"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata."
As soon as Iruka finished reading out the names for Team 7, he noticed someone raising their hand.
"What's wrong, Konohamaru?"
"Iruka-sensei! Can I switch with Hinata?" Konohamaru asked loudly.
No way! If he wasn't on the same team, how could he defeat Naruto and make himself the boss? How could there be a boss who was not even in the same team?
Mizuki's eyes lit up, and he was about to speak.
"No," Iruka rejected him bluntly. "The teams are assigned to balance the strengths of each group. The teachers made the teams this way to ensure that every group has equal capabilities."
Mizuki, who was about to say something, was shut down immediately.
Looking at Iruka, who stood with his hands on his hips acting all proper, he sneered inwardly. Balance? Yeah, right. It was all about favoritism.
From his perspective, Team 7 was the most ridiculous grouping of them all.
Both Naruto and Sasuke were children of top-tier figures, with a reserve of jutsu that already surpassed some chunin. And as for the Hyūga heiress? There was no need to say more. With her Byakugan and the Gentle Fist, "balance" was a joke.
His gaze scanned the other students.
Among the 30 graduating students this year, not everyone came from prestigious families.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found a suitable target during the graduation exam, but he believed he would.
He was sure that fate would favor someone like him, someone determined to climb higher.
He had worked this hard—there was no reason why he couldn't achieve his goals.
The rest of the assignments went smoothly. After Iruka finished reading all the team names, he said, "This afternoon, your jonin instructors will take you on your first official missions. For now, you're free to spend the morning with your teams. Be back in this classroom at exactly 2 PM to meet your instructors. Dismissed!"
The students cheered and got up, filling the classroom with noise again.
Naruto and Sasuke stood up carefully, mainly because their butts couldn't handle any sudden movements.
"Naruto, Sasuke, what's wrong with your butts?" Iruka asked curiously.
But seeing how they were still bickering despite their condition, he was certain they'd become great teammates with strong cooperation.
"It's nothing, Iruka-sensei," Naruto, always full of energy, replied. "Oh yeah, who's our instructor?"
"You'll find out this afternoon. Also, don't just focus on having fun—you boys need to take care of your teammate too."
Iruka looked at Hinata, who was still sitting quietly at her desk, looking a bit unsure.
Among the students, she was the most introverted.
Naruto and Sasuke, on the other hand, were the complete opposite. If Iruka had any concerns, it was about this.
"Oh, don't worry, Iruka-sensei! I'll protect Hinata!" Naruto struck a bodybuilder pose.
"Show-off," Sasuke scoffed, glancing at his rival before striding over to Hinata. "Hey, girl, come on, I will take you out to have fun!"
Hinata's face instantly turned red.
Iruka's expression darkened.
Where the hell did Sasuke learn to talk like that? It sounded so shady!
"Idiot, you're scaring Hinata! You know she's timid," Naruto said, momentarily ignoring his own butt pain as he jumped in front of Hinata, nearly knocking Sasuke over.
"Don't mind him, Hinata. Come on, let's go eat something delicious!"
"Um…" Hinata lowered her head.
But in her mind, a memory surfaced—when she was little, she had been bullied, and these two had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and beaten up the kids who were picking on her.
Seeing this, Iruka finally relaxed.
Even though these two troublemakers seemed reckless, he knew they had good hearts.
Judging by the way things were going, they would get along well with Hinata.
"Let's go back, Mizuki," he said to his friend.
"Alright." Mizuki nodded, glancing at Hinata a few more times.
Her personality was quite suitable, but unfortunately, her status didn't allow it.
He couldn't afford to provoke the Hyūga clan's retaliation.
Over the past few days, Mizuki had also gathered some information—he had learned that he was going to lose his teaching qualification. And the reason? Simply because one of the village's powerful figures, the White Ghost didn't like him.
These noble clans could crush commoners like ants with ease.
Just a casual word from them could determine his fate in this village.
Following Iruka, he left the classroom to help with the remaining preparations.
At 2 PM, the two of them returned to the classroom.
The students were all sitting properly in their assigned seats, grouped according to their teams, their faces filled with anticipation.
Even the children from civilian families understood the weight of a jonin instructor.
