Misae came running up to the school gate with Shin-chan's school bag and lunch box in hand, only to be stopped by a middle-aged female teacher wearing glasses.
"Excuse me, ma'am, class assignments have already started. Parents aren't allowed inside."
"But my son is still in there."
"Your son?" The teacher pushed up her glasses and checked the roster in her hands. "What's his name?"
"Nohara Shinnosuke."
The teacher glanced down, then looked back up at Misae. "He's already been assigned to Class A. You can head back now."
"But his lunch—"
"The school provides lunch," the teacher cut in. "Please come pick him up at four this afternoon. Goodbye."
The gate slowly closed.
Misae stood there at the entrance, holding the little school bag, completely stunned.
"So I ran all the way here for nothing?"
Meanwhile, the culprit in question had no idea his mother was outside losing her mind.
Inside Class A, over a dozen five-year-olds sat properly on their little chairs.
At the front of the room stood a young male teacher, just in his early twenties, wearing round glasses. He looked like the kind of scholarly ninja who stayed up all night reading.
His name was Ibuki Tōru, a chūnin who had been injured and temporarily pulled off frontline duty, then assigned to teaching.
"Alright, settle down." Teacher Ibuki clapped his hands. "Let's start by getting to know each other. When I call your name, stand up and introduce yourself."
He picked up the roster.
"Hatake Kakashi."
A silver-haired little boy stood up, mask covering his face. "Hatake Kakashi."
Then he sat back down.
The classroom stayed quiet for two seconds.
Teacher Ibuki blinked. "That's it?"
Kakashi nodded.
"O-Okay then." The teacher put a check beside the name on the list. "Next, Uchiha Obito."
A black-haired boy with spiky hair shot to his feet, voice loud and energetic. "My name is Uchiha Obito! I'm going to become Hokage in the future, so please take care of me!"
Then he bowed so hard he banged into the desk in front of him.
"Very spirited." Teacher Ibuki rubbed his forehead. "Next, Nohara Shinnosuke."
Shin-chan slowly stood up. "My name is Nohara Shinnosuke. I'm five years old. I live in an apartment behind the hot springs in Konoha Village. Unmarried."
"Pff." Someone laughed.
Teacher Ibuki's mouth twitched. "Go on."
"My favorite thing is chocolate sticks, and what I hate is green peppers and carrots." Shin-chan tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Also, my mom said she was bringing me lunch just now, but I think she got lost. Teacher, can I have a little extra food at noon?"
Another burst of laughter rippled through the classroom.
After one full round of introductions, Teacher Ibuki's face was covered in black lines. He turned around and wrote three large characters on the board.
"Alright. Today, the first lesson we're going to learn—and the most important one—is chakra."
He turned back, pushing up his glasses. "Has anyone heard this word before?"
Obito immediately raised his hand. "I know! The Hokage has a lot of chakra."
"Very good." Teacher Ibuki nodded. "Chakra is the energy source ninja use to perform ninjutsu. It is made up of two parts."
He wrote on the board:
Physical energy. Mental energy.
"When you combine these two kinds of energy inside your body and refine them, you create chakra." Teacher Ibuki clenched his fist. "This is the foundation of all ninjutsu."
Shin-chan lay sprawled over his desk, staring at the blackboard with a completely blank mind.
Physical energy... mental energy... extract... combine...
He blinked, then turned to look at Uchiha Toru beside him.
"Toru." He lowered his voice.
Uchiha Toru was taking notes seriously without even looking up. "What is it?"
"Is chakra like the filling inside a chocolate stick?"
Uchiha Toru's pen froze. He turned his head, wearing an expression that clearly said, What are you even talking about?
"No."
"Then is it like the strings in natto?"
"No."
"Then is it like the fire that pops out over Mom's head when she gets mad?"
Uchiha Toru fell silent for two seconds, then whispered, "Try feeling inside your body. See if there's some kind of warm power in there."
Shin-chan closed his eyes and seriously tried for two seconds.
"Nope."
Uchiha Toru: "..."
"Then how did you feel it?" Shin-chan asked.
Uchiha Toru hesitated. "I don't know either. I can just feel it."
Shin-chan nodded thoughtfully. "Oh, so it's the kind of thing you can only feel—you can't really explain it with logic?"
Uchiha Toru thought about it. That actually did seem right. Uncertainly, he answered, "I guess so."
"Then why is Teacher explaining so much?" Shin-chan pointed at the two lines on the blackboard. "Why not just say, 'Try to feel it'?"
Uchiha Toru opened his mouth, only to realize he had no answer.
At the front of the class, Teacher Ibuki tapped the board. "Alright, enough theory. Now everyone, close your eyes and try to feel the energy inside your bodies."
"Start with physical energy—that tired feeling you get after exercise. Then mental energy—that feeling you get when you focus your attention. Mix the two together and refine them."
The classroom fell quiet.
More than a dozen children closed their eyes and started trying.
Shin-chan shut his eyes too.
Feel physical energy—the tiredness after moving around. He'd run all over the place this morning, and his legs were still a little sore. Did that count?
Feel mental energy—that meant concentration. He tried thinking about chocolate sticks, but somehow ended up worrying about what he'd do for lunch.
Then he tried mixing the two together.
The soreness in his legs, plus the desire to eat chocolate sticks...
Huh?
It felt like something was rising up from his stomach, warm and strange.
Shin-chan couldn't help opening his eyes. He lowered his head to look at his palm.
There was nothing there.
But he had definitely felt it—something moving inside his body, like a tiny little river.
"Teacher." Shin-chan raised his hand.
Teacher Ibuki had been walking around the room. He came over to Shin-chan's side. "What is it?"
"I think I got it."
Teacher Ibuki froze. "Got what?"
"That chakra thing." Shin-chan tilted his head. "It's warm, and it's going in circles in my belly."
Teacher Ibuki's eyes widened behind his glasses.
He crouched down and lightly placed a hand on Shin-chan. It was the simplest way to sense chakra.
The next second, his expression changed.
"You refined it?"
Shin-chan blinked. "Is it hard?"
Teacher Ibuki fell silent for two seconds.
Under normal circumstances, for a five-year-old child encountering chakra for the first time, simply being able to sense it would already be impressive. To refine it this quickly—this could already be called genius.
"How did you do it?" Teacher Ibuki couldn't help asking.
Shin-chan thought about it, then answered seriously, "First I thought about my sore legs, then I thought about chocolate sticks, then I mixed them together, and there it was."
Teacher Ibuki: "..."
Sore legs? Chocolate sticks?
What kind of ridiculous chakra refinement method was that?!
Suddenly, he remembered his own first time refining chakra as a child.
It had taken him a full three days.
And this kid had done it with sore legs and chocolate sticks.