"Hehehe."
Receiving Li Anshi's praise, Mikoto Uchiha smiled demurely and hid behind Nawaki Senju.
Hopping up to sit on the railing of the roof, he addressed the three of them, "Alright, you three."
"Now, let's get to know each other."
"Where should we start?"
He stroked his chin, then suddenly clapped his hands.
"Right, let's start with self-introductions."
"You first, or me?"
"Well..."
Nawaki glanced at the two girls behind him, then at Li Anshi in front of him. In the end, he decided to play it safe.
"You're the teacher, so we should go first."
"But, I'm not sure what you'd like to know about us, Sensei?"
"Mm, name, age, hobbies, dreams, that sort of thing."
"Then I'll go first."
Nawaki took a step forward, pointing a thumb at himself.
"My name is Nawaki Senju."
"I'm twelve years old this year."
"As for hobbies, I don't know if training counts."
"My dream is to become Hokage before my sister, so she doesn't have to work so hard."
"Oh?"
Li Anshi looked at him in surprise.
Although he had a good relationship with Tsunade, it was limited to just the two of them.
His knowledge of Nawaki came mostly from the anime in his memory.
He knew his dream was to become Hokage.
This was also the main reason Naruto had been able to persuade Tsunade to return to Konoha and take up the position.
But he had never expected that the Nawaki standing before him now wanted to become Hokage for the most important reason of not wanting his sister to have to work so hard.
Is Tsunade working hard?
He asked himself this in his heart.
But did such a question even need an answer?
If she wasn't working hard, how could she have achieved what she had?
Even her younger brother knew he wanted to become Hokage to share her burden and make her life easier.
Then as her... well, possibly her future support, shouldn't he do something to help her?
In the end, he shook his head.
In his opinion, although Tsunade was working very hard now, she was living a very fulfilling life, moving towards her dream.
Presumably, she herself also enjoyed the process of turning Konoha into the village she hoped it would be, step by step.
Indeed, Nawaki's dream was to take her place and fulfill her dream, so that she could live a more relaxed and free life.
However, to a certain extent, was he not also killing her own dream?
If not for a lack of ability, who would be willing to entrust their dream to another?
And on the other hand, knowing Nawaki's dream, did she not know that the path to becoming Hokage was full of thorns, and most importantly, required a determination to carry the weight of Konoha?
Every year, there were so many ninjas who dreamed of becoming Hokage, but why did only a few of them manage to persevere?
As one's horizons broadened and one's knowledge grew, one would eventually come to know their own limits.
For dreams that were beyond one's own abilities, to continue to insist on them would be an overestimation of oneself.
Therefore, the thought of "making Tsunade's life easier" had no sooner arisen in his mind than it was crushed to pieces.
What a joke. What kind of terrifying existence would a Tsunade without a dream be?
Is that someone he could handle?
The current Tsunade had her own things to do.
Therefore, the daily turnover of his woodcarving shop was enough to support her entertainment in her spare time.
If she no longer had the goal of pursuing the position of Hokage and letting Konoha develop according to the future her grandfather and great-granduncle had hoped for, he felt that even if he went back to his old profession and took on S-rank missions every day, the money he earned would not be enough for her to lose.
He couldn't handle a Tsunade like that!
Let alone him, even the casino owners couldn't.
Her "gambling luck" could no longer be called "luck," but "fate."
If she wanted to win money, she had to lose something she cherished.
The more important the thing she lost was to her, the bigger she would win.
Just like the Fifth Hokage Tsunade from his memory, in her bet with Jiraiya, she had won, but what she had lost was the person who loved her most, and perhaps the person she loved most at the time.
What she had gained was intelligence on the abilities of Pain's Rinnegan.
This piece of intelligence had allowed the ninjas of the village to hold off Nagato's Six Paths of Pain, and in the end, they had conveyed the information they had gathered to Naruto, allowing him to defeat Nagato and become the "hero" of Konoha.
Thinking of this, his eyes narrowed slightly.
It seems I'll have to pay more attention to Nawaki in the future.
Cultivating him to become Tsunade's helper is fine.
But to have him replace her, to let her "relax"—that is something that must be prevented!
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap...
"A dream full of family love."
He clapped his hands and praised him, "However, young Senju, your sister is already a big shot in the village, and you're just a Genin who has just graduated from the Academy."
"If you want to compete with her for the position of Hokage, you still have a long way to go!"
"Next."
"Er..."
Mikoto Uchiha glanced at the even more introverted Rin Hyuga and felt it was better for her to go first, to give the other girl more time to think.
"My name is Mikoto Uchiha. I'm ten years old."
Although she was in the same class as Fugaku, Nawaki, and the others, she was indeed younger than them.
Logically, she should have been in the fourth year.
However, due to some arrangements by the Uchiha clan, who needed Fugaku and her to spend more time together, she had been placed in his class.
Although she was two years younger than the others, she was worthy of being an elite of the Uchiha, and she was not weak even in the class.
"My favorite food is three-colored dango."
"As for my dream, it's to become a good wife, support my husband, and raise two sons, hehehe..."
"I... I'm Rin Hyuga."
"I'm nine years old."
"I like flower arranging."
"My dream... my dream is to see more of the outside world."
