Kitazawa snapped back to his senses and noticed that Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyūga had paused their training.
There was no helping it—Uchiha Sasuke was laughing far too loudly.
Both girls had been drawn in, their faces full of confusion.
If the situation allowed, they would definitely have asked: Sasuke, why are you laughing?
"Don't mind him,"
Kitazawa coughed lightly and said,
"Continue your training."
Sasuke finally woke up from his fantasy.
He forcibly wiped the grin from his face and stiffened in place.
Just a little progress, and he'd completely lost control—his cool, aloof persona had shattered on the spot.
"Teacher Kitazawa,"
Sasuke stepped forward, suppressing his embarrassment,
"I want to move on to the next stage of training."
The increase in size of his Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique had not only boosted his confidence, but also deepened his trust in Kitazawa.
"You'll train together with Hinata,"
Kitazawa said, repeating the method once more.
"I don't need advance warnings,"
Sasuke declared confidently.
With that, he coated his feet in chakra and climbed up the tree.
It was obvious—he was in full Sunshine Sasuke mode.
Kitazawa raised an eyebrow.
Wasn't this basically saying, Come hit me if you can?
As a teacher, he naturally had to satisfy Sasuke's request.
Kitazawa casually took out a wooden kunai, waited for the right moment, and threw it.
Sasuke heard the sound tearing through the air, the corner of his mouth lifting as he shifted his body to the left.
The next instant—
"Ow!"
The wooden kunai smacked straight into his left arm.
His ability to judge direction by sound was still lacking—he hadn't accounted for the kunai's speed.
"Again!"
Sasuke scrambled back up, his face flushed red as he forced the words out.
Kitazawa hadn't intended to laugh.
But without professional training, he failed spectacularly.
Watching Sunshine Sasuke get smacked around was… honestly pretty entertaining.
Time passed slowly, and the practical class soon reached its end.
Though Sasuke was battered and bruised, he stubbornly persisted.
And his progress was noticeably faster than Hinata's.
Being beaten really did work wonders.
Practical class was the final lesson of the day.
After saying goodbye to Hinata and the others, Kitazawa headed to the second-floor conference room.
Mizuki had informed him the previous Thursday—there was a meeting today to discuss the April monthly exam.
"Senior Kitazawa!"
Iruka Umino spotted him and waved.
Kitazawa walked over, greeted him, and sat down beside him.
Not far away, Mizuki's expression darkened instantly.
He and Iruka had grown up together—though in his mind, it had always been a relationship of convenience.
Now Kitazawa had arrived and effortlessly took his place.
Hateful.
Ten minutes later, the conference room was filled.
There were many teachers present, but aside from Mizuki and Iruka, none of them had names in the original story.
Finally, a middle-aged man entered.
He was the vice principal of the Ninja Academy—Sarutobi Hisao, a jōnin.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was the principal, but also the Hokage. With little time to spare, the academy's day-to-day operations were handled by the vice principal.
"I'll now announce this month's exam rules,"
Sarutobi Hisao said after sitting down.
Kitazawa listened for a while.
They were much the same as last year.
Each grade's teachers would submit questions. The best ones would be selected, and each grade would ultimately produce two papers—one official, one backup.
"The monthly exam will be held on April 30th,"
Sarutobi Hisao continued calmly.
"I expect all proposed questions to be submitted by the 20th."
"Yes,"
Everyone replied in unison.
"One last reminder,"
Sarutobi Hisao stood up.
"The more of your questions are selected, the higher your chances of being named Outstanding Teacher of the Year."
"Dismissed."
"Senior Kitazawa!"
Iruka hurried after him, asking sincerely,
"I wanted to ask—are there any key points I should pay attention to when writing exam questions?"
This was Iruka's first time participating, and he had no experience.
He'd asked Kitazawa because Kitazawa had had the most selected questions for three consecutive years.
"Iruka, I can teach you,"
Mizuki suddenly interjected with a smile.
"Kitazawa is busy—better not trouble him."
Iruka froze for a moment, about to agree—
"Actually, Mizuki,"
Kitazawa said with a smile,
"You teach second-year students. Iruka teaches first-year students. It makes more sense for me to guide him."
"Thank you, Senior Kitazawa!"
Iruka immediately said.
Mizuki's smile stiffened.
"Come to my office,"
Kitazawa said, glancing at him before turning away.
"Mizuki, thank you too,"
Iruka added politely before quickly following Kitazawa.
"Damn it!"
Mizuki clenched his fists, his face twisted.
But aside from impotent rage, there was nothing he could do.
Back in his office, Kitazawa spoke with Iruka for half an hour before heading home.
Tuesday arrived.
Early in the morning, Kitazawa went to the academy's archive room.
He found previous years' exam papers and brought one set out.
"Teacher Kitazawa,"
Hinata arrived, as punctual as ever.
"Your task today is to complete all of these papers,"
Kitazawa said, laying two tests on the desk.
"Okay,"
Hinata nodded obediently.
The academy's monthly exam consisted of a written test and a practical test.
Under normal circumstances, Hinata placing in the top five was no problem.
But first place? That was difficult.
There were simply too many geniuses in the class.
Practical skills couldn't be raised much in a short time—but theory could.
The monthly ranking was Overall Rating
If Hinata placed first in theory and top three in practical, first place overall was very likely.
Kitazawa's plan was simple: grind practice problems.
She'd do previous exams first, then he'd create targeted questions and predictions to reinforce weak points.
As for whether this would interfere with his task of getting first place—
Kitazawa could only think of a saying from his previous life:
The referees and judges are all on my side—what are you going to use to beat me?
Hinata finished breakfast and began answering questions.
Without question, she was skipping class again.
But was it really skipping class?
Skipping class to do exam papers—was that still skipping class?
Hinata worked through the tests while Kitazawa wrote new questions.
All of them were related to Konoha history and the Will of Fire.
This was his domain—his strength—and also his open strategy.
Sarutobi Hisao had to choose them.
Of course, Kitazawa wasn't throwing questions together randomly.
Every single one was carefully crafted to ensure Sarutobi Hiruzen's approval.
In the afternoon's practical class—
After much effort, Ino finally completed tree-climbing training and joined Hinata and Sasuke in the next stage.
But the biggest surprise was Naruto.
His progress in running training was astonishing.
"Teacher Kitazawa, how was that?"
Naruto grinned.
"Very impressive. You even surprised me,"
Kitazawa patted his shoulder.
"Thursday's endurance training will be your stage."
"Mission guaranteed!"
Naruto gave a thumbs-up, teeth flashing brilliantly.
Wait.
What the hell was that pose?
Oh no.
"Do you know Might Guy?"
Kitazawa asked urgently, a bad feeling rising.
"Huh? How did you know?"
Naruto stared at him in shock, amazed by his foresight.
A single practical class of forty-five minutes was nowhere near enough for Naruto.
And with nothing to do after school, he'd continued running on his own.
That was when he'd met Might Guy.
Kitazawa twitched.
If Naruto really got corrupted by Guy—
Would Sarutobi Hiruzen come knocking on his door?
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