Although Saiki didn't look for trouble, watching the boys and girls cause a scene because of him made the classroom feel like a rowdy wet market; the Chunin teacher finally lost his patience and barked an order.
"Everyone, shut up!"
Then, he cast an annoyed glance at Saiki.
The Chunin teacher genuinely disliked Saiki because, while the boy was competent in Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, he was far from a prodigy compared to Kakashi, who graduated at five and became a Chunin at six.
Another major reason was the mandatory value-shaping courses like "The Will of Fire" and "Shinobi and Bonds"; almost no one in class was as dismissive of them as Saiki was.
This particular class was far from simple; Saiki and Shizune were connected to Lady Tsunade, the Princess of the Senju Clan and one of the Sannin.
Then there was Asuma Sarutobi, Kagami Hyuga, Obito Uchiha, and even the Ino-Shika-Cho trio whose names Saiki couldn't bother to remember—all of them were scions of great clans.
Even Kurenai Yuhi's father was a Special Jonin of the Hidden Leaf.
In this room, whether they had names or not, every student either possessed a powerful background or great talent; they were destined to be the future backbone of Konoha.
In such a class, the teacher was naturally a die-hard loyalist of the Hokage faction, holding the manipulative "Will of Fire" taught by Hiruzen Sarutobi in the highest regard.
In the eyes of this Chunin teacher, failing a Clone Jutsu was acceptable, but falling behind in the brainwashing education was intolerable.
Saiki did the exact opposite: he excelled in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and the basics, but after three years, his "Will of Fire" textbooks remained as crisp and new as the day they were issued.
It wasn't that Saiki was arrogant; he followed the principle of "knowing one's enemy," so he had read them carefully, but his rebellious soul prevented him from taking them to heart, only flipping through them right before exams.
Having received a modern education in his previous life, he viewed the "Will of Fire" as little more than a cult-like pyramid scheme; Saiki had no intention of being brainwashed into a tool for others' interests, so he saw no need to be serious about it.
Despite the teacher's disdainful gaze, Saiki kept a smile on his face and a calm look in his eyes; such a man wasn't worth his anger.
He was just a Chunin; if a Jonin were standing there, Saiki might have given him a bit more face.
After scowling at Saiki, the Chunin teacher looked down at the next name on the list.
"Next, Obito Uchiha!"
"Present!"
Hearing his name, Obito—who had been glaring furiously at Saiki—jumped in surprise, shouted his response, and scrambled toward the podium.
"Hmph, begin."
The Uchiha clan was famous for producing geniuses, yet Obito was a notorious dead-last; the teacher already knew what to expect but gave the formulaic command anyway.
Obito didn't care about the teacher's look; his eyes were fixed on his sweet goddess, Rin Nohara, and after glancing at Saiki's indifferent expression, he clenched his fists and pumped himself up, determined to outperform Saiki and win her heart.
He focused his chakra and clumsily formed the hand signs.
Poof!
A cloud of white smoke erupted, but while Obito wanted to surpass Saiki for his goddess, he had vastly overestimated his own abilities.
As the smoke cleared, what appeared beside him was a pale, distorted clone covered in messy black and white lines—it looked hollowed out and listless, no better than Naruto's early failures in the original story.
Even though several of Konoha's "losers" would eventually become the strongest figures in the world years later, it didn't change the fact that the teacher had zero expectations and wore an "as expected" expression.
"55 points!" the nameless Chunin teacher announced coldly.
"Ahhh... Teacher! I was just too nervous... let me try again! I'll definitely get it right!"
Every student was allowed three attempts; since Obito was unwilling to accept his failure, the teacher didn't say much.
In school, you get three chances, but on the battlefield, a single mistake like that is enough to cost you your life.
However, as expected, he exhausted his remaining turns, and due to chakra depletion, his subsequent attempts were even worse; the third one simply turned into an unrecognizable white blob.
"Hahahaha!"
Seeing Obito's ridiculous performance, the classroom erupted in mockery; faced with the laughter and having lost face in front of his goddess, Obito hung his head in shame like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.
