Everyone in the classroom was stunned by Shen Uchiha's stride. Heiji the plump kid fumbled his newly opened snack onto the desk, stunned. Even Nayou, the icy girl, couldn't help but let out a small gasp.
"Bang!"
Shen Uchiha forcefully slammed his palm on the podium. Their shock immediately disappeared as if it had never been there.
"It hurts like hell!"
His slam on the podium looked impressively majestic, every motion calculated and precise—until the moment his palm hit the surface. Then, just for a split second, he winced in pain. Fortunately, he quickly regained composure; otherwise, this year's Oscar wouldn't have been up for grabs.
With a confident furrow of his brow and a slightly raised chin, Shen Uchiha addressed the students below in an imperious tone, delivering a script he'd just improvised: "Shen Uchiha has no particular favorites. My dream is too big—I fear saying it aloud might scare you all. So let me start small: my goal is to conquer this school!"
"Wow…"
The "audience" below stared at Shen Uchiha's performance with bewildered expressions.
Heiji the plump kid was convinced. This guy had just walked into the Ninja Academy on the very first day and already declared his intent to take over the school—how cool beyond words.
Nayou lightly furrowed her eyebrows. She had just announced her desire to become the strongest in Konoha when she heard this boy from the Uchiha clan proclaiming his intention to dominate the academy. Her body trembled faintly, clearly eager for a showdown with Shen Uchiha.
Nawaki continued glaring at the stage, only now his eyes burned even more intensely with fighting spirit.
Mikoto, who would one day become part of Shen Uchiha's family, watched him perform in amazement. She thought the second son of the Uchiha clan had always kept himself well-hidden—but apparently, his "ambition" stretched far enough to want to rule the Ninja Academy.
Nishinodera looked blankly at the sky, feeling deep in his heart that this year's class had far too many problem students—a "homosexual" and a "delinquent." He felt deeply discouraged, anticipating five long years of teaching ahead filled with darkness.
"And there's more," said Shen Uchiha, placing both hands lightly on the edge of the podium as he leaned forward slightly, adding in a low voice: "Also, I despise men."
"Boom!"
His words were like igniting dynamite. Instantly, the classroom erupted into chaotic chatter, becoming livelier than ever within seconds.
At that moment, Nishinodera almost wanted to cry. Two troublemakers were bad enough, but now the entire class had completely ignored him as their teacher and openly started chatting—it would definitely make him the laughingstock among colleagues.
And poor Nawaki wanted to cry even more—he felt like this guy must be his destined nemesis. Those words had directly sent his reputation plummeting to rock bottom.
Shen Uchiha nodded satisfiedly at the scene he had caused, confident that this year's Oscar was practically his.
"Ring!"
A short and brisk bell rang. The wall clock pointed precisely to twelve o'clock—indicating the end of classes.
Shen Uchiha swiftly turned around and headed toward the classroom door. Bending his upper body slightly and suddenly lifting his right leg high, he kicked the door powerfully. A loud "slap!" echoed as the door flew open outward. Luckily, it was only made of wood. If it had been an iron door, judging by his dramatic acting ability, he probably would've immediately grabbed his leg and squatted down crying out in pain.
Even a simple wooden door hurt Shen Uchiha badly now. An unexpected extra scene caught him completely off guard: "Why can't I control my leg? Just one more scene to finish, then I can say goodbye to this place."
Shadow Emperor Shen quickly regained composure and turned not against the wind, but toward the students to deliver his final line: "Well then, class dismissed, everyone!"
With that, the actor gave a little shake of his Uchiha coat and strode away majestically.
"Uchiha Shen, I'll remember you!" Nayou murmured, her lips curving slightly as she watched his back disappear. "I wonder how tough he really is?" With the smile of a child eyeing a favorite toy, she followed him out first.
Nawaki felt extremely annoyed inside: "What about me? I haven't even introduced myself yet!" Feeling nameless and unwanted, he also dejectedly left as other students scattered home.
Mikoto Uchiha walked away in inner conflict, pondering whether she should tell her clan members about the young master's earlier "bold words."
One after another, people ignored Nishinodera, who remained frozen in his own corner of misery.
The last to leave was chubby Heiji, who shot a sympathetic glance at the expressionless Nishinodera before giving him an encouraging hug—leaving behind the scent of snack grease. Then he grabbed his big bag of treats and headed home with the rest.
"I-I-woe..."
Nishinodera finally burst into tears when he saw Heiji leave too, following that delinquent student in his eyes. And he cried like a thirty-year-old man would.
In a nearby alley not far from the Ninja Academy, Shen crouched in pain hugging his right leg, while the little ice princess Nayou searched outside the alley for his shadow.
"This hurts like hell! I swear, even when I was five and running around causing trouble, I never got this beat up. Guess there's no way I'm staying at school anymore—it'll probably just end in another scolding from home anyway." Squatting down while groaning, Shen felt he had brilliantly directed a great performance.
"Do I have the body of an ordinary human being or what? Sure, other ninja can't exactly punch down mountains, but they should at least be able to take out a tree or two. Definitely, it's all about bloodline in the Naruto world." He thought the pain was due to physical weakness rather than mere sensitivity to pain.
But wait—could any five-year-old really kick down a gate? Even if it was wooden?
"Better make a quick escape before someone sees my ancestral [Acting No Jutsu]—I'll never hear the end of it."
Determined, Shen limped off through a deserted path, leaving the girl waiting outside the alley anxiously searching for him.
Inside the Hokage Tower, in the Third Hokage's office,
Hiruzen Sarutobi was reading documents when he heard the noise outside the window and knew it was dismissal time. But as headmaster, buried under the content of these files, he hadn't made an appearance.
The Ninja Academy had been established by Second Hokage Tobirama Senju to ensure educational stability and efficient talent development. It was located right beside the Hokage Tower.
"Hanzo has been restless lately," the Third Hokage sighed as he put down intelligence on Amegakure village, got up, and gazed out the window at the new graduates exiting the Academy.
"This year's group of young ones is certainly something else," said Third Hokage with a soft chuckle.
He looked at the energetic new students bathed in the midday sun and murmured thoughtfully, "But how long can this peace last? What could be the purpose of Hanzo's sudden move?"
Soon, the area outside the school returned to calmness. Hiruzen Sarutobi also ended his contemplation and ordered the dark corner of the room, "Xiang, you personally go to Amegakure to investigate intelligence. And be extra cautious when dealing with Hanzo."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!"
As soon as the words fell, a figure rapidly jumped from the corner out the window and disappeared.
Xiang was an Anbu member who had served as Hiruzen Sarutobi's personal guard since the time of the Third Hokage. His expertise in secret traditional ninjutsu techniques and information analysis earned him the mission to investigate intelligence about Amegakure.
Normally, a Hokage's personal guards only needed to watch from the shadows, but the fact that someone like Xiang was sent meant just how formidable Hanzo of Amegakure must be.
The Anbu were special forces established by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and specialized in assassination tactics. Directly commanded by the Hokage, its members' real names were typically replaced with cover names. This was the first special agent organization among the Five Great Nations, which later became imitated by other ninja villages.
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