In the blink of an eye, the ten-day holiday passed quickly, and today was the official start of the Ninja Academy.
Li Huo woke up early. Unlike his usual black Uchiha training uniform, Li Huo chose a blue Uchiha short-sleeved shirt and white shorts (similar to Sasuke's first appearance).
After breakfast, he brought an extra rice ball, and Li Huo began his school life.
On the roads within the Uchiha clan compound, he saw many kind and friendly elderly men and women, warmly inquiring about Li Huo.
"Little Li Huo, have you eaten? Come and eat some of Uncle's pancakes!"
"No, thank you, Uncle Tetsuo, I've already eaten. But when I see Obito later, I'll tell him to hurry up, he's going to be late!"
In this friendly atmosphere, Li Huo left the clan compound.
The Uchiha clan members outside the compound were usually the Konoha police patrol. They all had serious expressions, and some even occasionally showed arrogant expressions.
"This is the Uchiha clan, a complex mix of arrogance, hubris, kindness, and fanaticism," Li Huo thought to himself.
Walking the streets of Konoha, passersby would occasionally whisper among themselves.
"Wow, that kid's so cute, and kind of handsome too!"
"Yeah, yeah, if he were a little older, I'd definitely go for him!"
"Calm down, Jingbo, you're 50 already (;￣O￣)..."
Li Huo looked speechlessly at the old lady buying breakfast next to him, inwardly thinking,
"So this is what Erzhuzi felt back then."
Suddenly, he vaguely sensed a gust of wind behind him, accompanied by rhythmic shouts.
"Ten more laps around the village, and if you can't finish, do 500 kicks! Burn, my youth!"
It was Guy training. Although he won the entrance exam this year, he was rejected because he lacked chakra talent (refer to Kakashi's flashback).
Dai encouraged Guy, saying that as long as he kept working hard and burning his youth, he would definitely achieve something and protect those he wanted to protect.
Therefore, Guy trained even harder, which made things difficult for Li Huo, who trained with him. To avoid holding him back, Li Huo's training volume also increased.
"My good friend, are you going to school?!" Guy shouted. His thick eyebrows and green bodysuit were so eye-catching that his shout attracted even more attention from passersby.
Although Li Huo wasn't shy, he couldn't shake his old habit of feeling embarrassed for others. Even though his toes were digging into the ground, Li Huo still forced a reply:
"That's right, we train together after school!"
"By the way, where's Uncle Dai? Isn't he training with you?"
"Dad, he's on a mission, looks like a C-rank mission..."
Looking at Kain's face, drenched in sweat from training, Li Huo wiped his brow and, taking the opportunity to fix Kain's hair, patted his head.
[Ding! C-rank Ninja for patting head: Might Guy, please choose one of the following rewards]
"A set of green bodysuit"
"A tube of eyebrow thickening agent"
"Konoha Fist"
Li Huo chose "Konoha Fist" without hesitation.
Immediately afterward, accompanied by a slight headache, the techniques of the Konoha Fist style were deeply imprinted in Li Huo's mind.
Not only that, Li Huo could even feel his muscles being strengthened.
Not only could he better adapt to the power generation of the punch, but his muscle groups seemed to have been forcibly instilled with muscle memory, allowing Li Huo to react in the shortest possible time. This undoubtedly greatly improved Li Huo's taijutsu.
People are in high spirits when they have good news, and Li Huo was even happier after receiving the reward. However, with class time fast approaching,
the two could only exchange a few pleasantries. Kai continued his hard training, while Li Huo set off for school. As he walked, Li Huo couldn't suppress his anger and muttered to himself,
"Which idiot moved the Uchiha clan's territory to the edge of the village?!"
"It's so hard for me to go to school. No wonder that idiot Obito is always late."
"If only the Uchiha clan's territory were located like the Hyuga, Sarutobi, or at least the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, that would be so much better."
