Natsuhiko gained popularity.
His unique Sealing Jutsu class quickly became the hottest topic at the Academy.
Even after a day had passed, young ninjas continued to enthusiastically discuss the various details of that class.
Students who took this elective course became the centre of attention in various circles, constantly being asked to recount what they saw during the class.
Whether the Sage of Six Paths wore sunglasses, the rumoured affair between the priestess and the dog demon, whether Yin-Yang Master could become a Sealing Jutsu Master, the three uses of Clone Jutsu...
Whenever Natsuhiko's "performance" in the class was mentioned, young ninjas would radiate with delight, cherishing every detail.
They felt fortunate for choosing the Sealing Jutsu class.
For those who didn't take the course, there was regret, and many sought their homeroom teachers in a somewhat desperate manner, asking, "Do I still have a chance?"
In hushed tones, they applied to switch to Natsuhiko Sensei's Sealing Jutsu class.
...
"I sat in the front row and saw it very clearly; the Sage of Six Paths definitely wore sunglasses!"
In the classroom of Class 1A, Uchiha Obito sat at the podium, gesturing animatedly, describing what he had seen to students who missed the class for the nth time.
His appearance, with saliva splashing across, strangely resembled the charisma of the Third Hokage.
Undoubtedly, this was a man who aspired to become Hokage.
Obito's dedication had reasons.
Despite being the lowest ranking usually, he was never ostracised by students, but he was often the subject of teasing.
Unexpectedly, after attending just one Sealing Jutsu class, he became the talk of the town.
Students who skipped the class heard the rumours and rushed to Obito, the most approachable one, to inquire about the details.
Our dear brother naturally didn't miss this opportunity and quickly got into the spirit, proudly narrating his observations.
In his heart, he couldn't help but feel grateful.
Initially, he had no interest in the Sealing Jutsu class; after all, it seemed difficult at first glance. He only took it to attend class with Rin.
Little did he expect that it would turn out to be the best decision of his life!
To make everyone enjoy the story, Obito used all his tricks, racking his brains to make the narrative more exciting.
As a result, with each retelling, the scenes he described became more and more exaggerated.
For example, Obito was currently describing his modified version of the Sage of Six Paths battling a demon.
"...So, the Sage of Six Paths was wearing sunglasses, he was eight feet tall, and his waist was also eight feet wide."
The opening sentence was a hit.
Someone from the crowd couldn't help but comment, "Isn't that just an octagon?"
Obito widened his eyes, "An octagon is an octagon, alright? I'll have you know there are octagonal shapes everywhere. If not, how could he defeat a demon that was nine feet tall and had a waist also nine feet wide?"
"So, the legendary battle was essentially two cubes colliding?" Another person sarcastically remarked.
"Clever! Then write numbers from one to six on each of their six faces, let them collide, and the one with the highest number facing up wins."
"Isn't that just rolling dice!"
"..."
Obito scratched his head, feeling he might have gone a bit too far. He pretended not to hear the complaints and continued.
"At this moment, the Sage of Six Paths shouted, 'Evildoer, do you recognize this treasure?' and pulled out a rice cooker shining with a dazzling divine light of five colours."
Students: "..."
Obito continued with gusto, "This rice cooker has quite a reputation; it's called the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Goddess Shaking Her Head Scary Thunderbolt Golden Light Rice Cooker. When opened, within a radius of a hundred miles, everything, whether human, animal, shrimp, or flea, will be sucked in and turned into a pot of white rice..."
It could only be said that the entertainment activities in Konoha were still too limited, and most of them were not suitable for children.
For details, please contact a certain Konoha Sannin who prefers not to be named.
So, even though everyone knew Obito was making things up, they still listened with relish.
Even Obito's subpar "fanfiction" received praise from everyone.
It's easy to imagine the impact Natsuhiko's class had on the Academy.
Even as Obito spoke, he couldn't help but feel a bit exaggerated, "Ahhh~ It's a pity you didn't attend the class. No matter how detailed I describe it, it's not one-tenth as interesting as being there in person."
Although he claimed to regret it for everyone, there was a hint of a boastful tone in his voice.
