The Third Hokage continued painting the dream, saying:
"If you, Auron, can maintain this teaching quality for the next year, I'll promote you to Special Jōnin and appoint you as the vice class leader of the Ninja Academy teaching staff."
"Thank you for your support, Lord Third. But as a teacher, it's my responsibility to educate my students properly. I always keep that in mind," Auron replied with genuine sincerity.
Privately, he thought, Danzo and Hiruzen really are cut from the same cloth. Their promises sound exactly alike—always about that 'Special Jōnin' promotion.
Still, he honestly hoped for his students to improve, because that would earn him a good chunk of bonus coins.
Seeing Auron's sincere demeanor, Hiruzen—who had seen through many people—was convinced he was speaking from the heart. His appreciation for Auron grew.
"Auron, I want to discuss something personal with you. Would you be willing to listen?" Hiruzen suddenly asked.
Auron nodded, curious what kind of game the Third was playing.
"I have a younger son named Asuma. He just graduated and became a Genin, but he's still very immature. It's been giving me quite a headache. I'd like to hire you as a private tutor to help guide him," Hiruzen offered.
Given Auron's demonstrated teaching ability, Hiruzen believed he was more than capable of handling a fresh Genin like Asuma.
This was also a way to further assess Auron's capabilities. If he performed well, Hiruzen would feel justified in going to Danzo to request him formally.
Titles like "Special Jōnin" and "outstanding teacher" were simply tools for Hiruzen to increase Auron's favorability—laying the groundwork for future recruitment.
For someone like Hiruzen, these were easy promises to make, so he didn't mind setting them out like chess pieces.
"Lord Third, I'll need to seriously consider this," Auron said after a moment's thought, not giving a direct answer.
That surprised Hiruzen—he hadn't expected Auron to hesitate.
"I have regular classes Monday to Friday, so I definitely don't have time during the week. And on weekends, I need to prepare for the following week's lessons," Auron explained.
"I can only accept if I can guarantee the teaching quality for both sides. Please allow me time to consider it."
The Third was briefly stunned, but then chuckled and once again praised Auron as an excellent teacher. He then dismissed him, saying there were no other matters.
Before leaving, Auron took a moment to appraise the Third:
Name: Hiruzen Sarutobi
Chakra: 170,000
Potential: S
Evaluation: High talent in ninjutsu. Excels at combination techniques. While single-element ninjutsu may not rival kekkei genkai, if I unleash five high-level jutsu of different chakra natures at once, how would you respond?
"The Third at his peak, huh…" Auron thought, both shocked and a bit envious as he walked out of the office.
A chakra level of 170,000! That was 130,000 more than Minato's when he last checked.
But Minato was only eighteen, still growing. Comparing him to a peak-form middle-aged ninja didn't mean much.
Now… how do I write this report… Though surprised, Auron was already planning what to write for Danzo.
Saying he needed time to consider was just an excuse. He wasn't that busy—he could easily spare time once a week to teach Asuma.
Auron could tell Hiruzen was trying to win him over. Otherwise, why mention "outstanding teacher" and "Special Jōnin"?
But Hiruzen lacked sincerity—just offering empty promises.
If the Third had directly acknowledged his connection to Root upon entering and asked if he wanted to work with him instead, Auron would've kicked Danzo aside on the spot.
But the Third didn't even bring it up—clearly still hesitating. Classic smooth-talking old fox.
If Auron accepted too readily, he'd be stuck between the two. Better to dodge for now and toss the issue back to Danzo.
As for whether the Third actually knew his identity—possible, but unlikely. Still, if Hiruzen didn't even know a Root ninja had entered the Academy, then he shouldn't be Hokage, let alone school head.
Back in the office, the other teachers were curious.
"Auron, what did the Third want? Was it a commendation?" Ueda Aya asked curiously.
"Must've been! This exam turned out great, and Auron is still new. So impressive," Iketani Isamu said, clearly impressed.
