Higashino Shin didn't reject the idea of going to school again after being reborn; on the contrary, he was quite looking forward to it. After all, the Ninja Academy was a completely different thing from the school education of his previous life.
One focused on teaching scientific knowledge, while the other focused on teaching you how to kill people.
Early in the morning, after finishing his routine exercise and eating a delicious breakfast, Higashino Shin set off for school.
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The sun is shining in the sky, the flowers are smiling, the little bird says, 'Early, early, early, why aren't you carrying your little schoolbag?'
Carry a schoolbag? That didn't exist. A Ninja tool pouch was enough for him; he had two on his lower back and one on his thigh.
Inside were weapons like Kunai and shuriken.
This was the difference between the Ninja Academy and studying in his previous life. Here, even if you carried a schoolbag, it would mostly contain large weapons that couldn't fit in a tool pouch, like Fūma Shuriken or something.
Of course, there was still one thing different from usual; at least now, one of the tool pouches contained two pens and a small notebook.
That was it, nothing more.
On the way, Higashino Shin met Gekkō Hayate and Yūgao Uzuki, who were waiting at the intersection, and the three of them walked together.
For some reason, looking at the two of them, Higashino Shin suddenly felt like he was walking to the county junior high school with his childhood friends from the same Village in his previous life.
He never thought such a thing could happen again. Perhaps those guys from back then would never imagine that he could still live in another world.
So, life is truly magical; as long as you're alive, you can always encounter interesting things, especially in this magical world.
After arriving at the school, Gekkō Hayate went to his second-grade class, while Higashino Shin and the other went directly to first-grade Class A. One could tell by the ranking that it was a class for top elite students.
The Ninja Academy implemented a typical small-class system, with 27 students per class. If no one graduated early, they could be perfectly divided into 9 squads later on.
The lecture hall also had long desks arranged in three rows horizontally and vertically, with three students sitting behind each desk.
At this moment, more than half of the students in the class had already arrived. Those familiar with each other sat together, talking enthusiastically with excited expressions.
It was as if they would attend class today, graduate tomorrow, and sit on the Hokage throne the day after.
Only Shisui, sitting by himself in the middle seat on the right side next to the window, was alone. It was unclear whether it was because the clan crest on his clothes had a built-in 'Muggle-repelling' effect or because of that precocious face that seemed out of place with the others.
But even so, his charming, large eyes were still very good-looking, and several girls would glance at him from time to time.
When Higashino Shin and Yūgao Uzuki walked into the classroom, everyone looked over simultaneously. The boys' faces showed some degree of defiance because the two of them, along with Shisui, were the top three finishers in the entrance test.
The girls were much simpler; their gazes all lingered on Higashino Shin's face.
One could only say that the benefits of taking after his mother's looks were evident here. To describe it in Zhang Fei's words: 'I possess quite a fine appearance!'
Little Yūgao Uzuki was like a puppy whose food bowl had been snatched, glaring back at them one by one with fierce eyes.
She was no longer the little girl from two years ago who knew nothing; at this moment, she had instinctively learned to protect her 'food'.
Higashino Shin was somewhat speechless. As expected, girls in the Ninja World are all 'dumpling spirits,' right? Starting to dip in vinegar at such a young age?
"You arrived quite early."
Sitting down next to Shisui, Higashino Shin spoke while taking out the teaching materials from under the desk to check them, flipping through to find a small booklet.
"I had nothing to do anyway, so I came early. So you were looking for this; did you see any problems, Shin?"
The booklet in Higashino Shin's hand was the course schedule for this semester. He glanced through it and nodded. "As expected, compared to before, the history and science classes have been greatly compressed, and the extra time has been given to training and combat-oriented courses."
"It really is! Why is that?" Yūgao Uzuki asked, looking at her own course manual.
Shisui thought for a moment and said, "Because of the war. The Village doesn't know how long this war will last. To cope with potential unfavorable situations in the future, prioritizing the improvement of students' combat power is the best choice."
Higashino Shin also agreed with this judgment. "That's right. It's wartime now. Regardless of whether they'll need us then, it's correct to focus on improving combat power first."
"Better safe than sorry. This place trains Ninjas, not scholars. Basic knowledge isn't a necessity; we can just make up for it later if needed."
Yūgao Uzuki: "Ah, so that's how it is?"
"Of course it is. However, those interested can study on their own. As long as it doesn't affect training, the school won't care." Higashino Shin looked at the teaching materials in front of him; all subjects were represented.
These were all distributed directly to the classroom by the school, unlike in his previous life where he had to go and collect textbooks himself.
And they were all free; the Ninja Academy didn't charge tuition fees either.
This was a place to train Ninjas to risk their lives for the Village, roughly equivalent to a boot camp. Paying for school? Wouldn't that be like paying to join the army? What kind of 'America' behavior would that be?
---
Soon after all the students had arrived, it was time for class to start.
A young Ninja wearing a green flak jacket walked into the classroom and stood on the podium.
