Chapter 52: Leaders Always Love to Babble [Fourth Update]
On the playground of the Ninja Academy, the Third Hokage stood on the podium addressing a group of pint-sized new students. Among them, the most noticeable must have been Sakura, whose head was shaded by an umbrella magically suspended in midair.
Watching the Third speak with such enthusiasm from the podium, Sakura sighed helplessly. Even after being reborn in another world, why couldn't she escape the endless rants from top brass like this guy? Back in her previous life at school, whenever there were events requiring administrators to speak, each one could easily talk for dozens of minutes nonstop. At first, she'd hoped things would be different in the ninja world—but nope, the Third's mind-numbing speech marathon was alive and well.
"Today's sunlight is pretty strong!"
Ino whispered beside Sakura. Standing under the sun wasn't a big deal—after all, she'd endured much harsher training alongside Guy—this little bit of heat didn't bother her much. But what really annoyed her was that the Third Hokage simply wouldn't stop talking.
"I'll enlarge my umbrella a bit and cover everyone."
Sakura gently moved her fingers, and the floating umbrella above her head began gradually expanding until it sheltered all nine people standing together before finally stopping.
"Now, let me say a few more words about the Will of Fire."
The Third paused briefly before continuing his speech passionately, spitting slightly as he spoke—a detail Sakura could see clearly from below.
"Agh, I can't take it anymore!" Ino nearly growled in frustration. The Third's voice felt like some kind of devilish sound drilling into her head, making her angry enough to want to punch someone.
"Look at Shikamaru!" Sakura signaled Ino to glance left.
"Shikamaru?!" Ino turned her head, only to be instantly met with an image so absurd that dark lines formed across her forehead. Right next to her, Shikamaru—who should've been paying attention—was actually asleep, right next to her on the left, dozing off right where he stood with his eyes half-closed. "How can he actually fall asleep?"
"Shikamaru probably treats The Third's speech as a lullaby."
Suppressing her laughter behind her hand, Sakura imagined how crushed the Third would feel if he knew someone had literally nodded off while hearing about the Will of Fire.
Turning her gaze around, she noticed that apart from their little group, most of the other students were listening attentively, their eyes gleaming with admiration.
She couldn't help but smirk inwardly, wondering—if these kids ever learned their revered Third Hokage was actually a lecherous old creep who liked using a crystal orb to peek at women bathing—who knows what they'd think?
Glancing around again, she reflected further: looking at Konoha's line of Hokages, none of those numbered with odd digits had truly serious personalities. The First Hokage was essentially a playful goofball who also happened to love gambling—and always lost. The Third enjoyed peeping at female bathhouses through his crystal orb, and his three apprentices were notorious for their pornography, gambling, and alcohol problems. As for the Fifth Hokage Tsunade Senju, no need to explain further—she perfectly inherited the gambling addiction from the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, sharing the same terrible luck at games. And as for the original Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki—how serious could someone really be who came up with [Sexy Technique] when he was only twelve?
In contrast, Second Hokage Tobirama Senju was undeniably extremely intelligent, with a tough and ruthless personality. Even Hashirama himself often hesitated to contradict him. As for the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze—known as the "Golden Flash"—his gentle personality and warm smile were said to shine like sunlight. Aside from his questionable taste in naming things, he was practically perfect in every other way, particularly possessing an off-the-charts battle IQ. After just a few clashes, he could analyze Obito's abilities, and even the Nine-Tails acknowledged his superiority.
Sixth Hokage Kakashi Hatake appeared idle and unrestrained on the surface, always reading his little orange book with a lazy demeanor. However, he was actually very dependable. Thinking carefully about it, there seemed to be something strangely eccentric about Konoha's odd-numbered Hokages' personalities.
Seeing that Third Hokage looked like he could talk forever, Sakura's eyes flickered with an idea. She immediately closed her eyes, concentrated, and activated [Reality Stone]. A thick mass of dark clouds instantly gathered across the sky, blocking out the sun and creating the unmistakable atmosphere of coming rain.
"Alright then," Sarutobi announced somewhat regretfully, lifting his head to glance at the sky. He hadn't finished yet—he still wanted to keep speaking for another few hours, telling this generation of students all about his glorious past exploits. Unfortunately, heaven wasn't cooperating.
"Phew! Finally, we're free!" Ino sighed in relief along with the others. It was fortunate the meeting ended when it did, or they might've gone mad.
"What a waste this youth could've been!"
Shikamaru yawned sleepily, rubbing his half-closed eyes like someone just waking up.
"Hinata, why do you seem so energetic?" Ino suddenly noticed Hinata's unchanged expression and couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"W-well, actually, what Third Hokage said wasn't too bad. At home, my father always speaks very seriously, giving me long lectures constantly—I've already gotten used to it!" Hinata replied shyly with an embarrassed smile. Compared to the strict etiquette training she endured while growing up in the traditional Hyūga household, Sarutobi's speech was truly nothing special.
"The Hyūga clan… how terrifying!" Ino shivered involuntarily. If she couldn't even handle Sarutobi's lecture, she certainly would've gone completely crazy in the kind of environment Hinata had described from the Hyūga household.
Whether intentionally or not, The Third ended up leaving all nine students in the same class anyway, just divided into three-person groups. Naturally, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji formed their classic Ino–Shika–Cho trio without hesitation. Hinata, Shino, and Kiba—all focused on reconnaissance work—were naturally put in the same group. That left Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura as the final team. Naruto looked positively thrilled while Sasuke maintained his usual brooding gaze fixed upon Sakura.
"Hello everyone. I'm your homeroom teacher, Iruka Umino. You can all just call me Mr. Iruka."
As he stood up, that horizontal scar across his nose clearly visible, Iruka exuded a particularly warm and friendly presence. "If you have any problems, feel free to come to me—I'll do my best to help. Now, perhaps everyone could step forward and give a brief introduction of themselves?"
"M-Me first!"
Nobody raised their hand—except Naruto, who rushed forward excitedly.
Seeing this, Iruka remained calm and gently called Naruto over to start his introduction.
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