Sasuke's words were full of provocation.
Jokichi, however, did not care much.
Ever since the academy began formal training two months in, they conducted a strength test every month and a grade assessment every three months.
Jokichi usually held a book and did not care about training at all, yet he always tied for first place with Sasuke in the strength tests, and even overwhelmed everyone in the grade assessments.
The reason they tied for first place in the tests was only because of the scoring limits of the test items.
For example, the shuriken assessment.
Even if your accuracy is perfect, the highest score is only the center position, which could not test Jokichi's upper limit at all.
But even so, everyone could see the gap between Jokichi and the others.
Because every time in the assessments, Jokichi appeared very relaxed, looking completely at ease.
While Sasuke, who tied with him, had to concentrate and aim.
Although the time was not long, about a second or two, it was still a far cry from Jokichi's performance of picking up the shuriken and throwing it without even looking.
Originally, if one's strength was inferior to others, just training hard to catch up would be fine.
Although Sasuke was highly competitive, he would not be so childish as to provoke someone in public.
However, for two years, he had trained hard every day. With the guidance of his father and clan members, he could learn a lot of knowledge and skills not found in the academy.
Yet he still could not catch up to Jokichi.
He knew very well that Jokichi could only practice alone at the training ground next to the academy every day.
Without anyone teaching him, he could only practice the basics taught by the academy.
But even so...
"Is it really a gap in talent?" Sasuke was unwilling to accept this.
Before, there was a near-perfect older brother.
He was proud of his brother and aimed to catch up to him.
But he became a missing-nin.
His father placed his expectations on him, increasing his cultivation and instruction.
However, the response he got from his hard training was only his father's sigh: As expected, he cannot compare to Itachi.
How could it be like this!
Itachi, that traitor, the guy who brought shame to the clan, how could such a guy become the clan's glory.
Sasuke was unwilling to accept this and wanted to surpass Itachi.
But before surpassing Itachi, he had to surpass Jokichi.
He also knew some of Itachi's deeds, graduating from the academy at the age of six.
If he could not even compare to a guy who was inferior to Itachi, how could he surpass him?
Therefore, Sasuke turned a blind eye to his mother's advice to build a good relationship with Jokichi, and instead was brimming with fighting intent towards him.
To the extent that he provoked him in public.
Challenging privately was nothing much, but provoking in public...
If the gap in strength was not too big, naturally it would be fine; it would only be considered being full of confidence and having initiative.
But Sasuke and Jokichi's usual performances were worlds apart. Provoking like this would only be seen as overestimating his own capabilities and would be mocked and ridiculed by others.
Sure enough, when Sasuke's words fell, the gazes of the surrounding classmates looking at him all changed.
Some sat on the desks, crossed their legs, and watched the show. Some showed mockery on their faces, and some directly opened their mouths to ridicule him.
Especially Ino.
Women in passionate love are unreasonable. Although this was only one-sided on her part, it was no exception.
She stood out with her hands on her hips, the corners of her mouth slightly raised. "Oh my, isn't this the second place in our class?"
Her tone was weird, making people very uncomfortable.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and ignored her, staring intently at Jokichi behind Ino.
The meaning was obvious: Do you only dare to hide behind women?
Jokichi pushed his glasses frame, revealed a smile, turned around, and walked straight to his seat.
Boring provocation.
What if he won?
What if he lost?
Listen to a group of little kids brag?
With no benefits and only trouble, why should he do it?
If it weren't to show his potential to the Konoha higher-ups, he would have even wanted to just go through the motions for the grade assessments.
On the aisle back to his seat, Jokichi saw Choji and Shikamaru.
Choji sat up perfectly straight, holding a bag of potato chips in his hand, feeding them into his mouth handful by handful. The corners of his mouth and the floor were full of food crumbs and fragments.
Shikamaru was propping his cheek, staring blankly with lifeless eyes.
"Choji, Shikamaru, long time no see, good morning!" Jokichi smiled and greeted them.
The two looked over upon hearing this, each showing a different reaction.
Choji had a joyful look on his face and offered the potato chips in his hand. "Long time no see, Jokichi. Do you want some?"
Jokichi took a look at the saliva inside the packaging and quickly shook his head. "I will pass, I already had breakfast."
"Is that so? What a pity."
Saying that, Choji grabbed a handful of potato chips and fed them into his mouth to chew.
Jokichi shook his head slightly and looked at Shikamaru.
This guy had just glanced over earlier and then withdrew his gaze to continue daydreaming.
"What are you thinking about?"
Jokichi leaned close and asked curiously.
Shikamaru's lifeless eyeballs rolled. He glanced at him and sighed, "I am not thinking about anything, I just did not expect you to come back to the academy so soon."
"Uh, why would you think that?" Jokichi was a bit puzzled.
"Nothing, I just felt that you have always been pursuing power. I thought you were the kind of person who is only interested in power!"
In the eyes of others, Jokichi had always been holding a book to read since enrollment, like a bookworm, showing no interest in power, and only relying on talent to achieve his current accomplishments.
But Shikamaru could tell from many details that Jokichi was so invested precisely for the sake of more efficient growth.
"I see!"
Jokichi suddenly realized and sat straight back in his seat.
At this time, the arguments between Ino and a group of girls came from the podium.
The few of them looked towards the sound and saw Ino taking on many at once, engaging in a verbal battle with the crowd, and Sakura was among those leading the opposite side.
"What is going on?" Jokichi felt surprised.
"Isn't it because of you." Choji ate his food and said vaguely, "Ino mocked Sasuke for you. Sasuke's fangirls saw the person they like being mocked and wouldn't have it, so it became like this."
"..."
Jokichi was speechless.
In the anime, Ino and Sakura both fell in love with Sasuke at the same time, thereby breaking their friendship, and they didn't reconcile until the Chunin Exams.
Now, Ino did not like Sasuke. He thought these two should have a very good relationship, but he didn't expect their friendship to still come to an end.
Sigh, women are really troublesome.
"Sigh, women are really troublesome!"
Jokichi sighed in his heart, while Shikamaru directly voiced his inner thoughts.
The two seemed to perceive each other's thoughts, looked at each other, and then laughed.
"Let's ignore them. They are frenemies anyway, they will make up before long."
"True." Shikamaru thought for a moment and sighed, "However, this morning is full of very boring academic classes. I really don't know why you came back."
"Eh! It is academic classes!"
Jokichi instantly felt a bit gloomy.
If it were before, he would be very interested, but now, he had already finished learning all the courses.
"Why don't we skip class together!" Choji poked his head over.
"Sure, count me in for skipping class."
A bruised and swollen head squeezed in.
Everyone was startled, and looking closely, they judged from the clothes that it was Naruto.
Everyone was dumbfounded, "Naruto, what happened to you?"