"By the way, why would someone as strong as Uncle Dai participate in a C-rank mission? Oh right, because he's still a genin. Konoha really doesn't know how to recognize talent..."
After navigating through streets and alleys, Li Huo finally arrived at the classroom on time. Upon entering, he was immediately enveloped by the classroom's boisterous atmosphere.
Being kids, they couldn't stay still; everyone was chatting animatedly.
Among them, Li Huo saw many familiar faces:
Asuma, Kakashi, Nohara Rin, Shiranui Genma…
Only Uchiha Obito was missing; apparently, he was late again.
Besides him, there was one unexpected person—the ultimate "phone addict"—Uchiha Aotian.
However, Aotian seemed to have lost the arrogance of ten days ago. Instead, he had a bruised and swollen face and was sitting upright in the back row by the window, preparing for his lessons.
Li Huo looked around and decisively chose to sit next to Aotian. Why? Back row by the window—the king's homeland! To reign supreme in the school, this was the place to rise to power.
Li Huo tossed his backpack onto the desk closest to the window and patted Ao Tian on the shoulder.
"Uchiha Ao Tian, may I sit here?"
Ao Tian sniffled, his nose still covered by a band-aid, then looked up at Li Huo.
"Uchiha Li Huo, I know I'm your defeated opponent. You don't need to resort to such methods to humiliate me."
"Ao Tian, you're not Xiao Tian. Nobody's intentionally trying to humiliate you. I just want to look at the scenery outside the window when I don't want to listen to the lecture."
Ao Tian stopped talking and silently made way.
Li Huo sat down, tidied his things, took a bottle of liniment from his backpack, and tossed it to Ao Tian.
"What happened? Did someone kick you? How did you get like this?"
"It's because of my cultivation, Li Huo, one day I will surpass you!"
Li Huo found it amusing; he hadn't expected the boy he'd defeated to unleash such fighting spirit.
"Alright, good luck then. Here, take the liniment; I have plenty of that."
Ao Tian rubbed his calf, instantly writhing in pain. Ultimately, reason prevailed over emotion; he took the liniment and whispered,
"Thank you."
Suddenly, the classroom's clamor seemed to be muted, instantly falling silent.
"Based on my more than ten years of student experience, the teacher has arrived," Li Huo deduced in his mind.
Sure enough, the visitor was a robust, square-faced, and kind-looking middle-aged teacher.
"Hello everyone, my name is Ryunosuke Oshima, and I'm your homeroom teacher. Please take good care of me..."
The mundane and monotonous school life began.
The Ninja Academy's schedule for Li Huo and the others was morning theory classes followed by afternoon practical training.
While Li Huo focused on personal training, he was equally interested in theoretical knowledge.
Just as Li Huo was frantically absorbing knowledge like a sponge,
a sound like a chaotic army approaching echoed down the corridor:
"I'm going to be late!!!"
The sound originated at the classroom door; it was undoubtedly Uchiha Obito.
"I'm...I'm sorry, teacher, I'm late...late because there was an old...old lady on the way..." Obito said breathlessly.
Teacher Oshima smiled kindly. "It's alright, Uchiha Obito, is it? Come in, don't do it again next time."
Little did he know that Obito would be late every day from then on.
At that moment, Obito felt like he'd been granted a pardon, hurriedly entering the classroom and sitting next to Li Huo.
The last row now looked like this:
Aotian, Obito, Li Huo
Obito disgustedly moved away from Aotian, almost touching Li Huo.
Seeing the rice ball in Li Huo's drawer, Obito didn't hesitate and popped it into his mouth.
"Obito, you're late, and you even stole my rice ball!"
"Haha, we're practically family, I'll bring you one later."
"The thing is, this rice ball is several days old."
"Really? I was wondering why the taste was a little strange."
"Yes, it's expired."
"Huh??? Then why did you bring it?"
"I only realized it when I brought it."
Obito: (ﾟoﾟ;;
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