"I haven't really been to the Land of Grass."
Kurenai replied, "I heard there's this endless prairie there. We should go check it out sometime."
"I've never seen a prairie either. Alright, let's take this mission."
Kitazawa nodded. "Let's go talk to the mission desk."
Kurenai took his arm and brought him over to the reception window.
"What kind of mission are you picking up?"
The receptionist greeted them with a friendly smile.
"A B-rank mission in the Land of Grass. We're tracking a rogue ninja named Kenichiro."
Kurenai gave a simple summary.
"Got it. Names and ranks of your team members?"
The receptionist picked up a pen, ready to write.
"Special Jōnin Kitazawa and Chūnin Yuhi Kurenai," she answered, then added, "It's just the two of us."
"Here's the mission scroll."
The receptionist finished the registration and handed them the scroll, adding, "The mission deadline is one month."
"Thanks."
Kurenai took the scroll and turned to Kitazawa. "I'll wait for you back home."
Since Kitazawa was heading to talk to Hiruzen about Academy matters, it wasn't her place to tag along.
After she left, Kitazawa headed to the Hokage's office.
"As soon as I heard the knock, I knew Tsunade wasn't coming," Hiruzen joked.
"Tsunade-sama is... more straightforward," Kitazawa laughed.
"So, what brings you here?" Hiruzen puffed on his pipe. "Don't tell me you're here to invite me to the monthly exams?"
"If the Hokage shows up, Class 1-A might just be too excited to sleep," Kitazawa replied with a grin.
"Unfortunately, I've got something on Monday, so I can't make it," Hiruzen said, shaking his head. "Maybe I'll come for the finals instead."
"Well, that's a shame—but you've got the whole village to worry about."
Kitazawa took out a scroll. "Hokage-sama, I've been thinking about something for the Academy. Mind taking a look?"
"I'm sure it'll be interesting."
Hiruzen smiled and opened the scroll.
The scroll was split into two parts—one outlined the purpose and structure of a student council, the other laid out a trial plan and how members would be selected.
"A student council, huh?"
Hiruzen looked genuinely surprised. "That's... a fresh idea."
After all, student councils didn't exist in the ninja world. The Academy itself was only created by the Second Hokage, Tobirama. The other villages just followed suit.
"Do you think we could actually implement one?" Kitazawa asked, watching Hiruzen's expression carefully.
Hiruzen fell silent, thinking.
His eyes landed on the purpose: helping top students embody and practice the Will of Fire more actively.
According to Kitazawa's plan, only the best of the best would make it into the council. Bringing them together to promote the Will of Fire sounded like a solid idea for Konoha.
Hiruzen tapped his pipe again. Another thought came to mind.
The council would include a president, vice-president, general affairs department, academic affairs, and PR—basically a mini version of Konoha's government.
That made the choice of president pretty important.
His first thought? Uzumaki Naruto.
If it were just about management skills, he'd go with Shikamaru. But in the shinobi world, power still trumped all. No matter how good a leader someone was, they had to be strong.
But Naruto was still in first grade. Could he hold his own against fifth- and sixth-years?
"Let's try a trial run first," Hiruzen finally said. "But hold off on selecting members for now."
"Hold off?" Kitazawa asked, a little puzzled.
"We'll do the member selection after the trial ends," Hiruzen explained. "Plus, your class hasn't even been around for two full terms. It'd be tough for them to compete with the older grades."
Kitazawa understood instantly.
Hiruzen was keeping his options open. He liked the idea, but since it was unprecedented, he needed to see results first. If it really helped reinforce the Will of Fire, then it would become official.
And clearly, that second comment hinted that Hiruzen wanted Naruto and his peers in key roles once it was official.
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
Kitazawa agreed without hesitation.
From the looks of it, his mission finally had a real shot.
He'd serve as the acting president during the trial period. And until the official council was formed, there'd be a gap—an opportunity he could take full advantage of.
But before that, he needed to make the trial council accomplish something big—something that would impress Hiruzen.
A flood of student council ideas from his past life ran through his head.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing what this council can do," Hiruzen said with a smile.
After all, he was the Academy principal now. If the council proved useful, it'd boost his reputation. And if it didn't work out, no big deal—it'd just be canceled.
After wrapping up, Kitazawa left the Hokage building.
Back at Kurenai's place, he found Tsunade, Shizune, and Kurama Yakumo already there, huddled together working on that emotional transfer jutsu.
Kitazawa wasn't involved in the research, but he was following their progress—it looked like they'd be done in two weeks.
When that time came, he planned to convince Tsunade to finally address her fear of blood.
"Tsunade-sama," Kitazawa called out, stopping in the hallway. "Would you be interested in attending Class 1-A's monthly exam?"
