A new day began.
Kitazawa woke up early. His class—The Will of Fire—was scheduled for the first period.
From another perspective, this also showed how much importance Sarutobi Hiruzen placed on it.
That rotten old man was bad news—an outright voyeur.
Kitazawa was absolutely certain that Hiruzen would use the Crystal Ball to observe his class.
Of course, not because of him, but because of Uzumaki Naruto and the others.
When Kitazawa arrived at First-Year Class A, he discovered that only five students had shown up so far.
He swept his gaze across the room, then paused on a little girl sitting in the middle row.
She was dressed conservatively, wrapped in long sleeves and pants. Her hair was short, a dark blue close to black.
But the most striking feature was her pair of pure white eyes.
The Byakugan.
The Byakugan, unique to the Hyūga clan, granted piercing vision and extraordinary insight.
[Current Mission: Help your deskmate Hyūga Hinata get her scarf back.]
[Mission Reward: Leaf Whirlwind.]
[Do you accept?]
Seeing the three lines of text suddenly appear, Kitazawa's mouth twitched.
How was he supposed to become Hyūga Hinata's deskmate?
After thinking for a few seconds, he came up with an idea to fool the system.
He walked over calmly—and sat down beside her.
"…?"
Confusion surfaced in Hyūga Hinata's heart.
But her shy nature prevented her from asking anything.
She lowered her head, two fingers nervously poking at each other.
"I'm Kitazawa, the teacher of First-Year Class A," he said, turning to look at her.
Her skin was fair, almost doll-like and delicate.
"T-teacher… hello!"
Hinata greeted him hurriedly.
The Hyūga clan was considered nobility among ninja families—strict about etiquette and propriety.
"No need to be so polite."
Kitazawa smiled gently. "May I be your deskmate?"
He didn't bring up the scarf right away. That would be far too abrupt.
"I… yes."
Hinata answered instinctively, then tilted her head in confusion.
"I didn't finish my lesson prep," Kitazawa said, opening the materials in his hand and speaking nonsense with a straight face.
"There's no seat at the podium, so I'll temporarily sit here."
A blatant lie.
But Hinata didn't doubt him at all.
Just then, three new lines of text appeared before Kitazawa's eyes.
[Current Mission: Become the first student in the class to attract the attention of Headmaster Sarutobi Hiruzen.]
[Mission Reward: Wind Release — Great Breakthrough.]
[Do you accept?]
Was there such a good deal?
This system wasn't as stupid as he'd thought.
Kitazawa accepted immediately—it avoided effort anyway.
He had already planned to leave a deep impression on Hiruzen during the first lesson.
This was called knowing how the world works. Loyalty was the key.
Hinata stared blankly at the handsome teacher beside her.
He was really… easy to get along with.
At the same time, she felt a hint of envy.
If she had this kind of personality, perhaps her father—Hyūga Hiashi—wouldn't be disappointed in her again and again.
"What are you looking at?"
Kitazawa turned his head and noticed Hinata spacing out. Her clear, watery eyes looked a little dazed.
"N-nothing!"
When Hinata met his gaze, her cheeks instantly turned red.
"By the way, you still haven't told me your name, Hyūga."
Kitazawa asked with a smile.
"Eh?!"
Hinata immediately stood up, flustered.
"I—I'm sorry! My name is Hyūga Hinata!"
"There you go, being polite again."
Kitazawa reached out and gently patted her head.
"We're deskmates right now. Not teacher and student."
"S-sorry…"
Hinata stiffened all over and lowered her head again.
"Sit down. Let's talk."
Kitazawa withdrew his hand.
Hinata sat obediently, legs together, small hands resting on her knees.
Suddenly, she thought of something and looked up.
"Um… how did you know my surname is Hyūga?"
She asked curiously.
"Of course—it's your Byakugan."
Kitazawa glanced at her eyes.
"D-don't look…"
Hinata turned her head away.
"They're… not pretty."
"I think they're very pretty."
Kitazawa paused, then asked, "Why do you think they aren't?"
"I…"
Hinata hesitated, her expression conflicted.
"We're friends now, aren't we?"
Kitazawa said with a gentle smile.
"They said so…"
Hinata's small face turned pale.
"They said the Byakugan is ugly."
Kitazawa wasn't surprised at all.
In the original story, this was exactly what those three brats used to bully Hinata.
And the scarf mentioned in the mission was taken by them as well.
"So something like that happened…"
Kitazawa's expression turned serious.
"Then I'll have to rein them in."
"Eh?"
Hinata never expected that answer and froze.
"Do you remember them?"
Kitazawa softened his tone.
"Don't worry, I'm a teacher. I won't do anything excessive."
"I remember them."
Hinata nodded, then said awkwardly,
"But I don't know their names…"
"That's fine."
Kitazawa waved it off.
"Just describe their main features."
"There were three boys, about my age…"
Hinata recalled carefully.
"That's more than enough."
Kitazawa smiled.
"I already have a few candidates in mind. I'll confirm after class."
Every class had a few troublemakers.
With Hinata's description, it wouldn't be hard to find them.
"A-amazing!"
Hinata blurted out.
In her heart, Kitazawa had already become a very reliable adult.
"It's nothing."
Kitazawa waved his hand.
"I'll let you know once there's a result."
"Thank you, Teacher Kitazawa."
Hinata said gratefully.
Just as Kitazawa was about to speak, voices came from the doorway.
"Sakura, don't you think our teacher is super handsome?"
"Who cares if the teacher's handsome? What matters is having lots of handsome classmates!"
Two little girls walked into the classroom.
One had pink hair tied with ribbons, her smooth forehead exposed.
The other had blonde hair in a single ponytail, with bangs covering her right eye.
Kitazawa recognized them at a glance.
Haruno Sakura.
Yamanaka Ino.
The former was one of the original story's heroines, who would later save the ninja world alongside Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.
Of course, she wasn't exactly the MVP—at best, she rode along for the win.
The latter was the "Pig" of the new generation Ino–Shika–Chō trio, specializing in control and sensory techniques.
Both girls liked Uchiha Sasuke, but without protagonist-level luck, she ultimately became the blonde losing heroine.
"So handsome!"
Yamanaka Ino noticed Kitazawa and widened her eyes.
"Is this really our teacher?"
Haruno Sakura's spirits lifted as she asked.
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