"He acknowledged the results of my teaching, more or less," Auron replied while taking out pen and paper to write.
"I wish the Third would acknowledge me someday…" Kimura Sanjin sighed, clearly feeling the gap.
He still remembered how green Auron had seemed on arrival, and now he was already being praised more than himself.
"Just do your best to teach the students," Auron said as he practiced calligraphy.
"Auron, could you help me cover this afternoon's class? I've got something to take care of," Isamu asked, handing him a glass of water.
"Sure, I'm free this afternoon," Auron nodded.
"No wonder the students like you so much," Isamu grinned in thanks.
"Oh, Sanjin—can I borrow some money? I'll pay you back when we get paid," he asked Kimura next.
He'd thought about asking Auron but felt bad since he already asked him to sub so many times.
"How much?" Kimura asked. They were longtime colleagues, so borrowing wasn't a big deal.
"Eighty thousand ryo should do it," Isamu said after a moment.
"Eighty thousand?! What are you borrowing that for?" Kimura's hand froze.
The monthly salary of a teacher was around 100,000 ryo. That was most of it!
Even Auron glanced up—80,000 ryo was equivalent to about 800,000 yen. That wasn't a small sum for a Chūnin teacher.
"It's for a date! I can't just take her to a ramen shop," Isamu explained.
"You're not spending your whole paycheck on this date, are you?" Kimura gave him a you fool kind of look.
"Hey, I'm eating too, aren't I? It's not like I'm not enjoying it," Isamu tried to justify.
"Come on, would you really eat at a fancy place alone?" Ueda Aya scoffed.
She'd tried warning him before, but he wouldn't listen.
"She doesn't even like you. She just sees you as a meal ticket," she tried to talk sense into him.
"No way! She called me Iketani-nii just the other day!" Isamu's face flushed with admiration.
"For 80,000 ryo, I'll call you that too. I can call you till you go bankrupt," Ueda said with a blank expression.
"You—"
"Forget it, I'll lend it. Just save a little for food, alright?" Kimura sighed and handed over the money.
Isamu was too thrilled to bother with Ueda's sarcasm and ran off to get ready.
If the Hokage world had short video apps, Auron thought, a series of Isamu's daily office antics would go viral. Then he wouldn't need loans.
With that mental grumble, he returned to calligraphy practice, only stopping when class time approached.
The moment Auron entered the classroom, the students lit up.
"Awesome! Auron's teaching ninjutsu class!"
"My Transformation Jutsu got way better after his last class! Hope he focuses on Clone Jutsu this time!"
Auron scanned the room. As expected—Obito wasn't there again.
Five minutes into the lesson, Obito burst in at full sprint.
Seeing Auron at the podium, Obito froze.
I'm not even late every day! Why is it always Auron when I am? This is killing my image!
"Auron, I—" Obito started to explain.
"Sit," Auron cut him off, then began the Clone Jutsu lesson as requested by most students.
"Damn that Isamu! Why didn't he warn me Auron was subbing?" Obito grumbled.
During the break, Auron called Obito and Might Guy aside to ask about their exam scores.
"Passed!" both declared proudly.
Upon deeper inquiry, Auron discovered that they had barely passed—just scraping the cutoff score of 30 out of 60.
"Weird, I thought 25 was enough to pass before," Obito scratched his head.
"Maybe it's because Auron taught some of the classes," Guy guessed.
Even someone like him, who struggled to absorb lessons, could feel Auron's teaching was a cut above.
"Wait… so next time the bar goes even higher?" Obito panicked.
"Passing is the bare minimum I expect. If you can't manage that, then you'll follow all my instructions from now on," Auron said with a dangerously kind smile.
Obito and Guy shivered, remembering the trauma of Auron's merciless exam drills, and quickly promised to keep passing.
After returning home, Auron wrote and submitted his report. Not long after, Root sent a reply.
Sigh. I was typing this up when the school suddenly told me the freelance certification I filed before won't work. Now I need to redo my employment verification. Wasted time—so this update's late.