When Tōshirō returned to Konoha, dawn had already broken, and he had accumulated a significant debt. Tōshirō cursed the greedy actions of the penguin in anger.
Dragging himself slowly to school, he felt extremely exhausted. As soon as he arrived, he immediately fell asleep, drooling on the desk. His classmates were not surprised by his behavior; the title "King of Sleep" wasn't given to him for nothing.
"Hey, wake up..."
Tōshirō didn't know when, but he felt someone gently shaking him awake. He lazily opened his eyes to see the classmate sitting next to him.
"What's up? Is the school day over?"
His classmate responded coolly, "Didn't you forget that a Jonin was invited to give a lesson today? Everyone left early."
If it weren't for his classmate sitting next to him, Tōshirō wouldn't have bothered waking up.
"Ah~ I remember." Tōshirō said, rubbing his eyes. "Thanks."
Sometimes the Ninja Academy would invite some Jonin to give lectures to the students, which was similar to inviting celebrities to prestigious schools to motivate students.
Tōshirō went with his classmate to the designated classroom, where all the students were present, but the teacher hadn't arrived yet, which meant he had arrived just in time.
Tōshirō sat down randomly, contemplating whether to continue daydreaming or not.
However, since his classmate had woken him up, he didn't feel like sleeping and began to feel more awake. After some time, the teacher arrived, an elegant woman with a ponytail.
Her name was Biwako, and she was a medical ninja. After a brief introduction, she took out a scroll with inscriptions, put her hands together, and emitted a green aura. It wasn't long before the dead fish on the table began moving again, impressing the students.
But when she asked who was interested in medical techniques, the room fell silent.
Biwako sighed bitterly and began explaining the role of medical ninjas, but the students were drowsy, with only a few showing any interest.
These days, even children knew that the future of a medical ninja wasn't bright.
Some parents would advise their children: if you don't work hard in your studies, you'll end up as a medical ninja assistant.
However, becoming a medical ninja wasn't easy. It required precise chakra control and extensive knowledge. Training a qualified medical ninja took a long time.
So, if you had this skill, why be an assistant? Wouldn't it be better to be a fighter?
In the end, medical ninjas were considered the weakest category among ninjas.
But medical ninjas were also indispensable on the battlefield. The ability to treat the injured quickly made them vital assets in wars.
While some ninja clans dedicated part of their training to making their members medical ninjas, civilian ninjas with this talent rarely wanted to take this path.
Unless they had a great passion for medical techniques.
But is that even possible?
Biwako had come to the academy under orders from the higher-ups to encourage students to take an interest in this field. But based on what she saw, it seemed that no one cared.
Suddenly, though, she noticed that one student was listening attentively, unlike the rest.
She asked the boy a few questions, and he answered them fluently, demonstrating significant talent and showing that he was paying close attention.
"What is your name?"
"Uchiha Tōshirō."
Biwako paused for a moment, surprised that a child from the Uchiha clan was interested in medical techniques. This was extremely rare.
It was well known that the Uchiha clan had unparalleled talent in combat.
In fact, for this clan, being a medical ninja wasn't necessarily a bad thing; having a pair of Sharingan might give one an advantage in medicine.
The only thing was that the Uchiha with Sharingan were eager for combat, so studying medical ninjutsu didn't fulfill their purpose. Even if they had personal thoughts, the clan might likely stop them.
Biwako made a note of his name.
After the lesson ended, when Biwako left the hall, the students gathered around Tōshirō and asked in astonishment, "Were you really paying attention to the lesson?"
Then one of them placed a hand on Tōshirō's forehead and joked, "You don't have a fever, do you?"
Tōshirō pushed his classmate's hand away and said, "Why? Can't I be diligent sometimes?"
His classmate responded, "Well, maybe, but why care about medical techniques that have no future?"
Of course, it was for the girls.
If you want to win a girl's heart, you must care about what she cares about.
At the moment, Tsunade had not yet entered the medical ninja field, but she would become a medical ninja in the future. Tōshirō was preparing for that moment to connect better with her in the future.
Therefore, Tōshirō decided to become a medical ninja, which would help him get closer to Tsunade when she started practicing medicine.
Over time, they would have many things in common to share.
The Uchiha family might not allow one of their members to fail to graduate in the future and not become a ninja. The Uchiha were considered one of the strongest ninja clans in the world, and it would be unacceptable for a family member to be unable to graduate from the Ninja Academy, as this would bring shame to the family.
