the Daimyō (Feudal Lords), ordinary people. The ninja were only swords in their hands. It was just that sometimes, swords were not very obedient.
The noble class led by the Daimyō and the merchant class feared ninja, yet also looked down on them. It was absurd. It was not that ordinary people could not have power, but those particular people did nothing useful and acted with unbearable arrogance. In a normal world, they would have been overthrown long ago.
"Hahaha, young man, sorry to keep you waiting." Duy wiped his hands on the sides of his pants. Truthfully, he had no idea why this young Uchiha had come looking for him.
"Uncle, have you practiced the ninjutsu I gave you?" Jin lifted his head with an innocent, childlike expectancy on his face. His strength might not be much, but his acting was professional level.
"I practiced! It was much simpler than I expected," Duy laughed. That ninjutsu was probably the second thing he had ever managed to learn in his life, the first being taijutsu.
Then why have you still not reached the basic level? Jin kept smiling, but he wanted to question him. Namikaze Minato and Kushina had done it in one night. Why was Duy taking so long?
"Uncle, if you have any questions, you can ask. I'll explain."
"Oh, you practiced it too? But if you practice that, don't you become unable to use normal ninjutsu?" Duy asked, surprised. The scroll clearly stated that once you mastered the technique, the use of normal ninjutsu would be blocked. He himself chose to practice because he had no talent for ninjutsu anyway. But an Uchiha who could not use ninjutsu?
"You're Uchiha Jin?" Duy finally reacted, pointing at Jin in shock.
"Looks like you've got a brain after all, uncle," Jin said, not surprised. His reputation had spread in an abnormal way. Were the Uchiha really hated that much? Just because one of them could not use ninjutsu, everyone had to know? He could not understand it.
"Hahaha." Duy laughed awkwardly. Was that a compliment or an insult?
"Then, uncle, ask whatever you want. After all, it's a ninjutsu from the Uchiha. If you can't learn it, I'll have to tell everyone you stole it…"
Before Jin could finish, Duy covered his mouth with his hand. Cold sweat ran down his forehead as he glanced around nervously, afraid someone might hear. Only after confirming no one was paying attention did he lower his voice and ask, "But wasn't that the reward for my mission?"
"Yes, that's true. But only I know that. In the report I filed at the Hokage Building, it says I paid you in cash." Jin shamelessly revealed his plan to frame him.
Duy's face went white as paper, and his body swayed. He had been set up by someone in the village? So people from the same village could not be trusted?
"Now, I'll give you two options. Complete one of them and this ends here. If you don't complete it, hehe." Jin let out a cold, menacing laugh, watching Duy's face change colors. Tricking an honest man really was too fun.
"Sir, please have mercy! My wife is pregnant!" Duy dropped to his knees right away, begging.
Jin scratched his cheek, embarrassed. Looks like I went a bit too far. He hurried to pull Duy back up, and now he was the one looking around nervously. Thankfully, no one noticed. Jin spoke slowly.
"Listen to my conditions first. Either you master the ninjutsu I gave you by tonight, or you defeat me in a fight."
Duy scratched his head, his eyes turning into question marks. He was not being asked to do anything illegal or immoral. He sighed in relief, then asked uncertainly, "That's all?"
Seeing that Duy did not believe him, Jin quickly confirmed it. "That's all." Suddenly, he felt like honest people were scary. In the future, he would not dare mess with this type again.
Duy frowned in thought, then his face brightened. He gave Jin a thumbs up. "Ah, I get it! Young man, you're trying to motivate me! I'm so moved!" Tears of emotion spilled from his eyes.
Whew, I managed to fool him. Jin wiped imaginary cold sweat from his forehead. He had gotten carried away.
"Y... yes, that's exactly it."
"Don't worry, young man! I'll complete the ninjutsu for sure!" Duy patted Jin's shoulder with confidence. Even if it took ten or twenty years, he would manage.
"If you can't, I'll tell everyone."
"Hm... hey!" Duy stared at Jin with renewed terror. He felt like every word out of this kid's mouth made his heart stop.
"If you think the ninjutsu will take too long, then you only have one choice." Jin patted Duy's back, since he could not reach his shoulder.
"But…" Duy hesitated. The other party was an Academy student. Would fighting him count as bullying?
Sensing Duy's hesitation, Jin grinned, showing his teeth.
"Don't underestimate me. I'm very strong."
Today's goal was to witness with his own eyes the legend, the technique that could end the series with a single kick, the Hachimon Tonkō (Eight Inner Gates).