Obito's performance successfully amused Saiki, and the slight annoyance from the teacher vanished instantly.
"The 'Blackened' state makes you ten times stronger, while 'Redemption' makes you nine times weaker"—it was truly ridiculous; if he didn't know the future, Saiki wouldn't believe that this Obito would be the one to orchestrate the Nine-Tails incident, start the Fourth Ninja War, and become the second Sage of Six Paths.
Saiki had considered killing Obito before he turned evil, but he ultimately abandoned the idea.
Without Obito, there would just be some Uchiha An or Uchiha Kei; as long as he couldn't kill Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu, changing minor historical events wouldn't stop the overall flow of history.
By keeping Obito alive, Saiki—as a transmigrator—could at least predict events and maintain the upper hand.
There was a reason Obito loved Rin Nohara; seeing him return to his seat dejected, Rin, with the purple markings on her cheeks, gave him a sweet smile and encouraged him gently. "It's okay, Obito. Failure doesn't matter; I've seen how hard you've been working."
"Rin!"
At her encouragement, Obito was instantly revitalized, his eyes welling with tears of gratitude.
Then, catching sight of Saiki's perennial, harmless smile, Obito felt it was a direct mockery; he gritted his teeth and hissed, "Rin, I'll work harder! One day, I'll surpass that bastard Saiki!"
Seeing Obito like this, Rin said helplessly, "Obito, don't talk about Saiki-kun that way. You work hard, but Saiki-kun works very hard too."
The goddess spoke up for Saiki again; while Obito felt discouraged, his resentment toward Saiki only grew deeper.
Just as Rin said, Saiki was indeed hardworking; though he looked harmless sitting there, beneath his desk, several extra hands were busy practicing and perfecting various hand signs.
Because of the Hana Hana no Mi, Saiki could multitask; controlling several extra arms to form signs was no problem at all for him.
Nico Robin from One Piece could control thousands of arms at once to perform delicate tasks like needlework.
Therefore, Saiki controlling a few arms to weave signs was child's play.
In the original series, Itachi Uchiha could weave six signs per second; the current Saiki was not far behind, having already achieved incredible speed and accuracy.
Of course, Saiki, who never stopped training even during class, had no idea that these precocious girls were drawing aggro toward him; it wasn't just Obito—even Hiruzen's "idiot son" Asuma Sarutobi looked at him with hostility because Kurenai Yuhi would glance Saiki's way from time to time.
Soon, it was Shizune and Genhai's turn; though their talent was only average, they both passed easily with scores in the seventies and eighties.
Once the testing was finished, it was time for the noon break.
"Alright, everyone quiet down. A few students, including Obito Uchiha and Shin Inuzuka, failed the test today. For those of you who passed by a stroke of luck, don't get too ahead of yourselves."
"The graduation exam is in one week. I hope everyone practices hard. If you still can't pass, you will be held back for remedial classes."
After the Chunin teacher finished, some students sighed in relief while others grew more tense; for someone like Obito, failing to graduate would be a massive embarrassment.
"That's all for this morning. You're dismissed!"
The teacher packed his documents; after the students rose to bow, he nodded and left the room, which immediately exploded into chaos.
"Saiki-kun... um... I brought an extra bento today. Would you like to eat together?"
As Saiki began clearing his desk, a girl in the seat in front of him turned around, her face flushed red as she asked.
The moment she spoke, it drew the attention of other girls; a small girl at a nearby desk added, "Saiki-chan, I brought extra food too!"
"Saiki-chan!" Saiki didn't even want to comment on the nickname; led by the two girls, the others started pulling out their lunch boxes as well.
Looking at the group, Saiki felt helpless; he wasn't some bento salesman.
He looked to Shizune for help, but she was shy and timid—she was no match for these aggressive, proactive girls.
However, Saiki had underestimated Shizune; the girls' boldness made her realize she had to make a move. "The pavilion nearest the water enjoys the moonlight first"—she had to strike while the iron was hot.
