On the way to the Ninja Academy, Heavenly Dao finally understood why his female superior had come knocking so early in the morning.
It turned out that yesterday, after Mizuki provoked trouble and got beaten, he didn't choose to swallow his anger. Instead, he directly went to complain to his superior—which was Heavenly Dao's superior, Inuzuka Akita.
In Mizuki's narration, he became a pure white lotus, enduring Heavenly Dao's constant provocations. Even when he was finally beaten, it was because he considered the face of Lady Inuzuka Akita and held back from fighting back. The reason he complained to Inuzuka Akita was also because he was worried that Heavenly Dao's flamboyance might lead to great losses in the future.
I, Mizuki, am truly worried sick about Tendo-kun. In summary, that was roughly his meaning.
In his plan, it would be best if he could sow discord between Inuzuka Akita and Heavenly Dao. Even if Inuzuka Akita chose to protect her subordinate and kick him out, he could take the opportunity to spread the word and ruin both their reputations.
However, what Mizuki didn't expect was that among the Inuzuka Clan, known for their impulsiveness, there was an anomaly like Inuzuka Akita.
This woman not only had a broad mind, but also a very broad chest. She was quick-witted and exceptionally intelligent. She didn't blindly believe Mizuki's one-sided story, but still politely sent him out, promising to come to the Ninja Academy tomorrow to clarify things.
It wasn't until she heard the truth from Heavenly Dao that she angrily rebuked, "This insidious villain, he truly harbors ill intentions..."
"He also said he wanted to invite you to the latest Ninja Academy graduation ceremony to fight against Hyuga Neji, the top student in his year. I really thought he had some misunderstanding with you and wanted to reconcile through this method. Now it seems he definitely has ulterior motives."
[Latest Mission: Accept the challenge and defeat the Hyuga Clan's Prodigy, Hyuga Neji.]
[Mission Reward: Byakugan (Purity: Normal)]
Heavenly Dao looked at the mission before him, his expression somewhat subtle. He felt that he should join his superior in reprimanding Mizuki, this insidious villain, but he had received too many missions from him.
Heavenly Dao also knew a little about Hyuga Neji, the famous Cupid's arrow of the Ninja World.
In the early stage, he clearly had the reputation of a Genius on the same level as Sasuke, but in the later stage, he became a well-known passerby, ending his life hastily. One could say he lived a life of grievance and died a suffocating death.
Mizuki had some reason to choose him to fight Heavenly Dao. At this stage, Hyuga Neji, as a Genius from the Hyuga Clan, although he had just passed the Ninja qualification exam, his strength could be said to be a notch higher than Mizuki and other Chunin who climbed up by seniority.
And even if Heavenly Dao ultimately won, Hyuga Neji was, after all, from the Hyuga Clan and held the title of the Hyuga's top Genius of the new generation. Slapping the Hyuga Clan in the face would be enough to give Heavenly Dao a hard time.
This was Mizuki's intricate scheme. It must be said that as a villain, Mizuki still had some brains.
Heavenly Dao's attitude towards this was simple: let the Hyuga come, it's a good chance for me to see the System's limits.
Heavenly Dao smiled calmly, his smile carrying three parts disdain, three parts confidence, and four parts arrogance.
"According to your usual style, I thought you would directly refuse. I didn't expect you to accept?" Inuzuka Akita gave Heavenly Dao a meaningful look. "Tendo-kun, it seems you have other secrets I don't know about."
However, she didn't press further. Secrets make women more charming, and it's the same for men.
And a wise woman like Inuzuka Akita naturally understood that constantly pressuring a man wouldn't work. One needed to be fast and slow, loose and tight, mastering the rhythm to make a man willingly reveal all his secrets.
Ninja Academy.
A Ninja education institution founded by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. Its original intention was to cultivate civilian Ninja, breaking the Ninja clans' monopoly on knowledge, and it was one of the Second Hokage's few benevolent policies.