Seeing the kids behaving so well for the first time, Iruka felt both relieved and a little jealous.
But for Mizuki, it wasn't just jealousy—it was something far worse.
Because earlier, they had already met all the jonin instructors who were assigned to lead the teams.
All of them recognized Iruka and treated him with warmth and familiarity.
Mizuki, however, received no such kindness.
Especially among the jonin, there was him—the White Ghost.
When Mizuki, trying to flatter his way in, attempted to greet him, he was instantly frozen in place by just one sharp glare.
It wasn't genjutsu—it was pure killing intent.
In that moment, his mind went completely blank. He could only remember the words the man had said to him: "You're no longer a teacher. Why are you still at the school?"
The only reason he was still standing here now was because Iruka had spoken up for him.
---
On the podium, Iruka began calling names. For each team, he announced their assigned jonin instructor and directed them to the designated classrooms.
"Team 7, head to Classroom A-3. Your instructor is Uchiha Masashi."
Hearing that name again, Mizuki nearly lost his composure.
That morning, he had genuinely thought he was going to die.
And the worst part? The man hadn't even used any jutsu—just his killing intent alone had paralyzed him.
Because of that single moment, every jonin had treated Mizuki coldly ever since.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke cheered loudly and jumped to their feet.
"Masashi-nii!" They were super familiar with him and absolutely adored him—after all, he had been teaching them since they were little.
And the best part? By the afternoon, their butts had finally stopped hurting. Now they could run around again.
The two excitedly rushed ahead but quickly realized something was off. Turning back, they saw that Hinata hadn't followed. So they immediately ran back, grabbed her hands, and pulled her along.
Iruka watched this scene with a satisfied smile as the three left the classroom together.
Classroom A-3 wasn't far, and the three kids arrived quickly.
Sasuke, the most excited of the group, was the first to open the door.
"Masashi-nii! I'm here!"
"Me too! Me too!" Naruto followed closely behind, making sure to pull along the shy Hinata. "And Hinata's here too! She's in our team!"
Inside the classroom, Masashi had been waiting for them.
Watching the two boys excitedly dragging Hinata along, he found the sight amusing.
Given the current relationship between the Uchiha and the Hyūga clans, he had already anticipated that Hinata would be assigned to the same team as Sasuke—this was undoubtedly arranged by Fugaku.
And now, with Naruto in the mix, things were about to get even more interesting.
"Hm." He nodded, stood up, and addressed the three kids.
"Don't be so loud in the school. Follow me."
Masashi led the three to the rooftop of the Hokage Building.
Although it was the roof of the Hokage Building, in reality, aside from the Hokage's inauguration ceremonies, the rooftop was mostly used by the Ninja Academy.
"Alright, let's do it here." he leaned against the railing, looking at the three young ones in front of him. "Normally, we'd start with self-introductions, but we're already familiar with each other. Hinata, from today on, you can call me teacher. I may not know Gentle Fist, but I'll guide you as best as I can."
"Th-thank you, teacher." Hinata was visibly nervous, her fingers fidgeting nonstop.
"Don't be so nervous. I'm quite familiar with your father; I've watched you grow up." Masashi squatted down in front of her, gently patting her head. "Even though he thinks your talent isn't great, the fact that you graduated from the Ninja Academy means your abilities are already ahead of most people in Konoha."
In the original timeline, even fewer people graduated—only twenty-seven.
Among the additional three were Konohamaru, Sai, and another child.
That last person's records were fake; they were most likely a former member of Root.
"Really?" Hinata's eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope as she looked at Masashi expectantly.
"Yes, I've reviewed your scores. I was there during your physical exams. While your combat performance was only mid-tier, that was mainly due to your timid nature—you hesitate too much when facing opponents."
This was true. Her talent wasn't as poor as she believed.
Her personality was the real issue.
If he recalled correctly, in the original cycle, there was a setting where she deliberately lost to her younger sister. Based on Masashi's observations, she was exactly the type to do that.
Even in the original Chunin Exams, though Neji defeated her effortlessly, the fact that she could make him take that much time meant she wasn't as weak as she thought—she had already surpassed most people.