Moreover, if Tōshirō's grades were poor in the future, others would interpret it as a result of laziness. But thanks to his talent, the family could force him to improve his academic performance intensively, and he could easily pass the graduation test, as long as he didn't deliberately fail to become a ninja.
Tōshirō began thinking about the future and planning ahead. Even if he was unlucky and ended up graduating, he at least wanted to become a medical ninja to stay in the background and avoid risks until he grew stronger.
Tōshirō calmly said, "Nothing, you know my personality. I'm someone who is afraid of death and doesn't care much about becoming a ninja and going to battlefields to be war fodder. But still, my unique talent and the family behind me don't allow me to drop out of school. I heard our teacher Biwako say that medical ninjas usually don't have to go to battle, and their survival rate is high. So, I thought about trying to become a medical ninja."
Then Tōshirō sighed, placing his hands on his hips and lowering his head, saying, "I can only say that this situation is very frustrating..."
"You...!"
His classmates felt extremely angry with him, so much so that they wanted to hit him, but they restrained themselves, not out of friendship, but because they knew they couldn't beat him.
"Hmm, Tōshirō, don't think that your talent makes you special."
"Sorry, but talent means absolute freedom. Even if I sleep in class all day and play when I get home, my grades will still be higher than yours."
You would never know how the person who says they're going to play after school actually studies hard when they get home.
Tōshirō had understood this approach a long time ago during his school life.
"Keep deteriorating. One day, we'll defeat you and beat you so badly you won't be able to stand. As the teacher said, talent is, of course, important, but hard work is the most important thing."
"Talent determines the starting point, but effort determines a person's final achievement."
Tōshirō:...
Obviously, this child had been deceived by the teacher.
In other worlds, it might be different, but in the Naruto world, sorry, but lineage plays a real role.
People say that a mother's strength comes from her children, but in reality, it's the other way around—the children draw their strength from their parents. If you're born into a strong family, you're likely to have great power.
Tōshirō wasn't mocking this student because effort is certainly commendable, but there are many harsh truths that indicate that talent is more important than effort.
Even effort itself is a very rare form of talent.
Believing that effort is easy is not true; making an effort is extremely difficult.
Even Tōshirō himself sometimes found it hard to stick to consistent effort, seeking a break here and there under the pretext of resting.
"Well, keep working hard. Ah, ever since Orochimaru graduated, I've always felt lonely. It's like standing on top of a mountain, with no one to talk to. The harsh winter makes me shiver. Why do I stand in this high place?"
Everyone:...
Tōshirō made this comment in a dramatic way, thinking about the difficulty of maintaining the character of the laid-back genius.
Sometimes, he wanted to be just an ordinary person.
But if his strength suddenly increased significantly, people would wonder about the true extent of his talent, and he didn't want to be suspected.
Meanwhile, Biwako entered the teacher's office. When the teacher saw her while sitting on his chair, he stood up and greeted her, saying, "Jonin Biwako, how are you?"
Biwako shook her head and said, "It seems that the students aren't very interested in becoming medical ninjas."
The teacher let out a light sigh. That's the way it is, and there's no changing it.
He thought to himself that if he were in their place, he wouldn't want to become a medical ninja either.
But Biwako smiled and said, "Not necessarily. There is one student who is very focused on the lessons. I feel a little relieved."
The teacher was slightly surprised, as it seemed unusual for a student to be interested in medical ninjutsu. He couldn't help but ask, "What's his name? I should praise him in the next lesson."
"Uchiha Tōshirō."
For a moment, the teacher thought there was a mistake in what he heard. Could it really be Tōshirō, the student who spent most of his time in class sleeping and showing little interest in the lessons, who was now paying close attention?
Bipako had formed a good impression of Tōshirō and continued speaking about him: "Even in a class as unpopular as medical ninjutsu, he was very focused. I believe he's the most diligent student in your class."
(￣_,￣)
"Um... what's the matter? Why do you have that expression on your face?"
The teacher raised his hands with a strange look on his face and said, "Based on my knowledge of Tōshirō, he's the student who spends all his time sleeping and not paying attention in class."
Bipako couldn't believe it: "That can't be true."
"You won't believe it until you see it yourself. In the next lesson, you can stand outside the window and observe him to see the truth with your own eyes."
(End of Chapter)
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