After Shimura Takeshi personally witnessed Rasa being killed by Pakura, he returned to Konoha.
Rasa was dead, and Pakura would, unsurprisingly, be taken back by Sunagakure. The remaining matters now needed careful planning.
As soon as Shimura Takeshi returned to the Hokage's office, he immediately drove out Itachi, Shisui, and the other Uchiha, then held a map in his arms and began thinking alone.
"What are you studying?"
Shimura Takeshi didn't know how long he had been staring at the map when he heard a familiar voice.
Looking up, he saw Obito and Kakashi standing in the room, both looking at him.
"I'm thinking about what methods I can use to further weaken Sunagakure."
Shimura Takeshi didn't hide anything from them, especially since he was the one who called them over.
Obito wasn't too important—just a blade-wielder—but Kakashi was different. Even though the current situation had been caused by Shimura Takeshi himself, figuring out the next step was proving difficult.
He could ask Shikaku, but in terms of trust and closeness, Kakashi was still the one Shimura Takeshi relied on more.
"Come sit."
Shimura Takeshi was about to point at the map when he noticed the two were still standing, so he patted the sofa, indicating there was plenty of room.
"No—"
Kakashi was about to refuse out of formality, but before he finished, Obito casually walked over and sat down right next to Shimura Takeshi.
This idiot—Shimura Takeshi was the real Hokage now!
Kakashi roared internally at Obito while his eyes drifted toward the window.
Next to Sakumo Hatake's Hokage Rock face, Shimura Takeshi's own stone face had already begun construction.
"Sit down, Kakashi."
Seeing Kakashi unmoving, Shimura Takeshi thought he disliked the lack of space, so he nudged Obito. "Move over a bit, Obito."
"Okay, okay, I got it."
Rubbing his head helplessly, Kakashi sighed and sat to Shimura Takeshi's left.
"You see, Sunagakure has pretty much killed off all the nobles in these regions…"
After getting the situation explained by Shimura Takeshi, Kakashi's external-brain function began working.
...
"Many students think that since you've become ninja, you don't need to study cultural subjects. I'm telling you—that belief is wrong…"
On the podium, Iruka waved the grade sheets in his hand.
They recorded the students' academic scores.
Aside from a few S and A grades, most were painfully low—C's and D's.
"Hey, Shikamaru, that's the village wall, right? Isn't it supposed to protect us? Why is it being torn down?"
Naruto, sitting beside Shikamaru, didn't feel like listening to Iruka's lecture at all. He poked Shikamaru's shoulder and nodded toward the window.
"Oh, that. I heard the Fifth Hokage wants to expand the village, so they're demolishing it."
Shikamaru, lying on his desk in boredom, recalled something his father had casually muttered.
"Eh? Expanding it?"
Naruto blinked. Konoha was already huge. Shimura Takeshi still wanted to make it bigger?
"Yeah. They say it'll help… something something… attract migrants…"
Shikamaru didn't think any of this mattered to shinobi.
Actually, the entire shinobi profession didn't matter at all.
"Hmph. Idiot Naruto, if you could understand Shimura Takeshi's plans, you'd already be Hokage."
Sasuke had somehow come closer and coldly snorted.
"So cool~"
Sakura, secretly watching Sasuke from the corner, immediately swooned, making Ino annoyed.
"Forehead girl, Sasuke is mine!"
Ino whispered possessively, but Sakura ignored her.
"If you're bored, why don't we ditch class?"
Hearing Sasuke and Naruto bicker, Kiba turned around from the front row and joined in.
The whispers gradually grew louder than Iruka's lecture. No one noticed the teacher's face steadily turning red.
"Shikamaru! Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura! Ino! Kiba!"
Name after name, all the smiling troublemakers froze.
"You six—OUT!"
Iruka kicked them out to stand in the hallway. Then he checked the grade sheet, preparing to praise the top scorers.
"First, the S-ranks: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuga Hinata…"
Iruka paused.
Good grief—the top four scorers… three of them were the ones he just kicked out.
What kind of class was he teaching?!
Time passed quickly, and soon it was time for dismissal.
"Brother, you should've seen Iruka-sensei's expression when he read your name…"
On the way home, Karin excitedly mimicked Iruka's embarrassed face, making Naruto howl with laughter.
"Stuck-up Sasuke, you only scored a B. If Uncle Fugaku finds out, he'll kill you."
"That was just an off day. These questions are super easy for me!"
As Sasuke began bickering with Naruto again, Sakura wanted to join in but found she couldn't.
She wasn't really close to Naruto's little group.
Her family wasn't special — her parents weren't even jonin. Her only real connection was Ino from her childhood.
But looking at Naruto's group — their parents were ANBU leaders, Police Force captains…
Even Kiba, the poorest among them, had a mother who was a tokubetsu jōnin.
Compared to that, Sakura felt she had no place to speak.
She only had good grades, nothing more.
"What are you thinking about?"
While Sakura was quietly feeling inferior, Naruto suddenly noticed her mood.
Looking up, she saw Naruto's bright blue eyes gazing at her, smiling warmly.
"Eh? Me?"
Sakura pointed at herself, unsure.
"Yeah, you. Haruno Sakura, right? We all got punished together, so according to Shimura Takeshi's rule, that makes us friends."
Naruto reached out and introduced everyone in the group.
Aside from the punished ones, there were also Hinata and Shino…
Seeing Naruto's cheerful smile, Sakura suddenly felt that Sasuke wasn't that handsome after all.
"Ah—let go of me! I'm ANBU! I have top-secret missions!"
As the kids passed the bathhouse chatting happily, they saw a white-haired man being held down by the Police Force and dragged toward headquarters.