Iruka recounted everything that had happened in front of the teaching building earlier, and at the end, he emotionally said, "Teacher Lin Mo's understanding of the Will of Fire truly warms my heart; I'm especially touched."
"I've always had a bit of a prejudice against Naruto. Teacher Lin Mo is actually quite similar to me, but he's still willing to risk being ostracized by everyone to become Naruto's guardian."
"As a teacher at the Ninja Academy, I'm truly ashamed."
Iruka's words were sincere.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took an involuntary puff of his cigarette after listening, his mind racing.
From the current information, Lin Mo had clearly misunderstood his intentions, but this also showed his loyalty to him.
So, letting him be Naruto's guardian, would that work?
His strength wasn't even considered strong among Genin; it would be difficult for him to become a Chunin in the future, and he would probably have to stay at the Ninja Academy his entire life, completely within his control.
With such limited strength, it would be impossible for him to use Naruto, the Jinchuriki, to do anything. Moreover, once Naruto became like Kakashi as planned, their daily contact would be limited, having no real impact on the Jinchuriki.
However, Lin Mo was fiercely loyal to the Hokage and constantly promoted the Third Hokage's Will of Fire. His association with the Jinchuriki would also reflect well on him.
The role of guardian would allow him to get closer to the Jinchuriki while remaining completely under his control, which would greatly help him better control the Jinchuriki.
Given this, Lin Mo becoming Naruto's guardian had no downsides for him.
This could be done!
Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi revealed a warm smile and said, "Iruka, I'm very pleased that you are so dedicated and committed to upholding the Will of Fire."
"Don't worry, I indeed asked Lin Mo to be Naruto's guardian."
As soon as Iruka heard this, he immediately understood.
After they chatted for a few more sentences, Iruka voluntarily offered to leave.
After he left, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately used the Telescope Technique.
The scene inside the Ninja Academy appeared in the orb before him.
"Here it comes."
On the podium, Lin Mo sensed someone watching him, his eyes flickered, and he said, "Class, you're about to take your graduation exam and have the chance to become official Ninja."
"So, how does one become an excellent Ninja?"
As soon as he said this, the students straightened their backs, their faces filled with interest.
Lin Mo put down his book and said very seriously, "Today, we won't be talking about Ninjutsu, nor about Ninja knowledge."
"What we're going to talk about is the belief that a qualified Ninja must possess."
After speaking, he quickly wrote four large characters on the blackboard:
Will of Fire!
"Hmph!" Old Monkey's face trembled slightly.
Still instilling the Will of Fire in students at this moment, Lin Mo was indeed that loyal megaphone of his; he needed to be taken seriously.
But soon, his brows furrowed, a look of confusion on his face.
Lin Mo suddenly launched into a passionate speech.
"Hokage-sama once said that to discuss the Will of Fire, one must first talk about its origins..."
"Hokage-sama also said that the Will of Fire must be viewed dialectically, and one must discuss the spirit of sacrifice..."
"And, Hokage-sama's intention is that we must understand the Will of Fire from both the subtle and the grand perspective..."
...Lin Mo, like someone defending a thesis in university, spoke of the Will of Fire with incredible eloquence, analyzing it from many different angles.
Every word he used was simple and easy to understand, but put together, they left people utterly bewildered.
As an actor, he was particularly invested, emotional, and expressive.
For a moment, although the students in the classroom didn't understand a single thing, they were all deeply moved.
"So amazing!"
"So profound!"
"I don't understand!"
"So cool!"
...The students continuously exclaimed, looking at Lin Mo as if he were adorned with the halo of a "scholar."
Because Lin Mo began every sentence with "Hokage-sama said," the students all thought these were not his own ideas, but philosophical insights gained by the Third Hokage. Thus, they would occasionally praise, "Hokage-sama is truly amazing" or "He truly is the top student among Ninja."
Hiruzen Sarutobi watched this scene, took a deep puff of his cigarette, his expression changing from "surprise" to "understanding," then to "admiration," and finally settling on a nod of approval.
"Lin Mo summarized it quite well."
"Yes, these are all my words."
"As expected of me!"
"Danzo, you should come and listen. This is the true path of the Hokage!"
...Hiruzen had a profound expression.
In truth, he hadn't understood a single word either.
To put it nicely, he was the top student among Ninja, but in reality, he only had an elementary school education, later learning a trade and becoming a professional Ninja.
