Outside the ninja academy in Konoha village.
Shen looked at the large crowd of civilian-born students lining up for registration and thought to himself, "The atmosphere here seems great. Students from clan backgrounds and civilian backgrounds aren't being treated differently at all. The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi has thoroughly carried out the philosophy of The Second Hokage Tobirama Senju."
After thinking for a while, he walked over and joined the line at the registration desk. Seeing that other students weren't paying attention to him made him question plotlines from novels in his previous life.
"Shouldn't there be a villain jumping out asking me to beat him up? Seems like this sort of face-slapping scenario from novels doesn't exist in the Naruto world after all. Or maybe my aura is just too strong?"
Shen completely ignored Nawaki, the one who had just challenged him earlier. After all, Nawaki was only five—of course his mind was still innocent and straightforward. An adult mindset like Shen's hadn't fully adjusted to interacting with peers his own age. The earlier encounter with Nawaki was a perfect example.
"Next," said the teacher responsible for registration.
"Shen Uchiha."
Students from clan backgrounds looked at him strangely, probably because their elders had spread rumors about Shen Uchiha.
Although the registration teacher came from a civilian background, he didn't treat Shen differently. With a big smile on his face, he quickly completed Shen's registration.
Following his father's instructions, Shen ignored the stares and headed directly toward the new student classroom.
He opened the door and stepped into the new student classroom. Inside, students were chatting with each other.
The clock inside read 7:40 AM. It seemed that Nawaki had delayed him quite a bit.
He walked toward a corner of the classroom and picked an inconspicuous seat. Then he quietly began scanning his classmates—the people he'd be stuck with for the next five years at ninja school.
Exactly at 8 o'clock, the classroom door opened precisely from the outside, and a dark-skinned, muscular young ninja instructor walked in.
The young teacher walked to the podium, glanced at the student roster in his hand, then raised his head to warmly introduce himself to the students, "Hello everyone, I'm Nishinodera. I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next five years. Please take care of me."
The students enthusiastically applauded, and Shen did as well.
"Now, moving forward, I will explain the rules and precautions at the ninja academy. First—"
A crisp sound of opening door interrupted Nishinodera mid-sentence. The muscles on his face twitched as he turned his head toward the entrance. There stood a boy with brown hair who had just walked through the door into the classroom.
Shen took a closer look—wasn't this the very same Nawaki who fought him earlier?
"Young man, I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation for why you're late on the very first day of ninja school?"
Nishinodera still maintained his professionalism as a teacher. Regardless of whoever challenged his authority as an instructor, he needed to suppress his anger. He was convinced the student was deliberately trying to challenge his authority. Nishinodera added that in ten years of teaching here, not once had a student dared show up late on the very first day.
"I... I..." Nawaki stammered without being able to provide a reason.
Shen wiped the sweat from his forehead, glancing left and right nervously. He felt incredibly unlucky today—not only had someone put him to sleep with a genjutsu that morning, causing this awkward situation, but he was also certain Tsunade would confiscate his monthly allowance in a deeply disapproving manner.
Nawaki's heart pounded with excitement. He was convinced someone was behind this mess he was in now.
Suddenly, his gaze landed on the corner of the room, and at first glance he recognized the culprit sitting there.
Their eyes met. Shen stared back mockingly, while Nawaki's glare was so sharp it seemed like he wanted to kill him on the spot with just a look.
"Shen Uchiha, why are you here?!"
Nawaki was furious. This guy had messed up his day twice already, and right now, he just wanted to give him a good punch to let off some steam. But after thinking it over, he held himself back—fighting on campus would likely cost him his entire allowance for the year.
Nishinodera wondered if this student wasn't thinking straight. One moment he looked confused, and the next he was confronting someone in the corner with harsh words. Nishinodera had been honored as an outstanding young educator in Konoha for seven consecutive years. The intense staring match between the two boys left him more and more confused.
"Are these kids already getting into puppy love?" Seeing Shen's delicate, pretty features, Nishinodera instinctively concluded that he must be a girl.
What? A boy? Nishinodera insisted, based on decades of single experience, that someone this good-looking absolutely couldn't be male. Apparently, his long-term bachelor status wasn't without reason.
Shen, however, had no intention of responding to Nawaki. On such a hot summer day, he'd rather enjoy watermelon while watching the drama unfold. But the strange looks from Nishinodera gave him the creeps.
"This teacher's staring is giving me the creeps," he thought anxiously to himself. "What kind of ridiculous ninja school is this? Everyone here seems unreliable. Can I still withdraw from school today?" At this moment, Shen desperately wished someone would come and break the awkward tension.
"Cough cough," Nishinodera felt the situation could not continue like this—he had to do something, so he cleared his throat trying to redirect everyone's attention.
Immediately, the students' gazes shifted toward him. Nishinodera thought highly of his class, except for Nawaki, who continued glaring viciously at Shen.
"Young man," he said, "since you don't want to explain why you're late, we'll let it slide. But please remember, the school does not encourage dating among students. Dating can wait until you're older."
Shen felt grateful inside when Nishinodera successfully diverted everyone's attention elsewhere. "The teacher might be a bit toxic, but he's actually not bad," he mused. That gratitude vanished instantly, however, when he heard the topic turn to "dating" and "girls."
He immediately shot Nishinodera a dark glare and clarified bluntly, "Teacher Nishino, I am a boy!"
"..."
The entire classroom fell silent, though being children, they quickly accepted the reality.
In an instant, all eyes in the classroom turned toward Shen, the boy whose appearance was even more delicate than that of the girls. The girls quickly lowered their heads, whispering to each other about something involving "Motoi" or whatever.
This made Shen's expression even darker. Thanks to his enhanced hearing through the earpiece, he could clearly catch every word of their discussion. He rolled his eyes inwardly and muttered bitterly to himself, "Ugh, this school is seriously messed up if they assume every guy's into Motoi just because he looks pretty."
After thinking for a moment, Nishinodera became even more shocked. Looking at Shen and Nawaki, he quickly imagined a classic chick-flick trope in his mind—the male lead (Shen) betraying and abandoning the female lead (Nawaki). Otherwise, why did Nawaki's gaze toward Shen resemble that of a "wronged wife"? To him, her intense glare was completely normal for someone who'd been dumped.
Nishinodera's thought process was indeed uniquely bizarre—Shen's judgment was spot-on.
This homeroom teacher was seriously toxic!
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