The cold, piercing gaze of the Root member jolted Yamanaka Kaze awake just as he was about to doze off.
He quickly shook Uchiha Jiyue's arm and whispered,
"Jiyue, wake up… wake up! The teacher's asking you to answer a question!"
"Mm…"
Jiyue slowly opened his eyes, giving Kaze an annoyed glance—
But soon realized they were still in the middle of class.
A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek as guilt set in.
"Uh…"
Seeing his dazed expression, Kaze hurriedly reminded him,
"Don't 'uh' me—the teacher's waiting for your answer!"
Jiyue let out a reluctant sigh, got to his feet, and faced the Root instructor.
"Alright, Teacher. Ask away."
"Hmph."
The patterned-mask Root member first snorted, making his dissatisfaction clear, then coldly asked:
"What is chakra?"
Jiyue yawned and replied lazily,
"Chakra is the new form of energy produced when the various energies within the human body are perfectly combined.
It's the source of power used to perform ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu."
In the past, if someone had asked him a question like this,
he probably would have frozen up like those students who've been in math class for over ten years but still can't explain what math is.
But now, with Aoki Hiroshi's memories, conceptual questions like this were child's play.
After all, he was a man who had watched the entire Naruto series.
—Tch. He answered it!—
The Root member frowned.
Jiyue must have either gotten lucky or had learned it beforehand.
But he hadn't said he would ask only one question.
So he deliberately followed up with a tougher one:
"Brat, what is chakra made of?"
Chakra was the very foundation of a ninja's existence.
Such a theory was never taught in the Academy—
Whether one learned it depended entirely on the mood of their jonin sensei after graduation.
If the sensei was in a good mood, they might mention it.
If not, they wouldn't say a word.
That's why most low- and mid-ranking ninja knew how to use chakra without truly understanding it.
For Root trainees like Sai and Shin,
this was the first time they were hearing such valuable knowledge.
They all stared at Jiyue with expectant eyes.
Jiyue took a slow breath and said,
"Generally, chakra is made up of physical energy and spiritual energy.
But there are exceptions—
For example, Lord Jiraiya can use natural energy to enhance his ninjutsu."
—Natural energy?—
How does this kid know more than I do?!
When it came to one of the Legendary Sannin like Jiraiya,
the Root member didn't think Jiyue would dare make things up,
so his expression turned sour.
But soon he steeled himself.
—Hmph. Let's see about this.—
He threw a few more questions at Jiyue.
To his growing embarrassment,
the boy answered every single one with ease—
and even brought up rare pieces of knowledge he didn't know.
"Uh… Yin Release, Yang Release… form transformation, nature transformation… What even are these?!"
At that point, the Root member had no choice but to admit defeat.
By noon—
The man behind the mask, Ebisu, went to see Danzō.
"Lord Danzō… I want to resign."
"What! Resign?"
"Didn't we agree beforehand?"
Flipping through a stack of intel reports, Danzō frowned.
"You look down on me?"
"No, no, it's not that…"
Ebisu's voice wavered, his eyes reddening.
"It's just… I'm not skilled enough to teach your men."
"Heh. Not skilled enough?"
"You think I'd believe that?"
Danzō slammed a palm on the desk and stood, glaring at him.
"You're one of the village's top talents when it comes to teaching theory! You expect me to believe you're not good enough?!"
"It's like this…"
Seeing Danzō's anger, Ebisu shamelessly recounted exactly what had happened that morning—
Every humiliating detail.
"So it's not that I won't teach… It's that I'm not worthy to."
Leaving the mask behind, Ebisu turned and walked out—
So quickly it was as if he couldn't bear to show his face.
"What the hell is this…"
Danzō's mouth twitched.
"First day of class… and he manages to scare off the expensive instructor I hired."
"Tch… Headache."
Holding his forehead, Danzō could almost feel his blood pressure rising.
Unaware of what was happening on Danzō's end,
Jiyue arrived at the training grounds outside the base on time after lunch break.
"Ah-reh-reh!"
"Isn't this little Pinky?"
"Could you be any later?"
That same boisterous voice from the bathhouse rang out as the square-jawed man dropped down from a tree.
He was wearing a red, waist-length jacket that perfectly showed off his inverted-triangle physique—
But his plain features and rough speech ruined any charm it might have had.
"This afternoon, we're training in kunai throwing!"
Seeing everyone gathered, the man lazily stretched.
"Alright, let's start."
He then flopped down under a tree, pulled out a sake flask, and took a long swig.
"Yes, Lord Yoi!"
The trainees didn't seem the least bit surprised.
They obediently took out their kunai and started aiming at the targets ahead.
"This guy is just too—"
Jiyue frowned at the sight of the man drinking on the job—
But before he could finish his sentence,
Shin clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Don't. His ears are sharp, and his grudges are long.
You don't want him coming after you…"
"Uh…"
Only then did Shin realize—
He'd just implicated himself in his warning.
Sure enough, the very next moment,
the drunken man appeared in front of them.
"Little Swallow, what did you just say?"
Letting out a hiccup, he pointed toward the row of targets hanging on a nearby tree.
"Ten fingers, eight targets—
Hit all eight in the bull's-eye, or you'll be in the infirmary for two days."
"Bro, why'd you have to provoke him…"
Seeing Shin's anger, the man, Sai—
Who was practicing kunai throws not far away?
covered his eyes in exasperation.
"The last time I was this speechless was… well, the last time."
Jiyue sighed, took two steps forward, and stood in front of Shin.
"Those words? I was the one who wanted to say them."
"Oh? So you're the brave one, huh?"
The man smirked.
"In that case, you do it—just like I said."
Jiyue gave him a calm look without speaking.
He slipped eight kunai between his fingers,
turned sideways, and casually threw—
Each blade hits dead center in the bull's-eye.
"From this distance… all eight, perfect bull's-eyes?! That's insane!"
The surrounding kids stared wide-eyed.
Even Shin was stunned.
He barely even aimed… and still hit every shot. Amazing!