The sun was warm, and a gentle breeze drifted through the village.
Akira quickly immersed himself in studying, rapidly flipping through 137 Common Deadly Poisonous Plants, which he’d borrowed from the library.
Beside him, Tsunade was equally engrossed in a medical textbook.
Across the table, Hiruko watched the two of them with obvious envy.
I want to study like that too…
But he couldn’t ignore the way the rest of the class looked at them.
Nobody liked an overachiever.
He didn’t want to end up isolated.
Still…
Watching everyone else improve while he stood still felt awful.
Why was Akira able to ignore everyone else’s opinions so easily?
By lunchtime, Hiruko finally couldn’t hold back anymore.
While Akira took a bite from the rice ball he’d made himself, Hiruko cautiously asked, “…Akira, how can you not care what everyone else thinks?” Akira glanced at the somewhat confused Hiruko, then at the classmates who were subtly paying attention to their conversation.
Instead of answering directly, he replied with a question.
“Is your life controlled by yourself…
or by other people’s opinions?” Hiruko blinked.
He didn’t really understand.
In his mind, fitting in was how people protected themselves.
Akira continued, “Most of the time, people care too much about what others think.
Before they realize it, they’ve become puppets dancing on someone else’s strings.” Hiruko frowned.
“But…
if you don’t fit in, won’t everyone naturally isolate you?” Akira patted him on the shoulder before calmly delivering a line that hit like a lightning bolt.
“Being isolated won’t kill you.
But whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” He paused before adding, “Hiruko…
there’s one sentence I’d like you to remember.” “Only sheep gather in flocks.
Beasts always walk alone.” ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [The More You Know] “Only sheep gather in flocks; beasts always walk alone” is based on the Chinese saying.
It describes strong or exceptional people as independent, while ordinary people seek safety in groups.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Hiruko’s entire body trembled.
Goosebumps spread across his arms as every hair stood on end.
“…That’s incredible…” He muttered to himself.
Akira’s mentality…
It was unbelievably strong.
Even Tsunade, who had been quietly eating beside them, froze for a moment.
She slowly looked up and gave Akira another long look.
It felt as though she’d just gained an entirely new impression of him.
The nearby students, who had been secretly listening in, immediately erupted into discussion.
“Akira’s so arrogant!
I kinda want to punch him.” “That line was amazing!
I’m stealing it.” “Why didn’t I think of saying something that cool?!” “…” Ignoring the noisy chatter around him, Akira quickly finished his lunch before returning to the classroom to continue reading.
A moment later, Hiruko also took out the biology book he’d always wanted to study and openly began reading.
Tsunade glanced at Hiruko, then at Akira, and couldn’t help smiling.
One after another, the rest of the students returned to the classroom.
These were the classmates who’d heard Akira’s speech during lunch.
Nobody wanted to be remembered as one of the “sheep.” After all…
Everyone believed there was a beast inside them.
The competition had begun.
Soon, even the students who came back later found the entire classroom buried in books.
Unable to bear being the only ones slacking off, they reluctantly joined in as well.
When Sato entered the classroom and saw such an intense atmosphere of studying, he was overjoyed.
He had been teaching for seven or eight years, yet he’d never had a class this self-motivated.
In his excitement, he decided to speed up the curriculum.
“Everyone, after a month of study, you’ve all learned how to extract and use chakra.
From today onward, we’ll begin practical lessons.” “Theory alone isn’t enough.” “I’ll teach you how to use chakra in actual combat.” With a wave of his hand, Sato led the students to the training grounds.
They stopped first at the target range.
Each student received several kunai.
Sato demonstrated once, effortlessly striking the exact center of the target.
After that, the students began practicing while he walked around correcting their throwing techniques.
Akira picked up a kunai.
Immediately, a small crosshair appeared in the center of his vision.
He casually flicked his wrist.
Thunk*.* Bullseye.
Nearby, Tsunade stood with her arms crossed, watching her classmates’ clumsy throws with obvious disappointment.
She frowned.
“So childish.” “It’s only ten meters.” “Is it really that hard to hit the target?” She casually tossed her kunai.
Boom!
Rather than striking the bullseye, the blade punched straight through the target, blasting the entire red center clean off.
Just as the words left her mouth, Akira quietly tugged on her sleeve.
Tsunade paused.
Following his gaze, she saw Hiruko’s kunai lying helplessly on the ground.
He’d completely missed the target.
Hearing Tsunade’s remark, Hiruko stiffened.
He lowered his head without saying a word.
…So I’m the only one who can’t do it.
Seeing this, Akira immediately walked over, slung an arm around Hiruko’s shoulders, and led him aside.
“Come on.” “We’re only first-years.” “It’s completely normal to miss your first time using ninja tools.” …But both of you hit.
I’m the only one who missed.
Hiruko remained silent.
His fists slowly clenched.
Tonight…
I’ll practice even harder.
Nearby, Sato continued recording everyone’s performance in his notebook.
After every student had finished throwing their kunai, he handed out a large number of shuriken.
Akira examined the small, dart-like weapons with interest.
Although he’d been in this world for a month, he’d never actually used shuriken before.
Still…
It didn’t matter.
After watching Sato-sensei demonstrate once, he instantly understood the proper technique.
The students began their shuriken practice.
Akira was no exception.
Holding four shuriken in each hand, he flicked both wrists simultaneously.
Eight shuriken traced elegant arcs through the air.
Rather than striking the center, every single one embedded itself perfectly along the white ring bordering the bullseye.
Together, they formed a flawless circle.
Tsunade rolled her eyes.
There was no way she believed Akira couldn’t hit the center.
He was obviously doing it on purpose.
He’d just comforted Hiruko…
Only to immediately show off afterward.
What terrible taste…
After calming himself down, Hiruko took his turn.
This time, his performance was much better.
Two or three shuriken struck the target.
His expression finally relaxed.
But when he turned around and saw Tsunade’s target packed so densely with shuriken that there was barely any wood visible…
He couldn’t help staring in amazement.
Talented people really are talented at everything…
Then he looked at Akira’s target.
His eyebrow twitched.
He turned toward him.
“So…
you really think I’m that mentally fragile?” “You deliberately avoided the bullseye just to spare my feelings?” Akira shook his head.
“No.” “You’re mistaken.” “I was simply showing off.” “I wasn’t going easy on you.” “…Tch.” Hiruko raised a middle finger at Akira.