The girl Shanks had just confessed to was not from any shinobi clan.
He could tell from the way she stood alone in the crowd, dazed and uneasy.
She was probably an orphan.
After all, most of the children had family members bringing them to school.
Only a few had come by themselves.
Watching her stand there so lost made Shanks feel a sudden urge to protect her.
As for the other lonely boys?
What did that have to do with him?
The girl looked at Shanks nervously, clearly not knowing what to do.
Fortunately, at that moment, the second act in the Hokage lecture troupe finally stepped onto the stage.
Leaders were the same in every world.
Once they stood in front of a crowd, they could talk endlessly about things no one wanted to hear.
Shanks stood in front of the girl and nearly fell asleep on the spot.
He had gambled with that old fool Hashirama until three in the morning last night.
If Mito hadn’t dragged him away because he had to report to school today, Hashirama probably would have kept him gambling until dawn.
He hadn’t slept enough at all.
“Mmm…”
Tobirama paused mid-speech.
He had heard someone snoring.
His eyes swept toward the sound.
Which bastard was disrespecting him like this?
He had stayed up late last night writing this speech.
He was reading it up here, and someone dared to sleep below?
Was that person tired of living?
It would have been better if he hadn’t looked.
The moment he did, a vein popped on his forehead.
This little bastard.
Just wait until we get home.
Hashirama had also noticed Shanks sleeping below.
“Hah—”
He almost laughed out loud, but then felt a wave of killing intent beside him and hurriedly covered his mouth.
Shanks felt his body being pushed.
He opened his eyes groggily and saw the girl he had confessed to turning around.
“Lord… Lord Hokage is speaking,” she whispered softly.
Her voice was gentle and timid.
“Don’t sleep.”
For a girl like her to gather the courage to wake Shanks up in this kind of situation was already impressive.
Unlike the dead fat kid standing behind him, who looked completely indifferent.
If he got the chance, Shanks decided he would find a reason to beat that kid up and teach him the consequences of acting cool in front of a future Emperor.
Shanks curled his lips but said nothing.
Still, he obediently stood up straight again.
Do you even know why I’m sleepy?
It’s because of that old bastard standing beside the podium.
After waiting and waiting, the second lead singer finally finished his performance.
Then he invited the first lead singer onto the stage.
For once, the old fool Hashirama looked serious.
“Wherever leaves dance, fire will burn.
The shadow of the fire will shine upon the village, and new leaves will sprout.
When a shinobi wishes to protect those precious to them, their true strength will finally appear.”
The children below were instantly fired up by the speeches from the two Hokage.
One by one, their blood seemed to boil.
They looked as if they wanted to grab blades right now, charge onto a battlefield, and turn the world upside down.
Shanks stared at them.
Was there really a need to get that excited?
Everyone looked back at him.
Cold-blooded.
Shanks was defeated.
After the Hokage duo finished their speeches, it was finally time to divide the classes.
According to rumor, the ninja academy would also have elite classes and ordinary classes, though they wouldn’t be called that openly.
Generally speaking, children with talent or children from shinobi clans would be placed into the legendary elite class.
Shanks wasn’t trying to brag, but when it came to talent, everyone present was beneath him.
Little White Fang could remain under observation for now.
Shanks wanted to help that girl through the back door.
After all, he had confessed to her in front of everyone.
If she ended up in an ordinary class, where would his dignity as a man go?
“Second Uncle!”
The Hokage duo had just reached the school gate when Tobirama heard a voice that made him want to kill someone.
Some of the students’ parents who hadn’t left yet turned to look.
The civilian parents whispered among themselves.
“Who is that child?”
“Isn’t he the one who confessed to a girl in public even though he’s so young?”
The clan parents were much calmer.
“This little brat is about to cause trouble again…”
When the civilians realized that the child’s “Second Uncle” was actually the Second Hokage, they were stunned.
Then they thought of how the First Hokage’s wife also had red hair and immediately understood.
A relative of the ruling family.
A little mischief was normal.
Tobirama turned around with a black face.
Hashirama still looked as carefree as ever.
The students behind Tobirama, however, looked terrified.
When the Second Hokage got angry, it was no joke.
Shanks ran up to Tobirama, clutching the hem of his clothes with both hands.
He looked like he had something to say but didn’t know how to say it.
“Hahaha!
Little brat, do you want Tobirama to use the back door and put that girl in the same class as you?”
Sometimes, Lord First Hokage was still very reliable.
For example, right now.
Shanks immediately put on the expression of a loyal warrior who had finally found a man worth dying for.
“Uncle, you understand me!
I always knew that even if the whole world abandoned me, I wouldn’t be lonely.
At least I still have you!”
“Hahaha!
You little brat!”
That flattery landed perfectly.
“Little bastard, put that act away,” Tobirama said with a dark face.
“If you can help her get in, then she gets in.
If you can’t, don’t even think about it.”
Tobirama still looked stern, but he didn’t outright refuse.