The white-haired little girl, half a head shorter than Mikoto, said timidly.
The Uchiha and the Hyuga were both clans famous for their eyes.
The members of both clans believed their own kekkei genkai was the strongest in the world.
However, because of Madara, the Uchiha had revealed the Asura power beyond the three-tomoe, making their prestige greater than the Hyuga's.
And the main family of the Hyuga also had a legend of a power beyond the Byakugan.
Although in all these years, no Hyuga had ever succeeded in evolving their Byakugan, this did not change the main family's reverence for it in the slightest.
Furthermore, it was more or less politically correct in the village to oppose the Uchiha, so the Hyuga had, intentionally or unintentionally, been competing with them for fame.
Rin was the young lady from the main family that they had brought out to compare with Mikoto.
Unlike the Uchiha, who had a large population, the Hyuga had fewer members.
The main family had even fewer.
There were no girls of the same age as Mikoto.
But in their comparison with the Uchiha, the Hyuga could not admit defeat without a fight, so they had sent Rin, who was a year younger than Mikoto, to the Academy.
As for the outcome of the competition between the two girls, in fact, neither clan had paid too much attention to it.
They were just showing the attitude they were supposed to.
What's more, in this class, what the two clans were really concerned about was the comparison between the Hyuga brothers and Fugaku.
Fugaku was the son of the current Uchiha clan head and was very likely to become the future head.
The Hyuga brothers were also the future heads of the main and branch families of their clan.
The outcome of the competition between them was what held some meaning for the two clans.
"Mikoto Uchiha, and Rin Hyuga..."
Hearing their self-introductions, he could tell that neither of them had any intention of becoming a true ninja.
If nothing unexpected happened, Mikoto would marry Fugaku in the future and become the wife of the Uchiha clan head.
Rin, on the other hand, would marry Hiashi and become the matriarch of the Hyuga main family.
Mikoto, it seemed, had already accepted her family's arrangement, which was why she said her dream was to support her husband and raise children.
Rin, on the other hand, seemed to be forcing herself to accept her fate.
Therefore, her dream was to "see more of the outside world."
If it weren't for him, perhaps the two of them would have been called back by their clans after they had successfully graduated.
This was also the reason why they were not too concerned about the team assignments.
However, perhaps they had never imagined that now that they were tied to Nawaki and had become members of his squad, even if they wanted to return to their clans, they would probably be refused by their elders.
At the very least, the elders of both clans would wait until Nawaki had become an independent ninja and the squad was disbanded before they would be called back.
Because both clans knew that the reason he had become a squad-leading Chunin was because Lady Tsunade had personally requested him to protect Nawaki.
The fact that the two of them could form a student-teacher relationship with him during Nawaki's growth was the greatest benefit for their clans.
Who knew, perhaps one day in the future, they could even receive his protection through this relationship.
"Sensei, the three of us have finished our introductions. Isn't it your turn now?"
After both girls had finished, Nawaki asked him.
Although he knew this was an ordinary ninja his sister had found to prevent him from becoming a ninja, there was still a sliver of hope in his heart.
What if?
"Mm, I have an initial impression of you all."
"Then, it's my turn to let you get to know me."
"My name is Li Anshi."
"I'm twenty-two years old."
"Li Anshi?"
"What a strange name."
"As for the things I like, there are many..."
"My dream is a bit bigger."
"I hope for world peace!"
"Mikoto, have you ever heard this name?"
"No, this is the first time I've even heard the surname 'Li'."
A muscle in his brow twitched.
Are these little brats underestimating me?
At such a short distance, even without using chakra to enhance my senses, I can hear the two girls' conversation.
What a joke.
The surname 'Li' is definitely the most famous surname in the ninja world.
And now you're telling me this is the first time you've heard of it?
Forget it!
Originally, I had wanted to get along with you as an ordinary person.
But now, I'm done pretending.
I am the strongest in the ninja world—
"You may not be familiar with my name."
"However, the ninjas of the other villages have given me a nickname."
"They all call me—"
"Little. Li's. Flying. Dagger!"
After saying his title, he also extended his right hand, a thin dagger held between his index and middle fingers.
"Little Li's Flying Dagger, Little Li's Flying Dagger?"
"You're Little Li's Flying Dagger?"
At first, the three of them were a bit out of it upon hearing his introduction.
However, when he said his title, they were all stunned.
Although, because he did not travel the ninja world, the legends he had forged, even after so many years, had not faded in the slightest.
The three of them could be said to have grown up listening to the legends of his Little Li's Flying Dagger.
"What? You don't believe me?"
"No, I believe you!"
Hearing his question, Nawaki was the first to shake his head.
It was no joke. This was the squad leader his sister had specially found for him. How could he not believe it?
And here he had thought his sister was suppressing him. Now it seemed she thought he was growing too slowly and had found him the strongest teacher in the world.
"Sister, I misunderstood you before."
After silently apologizing to his sister in his heart, Nawaki asked him with a serious expression, "Sensei, I heard that you once killed over a thousand ninjas in a single battle. Is that true?"
Hearing his question, Mikoto and Rin also looked at him, wanting to hear his answer.
A thousand ninjas. Even all the ninjas of the Uchiha clan combined are not that many, right?
The Hyuga clan, including the branch family, probably has about three hundred people?