Chapter 51: Jonin Instructor Senju Renjiro
The outfit suited his fair skin, dark eyes, and spiky black hair perfectly, he thought.
"I should get a black mask at some point. Maybe then I can really play the part of a shadow operative, haha."
He examined himself again in the mirror. He wasn't particularly tall, but his physique was well-developed and muscular.
There was hardly any excess fat on his body. At about 1.4 meters tall, he looked lean and athletic.
"Okay, this outfit fits perfectly and looks good on me."
He purchased three identical sets of clothing. He also bought a pair of reinforced gloves with metal plates sewn into the back of each hand.
He carved a simple fuinjutsu seal for "Hardness" on the inside of the gloves. Although it wasn't particularly effective, Kaito felt that even a slight increase in defense could prove useful.
He wished he could remove the metal plates entirely, carve the Hardness seal directly onto them instead of the fabric, and then reattach them properly. However, he knew he lacked the craftsmanship skills to reassemble them correctly afterward.
At 7:30 AM the next morning, all the new graduates reported to the Academy. The classroom they were assigned wasn't Kaito's usual one.
A total of 42 students attended. After the instructors completed roll call, they handed each student a storage scroll.
Genshu called his former students one by one and distributed their scrolls personally. The homeroom teachers of the other students did the same.
When Kaito's turn came, he noticed that Genshu seemed unusually happy. He didn't know why, but he didn't particularly care, so he simply returned to his seat.
Genshu was happy because Hiruzen had finally approved him to take the jonin promotion exam!
After everyone had received their scrolls, an instructor announced clearly,
"The storage scroll provided to you contains a first-aid kit, 24 shuriken, 6 kunai, 12 senbon, one coil of shinobi wire rope, and 100 meters of additional ninja wire."
Then he smiled warmly and said,
"This is the Academy's final gift to you. Congratulations on your graduation. I will now announce your genin team assignments."
When Kaito's squad was announced, he sighed internally.
"What kind of teamwork can I possibly achieve with an emotionally cold guy who cares about nothing except taijutsu, and an arrogant girl who thinks she's the next Madara Uchiha? It would've been better to graduate last year—maybe then I could've teamed up with Senju Terui, who's actually mature enough to work with."
He analyzed the situation more carefully.
"However, it's not entirely terrible. Sparring with Hyuga Hodaka in taijutsu has always been extremely helpful for my development. Mieko should provide some valuable experience against Sharingan users. Although she's nowhere near Obito or Madara's level—but neither am I, so it's fair practice."
Then he glanced at Mieko thoughtfully.
"And since she'll die during the Uchiha massacre in about two years, it means I won't be stuck in this squad configuration for too long. I'm genuinely curious who our jonin instructor will be. I really hope it's not Kakashi. And what about my reward? Genshu didn't mention it, and the Hokage didn't summon me to his office."
After all the genin squad assignments were announced, the instructor explained that their jonin instructors would arrive shortly to collect their teams, and then all the Academy teachers departed.
As Genshu left, Kaito thought with a resigned sigh,
"Naruto and his generation should start at the Academy next year, right? I won't even be here to see it. Why do I keep missing encounters with all the classic characters from the series?"
Soon after, the jonin instructors began entering the classrooms to call out their assigned teams.
A few minutes after the Academy teachers departed, a tall, powerfully built man walked in and shouted,
"Team Three, follow me."
Kaito, Hyuga Hodaka, and Uchiha Mieko stood and followed him out.
Renjiro led them to the Academy's rooftop terrace. A few seconds later, the three new genin arrived and spread out before him.
Once there, Kaito carefully observed his new instructor.
The man stood about 2 meters tall with an impressively muscular build—a middle-aged shinobi with three prominent scars crossing his face. One scar ran directly across his right eye, though the eye itself appeared undamaged and functional.
His hair was black and long, styled somewhat like Madara Uchiha's. Two katana hung at his waist on either side.
From the clan symbol emblazoned on his clothing, Kaito immediately recognized him as a member of the Senju clan.
In fact, there was another detail that confirmed his Senju heritage for Kaito—his chakra reserves were absolutely enormous!
For obvious security reasons, Kaito had never attempted to sense the Hokage's chakra levels, so this was the highest chakra capacity he'd measured so far. Renjiro possessed roughly seven times as much chakra as Genshu.
Renjiro noticed the exact moment Kaito attempted to measure his chakra reserves.
He locked eyes with Kaito, staring at him intently. Kaito simply smiled back pleasantly. Renjiro thought to himself,
"So this is the kid who wants to learn samurai sword techniques—the same one who had the audacity to request a chakra metal blade from the Hokage. Not bad. He seems to be a very skilled sensor-type ninja. Even when I stare him down, he just smiles back without flinching. I wonder if this represents foolishness, genuine courage, or complete shamelessness."
Then he shifted his attention to the remaining two genin.
"The Hyuga clan kid has the same emotionally distant expression their entire clan is famous for. And just by looking at the Uchiha girl's face, you can see exactly how proud she is of herself and her abilities."
He sighed internally.
"This is going to take considerable time and effort."
Renjiro addressed them directly.
"I am Senju Renjiro. I'll be your jonin instructor. Let's get acquainted first. Tell me a little about yourselves."
Mieko asked immediately,
"What exactly should we say?"
Meanwhile, Kaito recalled the standard "introduce yourself" question commonly asked during job interviews in his previous life. Renjiro replied simply,
"Tell me about your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, and anything else you think is relevant."
Kaito spoke up first.
"I'm Kaito. I like swords and powerful ninjutsu. My hobbies are training and reading about shinobi history and past wars. I dislike the senseless killing that war brings to innocent people. My dream is to become a powerful ninja in the future so I can help bring lasting peace to the shinobi world."
Renjiro stared at Kaito, genuinely impressed by his stated 'dream.'
Of course, if he knew Kaito's actual thoughts, he might have coughed up blood in frustration.
Seeing Renjiro's moved expression, Kaito thought smugly,
"Perfect. This is exactly what the Konoha leadership wants to hear. I don't actually care much about world peace right now, but saying this creates a positive impression with them. It gives me opportunities to learn advanced techniques like the Flying Thunder God, and it'll make Hiruzen more likely to protect me when Danzo inevitably tries to recruit me. Besides, I genuinely can't do anything about world peace at my current level anyway, so why not say it? Hehe."
Renjiro looked at Mieko expectantly. She stated confidently,
"I'm Uchiha Mieko. I like cats. I don't like being treated like a child just because of my age. My hobbies are practicing ninjutsu and playing with cats. My dream is to become the strongest Uchiha who ever lived!"
Kaito glanced at her, secretly laughing in his heart.
"Well, you've got about two years left to surpass Madara Uchiha. Good luck with that. Rest in peace."
Renjiro nodded and turned to Hodaka, who said flatly,
"I'm Hyuga Hodaka. I like taijutsu. I dislike academic studying. My hobby is sparring with anyone willing to fight. My dream is to become the greatest taijutsu master in shinobi history."
Renjiro nodded with understanding and announced,
"Alright. Congratulations on your early graduation. However, this doesn't automatically make you official Konoha shinobi yet. You'll have a three-month probationary period, after which I'll evaluate whether you're truly ready to become full-fledged ninja."
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