While saying this, his eyes kept glancing towards a certain white-haired, dead-fish-eyed youngster.
That white-haired, dead-fish-eyed youngster—Hatake Kakashi—sat in the front row by the window, looking outside with his right hand supporting his chin, eyes vacant, completely ignoring Obito's intentions.
In the past, he might have chosen to tease Obito for entertainment.
However, since the man's death, Kakashi suddenly lost interest in meddling with others.
As if his entire world had become significantly darker.
Now, all he wanted to do was become a ninja as soon as possible and through actions cleanse the stain that man had brought to the clan.
For this reason, he had applied for early graduation.
Unfortunately, Biwako-sama, the Vice Principal had to approve his application but did not immediately schedule an exam for him. Instead, she instructed him to undergo the assessment alongside the graduating students at the end of the term.
Although not entirely satisfied with this arrangement, Kakashi had no choice.
Every moment spent at the Academy now felt like torture. He couldn't be bothered with Obito, the dead-last.
As for the Sealing Jutsu class Obito spoke of? Kakashi didn't care at all.
As a genius of the Hatake Clan, he already had a clear understanding of his future path.
What suits him the best.
Is Sealing Jutsu useful?
Certainly, but it requires a significant amount of time to learn, and it's a late-stage skill with minimal improvement in strength during the initial stages.
For Kakashi, who is still in a rapid growth period, the cost-benefit ratio is low.
He still has a pile of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu to learn, and no time to spend on Sealing Jutsu.
In fact, many brilliant and well-known ninjas in history started delving into Sealing Jutsu only after reaching a bottleneck in their strength to compensate for their weaknesses.
So, even though people around him were enthusiastic about the Sealing Jutsu class, Kakashi wasn't interested.
"Hmph, a pretentious guy!"
Seeing Kakashi completely ignore him, Obito got annoyed and muttered to himself.
Maybe their fate was doomed from the beginning. They didn't get along from the first day they entered the Academy.
At least, in the past, Kakashi would argue and bicker with him. Now, Kakashi only wore a gloomy expression and didn't care about Obito's existence.
Don't think I can't see you just because you're wearing a mask!
This Kakashi had absolutely no significance.
There was also something that made Obito anxious.
He heard the news that Kakashi would participate in the graduation exam at the end of the semester.
Although he didn't want to admit it, Obito knew that with Kakashi's strength, he would easily pass the exam.
This meant that Kakashi only had one semester left at the Academy.
Thinking about this, Obito felt a bit uneasy.
Not because of jealousy.
Although Obito was not currently Kakashi's opponent, he believed that with the Awakening of Sharingan, he could easily defeat Kakashi.
Unfortunately, Sharingan is not something you can activate at will, and he showed no signs of awakening it now.
Obito had one thing on his mind.
That is, when they first entered the school, he boasted that he would defeat the genius Kakashi, and he still hasn't succeeded.
When Kakashi graduates, the two will likely have no chance to meet again.
"Hateful, just once is enough. Is there any way I can defeat Kakashi before the end of the semester?"
While Obito pondered how to defeat Kakashi, his destiny was suddenly seized by someone.
"Oo——bito! Have you finished your Sealing Jutsu class homework?"
Obito's complexion stiffened, immediately forgetting about Kakashi's matters.
It was only then that he realised he had been surrounded by a group of girls he didn't know when.
What about the audience who were listening to his story? They were too disloyal.
Obito complained in his heart.
The leader of the girls snapped her fingers, making a cracking sound, and said with a smiling face, "Don't forget, your homework grades will affect the average score of our female group. We kindly took you in, so don't disappoint us."
"Obviously, it's Natsuhiko Sensei's arrangement," muttered Obito.
"Huh? What did you say?" The leader asked suspiciously.
"Nothing...nothing at all." Obito hastily waved his hands. "Right, homework. I'm almost done... just a tiny bit left. You can rest assured."
Obito assured them, patting his chest, but his gaze unconsciously drifted elsewhere.
The leading girl scrutinised Obito suspiciously, opened her mouth, and said, "Then show us now. Let the elder sisters check your homework."
Obito's face immediately turned dark.
