"Bro, how's the situation?"
"Bad. That damn cousin of mine actually threatened me! He said if I exposed him, he'd tell Miharu from next door that I wet the bed when I was three!" Koutetsu Hagane growled in frustration.
How could his cousin drag innocent little Miharu into this and ruin his shining image? Unforgivable!
"I have a plan," Izumo Kamizuki said coolly. "Use your youth to your advantage. Go to his house under the guise of playing, then mess up his room. If it's not cleaned in time, he'll get in trouble. Do it a few times, and he won't dare to act cocky again."
Koutetsu's eyes lit up with admiration. With Izumo giving him strategies, he felt like Hashirama being guided by Tobirama—unstoppable. If it worked, he swore to treat Izumo to snacks.
As Takuya stepped into the classroom, he overheard this brilliant scheming duo and couldn't help but smile.
"Class is starting," he said, walking up to the podium.
"Chakra is the energy required to perform ninjutsu. It's produced by combining physical energy and spiritual power."
Most students listened attentively. After all, this was fundamental knowledge.
Takuya demonstrated by emitting chakra in person, letting students sense it. He peppered his lecture with fun anecdotes and stories to keep the mood light and used questions to reinforce the material.
Before long, the four periods flew by. As class neared its end, Takuya noticed Anko, smiling brightly and asking questions nonstop. He used his Appraisal Technique on her.
Name: Anko Mitarashi
Potential: A
Surprised by her evaluation, Takuya went ahead and scanned the whole class.
Name: Koutetsu Hagane
Potential: B-
Name: Izumo Kamizuki
Potential: B-
Excluding Shisui, only four students had potential above B: Anko, the two gatekeepers, and one unremarkable boy with B- potential. The rest? Mostly C-level, some as low as D.
Compared to them, Shisui was a monster—his talent simply outclassed everyone.
Anko's A-rank potential surprised Takuya. She wasn't especially powerful in the original series, but apparently had latent ability. Still, Takuya had no plans to recruit her yet. He only had four disciple slots, and Shisui had already taken one. Just because Anko was cute didn't mean he could waste a slot. Looks didn't matter—Danzo certainly wouldn't let him leave ROOT for being handsome.
『Lesson complete. Calculating results…』
『Evaluation: A』
『Reward acquired: Shadow Clone Jutsu (Multi-Version)』
"Now this is a great jutsu, though… not much use to me at the moment," Takuya thought.
The Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu was a staple of Naruto's arsenal—insanely versatile for both combat and training. But it had one massive drawback: it consumed a ton of chakra.
And chakra was exactly what Takuya lacked right now.
After lunch, he returned to the office, where the teachers were giving dating advice to Ikeya Isamu before his blind date.
"Make sure you dress properly, look neat. First impressions matter," said a tall, lanky male teacher.
"Come on, Sugito, that's just common sense. I've never dated, sure—but I know that much," Isamu said confidently.
"Just make sure you don't start rambling like you are now," Ayaka Ueda quipped, already predicting a trainwreck.
"Watch me prove you wrong," Isamu retorted.
"Mmhm. I'll be watching," Ayaka replied half-heartedly—then turned to greet Takuya as he entered the room.
"Teacher Hoshino, you're amazing. I walked past your class earlier—such a great atmosphere. Hard to believe it's your first time teaching!"
Takuya gave a modest smile. "It's all thanks to the advice you guys gave me—and the kids being well-behaved."
Even though he was just being polite, compliments were always welcome. Ayaka smiled and shared some of her snacks with him.
Isamu, watching all this, felt a deep pang of injustice. He'd worked with Ayaka for two years and had barely seen her share snacks once!
Still muttering under his breath, Isamu quickly greeted Takuya again. If his date went well today, he owed this man a feast.
Takuya chuckled and responded to everyone warmly, then sat down to practice calligraphy with the brushes and ink he had brought. Back in his previous life, this had been one of his few good habits—picked up in university.
The Academy's lunch break was short, and there was no time to go elsewhere for training.
Once break was over, he packed up and headed off to teach his second class of the day.
Ding ding ding~
Right as the bell rang, Takuya entered the Class 2, Year 4 classroom.
"Huh? Isn't today supposed to be Kida-sensei's History of Konoha?" one student asked when he noticed Takuya.
"Teacher Ikeya had something come up. I'll be taking over this afternoon," Takuya explained from the podium.
No sooner had he finished speaking when a breathless student burst into the room.
"Huff… Sorry, Sensei! I helped an old lady on the way here, that's why I'm late!" Obito panted, hands on his knees.
"Take your seat," Takuya said with a nod. Then he scanned the room and activated Appraisal again.
Name: Rin Nohara
Chakra: 300
Potential: A-
Name: Might Guy
Chakra: 600
Potential: S
Evaluation: Strongly suited for taijutsu. Recommended for discipleship.
Name: Obito Uchiha
Chakra: 650
Potential: S
Evaluation: Sage bloodline. Shows signs of space-time aptitude. Recommended for discipleship.
Aside from those three, only one other Uchiha named Tekka had A-level potential. The rest? C and D-level across the board.
With everyone's potential assessed, Takuya checked their previous lessons and dove into the lecture.
For kids used to teachers just droning from the textbook, Takuya's approach was a breath of fresh air.
Obito even said out loud, "Takuya-sensei, your lessons are amazing! Way better than our other teachers! If you taught every class, I'd finally pass!"
"I'll make sure to pass that on to Teacher Ikeya. I'll even include the part about you being late," Takuya replied with a smile.
Obito's face turned pale. "No no no, please don't!"
His reaction brought laughter to the classroom, lightening the mood even more.
During recess, Takuya activated his sensory jutsu. Sensing no unusual chakra nearby, he called Guy and Obito out of the room.