Yu Iketani stood behind Kimura Sugito with a flattering smile, kneading his shoulders and back while speaking in a fawning tone.
"Sugito, lend me another 80,000 ryō, will you? I'll pay you back when I get my salary."
Sugito thought to himself, Just as expected—no one offers favors without a reason. This massage service sure was expensive.
"Why do you need to borrow again? Didn't you already borrow money last month?" Sugito sighed helplessly.
"But I paid you back when I got my salary last month," Iketani replied with a grin.
"That's exactly the problem. You borrow this month, repay it with your salary, then you're broke again next month—so you borrow again. Doesn't that mean next month you'll just ask me again?"
Sugito raised an eyebrow.
If this continued, he would basically become Iketani's personal 80,000 ryō dispenser.
"Uh…"
Iketani was suddenly speechless.
"It's not like that. I just recently started getting to know her, so I have to put in a little effort to show sincerity. I definitely won't borrow next month," Iketani tried to explain.
"You said that yourself. Don't forget it."
In the end, Sugito still took out his wallet and handed him 80,000 ryō.
It wasn't that Sugito cared about the money. Although Iketani acted irrationally when it came to romance, he was reliable otherwise and always repaid his debts.
Sugito was simply worried that lending him money was encouraging his obsession.
"Him not borrowing next month? Kimura, you're overestimating him. I can already predict his excuse for next month."
Aya Ueda remained pessimistic.
She immediately imitated Iketani's tone:
"Sugito, just lend me money one last time. I feel like I'll successfully confess this month. I definitely won't borrow again next month!"
Iketani: …
"If it's for a first date, choosing a nice restaurant to make a good impression is understandable," Aya continued.
"But you've already been seeing each other for two months. If she truly cared about you, she wouldn't refuse even if you invited her to eat ramen."
She was clearly trying to wake up Iketani's dormant common sense.
"And why don't you pick another time yourself? Every time you go out, you ask Makoto-sensei to cover your class."
Aya glanced toward Makoto, who had just entered the office.
"She said she's not free at other times. It's either this day or wait until she's available again," Iketani said awkwardly.
He felt embarrassed asking Makoto for help every time. In fact, he had even offered to teach Makoto's classes in return, but Makoto had always refused.
"It's fine. I'm free anyway. Teaching more students is also a good way to improve my own abilities," Makoto said with a smile as he walked to his desk.
Makoto-sensei is just too kind. But someone with this personality is easily taken advantage of, Iketani thought.
Feeling a little guilty, he went over to help Makoto pour tea and say flattering words.
Soon afterward, Iketani left the office to go home and change clothes for his date.
If only Iketani were the taijutsu instructor for Class 1…
Makoto thought to himself.
If that were the case, Iketani asking him to substitute more often would practically make Makoto the real taijutsu teacher anyway.
Directly asking the Third Hokage to assign him as Class 1's taijutsu teacher wouldn't make sense.
What normal person actively tries to fill their schedule with more classes?
It would also damage his carefully crafted "nice guy" persona. Helping when someone asked for a substitution made him look generous—but volunteering to take over classes would raise suspicion.
I still need to start from the students' dissatisfaction and the taijutsu teacher's own teaching ability.
The most important thing in the Ninja Academy was strength.
If students and school leadership realized that the current taijutsu instructor was hindering their progress, then the situation would resolve itself.
Afterward, Makoto practiced calligraphy until it was nearly time for class.
When he walked into Class 2 of the fourth grade, the students were already used to seeing him.
Since Makoto taught them once every week, many students already treated him as their regular teacher.
"Teacher, I—"
Obito had arrived late again as usual.
Makoto said nothing and simply allowed him to sit down and listen to the lecture.
Damn Teacher Iketani… Obito muttered quietly, feeling that Iketani always chose the worst times to ask Makoto to substitute.
"Did you run into an elderly person who needed help again?" Nohara Rin asked.
"Not today. I was picking out a pen at the bookstore and lost track of time," Obito answered honestly.
"Why didn't you choose one after school? The lunch break is so short. Did you even eat?" Rin asked with concern.
"Skipping one meal isn't a big deal. I'll just eat more tonight. Besides, I've visited several stores recently, and today's shop seemed like the best," Obito replied.
"Seriously… nothing is more important than eating. I still have some snacks—I'll give them to you after class," Rin said helplessly.
Obito nodded and stopped chatting.
Makoto's class was definitely worth paying attention to.
Forty minutes passed quickly.
When the bell rang, Makoto dismissed the class, and Rin handed her snacks to Obito.
"Obito, how many people did you help today—"
A classmate familiar with Obito came over to tease him.
But before he could finish, Obito struck first.
"How did you know I won first place in the Youth Ninjutsu Tournament this weekend?"
The classmate instantly lost the ability to continue his joke.
It felt like someone had stuffed a sour lemon in his mouth.
After all, the prize money alone was 8,000 ryō.
Not far away, Uchiha Tekka also fell silent.
He still remembered the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique Obito used during the competition.
Originally, Tekka thought that if he learned from the previous defeat and paid attention to Obito's Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique, he might win next time.
But after watching the Youth Ninjutsu Tournament, his confidence had taken a serious hit.
Seeing the reactions around him, Obito's smile grew even wider.
During every break after that, he deliberately walked around the school.
Whenever he met someone, he would say:
"So, how did you know I got first place?"
He intended to maximize the benefits of winning.
[Lecture Completed]
[Evaluation: A]
[Reward: Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique]
Seeing the reward, Makoto nodded slightly.
Although it wasn't a high-ranked technique, it was extremely practical.
The mist created by this jutsu wasn't ordinary fog—it could blur the vision of the Sharingan.
When used by Mei Terumi, the Hidden Mist Technique could even interfere slightly with Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan.
At least in the early stages—before the truly overpowered shinobi appeared—it was an excellent ninjutsu.
After school, Makoto went straight to the Southern Forest training ground.
When he arrived, Shisui Uchiha was already training there.
Following Makoto's suggestion, Shisui now sent a Shadow Clone to attend school, while his real body trained with Makoto's Shadow Clone.
Before long, Might Guy arrived as well.
However, fifteen minutes later, Obito still hadn't appeared, which surprised Makoto.
Since Obito usually walked part of the way home with Rin, he rarely traveled together with Guy—even though they were classmates.
But being over fifteen minutes late was unusual.
Makoto decided he would need to lecture Obito about punctuality. He didn't want the boy developing a habit of being late for training.
"Sorry I'm late, Makoto-sensei!"
Obito finally ran over, holding a long rectangular box in his hands.
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