"Why ask me?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"Because you're a legend. A lot of the kids in my class look up to you. If you're there, they might just give it their all."
"When is it?"
She had originally planned to decline, but after subbing for Kitazawa those two days, she'd grown fond of the class. And Naruto being Minato and Kushina's son was another reason to keep an eye on them.
"Written exam is next Monday, practical on Tuesday. Both start at 9 a.m."
"If I'm free, I'll drop by on Tuesday morning."
"Great."
Kitazawa headed upstairs.
He hadn't told Tsunade anything about Karin's mom yet—there was no way to explain how he knew. His plan was to discover her whereabouts during the mission with Kurenai and then report back.
Up on the rooftop, he kept training.
Of the four Wind Release jutsu he needed to learn this semester, he'd already nailed two: Wind Style: Vacuum Shuriken and Vacuum Blade. Both worked by infusing Wind Chakra into a weapon—shuriken or kunai.
Now he was working on Vacuum Wave, which was similar to Vacuum Sphere—the former fired linear wind blades, while the latter shot wind spheres. One emphasized speed, the other cutting power.
His learning pace was decent—he still had to teach and study medical ninjutsu, and he hadn't fully mastered wind nature transformation yet.
But with two months left, he had more than enough time to finish.
Monday came—last day of September and time for the written exam.
Kitazawa arrived right on time, and the classroom was already full.
"Good morning, Sensei!" Naruto, Shikamaru, and the rest greeted him cheerfully.
"Before we start, I've got some good news."
Kitazawa stood at the front of the class, smiling.
"Is the Hokage coming?" Kiba asked, raising his hand. Hiruzen had visited during the last finals.
The other students immediately perked up.
Hiruzen really was popular—he'd been Hokage for years and still had the crowd appeal.
"Nope, not Hokage-sama—Tsunade-sama."
"One of the Legendary Sannin?!"
"She's the Hokage's student! If I do well, maybe the Hokage will hear about it!"
"And she doesn't have a student yet!"
The class lit up with excitement.
"Tsunade-sama is coming?" Sakura asked, eyes sparkling. "Wait—does that mean the practical exam is on medical ninjutsu?"
She was still a kid after all—seeing Ino dominate during training had her feeling jealous. But her combat skills hadn't improved at all.
"Come on, Sakura," Ino rolled her eyes. "Like they'd test medical ninjutsu in a battle exam."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Honestly, getting to study medical ninjutsu as a first-year was already a huge stroke of luck for her.
Sakura had always wanted to repay Kitazawa somehow, but her parents were just ordinary ninjas—they didn't have any rare jutsu to offer.
So, she figured the best she could do was pay attention and help him out however she could.
"Alright, time's up. Let's get ready to start," Kitazawa clapped his hands. "Tsunade-sama will be here tomorrow—and the rankings will be announced right in front of her."
Instantly, the students sat up straight, expressions serious.
"Shikamaru, what's your target rank this time?" Ino asked curiously.
Sakura also glanced at him. Last time, he had come out of nowhere and snatched first place, knocking her down a peg.
There was no doubt—Shikamaru was her biggest rival in theory.
Hinata and Sasuke weren't bad, but neither had the academic edge to challenge her unless something unusual happened. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was unpredictable.
"Top ten should be fine."
Shikamaru said it like he was ordering lunch.
He'd gone all-out last term and it had worn him out. This time, Kitazawa hadn't given him any pressure—he just needed to make his parents happy. He figured aiming for top ten was good enough—too low would be suspicious after ranking first last time.
"…"
Sakura didn't even know how to respond.
She thought she was the ultimate theory student—but Shikamaru could control his rank?
Forget it. There was no competing with someone like that. She'd just try her best.
"Sasuke-kun, let's both do our best!" Sakura turned and gave him a little fist pump.
Sasuke glanced at her calmly.
Getting first in theory was nice, but he could only do his best. What really mattered to him was the practical exam.
Last time, Naruto had taken first overall—and it had bothered him ever since.
But this time, things were different. He had the Sharingan now.
He'd already beaten the top second-year, Neji. Naruto wouldn't be an exception.
If he crushed the practical and made it to top three in theory, he'd be a lock for first place overall.
"Start your exams," Kitazawa said as the bell rang.
The students picked up their pens.
Kitazawa left a shadow clone behind and headed to the training field—no need to waste time sitting in a room doing nothing. He'd rather keep practicing Wind Release.
At 11:00 sharp, the bell rang to end the test. Kitazawa glanced toward the classroom building, then got back to training.
He formed hand seals and exhaled a barrage of wind blades.
The stone target in front of him was instantly sliced into neat pieces.