He looked to be in his 20s, of medium height, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and was somewhat handsome. His black hair was very distinctive, as if it possessed an unyielding Soul, standing up strand by strand like a Saiyan.
For a moment, Higashino Shin seemed to see Gohan. He was truly afraid this man would suddenly get angry, his hair would turn yellow, and he'd slap poor Earth into cosmic dust with one palm.
Fortunately, he was overthinking. The young teacher wrote his name on the blackboard, looked at everyone, and said, "Hello everyone, my name is Inoue Kuroiwa. From now on, I will be the homeroom teacher for this class."
"Now, please come up and introduce yourselves, including your dreams, hobbies, and so on, so everyone can get to know each other. Let's start with the student in the front row on the left."
Next, the students took turns going up to introduce themselves.
Facing all their classmates, some were nervous, some were cheerful, some were shy, and some wore sunglasses to act cool.
Then he heard him say his surname was Aburame and his name was Muta Aburame. Oh, then it was fine. His 'true form' was the sunglasses; the men of that entire clan were like sunglasses spirits.
As for dreams, most were to become Hokage, protect the Village, and the like.
After all, a Konoha Ninja who doesn't want to be Hokage isn't a good student.
The girls didn't have as many who wanted to be Hokage. They either wanted to become a Ninja like Senju Tsunade, or open a cake or flower shop in the future. Someone even directly said her dream was to marry a gentle and handsome perfect husband.
Is this damn six years old? Is their brain stuffed with a hormone version of Jinkela? And when you say 'gentle and handsome,' can you please not stare at me?
When it was Yūgao Uzuki's turn, the little girl wasn't shy at all: "My name is Yūgao Uzuki. I like viewing flowers. My dream is to have a large garden to collect and plant various famous flowers from the Ninja World."
Well, Higashino Shin had seen through her two years ago. When fishing, she didn't have twenty minutes of patience; the rest of the day was spent picking flowers in the forest, and incidentally picking a bunch of poisonous mushrooms.
If Gekkō Hayate and Higashino Shin hadn't learned the relevant knowledge of identifying edible wild plants in advance, the four of them would have been lying in coffins right after eating.
When it was Higashino Shin's turn, he looked at the students below, seriously memorizing their faces, and then said calmly, "My name is Higashino Shin. My hobby is Cultivating, and my dream is to become a powerful Ninja and protect my companions."
Inoue Kuroiwa looked at this student with the best entrance test results: "Higashino-kun, don't you want to become Hokage?"
"I certainly do. But, Teacher Inoue, we need to broaden our perspective. If one doesn't become Hokage, can they not protect their companions? Protecting companions should not depend on rank; it's an awareness every Konoha Ninja should have."
"Ahahaha, not bad, not bad. Higashino-kun's understanding of the will of fire is very profound. Alright, go back to your seat. Next one."
"My name is Uchiha Shisui. My hobby is eating grilled fish, especially with friends. My dream is that people in the Village, regardless of where they come from, can understand each other and become good friends."
"That's a very nice dream. Next."
It wasn't until the self-introduction segment was over that Higashino Shin felt the sensation of being watched disappear. The Sandaime's crystal ball was indeed useful.
The Ninja Academy was the Hokage's base, an important place to spread the will of fire to the young children of Ninja families. As Class A was a gathering place for this year's new top students, how could Hiruzen Sarutobi not pay attention?
"Mutual understanding... Shisui, that really is a good dream."
"Shin, do you also think it's possible?"
"Of course it's possible. Mutual understanding isn't actually hard. For example, if there's a Ninja who's been hungry for several days and sees me holding a bag of bread and tries to snatch it, I understand his behavior because he's starving to death."
"So would you give him the bread?"
"No, I would beat him to death. Understanding doesn't mean agreement. If I give him the bread, what will I eat?"
"Can't you just go buy another bag?"
As expected, even if he was precocious, he was still too young. Higashino Shin looked at Shisui speechlessly. "Am I talking about the bread?"
Shisui: "Aren't you?"
Yūgao Uzuki: "What are you guys talking about? It's still early for lunch."
Higashino Shin, Uchiha Shisui: "..."
Forget it, let's just focus on class.
---
The first lesson was about the glorious history of Konoha, interspersed with explanations of the will of fire from time to time.
As expected, even if the duration of general knowledge classes was compressed, an in-depth interpretation of the will of fire was indispensable. For a Ninja Village, the strength of a Ninja was secondary; loyalty was primary.
Just like the materials Higashino Shin had seen at home or in the library, the history of Konoha's founding had been heavily edited. Many key events were missing, and the remaining events were briefly described, followed by long, profound interpretations of the events using the will of fire.
There were interpretations from the First and Second, but most of it was the Sandaime's thoughts.
But the problem was, when some of these events happened, the First and Second had already passed away, right? Did they do their reading comprehension in the Pure Land?
And where was the Uchiha's presence? They were, after all, one of the two major founding clans.