"It's like this. During class this morning, I conducted a practice combat test within the class."
Makoto explained everything that had happened during the lesson to Tanimura Toshihiro.
However, he slightly softened the students' complaints, otherwise they would have sounded far too harsh.
"I only wanted to motivate them to train more seriously. I didn't expect things to turn out like this. I'm truly sorry," Makoto said apologetically.
"My evaluations were probably too strict. I should have been more tolerant toward them."
Makoto placed all the blame on himself.
Although the real reason was that Tanimura's teaching ability was poor and the students were already dissatisfied—Makoto had only lit the fuse.
Still, he didn't want any cracks appearing in his carefully maintained public persona.
So he chose to tell Tanimura everything directly and apologize, presenting the situation as an accidental mistake made with good intentions.
That way, no matter how anyone later analyzed the events, Makoto could never be accused of acting with ulterior motives.
After all, he had informed Tanimura immediately after it happened. Someone so considerate toward his colleagues couldn't possibly have bad intentions… right?
"T-This…"
Tanimura was momentarily at a loss for words.
Deep down, he knew the students weren't wrong.
His teaching ability really couldn't compare with Makoto's.
But then again, no teacher in the Ninja Academy could compare with Makoto.
A brand-new instructor who had only been teaching for a month or two had already become well known across the entire academy, earning recognition from both students and teachers—and had even been personally praised by the Third Hokage.
Comparing himself with someone like that would only bring frustration.
"I already told them not to criticize you," Makoto continued with a sigh.
"But they're still children. Even if they agreed on the surface, I can't guarantee what they'll actually do."
His eyes were filled with sincere guilt.
"It's fine. I won't take it to heart. They're only six-year-old kids after all," Tanimura replied with a forced laugh.
Even if the students criticized him to his face, Tanimura had no intention of giving up the taijutsu teacher position for Class 1.
After all, Class 1 had excellent combat results.
Not only did they hold first and second place in the grade's combat rankings, their class average combat score also led the entire first year.
Although Tanimura knew those results had nothing to do with his teaching, they were still official performance metrics.
His evaluation bonuses and salary would only increase because of it.
"Teacher Hagane, I understand you. You were just thinking about the students," Tanimura said reassuringly.
Despite the unexpected situation, he still believed Makoto was simply a kind and reliable colleague.
After all, Makoto had come to inform and apologize immediately.
Originally, that morning's class had been Tanimura's taijutsu lesson.
But he had something to do, so he swapped classes with Makoto's afternoon session. Makoto had agreed without hesitation.
Tanimura had also heard about how Makoto frequently substituted for other teachers.
If it were him, he would never do that.
Helping once or twice was fine—but if teachers asked every week, who could endure that?
A teacher with excellent teaching ability, whose class ranked first in the grade, personally praised by the Third Hokage, handsome, and good-tempered…
Tanimura could only say that the female teachers constantly discussing Makoto in the office made perfect sense.
Of course, Tanimura understood the root problem.
His teaching ability really was mediocre.
But there was no way he would voluntarily give up the Class 1 taijutsu teacher position.
Teaching at the Ninja Academy was supposed to be a safe job with steady income.
And this class was practically a guaranteed bonus generator.
"I'm relieved to hear you say that," Makoto said, his expression relaxing as he smiled gently.
"Haha, we should grab a drink at an Bar sometime," Tanimura suggested.
Makoto nodded with a smile.
After chatting briefly about trivial topics, he excused himself and left.
When Tanimura returned to the office, a female teacher nearby asked curiously,
"Teacher Tanimura, what did Teacher Hagane want?"
"Nothing serious. Just some minor student matters. But Teacher Hagane really is an outstanding person," Tanimura said as he sat down.
Of course, he couldn't openly admit that students were criticizing his teaching ability.
But using Makoto as a conversation topic with female teachers wasn't a bad idea.
When the class bell rang, Tanimura headed toward Class 1.
After entering the classroom, nothing seemed different from before.
As usual, he first explained some taijutsu theory, then led the students outside for running practice.
After the run, he demonstrated a taijutsu routine once, then told the students to practice freely.
"Teacher Tanimura, could you demonstrate it a few more times? I didn't quite understand," Mitarashi Anko asked.
"These are all basic movements. If you don't understand, it just means you haven't practiced enough. Train more and you'll get it," Tanimura replied.
"But Makoto-sensei demonstrates many times whenever he teaches us," Anko argued.
"And he breaks everything down step by step."
"Ninjutsu and taijutsu aren't the same," Tanimura explained.
"But doesn't taijutsu also have lots of practical techniques and details? Shouldn't those be explained carefully too?" Hagane Kotetsu asked.
Tanimura fell silent.
He was just a lazy chūnin instructor—where was he supposed to get all those practical details and techniques?
So he casually brushed off the question.
Soon, dozens of students started asking questions and making suggestions.
"Stop, stop! Everyone train first. You can ask next class, alright?"
With nearly forty students questioning him at once, Tanimura felt his head was about to explode.
"Teacher Tanimura, how about we meet halfway?" Kamizuki Izumo suggested.
"We'll stop asking questions… and you stop teaching us."
Tanimura stared at him in disbelief.
Students these days are this bold? They're telling the teacher not to teach?
But the more aggressive comments were still coming.
"Teacher Tanimura, maybe you should retire early. Ever since learning your Shuriken Throwing Technique, I haven't hit the bullseye even once."
"Teacher Tanimura, ever since we started your taijutsu class, the whole grade keeps praising our ninjutsu."
Listening to the students' increasingly sharp remarks, Tanimura was completely stunned.
In more than three years of teaching, this was the first time he had experienced something like this.
Previous classes hadn't liked him much either, but it had never escalated this far.
Fortunately, Makoto had warned him beforehand.
Otherwise, he would have been completely bewildered.
"Ahem… everyone calm down. I'll demonstrate it a few more times," Tanimura said helplessly.
Soon he noticed something strange.
Although the students clearly disliked him, they hadn't stopped training.
In fact, they seemed even more serious than before.
He couldn't understand it.
If they hated him so much, why were they training so diligently?
Tanimura assumed that Makoto's words had taken effect.
Even though the students were dissatisfied with him, they still didn't dare slack off in training.
He felt both relieved—and a little envious of Makoto's control over the class.
Let's just get through this year, Tanimura thought.
He had no intention of giving up the Class 1 position.
Who knew—he might even end up receiving an Outstanding Teacher award.
If this had been an ordinary class and students had spoken to him like that, he would have immediately disciplined a few of them and shown them what the strength of a chūnin looked like.
But this was Class 1—the highest-performing class in the entire academy.
And the more Tanimura taught, the more students realized just how poor his teaching ability was.
Which only strengthened their determination to replace the taijutsu teacher.
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