That was Wind Style: Vacuum Wave.
Still, he was confused—why call it "wave" instead of "slash"?
"Um… Kitazawa-sensei?"
A soft voice called out.
He turned to see Hinata standing there, hands nervously clasped.
"Come here," he said with a smile, motioning her over.
She sighed in relief and quickly walked up.
"Did you eat already, or are you heading home for lunch?" he asked, gently ruffling her hair.
"I ate already! I'm coming back!"
She answered without hesitation, then paused, looking conflicted.
"What's wrong, Hinata?"
"I… can I stay and keep training this afternoon?"
"Sure."
Kitazawa thought of her assignment. "This afternoon, let's switch to combat drills—I'll introduce you to genjutsu practice."
"Okay!"
Hinata lit up with a big smile.
"So cute."
Kitazawa reached out and gave her cheek a little squeeze.
She blushed but didn't pull away.
…
By 5 p.m., Kitazawa had walked Hinata home and dispelled his shadow clone.
With that, all the written exam scores from Class 1-A flooded into his mind.
Compared to the last finals, the biggest surprise was Shikamaru—he'd dropped from first to tenth. Meanwhile, Sakura had reclaimed the top spot.
There was also a new face in the top ten: Yakumo Kurama. She landed at ninth place, despite having missed an entire term. That alone showed how smart and hardworking she was.
Naruto's rank stayed the same—twelfth. But this time, he managed to stay ahead of Kiba.
Kiba's score had slipped to thirteenth, likely because he'd been so focused on tree-walking and water-walking chakra control drills lately. Kitazawa figured he might need to dial back Kiba's physical training a bit.
One: it was affecting his grades.
Two: Kiba didn't have any assigned missions right now, so he didn't need to be overdoing it.
…
The next morning—Tuesday. Practical Exam Day.
Class 1-A was already assembled on the training field, right on time.
Even though Kitazawa was also in charge of Class 2-A, his main focus was still on his first-years. He'd left Class 2-A in Yamada's hands for the day.
Not long after Kitazawa arrived, he spotted Tsunade and Shizune approaching. He immediately stepped forward to greet them.
"Shizune. Tsunade-sama."
"You're not calling me 'senpai' anymore?" Shizune teased, hugging Tonton as usual.
"Of course I am, Shizune-senpai," Kitazawa said with a smile. "My medical ninjutsu's still a little behind yours."
Shizune's expression twitched slightly.
Technically, he was right—but only barely. The only jutsu separating them now was Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique.
Once Kitazawa learned that, they'd be on equal footing in terms of medical technique.
And given his talent, it was only a matter of time before he picked it up.
Which meant… what would he need to learn next?
Strength of a Hundred Seal?
Shizune didn't even know that one herself. That would have to come from Tsunade.
And if Tsunade ended up teaching it to him, their relationship wouldn't just be close—it would be officially student and teacher.
…
"Tsunade-sama!"
The students of Class 1-A all lit up the moment they saw her.
Nearby, students from other classes watched in disbelief—and envy.
First, Hiruzen came to their finals. Now Tsunade was here for their monthly exam?
Class 1-A's treatment was unbelievable.
"We can't compete with that," sighed one of the other teachers, Yamada among them.
They all knew why, though—it was because of Kitazawa.
"Iruka!" Kitazawa called.
"Yes!" Iruka answered promptly.
"You're the referee for today's practical exam."
"Understood!"
"You don't need to stick with me, by the way," Tsunade said casually. "Go do your thing."
"I was just trying to slack off," Kitazawa said with a straight face.
Tsunade gave him a sharp look.
Shizune, standing beside her, couldn't help but laugh.
She rarely saw Tsunade get shut down outside of a gambling hall.
"Alright, time to begin!" Iruka called out loudly. "Same rules as last time: three rounds, and the highest scorers move on."
"Tsunade-sama, would you like to help score the matches?" Kitazawa offered, handing her the roster and a pen.
"No need," Tsunade waved it off. "I'm not a teacher."
"Students, come up and draw your numbers. Whoever gets the same number as someone else—that's your opponent for round one."
Iruka brought out a big box for the draw.
One by one, the students lined up and picked their numbers in an orderly fashion.
"I got number five!" Naruto shouted. "Anyone else get the same as me?"
"Haha! I'm number one!" Kiba laughed, clearly excited. "Looks like I won't be fighting you first round again!"
He had been ridiculously unlucky last time—running into Naruto in round one and getting knocked out immediately.
"I'm number one too," came a soft, unfamiliar voice.
Kiba turned toward it.
His grin froze on his face the moment he saw who it was.
Yakumo Kurama.
"…Well, crap," he muttered under his breath.
~~~
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