And he did it in front of the whole class.
"?!"
Tsunade was busy eating when Hiko's hand came toward her. She froze, cheeks puffed, lips shiny with oil, cute enough to make anyone want to pinch her face.
Hiko was not that sort of creep. He simply brushed a crumb from the corner of her mouth. That was all. It was a reflex, not a tease.
Her eyes went round. Her body tensed, ready to strike if he pushed his luck. He did not. His hand withdrew.
Unfortunately, the scene looked different to everyone else.
"Oooh!"
Jiraiya, forever asking for a beating, snapped his attention away from the meat pie. Tsunade did not swat Hiko. Combined with the recent rumor mill, his mind leaped to the obvious conclusion. He whooped.
"Oooh!"
One voice started it. The rest followed. Orochimaru alone watched in cold silence while the room echoed with teasing.
Only then did it hit Tsunade how easily people could mistake that tiny gesture. Her cheeks flushed tomato-red.
"Heh. Since everyone is so happy, why not tell the teacher what is so fun?"
The teacher walked in at the worst time and smiled.
"Sensei!"
Jiraiya jumped up, ignoring the death glare that could have turned him to stone. "Uchiha Hiko touched Tsunade's face!"
HAHAHA!
Laughter rolled across the room. Tsunade's face went black, then red, then black again. Angry. Embarrassed. Both.
Poor fool. The more you talk, the harder she is going to hit you. Kids were kids. Orochimaru had old bones in a small body. Jiraiya, on the other hand, was the definition of a brat. And Tsunade was a ticking fist.
Tsunade clenched her teeth at Jiraiya. The meat pie almost sprayed from her mouth. Hiko sighed inwardly and offered three silent seconds for the doomed.
"PFT... COUGH COUGH!"
The teacher had expected a prank, not this. He choked and coughed, which only made the class laugh harder.
CLAP CLAP!
"Enough. We are done laughing. Whether anything is going on is between the two of them. Class begins."
Hiko's indifference and Tsunade's storm-cloud scowl told him all he needed. He clapped them down and changed the subject.
"Today is an outdoor lesson. Follow me."
Outdoor lessons used the academy field or a small practice range close by. Today they marched to the school's dedicated training grounds.
"..."
What do I do?
Once outside, Jiraiya stopped grinning. Tsunade stalked him like a mother tiger. Her eyes promised to eat him whole.
He shot a pleading glance at Hiko. Useless. Hiko stretched out on the grass and stared at the sky. He had no interest in watching beginners throw kunai. Apart from Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya, there was not much to see.
The teacher noticed Hiko immediately and said nothing. He coached the basics, corrected grips and stances, then wandered over.
Orochimaru also stepped back, sat beneath a tree, and opened a book. No interest in the drill.
Tsunade went simpler. She kept her eyes on Jiraiya. He inched away from the crowd. Wrong choice. The fewer witnesses, the harder she would hit.
Hiko shook his head at the looming storm between Jiraiya and Tsunade. That beating could happen any day. The only real variable was how much fury Tsunade had stored up.
"Uchiha Hiko, not training with the others?"
The teacher sat beside him as if this were nothing. In his experience, strong-willed students always bent the rules.
Look at Orochimaru. Look at Tsunade. Look at Jiraiya. Every one was "special."
Hiko, lately, was another.
He used to be quiet and cold, sleeping through lectures and running home after school. Now he listened in class, spoke to exactly three people, then trained until late.
The teacher had fought in the war, just a small cog who lived through it. An injury had shifted him to teaching. On the outside he looked like a sunny uncle who joked with kids.
"Afternoon drills left me tired. I want to rest," Hiko said.
If the teacher already knew he trained after school, there was no reason to play coy.
"Good."
The teacher chuckled and clapped his shoulder. He did not know what had changed the boy so much, but the result was good.
And the chakra...
He leaned closer and felt it clearly. The reserves inside this kid were several times those of his peers. More than Tsunade's, which was saying something for a Senju who already studied medical basics. More than many fresh genin who were already taking missions.
He did not know this was only the beginning. Hiko's reserves would keep climbing until people compared him to a "tailless tailed beast."
I should brief the Hokage, the teacher thought.
He kept his face mild. The Uchiha were not known for bottomless chakra like the Senju or the Uzumaki, but standouts appeared everywhere. This one might be special.
"Sensei, I want to apply for early graduation."
Some things could not be hidden. Chakra was one. As long as he kept the Sharingan secret, Hiko did not care who sensed the rest.
He had done the math. His expenses were outrunning clan and village stipends. To push further, there was only one path: graduate early.
Whether he landed a proper team or got stuck as a drifter doing D-ranks, he would deal with it later.