Friday morning, Academy Class 1-1 classroom.
The students are discussing how to approach the upcoming Taijutsu class.
"Should we do it like last time?" a student asked.
"Not today. According to Yumi-sensei's words yesterday, our Taijutsu sensei must have informed Yumi-sensei about our actions in the Taijutsu class with added details," speculated Izumo.
"With Yumi-sensei's personality, he might come to inspect during the Taijutsu class and help out till the end."
"I can't believe our Taijutsu sensei. It's the first time I've heard of a sensei filing a report on students," complained Kotetsu.
Filing a report is one thing, but including personal opinions makes it even more bewildering.
"Let's all give face to Yumi-sensei today and not try to discourage anyone from acting badly," said Izumo.
The students felt that Izumo's words made a lot of sense, deciding to treat the Taijutsu class as Mutsuki's class.
"This Taijutsu sensei is really annoying," Anko said with a frustrated expression.
Teaching Taijutsu poorly resulted in her being criticized by Mutsuki, and she had to see bad things about her being reported to Yumi-sensei.
The students in Class 1-1 nodded in agreement, and Tanimura Toshihiro's actions successfully made them lose favor with them.
After the bell for class rang, Tanimura Toshihiro entered the classroom.
Seeing the students sitting quietly at their desks without speaking, Tanimura Toshihiro breathed a sigh of relief.
But he didn't let his guard down because during the last class, the students didn't initially show such strong aggressiveness.
"Let's warm up by running three laps around the field," Tanimura Toshihiro said with a slight cough.
The students followed Tanimura Toshihiro's instructions, went downstairs to the field, and started running. No one discussed Tanimura Toshihiro.
After the run, Tanimura Toshihiro began teaching Taijutsu routines, and after explaining them twice, he let the students practice freely.
During this time, not a single student spoke ill of Tanimura Toshihiro, calmly making Tanimura Toshihiro feel that this class was different from the previous one.
"I really need to invite Yumi-sensei for a drink," Tanimura Toshihiro thought, grateful to Mutsuki.
He knew what caused this change; it must have been Mutsuki's intervention, or else the students' performance wouldn't have varied so much before and after.
At that moment, Mutsuki passed by the field as per Tanimura Toshihiro's request.
Mutsuki and Tanimura Toshihiro exchanged greetings and spent some time on the field.
After class, Izumo triumphantly said, "I was right, Yumi-sensei was sure to come."
"Does that mean we won't take any action from now on?" a student unwillingly asked.
The more Mutsuki helped Tanimura Toshihiro, the more the students disliked him.
"Of course not. Yumi-sensei isn't free every day like this. We can continue our actions in the next class," Izumo said.
...
In Class 4-2, Rin, observing Obito next to her, who was scratching his head while doing his homework, asked with concern:
"Obito, what's going on with you lately? You seem so diligent, studying every time you have a moment."
While diligent studying is a good thing, Obito's sudden enthusiasm for theory made Rin somewhat worried.
Upon hearing Rin's words, Obito's pen paused, and he felt an urge to shed tears.
Is this him being diligently in love with learning? No, this is the consequence of not practicing Taijutsu well!
Doing homework in installments comes at a cost. For example, if there were originally ten questions, breaking it into installments might turn it into eleven.
This means that although Obito doesn't have to do a lot in one day, he needs to tackle questions every day.
What's more troublesome is that there's training every day, meaning he accumulates new questions daily and continues breaking them into installments.
But doing them all at once is not feasible for him. It feels very painful and would also affect his training.
"Because everyone's grades are improving, and I can't fall behind," Obito said with a forced smile on his face.
He definitely wouldn't mention the embarrassing reason of being punished to do homework due to his lack of Taijutsu skills.
"It's great that you have such thoughts. It feels like you've grown a lot all of a sudden," Rin said with a pleased smile.
Since the beginning, starting with Obito being late to school, Rin has always taken care of Obito like a younger brother. Seeing Obito now excelling in practical combat and finally passing in theory, Rin is genuinely delighted.
"Haha, is that so?" Obito, upon hearing Rin's praise, felt as if his initially stiff smile, like withered plants receiving water, quickly regained its naturalness.
With Rin's encouragement, Obito's speed in completing his homework increased, to the point where he felt he could pay off tomorrow's installment ahead of time.
"As the weekend is approaching, Obito, what are your plans?" Rin asked.
"Wait, today is already Friday?" Obito's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. These days, Taijutsu training and various assignments had blurred his sense of time.
"Yeah, we're going to have a break after class. Aren't you happy, Obito?" Rin asked with a smile.
Upon receiving a positive answer from Rin, Obito couldn't help but feel a moment of darkness before his eyes.
From Monday to Friday, they only needed to practice from after school until the sun went down. But weekends were different; they practiced from morning until the sun set.
A significant amount of practice time meant more battles with Might Guy, and more battles meant more assignments. Obito could almost see a stream of questions and test papers rushing towards him, engulfing him.
"What's wrong, Obito? Your face looks a bit off. Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?" Rin asked, noticing Obito's unpleasant expression.
"Nothing, I'm just so happy about the break," Obito forced a smile and said.
"Yes, I'm really happy. With such a long break for training, and significant improvement in strength, I'll achieve first place in the whole school. Then, I'll bask in Rin's admiring gaze," Obito had already started self-hypnotizing in his mind.
"Promise me, Rin, you must excel in Taijutsu," Obito couldn't help but say.
"Yes, I know. Taijutsu is crucial," Rin nodded, not realizing the pain in Obito's words.
After school, Obito headed to the training ground in the southern border forest.
Might Guy was already there, starting his training ahead of Obito.
They exchanged a glance, both seeing the desire for victory in each other's eyes.
Both of them were well aware of what the weekend meant for them.
This was no joke; a slight misstep could mean facing a countless number of assignments.
"If only I had Sharingan, I could definitely do it!" Obito, for the first time, yearned to unlock the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai.
Sharingan possessed powerful dynamic vision, easily deciphering the movements of enemies.
He had a premonition that by the end of this weekend, the pending assignments might extend straight to the end of the semester.
"I absolutely cannot let that happen!" Obito fiercely punched the training dummy.
On the other side, Might Guy was silently holding up a massive rock, performing squats to strengthen his thigh muscles.
Not only did he not want to break up his assignments into installments, but he also aimed to secure the top spot in the grade.
Mutsuki, observing both of them enthusiastically exercising, revealed a satisfied smile.
Maintaining this level of training, a month later, Hyuga Kamon wouldn't be their match.
---
Don't forget to check out my patreon where you can read up to 50 advanced chapters https://www.patreon.com/CrazyNinja