In the Ninja profession, he might be considered decent, but in terms of knowledge and insight, he was far behind.
However, having been involved in politics for so many years, his skin was thick enough to calmly accept all of this.
"I'm quite at ease with Lin Mo being Naruto's guardian."
Meanwhile, the girls holding the diary copies looked speechless.
All because of that familiar opening line.
"Hahaha, Old Monkey must be stumped."
"How could a guy who only ever says 'Where the tree leaves dance, the fire burns' possibly understand this?"
"He doesn't understand, and my clever students naturally won't understand either, which is exactly the effect I want. I won't become his tool for raising the next generation."
"He'll even have to admit that what I said is correct, which will make me seem profound."
"With this move, I'm playing on a whole other level."
The girls: Yes! Yes! Yes!
But we've already flown out of the atmosphere!
"The Oscars owe me a trophy."
"My transmigration here is truly a loss for the entire entertainment industry of Blue Star."
After Lin Mo felt the gaze from above disappear, his expression remained unchanged, but in his heart, he was secretly gloating in his diary.
This diary, only he could see it, so he could write whatever he wanted.
Of course, his 'high-flown rhetoric' from earlier was also recorded in his diary.
To put it nicely, it was a record, but in reality, wasn't it just to fill up words and get some rewards?
Could a diary criticize him like a person?
But what he didn't know was that his method of filling up words, while not allowing the girls with the diaries to fully understand the specific content, did enable them to guess the general idea from the context.
"Old Monkey (Third Hokage), can he really be that shameless?"
Although the girls could read the vast amount of material about the Will of Fire in the diary, they couldn't fully comprehend it, but they were still quite shocked.
If the Third Hokage could really shamelessly say something like, "This is the Will of Fire I speak of," it would truly refresh their worldview.
But they didn't know that Hiruzen Sarutobi not only could say it but also planned to have Lin Mo organize these words into an essay and distribute it to every Ninja.
Whether they understood it or not wasn't important; as long as they could say, "Lord Third is truly amazing," that was enough.
"Alright, class."
"That's all for today's lesson."
"After school, write an essay of no less than three thousand words on the theme of the Will of Fire, and hand it in to me tomorrow."
"A friendly reminder, this is Hokage-sama's requirement, and your essay grade will affect your graduation exam score seven days from now."
Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer paid attention to this side. Lin Mo immediately ended the extended class, turned, and walked out of the classroom, Iruka's adoring gaze practically making him bloom.
"Bang!"
It wasn't until the classroom door closed that the students reacted.
"Hey, what did Teacher Yuxi say at the end?"
"Homework, a three-thousand-word essay."
"Three thousand words! Wasn't it only eight hundred words before? This is going to kill me!"
"And it's linked to graduation. Oh my, I don't want to graduate anymore."
"Just kill me!"
"..."
A group of students began to wail.
Who would have thought that they were about to become official Ninja, yet they still had to do homework.
"Did the Hokage Old Man take the wrong medicine?"
"Oh my god, I haven't even finished my self-reflection yet, and now another three-thousand-word essay?"
Naruto directly aimed his criticism at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
After all, according to Lin Mo, this homework was assigned by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Every wrong has its cause, every debt its master.
"..."
The others weren't as bold as Naruto to openly curse the Third Hokage.
But this time, they felt Naruto was quite right.
"So annoying."
Sasuke looked at the group impatiently, but his hands were quick; he took out paper and pen and started writing.
He wanted to quickly write down what Lin Mo had said before he forgot.
If he couldn't even graduate, how could he... It has to be said, Sasuke, this guy, was quite adorably foolish.
"Shikamaru, how should I write this essay?"
Akimichi Choji, whose brain wasn't very bright, sought Shikamaru's help for the first time.
"Don't bother writing it," Shikamaru said lazily, looking at the ceiling. "The graduation exam tests Clone Jutsu (Bunshin no Jutsu); it has nothing to do with an essay."
A three-thousand-word assignment? He wasn't interested in that hassle.
The content of the graduation exam was already known to students from prominent families like them.
This wasn't considered leaking the questions, as the questions weren't difficult anyway.
Lin Mo was purely causing trouble.
"Oh..."
Akimichi Choji didn't think much of it; whatever Shikamaru said, went.
"Hey, should we tell Naruto and Kiba?" Akimichi Choji suddenly asked.