Heavenly Dao's feelings towards Senju Tobirama were complex. Although his policies led to the Uchiha Clan's inability to integrate into the Konoha Village family, ultimately resulting in their extermination.
But in another sense, if the Uchiha Clan hadn't been exterminated, Heavenly Dao's System might not have awakened.
From this perspective, Senju Tobirama was not Heavenly Dao's enemy, but rather his benefactor.
Then, in that case, all of Konoha's high-ranking officials were Heavenly Dao's benefactors.
Yes, yes, all benefactors, no enemies.
Soon, Heavenly Dao met another one of his benefactors.
Heavenly Dao hadn't held back his punch yesterday, so even though he was wrapped in bandages, it was clear from Mizuki's grimacing expression when he spoke that he wasn't feeling well.
However, it must be said that when people do bad things, their initiative is always very strong.
Hearing that Heavenly Dao accepted the battle against Hyuga Neji, Mizuki instantly seemed to forget the pain in his face. Fearing that Heavenly Dao would go back on his word, he immediately took the two to the training ground in the academy.
Konoha Village highly valued the Ninja Academy. The site was chosen near the Hokage Building, surrounded by various important Village institutions, to facilitate quick protection and evacuation of Ninja Academy students in case of emergencies.
Similarly, the Ninja Academy's training ground occupied a considerable area in the center of Konoha Village, where land was extremely valuable.
At this time, there were two classes active on the training ground: one was Neji's class, which had already passed the Ninja qualification exam and was free to train, and the other was the class led by Iruka Umino.
"Hey~ Aren't you the big brother who caught me yesterday?" As soon as Heavenly Dao arrived at the training ground, a boisterous voice instantly rang out.
It was none other than Uzumaki Naruto, whom Heavenly Dao had tackled to the ground yesterday.
"Hello there, Naruto-kun." Heavenly Dao greeted Naruto with a smile, then scanned the surroundings.
Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka... He had seen all of Konoha's Twelve Rookies this time.
The twelve individuals had varied appearances and personalities. Seeing Heavenly Dao's gaze, some smiled politely, some shyly tried to hide behind others, some were more concerned with the snacks in their hands, and of course, some were infatuated.
"Sakura, look, look! This new handsome guy is so cool!"
The blonde girl Ino Yamanaka stared wide-eyed at Heavenly Dao. She used to think Uchiha Sasuke or Hyuga Neji from the next class were top-notch handsome guys, but she never expected someone could be even better.
"No way, Pig Ino, Sasuke-kun is still the coolest."
The pink-haired Sakura Haruno, standing beside her, softly retorted, though her words lacked conviction and confidence.
"Kiba, don't you know to greet your older cousin?" Inuzuka Akita also smiled as she called out to her younger cousin.
Inuzuka Kiba, who was always manipulated by his cousin, could only stop his attempt to shield everyone and dutifully greeted his cousin, and of course, Heavenly Dao, the older brother who was always with his cousin. Inuzuka Kiba had always admired Heavenly Dao.
To be able to tame a tigress, Heavenly Dao was truly an incredible man.
Inuzuka Kiba couldn't help but look at Heavenly Dao with admiration.
Mizuki gathered Neji's class and announced the demonstration battle between Heavenly Dao and Hyuga Neji.
The reason given was grand and righteous:
After passing the graduation exam, students would soon be performing actual missions, and they would inevitably encounter Ninja from other Villages, and even some Rogue Ninja. Conflict would be unavoidable.
The teacher had originally planned to personally fight Neji to demonstrate for you all, but unfortunately, he was injured unexpectedly yesterday. Fortunately, Tendo-kun stepped forward, blah blah blah.
It must be said that this reason was quite convincing; Heavenly Dao almost thought he had misunderstood Mizuki's good intentions.
Of course, Mizuki later praised Heavenly Dao's strength, telling Neji not to hold back and to fight with all his might, not to worry about Heavenly Dao getting injured.
This also served to strongly reverse his reputation, which was about to become more positive.