Among the original Konoha 12, the only ones at the level of fresh genin were Sakura and Ino.
The rest were all way above that standard.
To put it simply, even with Masashi's current strength, if he had to fight Hyūga clan elites, he'd still choose long-range combat.
Gentle Fist was terrifying; don't forget that Naruto, as the Seventh Hokage, was knocked out by his daughter with the Gentle Fist. It could completely cut off chakra flow, making it a cheat-like ability. Combined with the Byakugan's absolute perception, any chakra-based defense was rendered useless.
One touch was all it took to kill.
The Hyūga clan was far from weak. Strictly speaking, they weren't meant to be support fighters—they were a squad of precision assassins.
After giving Hinata some encouragement, he set a meeting time with the three for the next day.
He had to follow protocol, but unlike Kakashi, he wasn't overly sentimental or overly protective, so he wouldn't play any mind-testing games.
Before meeting Team 7, Kakashi had a reputation—students under him never graduated. He was practically the "Graduation Terminator."
Masashi only planned to assess their current abilities to assign appropriate missions.
After setting the time, he dismissed Team 7 and left first.
He used the Flying Thunder God to appear at the entrance of the Police Force headquarters.
Although he had long resigned from the Police Force, entering it felt no different from entering his own home. After so many years, he was too familiar with the place.
Of course, he wasn't just dropping by—he headed straight for Hiashi's office.
As the successor to Uchiha Fugaku as the new head of the Police Force, Hiashi was quite dedicated to his duties.
"Hiashi."
"Masashi, what brings you to the department today?" Hiashi was usually very serious and rarely smiled. But seeing it was Masashi, he gave a rare smile.
That was already much better than another certain clan leader—getting that man to smile was like asking for his life.
"Just came back from the Academy."
"Oh? You met my daughter?"
Masashi smiled.
"Still busy?"
"The Police Force has more personnel now, so there's more trivial work." Hiashi sighed. He never expected to end up in this office back in the day.
"By the way, what do you think of her?" As Hiashi spoke, Masashi saw a shadow of Fugaku in him.
Both were stubborn middle-aged men who struggled to express their emotions to their children.
Awkwardly and earnestly maintaining their strict fatherly image.
"She's doing well. I watched her during her combat exam. You should really encourage her more."
"That child… she's too softhearted." Hiashi sighed. "Just the other day, she deliberately lost to Hanabi again."
"She did that on purpose?"
"Yes. Hanabi noticed." Hiashi shook his head. "Forget it. Let's not dwell on this. You came here for something, didn't you?"
"I want to borrow a team."
"Oh?" Hiashi immediately understood—Masashi likely needed Hyūga clan members. "No problem. Who are you watching?"
"That former teacher, Mizuki. He has ulterior motives. I suspect he's colluding with outsiders."
Hiashi's expression turned serious.
As the Hyūga clan leader, he knew that his daughters and Neji weren't the only Hyūga kids in the Academy.
Likewise, Sasuke wasn't the only Uchiha in the school.
Nowadays, all clans sent their children there, turning the Academy into Konoha's largest repository of bloodline limit and secret techniques. Stealing such techniques had always been a hidden battlefield among the ninja villages.
The Academy was tightly guarded, but no matter how strict the security, it couldn't prevent a traitor from operating from within.
That was why Academy instructors, despite being only chunin or genin, underwent the strictest background checks. But no screening process could eliminate all risk—these teachers also took on missions, and once outside the village, anything could happen.
"He is a chunin. If he's colluding with outsiders, that's a potential threat." Hiashi made his assessment. "I'll assign a team to monitor him."
"No need to be too strict. I just suspect he might make a move soon—I'm worried he might target the students."
Masashi had genuine concerns.
Orochimaru definitely had more spies in Konoha than just Kabuto.
Mizuki could very well be one of them—he remembered there was something about this in the original setting.
Otherwise, Mizuki alone wouldn't be worth his attention.
Knowing Orochimaru, he might randomly stir up trouble in Konoha just out of curiosity.
"Don't worry." Hiashi's tone grew cold with killing intent. "If he makes any dangerous moves, we'll capture him immediately."
"Much appreciated, Hiashi."
"It's no trouble at all."