After lunch, the third-year students gradually returned to the classroom.
The room was completely silent, save for the occasional rustling of turning pages.
In one corner of the classroom, however, a minor incident was unfolding.
Rin, her cheeks puffed out in anger, had been glaring at Obito for a solid ten minutes.
Obito’s reaction transitioned from confusion, to nervous panic, to blushing, to pure joy, and finally to wild daydreams.
Just as his imagination reached the point where he and Rin had children old enough to run errands, he finally heard Rin speak in a hushed tone.
“Obito, you need to apologize.”
“Huh?
Ah!
Sorry, sorry,” Obito frantically apologized, before suddenly freezing in confusion.
‘How did Rin know what I was thinking?
Did I accidentally say it out loud?
I’m doomed.
I’m so doomed.’
“Not to me.
To Kakashi.”
“…Kakashi?
That coward?
Why should I apologize to him?”
“You’re still saying it!”
“Ah?
I, I…”
Obito looked completely bewildered.
On the other side of the room, Kaito, who had forged the note imitating Obito’s tone, remained the unsung mastermind.
He actually hadn’t held out much hope for such a low-level framing tactic.
In his view, even if he were caught, it wouldn’t matter much.
After all, to successfully correct Kakashi, he would probably have to play the role of the villain anyway.
The fact that he luckily succeeded was even better.
They were just kids, after all—easy to fool.
After secretly observing the drama for a brief moment, he withdrew his gaze and returned to his studies.
What the original Kaito had learned belonged to the original Kaito.
Even though he felt he had perfectly inherited those memories, Kaito still felt insecure without reviewing the material himself.
After reviewing it, he felt even more insecure.
“Learning political theory in elementary school…
being a ninja is seriously tough.” Combining his predecessor’s memories, he closed his eyes and recalled the book’s contents.
Looking at it from an adult’s perspective, his understanding seemed to have deepened quite a bit.
He checked his status panel again: *Introduction to the Land of Fire’s Characteristic Ninja Ideology Level 0 (70%)*
“It went up by one percentage point.
As expected of my brilliant…
off-the-charts IQ.” Kaito skimmed through the textbook once, then twice, right up until Teacher Daiki walked into the classroom carrying a stack of test papers.
*Introduction to the Land of Fire’s Characteristic Ninja Ideology* remained at Level 0 (70%).
It hadn’t increased any further.
“I can’t calm down.
That free attribute point keeps tempting me,” Kaito muttered, shifting the blame before finally allocating the point.
He had agonized for most of the lunch break over whether to spend his precious attribute point on this seemingly useless auxiliary skill before finally making up his mind.
Using it here was the simplest and most accurate way to test the effects of adding points, and it carried the lowest risk.
Whether the point allocation took effect immediately, and in what manner, was crucial information for Kaito.
The status panel flickered: *Introduction to the Land of Fire’s Characteristic Ninja Ideology Level 1 (0%)*
Kaito sat quietly and waited for half a minute, but he didn’t feel any different.
There was no sudden rush of enlightenment as he had expected, nor did his memory suddenly multiply to the point where he could memorize the entire book.
That was, until the test papers were handed out.
Kaito scanned the ten questions and was stunned to realize he knew the answers to all of them.
He looked closer.
It wasn’t an illusion.
“Awesome.”
“Everyone, answer the questions quietly.
No whispering, and absolutely no cheating.
This is just a simple pop quiz; it won’t be recorded in your final grades,” Teacher Daiki instructed.
“Begin your test.
You have one hour.
Make the most of your time.”
Kaito picked up his pen, but suddenly paused.
‘Question 6: Please briefly explain the contents of Rule 23 of the Ninja Code.’
Kaito fell into deep thought.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to answer it.
Even before his transmigration, he could have answered this famous question.
He had just remembered something else.
‘I can definitely use this question to my advantage!’
…
Compared to the relaxed and carefree Kaito, Obito was in a state of sheer panic.
He felt he was brimming with the Will of Fire and was destined to become the Hokage, but when it came to answering test questions…
‘I’ll answer a little, then copy a little.
Maybe, hopefully, probably, possibly…
I can pass?’
He thought with zero confidence.
After struggling and hesitating for half an hour, he had only managed to answer three and a half questions.
As for the rest, he had absolutely no clue!
‘Explain Rule 23 of the Ninja Code?