Inuzuka Kiba, led by Naruto, also joined in the complaints, growing quite bold.
"No need!" Shikamaru dismissed it without a second thought.
When he entered the school gate that morning, he happened to overhear Iruka telling Naruto about the graduation exam.
Inuzuka Kiba, being from the Inuzuka clan, must have known already.
As a result, these two blockheads were still being played by Lin Mo; their intelligence was truly worrying.
The key was that these two were also particularly talkative.
If he told them, wouldn't that be equivalent to announcing it to the world? Then, besides Hinata, probably no one would be willing to write the essay.
Lin Mo would definitely come looking for him, the "culprit."
Such a cunning person was not to be provoked; Shikamaru didn't want to get involved.
"Hahaha, the graduation exam tests Clone Jutsu (Bunshin no Jutsu), what the hell does it have to do with essay grading?"
"I'm just messing with you guys!"
"Someone who's been rained on themselves, how could they not give you some 'raindrops' when they become a teacher?"
"Of course, if you become allergic to the Will of Fire and Old Monkey because of this, then I'll be even happier."
These words Lin Mo wrote in his diary confirmed Shikamaru's guess.
"Shikamaru is really smart, Hinata," Ino said.
"Although he always complains about things being troublesome, he's indeed very smart," Ino also nodded in agreement.
The two girls sat behind Shikamaru and Choji, hearing everything they said clearly.
"Then are you still planning to write it?" Ino asked.
"Of... of course I'll write it," Hinata nodded softly, her voice delicate but with an unspoken firmness. "Homework assigned by the teacher must be completed."
Although she knew Lin Mo was doing it on purpose, homework was homework after all.
"Hinata-chan, you're too earnest," Ino shook her head, then her eyes suddenly lit up. She leaned close to Hinata's ear and whispered, "Hinata-chan, I think this is a great opportunity to bring Teacher Lin Mo a bento."
Ino was observant and heard everything, noticing that Hinata had brought two bentos.
The bento boxes were so big; there must be a lot of food. She couldn't even eat one herself, let alone Hinata.
So she guessed that Hinata, like her, wanted to get closer to Lin Mo by bringing him a bento, having seen in the diary that Lin Mo had no lunch.
But when they got to school, they felt they had no reason to bring Lin Mo a bento.
But now, wasn't the reason right here!
"I... no, alright..."
Hinata originally wanted to deny that she was going to bring Lin Mo a bento.
Sigh, even though Lin Mo called her his wife in the diary, she should have been angry, as bringing a bento could easily lead to misunderstandings.
But Ino knew in her heart that she couldn't come up with a lie.
"Okay, it's settled then," Ino said with an expectant look.
She planned to try and get some information out of Teacher Lin Mo then.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, the desk in front was slammed, making Ino jump.
"What's wrong?"
Ino looked at Sakura Haruno, who had suddenly leaned over, her brows slightly furrowed.
What was up with this broad-forehead today? Did she take the wrong medicine?
"Today, I'm definitely going to snatch the chance to spar with Sasuke," Sakura Haruno said provocatively, her eyes gleaming with a strange anticipation.
"How boring," Two-Pillar (Nickname for Sasuke) heard the commotion and curled his lips.
"What?" Ino narrowed her eyes and waved her hand. "Suit yourself, I'm not interested in that dark-haired brat."
Sakura Haruno: ?
Shikamaru and Choji: ?
Hinata: !
Uchiha Sasuke: ?
"Whoosh!"
Uchiha Sasuke stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Ino Yamanaka, clearly bothered by the term "dark-haired brat."
Not just him, but because of Sakura Haruno's commotion, the attention of the entire class was drawn to them.
They had expected another fierce rivalry over Sasuke, but then Ino suddenly blurted out such an unexpected remark.
Speaking of which, the term "dark-haired loser" sounded really harsh; what exactly did it mean?
"Dark-haired loser?" Sakura Haruno was stunned, asking confusedly, "Everyone likes Sasuke, and Sasuke doesn't hate anyone, so how did he become a dark-haired loser?"
Others might not know what "dark-haired loser" meant, but Sakura Haruno knew.
Before she and Ino had a falling out, they used to read manga together.
In the manga, the male lead was liked by several girls. Ino supported a beautiful, noble, childhood friend with blonde hair, but in the end, the male lead was won over by an ordinary commoner girl.