In the end, it all depended on Shanks.
The class placement test was simple.
Running laps.
The faster a student ran, the higher their rank.
The top thirty would be placed in the first class.
To Shanks, running laps was nothing.
He already had the physique of the Uzumaki Clan.
On top of that, he suspected he might have brought over some physical qualities from the One Piece world as well.
After all, even his Observation Haki seemed close to awakening.
With both stacked together, Shanks wasn’t afraid of anyone when it came to physical strength.
This was still a world centered on ninjutsu, after all.
Taijutsu and raw physical power couldn’t compare to the monsters of the One Piece world.
For now, he might not be able to compare to Senju Hashirama.
But once he grew up and awakened Armament Haki?
In terms of taijutsu, even Might Guy could open the Eight Gates and come at him.
In short, Shanks had no fear of a running test.
The class placement test began.
A group of children gathered on the training field.
One lap around the field was about two kilometers, and they had to run five laps.
Ten kilometers in total.
Shanks followed behind the girl at an easy pace and looked at her with a relaxed smile.
“You still haven’t told me your name.”
“I… I’m Haruko,” the girl said nervously.
“I’m an orphan, so I don’t have a family name.”
She was clearly tense.
After all, just now, everyone had seen this strange red-haired boy call the Second Hokage “Second Uncle.” In Haruko’s world, that was an enormous figure.
“Ah, sorry,” Shanks said.
“Actually, I’m an orphan too.
My parents passed away soon after I was born.
Where do you usually live?”
“It’s okay.” Haruko shook her head quickly.
“Most of us live at Konoha’s orphanage.
But after starting at the ninja academy, I won’t be going back there.
The academy is a little far from the orphanage.
I help Grandma Inoue at a dango shop, so she lets me stay at her place.”
During this period, the shinobi world was relatively peaceful.
Even so, there were still plenty of wandering shinobi, bandits, and thieves around the borders of each country.
Because of that, Konoha occasionally took in orphans from the Land of Fire.
Haruko was one of them.
A group of Konoha shinobi had been returning from a mission when they came across bandits looting a village.
After killing the bandits, they searched the village and discovered that only one baby had survived because she had been hidden away.
That baby was Haruko.
They brought her back to Konoha, and the village placed her in the orphanage.
Because Hashirama was still alive, the orphanage was currently treated quite well.
Many of Konoha’s present civilians were also widows and orphans who had been accepted by the village when it was first founded.
“Ha!
Then starting today, we’re friends,” Shanks said, his face full of confidence.
“If anyone bullies you in Konoha, just give them my name.”
He looked as if all of Konoha answered to him.
Haruko covered her mouth and laughed softly.
Not long after, a random chūnin from the Shimura Clan came over and announced the start.
The children immediately shot forward as if they were trying to get home for the New Year.
Haruko, however, was a girl and an orphan.
Her body was weaker than the clan children’s, so she could only jog slowly.
Shanks followed behind her at the same slow pace.
At the front of the group was a child from the Hatake Clan.
He didn’t wear his face half-covered like Kakashi would in the future.
Instead, he had long white hair tied back with a headband.
That’s right.
Kakashi’s father.
Hatake Sakumo.
The legendary man who would one day make Sunagakure’s Chiyo remember him bitterly for more than thirty years.
“Um…” Haruko finally couldn’t help speaking after they had run two laps.
She was already starting to struggle, but Shanks was still leisurely following behind her.
“You don’t have to stay with me.
You should run ahead.
Otherwise, you won’t make it in time.”
“Just call me Shanks,” he said.
“Don’t worry.
I’m here.”
He glanced at the runners ahead and grinned.
“Let them have a five-lap head start.”
The children nearby nearly exploded.
It was bad enough that he was flirting during the test.
Now he was actually bragging about giving everyone a five-lap head start?
For the dignity of boys everywhere, several of the children around them immediately sped up, leaving the two of them far behind.
By the time they reached the fifth lap, the fastest runners had already lapped them twice.
Hatake Sakumo was far ahead of everyone else.
Soon, he was about to pass Shanks and Haruko again.
Sakumo genuinely couldn’t understand what Shanks was thinking.
The village only had so many famous young geniuses.
Even if they had never met, most of them had at least heard one another’s names.
Sakumo spent every day receiving special training at home.
After all, the Hatake Clan was known as a clan of geniuses.
It was also known for being single-line for dozens of generations.
In other words, there were barely any people.
Since the Warring States Period, if not for the Hatake Clan’s powerful talent and strong inherited swordsmanship, they would have been wiped out long ago.
Because of that, Sakumo had been training under his father since the age of three and had almost never left home.
Unlike Shanks, who wandered around everywhere.
Mostly to secretly buy alcohol.
Sakumo truly couldn’t figure it out.
Shanks clearly had the ability to run at the front, so why was he strolling at the back?
If Shanks knew what Sakumo was thinking, he would probably tilt his head forty-five degrees toward the sky and sigh.
Were all Hatake people this honest?