Chapter 29: The Hokage's Special Arrangement
[Hashirama Senju: Ren, it seems you're quite popular at the Ninja Academy!]
Ren Arakawa: "Of course! I'm now the top graduate of the Ninja Academy, so it's only natural that many people want to get close to me!"
[Tobirama Senju: Hey~ You're only this strong now because of what we gave you!]
Ren Arakawa: "I earned that through my own abilities. If you're so capable, you don't have to give it to me. I didn't force you!"
[Tobirama Senju: You're incredibly shameless to say that.]
Ren Arakawa: "Hey, hey, hey~ Second Hokage, you'd better watch your words. We may be familiar with each other, but if you keep talking nonsense, I'll sue you for defamation!"
[Uchiha Izuna: Tobirama, you're asking for death by talking back to the streamer!]
[Notification: Uchiha Izuna has been successfully muted by Tobirama Senju for 30 minutes!]
[Uchiha Madara: Tobirama, you've gone too far!]
[Tobirama Senju: So what if I have? I silenced you with my own power. If you two brothers aren't satisfied, you can always try to become VIP Level 5!]
Ren Arakawa: "I think the Second Hokage's suggestion is a good one. Lord Madara, how about considering the VIP Level 5 package?"
[Uchiha Madara: Get lost!]
Ren Arakawa: "Second Hokage..."
[Tobirama Senju: Got it!]
[Notification: Uchiha Madara has been successfully muted by Tobirama Senju for 30 minutes!]
[Hashirama Senju: Tobirama, you...]
[Tobirama Senju: Big brother, shut up!]
[Hashirama Senju: ...]
Ren Arakawa: "How does it feel, Second Hokage? Is it great to be a privileged user?"
[Tobirama Senju: That was fucking awesome! Kid, if you ever want to mute someone again, just tell me, and I'll do it for you!]
Ren Arakawa: "As you can see, this is the benefit of high-level VIP privileges. If any of you are interested in learning more about high-level VIP privileges, feel free to contact me anytime!"
[Tobirama Senju: Damn it~ You actually used me as a billboard?!]
Ren Arakawa: "What? Do you have a problem with that?"
[Tobirama Senju: N-no...]
"In order to ensure a more balanced strength among the squads, I have made the following arrangements for the members of each squad..."
While Tobirama Senju was busy playing the role of a privileged user, outside, Iruka had already begun assigning the graduating genin to their squads.
The squad assignments this time were similar to those in the original work. Akimichi Chōji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino were grouped together again, forming the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio! Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuga Hinata successfully formed the strongest intelligence-gathering team among the younger generation.
As for the members of Team 7, they remained unchanged. It was still Naruto Uzumaki, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke—the latter still receiving treatment for his injuries at the Konoha Hospital.
This made Ren wonder. He had thought he would be assigned to one of the teams with the main characters. Surprisingly, he didn't get a single one. Was he supposed to team up with two random characters who didn't even have names? Wasn't this fucking outrageous?
Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, and Hyuga Hinata all showed a hint of disappointment in their eyes when they realized they weren't in the same squad as Ren.
It didn't take long for Iruka to assign all the present students to their squads! However, what was surprising was... he read out the names of all the graduates but never mentioned Ren Arakawa's name!
In other words, Ren was left out in the cold. He didn't belong to any squad!
After the squads were assigned, Ino, who had been paying close attention to Ren, finally stood up and asked, "Iruka-sensei, what about Ren? Why wasn't he assigned to a squad?"
This was a question that more than just Ino wanted to know at this moment! Everyone present was puzzled by this, including Ren himself! Because he never expected that he, the top graduate, would be overlooked by Iruka!
"Ino, please sit down. I will now inform everyone about Ren's situation!" Iruka closed the roster in his hand and continued to explain to everyone: "As you all know, Ren is the top graduate of this year's class! But at the same time, he is also a genius student who has broken all the academy's assessment records. His true strength has far surpassed that of you kids. Therefore, the Hokage has made special arrangements for him!"
The Hokage? Special arrangements?
Hearing these two pieces of information, everyone was immediately thrown into deep shock. Generally speaking, graduation matters were handled internally within the academy. At most, the notification would only reach a few supervising jōnin. It shouldn't have alarmed the Hokage. After all, no matter how amazing their performance was at the academy, they were still just students. They couldn't possibly have caught the Hokage's attention yet!
But today, Ren had been directly singled out and dealt with by the Hokage! This was something that had never happened before in the academy's history!