What the heck?
There are over a hundred rules, who can memorize all that…’
Smack!
Suddenly, a small crumpled ball of paper landed squarely on his desk.
Obito froze, sneakily glanced left and right, and reached out to unroll the note.
When he saw the dense lines of answers written inside, he was thrilled.
‘Rin?
It has to be Rin!’
In that moment, his imaginary children with Rin grew a few years older and enrolled in the Ninja Academy.
After indulging in his fantasy for a bit, he hurriedly began to copy.
Only half the time was left, and there were a lot of words to write.
He barely finished copying the answers two minutes before the deadline.
Brimming with confidence, he put down his pen and waited for his completely filled-out test paper to be collected.
“Time is up.
Everyone, stop writing and put your pens down.
Students in the last row, collect the papers,” Teacher Daiki ordered.
Soon, forty-one test papers were gathered on the podium.
However, Teacher Daiki didn’t pack them up and leave them to self-study as expected.
Instead, he calmly sat down and pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket.
A sharp-eyed student noticed it was a transcript.
“Teacher Daiki, didn’t you say this pop quiz wouldn’t count toward our final grades?”
“That’s right, it won’t be recorded.
This is your final transcript from your second year.
I’m going to compare them to see who is still stagnating after two more months of studying!”
Daiki narrowed his eyes and scanned the room.
Many students guiltily lowered their heads.
Stagnating?
For mandatory subjects they had already passed, not regressing was an achievement in itself.
Grinding for higher grades?
That was a privilege reserved for geniuses.
Teacher Daiki had anticipated this and wasn’t annoyed.
In fact, he could roughly guess which students had improved or regressed just by observing their usual behavior in class.
However, a few of them exceeded his expectations.
“Kakashi didn’t hand in a blank paper this time…
he answered Question 6…” Daiki hesitated for quite a while before drawing a checkmark and writing a ten on the paper.
“Kakashi, ten points.” He announced the score on the spot.
The students’ gazes converged as Kakashi, his expression indifferent, walked up to take his paper.
“Asuma, 89 points.
Not bad.”
“Shizune, 94 points.
Consistent as always.”
“Guy…
hmm…
33 points.
You’ve improved.”
“Oh!!” Guy cheered.
…
As Teacher Daiki announced the scores one by one, the atmosphere in the classroom was half relaxed and half tense.
Most of the students had no mind for self-study.
“Rin Nohara, 99 points.
Keep it up.”
“Tanryo, 67 points.
Acceptable…”
“Kaito, Kaito…”
Teacher Daiki suddenly dragged out the syllables as he read the name, looking up to search the room.
He had to jog his memory for a moment to recall which student was Kaito.
Kaito replied with the smile of an honest, well-behaved child.
Teacher Daiki smiled and nodded.
“Very good.
You’ve made a lot of progress.
91 points.”
The classroom fell silent for a moment before countless astonished gazes shot his way.
Having been classmates for over two years, everyone knew exactly what level each person was at.
Had this guy Kaito been secretly taking extra lessons?
Tanryo’s eyes narrowed, feeling that things weren’t so simple.
Was Kaito trying to infiltrate the group of good students just to get close to Rin?
What ulterior motives!
Kakashi also looked up and cast a glance at Kaito.
“It’s all thanks to your excellent teaching, sir,” Kaito said, maintaining his honest smile.
He walked up to take his paper, returned to his seat, and then secretly smirked, raised his eyebrows, and winked at Kakashi, even dramatically flipping his bangs.
Kakashi: “…”
*’Kakashi’s Correction Progress: 7%’*
Teacher Daiki didn’t notice.
He looked down with gratification to grade the next paper, but quickly froze.
“Obito Uchiha, Obito…” He dragged out the syllables again, glaring up at him.
Obito instantly tensed up.
‘Oh no, oh no.
I got so carried away copying everything word for word.
Did I get a perfect score?
Will Teacher Daiki believe it?
Wait, if a nobody like Kaito can get 91 points, isn’t it perfectly normal for a genius like me to get a perfect score?’
‘Makes total sense.’
He puffed out his chest and held his head high, looking incredibly smug.
Teacher Daiki was taken aback.
His eye twitched, and he violently slammed his hand down, sending the test paper fluttering into the air!
“And you’re actually proud?!
0 points!”
“…Huh?”