In truth, most of the children in the classroom didn't fully understand what it meant to be a direct disciple of the Third Hokage.
The reason they were surprised was simply because of the name Third Hokage itself.
The Hokage was the greatest ninja in the entire village. Everyone in the village—whether ninja or civilian, adult or child—held the Hokage in the highest respect.
Only Minato Namikaze and Mikoto Uchiha truly understood what it meant to be a direct disciple of the Third Hokage.
Such people were among the top-tier elites of the village. They were pillars supporting the strength of Konohagakure itself. Even the head of the Uchiha Clan would have to treat them with respect.
For someone like that to come to the Ninja Academy and teach students who weren't even official ninja yet—
that was nothing short of incredible luck.
Even if he wouldn't teach them any advanced ninjutsu today, simply sharing his experiences as a ninja would already be immensely valuable.
Of course, that depended on whether the students were capable of understanding any of it.
Only Kushina Uzumaki reacted differently when she heard the name of the Third Hokage. A trace of dislike flashed through her eyes—but it disappeared almost instantly.
Seeing the classroom suddenly buzzing with excitement, Shirota Hon smiled slightly and said,
"Everyone, head to the training field and line up. The special instructor will arrive soon."
At the Ninja Academy training field, all the first-year students were lined up in rows.
Among them was Uchiha En, the boy who had spoken with Minato Namikaze in the hallway before.
He was roughly the same height as Minato Namikaze—slightly taller than most children their age.
However, the two stood in completely different positions.
Uchiha En stood proudly in the front row, surrounded by classmates like a star among admirers.
Minato Namikaze, on the other hand, quietly stood in the very last row.
From behind Uchiha En, the students could barely see the training field between the heads of those standing in front of them.
Naturally, this behavior drew some displeased looks.
Most of those looks came from boys, since the ones crowding around Uchiha En were mostly girls from various classes.
Born into a prestigious clan, ranked first in his grade, and blessed with handsome looks—these factors made Uchiha En extremely popular in school.
There were also quite a few girls who wanted to approach Minato Namikaze.
In terms of appearance alone, Minato Namikaze was even slightly more handsome than Uchiha En.
However, he didn't have the same prestigious background. Furthermore, his academic results at school only appeared to be above average.
Of course, that was only because he was deliberately hiding his true abilities.
Still, the incident where he defeated Akasaka Yu with a single strike had already spread rumors throughout the grade.
Many students had begun to wonder—
Between Minato Namikaze and Uchiha En, who was truly the strongest?
Uchiha En's gaze occasionally drifted toward Minato Namikaze.
Minato Namikaze simply ignored him.
He didn't exactly dislike Uchiha En, but he certainly didn't have any favorable impression of him either.
Judging from the way Uchiha En ignored the inconvenience he caused those behind him, Minato Namikaze suspected that he was probably quite arrogant in his own class.
It seemed that even his homeroom teacher had difficulty controlling someone from the Uchiha Clan.
Nearby, Shirota Hon stood alongside several other teachers, waiting respectfully.
"Yo! Sorry to keep you all waiting!"
A cheerful voice suddenly echoed across the training field.
No one had noticed when he arrived, but a tall figure was suddenly standing before them with a playful grin.
Not a single person present had seen him appear.
So fast…
Minato Namikaze's eyes narrowed slightly.
Because of his intense training, his visual reflexes were already faster than those of ordinary people.
Even so, he had only caught a faint glimpse of a shadow.
With speed like that, if this were the battlefield, a weaker ninja might be killed before they even realized what had happened.
Everyone's gaze turned toward the newcomer.
The first thing anyone noticed about him was his long white hair.
In fact, his hair was even longer than the long hair worn by Mikoto Uchiha and Kushina Uzumaki.
The man looked to be just over twenty years old.
He wasn't particularly handsome, but there was something unusual about his appearance.
From beneath his eyes, two red lines extended downward like painted markings.
He wore the same style of chunin vest as Shirota Hon and the other instructors—except his vest was black.
A slightly mischievous smile hung on his face.
From the moment he arrived, his gaze had been fixed on Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto Uchiha among the students.
He completely ignored the teachers standing nearby.
Shirota Hon hurried over, looking excited as he prepared to introduce him.
"This honored guest is—"
However, the man ignored him entirely.
Instead, he walked straight over to Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto Uchiha, smiling in what he clearly believed was a friendly manner.
"Hello there, young ladies. My name is Jiraiya. What are your names?"
Hearing the question, Mikoto Uchiha bowed deeply.
"Lord Jiraiya… m-my name is Mikoto Uchiha."
If it had been other members of the Uchiha Clan, they might not have shown such humility.
However, Mikoto Uchiha had a naturally gentle personality and never felt pride in her family background.
Facing someone as important as Jiraiya made her visibly nervous.
"Heh, so you're a talented girl from the Uchiha Clan."
Jiraiya smiled.
As one of the high-ranking figures of Konohagakure, he naturally knew quite a bit about the Uchiha Clan.
Mikoto Uchiha had a good reputation for talent within her clan.
Being praised by Jiraiya made her blush with quiet happiness.
"You're quite a cute girl," Jiraiya said.
Then he turned his gaze toward Kushina Uzumaki.
"And what about you? Mind telling me your name?"
Kushina Uzumaki crossed her arms and pouted.
"Who are you? Why should I tell you, you weird old man?"
The moment those words came out—
cold sweat instantly appeared on the faces of Shirota Hon and the other teachers.
Jiraiya's eye twitched.
Several students burst into laughter.
Some others tried desperately to suppress their giggles.
Even Minato Namikaze couldn't help smiling.
Somewhat frivolous.
That was Minato Namikaze's first impression of Jiraiya.
After being rebuffed, Jiraiya awkwardly stepped back a few paces.
But something like this clearly wouldn't affect him much.
As he glanced casually across the students, his eyes briefly paused when they landed on Minato Namikaze standing in the last row.
The moment Minato Namikaze noticed his gaze, his expression instantly returned to calm.
Jiraiya withdrew his gaze and straightened his posture.
Turning toward Shirota Hon and the other teachers, he said,
"I'm not very good at teaching theory. So I'll teach these kids my own way."
Naturally, none of the teachers dared object.
However, they were slightly worried.
When a ninja of Jiraiya's level taught something, how many of these inexperienced students could actually understand it?
Jiraiya looked at the innocent young faces standing before him.
When he had been their age, he was already a ninja.
Many of these children were probably still in the stage of clinging to their parents.
Times had truly changed.
He sighed inwardly before speaking.
"Today, I'm going to teach you three basic ninja techniques that every ninja must master."