Before he could object, the leading girl gestured, and the girls around him, in unison, picked him up, heave-ho, towards his seat.
"Yamete~"
Obito was terrified at this moment.(doesn't look like it lol)
Thinking about the assignment in his school bag, which only had a title, Obito felt despair.
Perhaps, this is what those death row inmates feel before going to the gallows.
"Idiot~"
Kakashi still looked outside, but a nearly imperceptible murmur came from under his mask.
...
The centre of everyone's attention, Natsuhiko was currently in the quiet library, oblivious to the events outside.
Since finishing his class yesterday, he had been hiding here, reading books, completely unaware of the impact he had on the Academy.
Although Natsuhiko had requested to review the Sealing Jutsu scrolls donated by Mito-sama in the library, Sarutobi Biwako didn't approve, stating that he had to wait until he completed his internship.
Apparently, not just Natsuhiko, Vice Principal-sama knew how to dangle a carrot in front of people.
As Natsuhiko could not currently access those precious Sealing Jutsu manuscripts, he felt some regret. However, the library still housed ancient Ninjutsu Scrolls and various travel records donated by major ninja clans in the past, providing valuable insights.
Ancient thinkers, like a heavenly steed soaring across the skies while envisioning Ninjutsu, broadened Natsuhiko's perspectives. What was once considered common knowledge by the ancients might now be valuable secrets.
More importantly, the rune knowledge that Natsuhiko craves is likely hidden in such texts. Sealing Jutsu runes are themselves a form of ancient writing.
According to records, in ancient times, runes were not only used to manipulate chakra but also to record knowledge. The dual use of runes eventually led to the divergence of rune languages.
The runes used for recording knowledge no longer required chakra infusion. Simultaneously, for ease of writing and reading, the script gradually simplified and incorporated other characters. From being a carrier of chakra, it evolved into a tool purely for recording knowledge.
This evolution resulted in the commonly used writing system in the present Ninja World.
The path of using runes to control chakra did not age well. Over the years, rune language struggled for survival, overshadowed by the seal language, leading to the loss of many rune knowledge.
Apart from this, in the difficult process of inheritance and development, rune language produced many irregular, deformed, and ambiguous runes. This has caused trouble for later researchers, including Natsuhiko.
Natsuhiko, flipping through these ancient books, aims to reverse-engineer the original appearance of the runes by collecting unaltered ancient characters and combining them with deformed runes.
Natsuhiko calls them "Original Runes" and, after years of effort, has mastered 233 of them. Learning all runes and understanding the truth of chakra still requires a long journey.
Considering the future Third Shinobi World War, Natsuhiko is determined to empty the library before leaving the Academy. Currently standing in front of the bookshelves, he rapidly flipped through a book titled "Postpartum Care of Ninken."
If someone in the vicinity passes by, they would notice a faint blue glow in Natsuhiko's eyes, giving him an otherworldly appearance.
Snap.
After finishing reading, Natsuhiko closed the book. Donated by the Inuzuka Clan, the content was certainly rich and eye-opening, although useless knowledge was prevalent.
There was no relevant knowledge about runes or Sealing Jutsu, but that's normal. Searching for useful information in these books is like panning for gold in the sand, a low return-investment.
Many new sensei, like Natsuhiko, once had the same idea of treasure hunting here. However, they often spent a lot of time and returned empty-handed.
The library's books gradually became regarded as useless. Natsuhiko was not worried about facing a similar situation because he had a special reading technique.
After putting back "Postpartum Care of Ninken," he pulled out another book nearby, glancing at the title: "Postpartum Care of Neko-nin" — a series of books!
To avoid missing important information, Natsuhiko quickly opened it and started to examine it. Meanwhile, his eyes glowed with a deep blue light, opening and closing with a soft "ka-cha" sound as he turned pages.
Photography Jutsu, playfully called by Natsuhiko the Art of the Camera! The principle of this jutsu is using the eyes as a camera, recording the seen images through chakra into the storage space of the chakra metal ball.
Natsuhiko planned to use this method to record the library's books, later employing other means for their analysis and organisation.
Clearly, Natsuhiko's claim to empty the library is not to be taken lightly.
(End of this chapter)
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