Reaching out to pat Shizune's head as her cheeks turned red with frustration, Saiki said with a smile, "Everyone is so enthusiastic! Shizune and I made some bento too, let's all eat together!"
These girls were only eight or nine; Saiki had no interest in "lolis," but since he was raising them from a young age, he wasn't going to let their kindness go to waste.
Under the shade of a tree on the school playground, the air was filled with laughter as a group of girls surrounded Saiki.
"Saiki-kun, try this! My mom made this tempura."
"Okay, okay... mm, it tastes great."
"Saiki-kun, try my fish sushi too!"
"Mm, your mothers are amazing cooks! Everything is delicious!"
As the girls held out their lunches, Saiki didn't hesitate to take bites of the food; he had a massive appetite, and he was grateful to these girls for feeding him for the past three years.
"Saiki-kun, you're so amazing! You can eat so much. Would you like to try something I cooked myself?"
Looking into the sparkling eyes of the girl named Hanayo, Saiki smiled warmly. "Mm, I'm looking forward to it! But for now, we should focus on our studies."
Sigh!
Thinking about the bento these girls made themselves brought a tear to his eye—literally.
Once, Saiki had taken a bite of something that looked great but tasted like literal cardboard; he had almost gagged.
To distract them, Saiki pulled out his own lunch box; it was large enough to feed several laborers and was packed with high-protein meats.
"Come, look at what I made: Braised Lion's Head meatballs, Braised Wild Boar hocks, and giant pork chops!"
"Wow!"
As Saiki opened his oversized container, it was filled with Chinese delicacies, and the aroma wafted through the air, making the girls' eyes light up.
The reason these girls loved eating with Saiki was twofold: first, they craved his body, and second, his cooking was genuinely incredible.
In his past life, Saiki lived alone, and his mother had made him learn various skills from a young age; to make his life better, he had mastered cooking most Chinese home-style dishes.
After coming to this world, since Tsunade was a "cow" who knew nothing but gambling, Shizune handled the chores while the cooking naturally fell to Saiki.
Kurenai Yuhi, sitting right next to him, reached out with her chopsticks and snatched a meatball; other girls, like Rin Nohara, followed suit.
"Mmm, Saiki, you're so amazing! This is so delicious!"
Kurenai stuffed the meatball into her mouth, her cheeks puffing out and her beautiful eyes narrowing with a look of pure bliss.
In a rare moment of unity, the other girls chimed in, "Mm-hmm! It's true! Saiki-kun is the best!"
Looking at Kurenai's cute puffed cheeks, Rin's sweet smile, and the other girls' satisfied expressions, black lines appeared on Saiki's forehead.
"Hey, hey, hey... talking like that can be easily misunderstood, you know!"
He complained wildly in his mind, but he still placed a pork chop into Shizune's lunch box.
In fact, the food in Shizune's box was also cooked by Saiki—it was the same meal, just a smaller portion—but her pout was already deep enough to hang a vinegar jar on.
"Dammit! That bastard! Just like Kakashi Hatake... everyone named Saiki (Hatake) is just plain annoying!"
In the distance, watching his goddess Rin surround Saiki with a happy smile on her face, Obito Uchiha looked at his own lunch and let out the pathetic howl of a loser.
"Seriously, he's being way too arrogant!"
Asuma Sarutobi, staying with Genma Shiranui and Ebisu, looked at his own food with irritation.
As the son of the Third Hokage, Asuma was wealthy, and his mother, Biwako, prepared excellent food for him; he should have been the center of attention, yet no girls flocked to him.
To the boys of the Leaf, any guy popular with the girls was an enemy.
Saiki simply chuckled at the boys' jealousy.
There was nothing to be done; these girls were visual creatures. Even though he had eaten the Flower-Flower Fruit and didn't have a "Playboy Aura," his face was just better than theirs; even when Kakashi was at school with his "genius" reputation, he couldn't beat Saiki in popularity.