The next day, early morning.
Shinji arrived at the training ground with his belongings.
As he approached the training ground, he saw Naruto, Shikamaru, and others doing weighted laps around it.
Ino, noticing Shinji's arrival, quickly waved and called out, "Sensei! Good morning."
Naruto and Shikamaru, who were initially running at the front, stopped their warm-up and greeted Shinji, "Shinji-sensei."
Shinji nodded. He pulled out a few bottles of water from his backpack, handed them to the group, and smiled. "How long have you been warming up?"
Naruto, after receiving the water, quickly raised his hand and said, "About half an hour."
Seeing that they were all sweating, Shinji said, "Then let's rest for a bit, someone will be arriving soon."
The group, led by Shinji, walked to the shade of a large tree.
After chugging a large bottle of water, Naruto finally asked, "Sensei, who is coming?"
Shikamaru and the others, who were sitting, all looked over with curious expressions.
Shinji's lips curved slightly, and he mysteriously said, "It's a secret."
Naruto, Shikamaru, and the others were momentarily speechless, exchanging glances.
To prevent his students from dwelling on it, Shinji asked, "By the way, where did you all go to play these past few days?"
"Eh! Sensei, you wouldn't believe it!" Naruto quickly said.
"These past few days, Shikamaru took me to his clan's deer farm, and there were so, so many deer there. I was even chased by that group of deer."
Shikamaru, standing nearby, patted his forehead with a hint of helplessness and interjected, "Wasn't it because you wanted to pull their tails for no reason?"
Ino covered her mouth and laughed, clearly recalling the scene at the time. "And it was the leader of that group of deer."
Naruto felt a bit embarrassed in front of Shinji, so he quickly explained and changed the subject, "I didn't know, I just thought that one's tail looked a bit strange, who knew I'd be chased all the way?"
"Also, Ino's house has a flat area, all fenced off, and there are many flowers planted there, it smells so good."
Shinji wasn't surprised by this. After all, the Nara and Yamanaka clans both had their own sources of income.
Otherwise, how could a large clan be supported solely by ninja missions?
"But Naruto, weren't you almost stung by bees there..."
The honest Choji was about to speak when Naruto immediately covered his mouth.
These guys were so mean, they always exposed his weaknesses.
Shinji, seeing this, didn't intervene. His students had developed their own way of interacting over the past few months. He just needed to watch from the side for entertainment.
Hmm?
As if sensing something, he turned his head to look. He saw two figures, one tall and one short, slowly walking into the outer perimeter of the training ground.
"Alright, the people we were waiting for are here." Shinji stood up, dusted off his bottom, and stepped forward.
Naruto, who was discussing a few bags of potato chips with Choji so that Choji wouldn't expose his weaknesses, looked over with a curious expression. After clearly seeing who it was, his mouth gradually widened, his face full of disbelief.
He exclaimed, "Sasuke!"
Hearing this, Ino immediately stood up and chased after Shinji.
Shikamaru and Choji also stood up, and the two of them, supporting the still-dazed Naruto, chased after them.
As Shinji approached, he saw Itachi with a visibly annoyed Sasuke.
Upon seeing Shinji, Sasuke was startled, then bowed and said, "Hello, Shinji-sensei."
Just as he finished greeting, Ino had already run up. She stood beside Shinji, and sweetly called out, "Sasuke-kun."
Seeing Ino and Naruto and the others clearly catching up behind her, Sasuke merely nodded in response.
The next second, a hand covered his head, and Itachi's voice came through. "Sasuke, be polite."
Itachi increased the force on his hand, forcing Sasuke to bow, to greet Naruto and the others.
Seeing Itachi, an unfamiliar person, who was clearly Sasuke's elder, Naruto, Shikamaru, and the others bowed respectfully and greeted them.
"Shinji... sensei."
Itachi, who was initially wondering how to address Shinji, paused for a moment before using the same address as Sasuke.
Shinji, however, nodded and said, "Itachi-kun, just call me by my name."
He had no intention of letting the revered Itachi-sama address him formally.
"Okay, I have brought Sasuke. Father mentioned that if you have time, you are welcome to come to the clan for tea."
After Itachi finished speaking, he pushed Sasuke forward.
Shinji raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. It seemed Fugaku wanted to deepen his relationship with him, the Hokage's disciple. However, he was not interested in this for the time being and merely gave a vague assent.
After Itachi finished relaying his father's instructions, he squatted down and spoke to Sasuke, "Sasuke, from today onwards, you will be Shinji's disciple."
Sasuke, already annoyed that his brother wasn't training him, was about to speak upon hearing this.
But Itachi reached out and tapped his forehead, stopping his words, and slowly said, "Father's orders. Sasuke, you can't throw a tantrum."
After speaking, Itachi immediately stood up, nodded to Shinji in farewell, and then instantly disappeared.
It wasn't until Itachi left that Sasuke reverted to his usual cold demeanor, just like at school.
Shinji chuckled. He guessed Sasuke had probably been rejected by Itachi and was now throwing a tantrum.
Naruto, seeing Sasuke act like this, muttered, "Stuck-up Sasuke."
Sasuke, already in a bad mood, heard Naruto's words, glanced at Naruto, and snorted, "Idiot."
Naruto, provoked by these words, was about to rush forward and punch the stuck-up Sasuke, but the next second, Shinji pressed down on his head.
"Alright, Naruto, I need to take care of business first, you can't cause trouble."
After calming Naruto down, Shinji finally looked at Sasuke and said, "Sasuke, do you feel there's no need to take me as your teacher, because your brother is already very strong?"
Sasuke had always considered Shinji to be just an ordinary teacher, albeit a good one, but simply not as good as his own brother.
Seeing Shinji being so direct, he looked away, a little embarrassed, and remained silent.
Naruto, on the other hand, was a bit indignant, thinking, 'What? Shinji-sensei is clearly the strongest.'
Shinji chuckled at the sight. It seemed neither Fugaku nor Itachi had clearly explained to Sasuke why he should become his disciple. However, considering the awkward emotional communication between the three of them, father and two sons, he didn't find it strange.
"Since that's the case, how about you make a bet with me?"
For a little kid like Sasuke, Shinji naturally had his own solution.
As expected, Sasuke turned to look upon hearing this.
Shinji then pointed to Naruto beside him and said, "Fight Naruto. If you lose, it means I am qualified to teach you, how about it?"
"If Naruto loses, I will personally take you to explain things clearly to clan head Fugaku."