Chapter 54: Physical Training Must Be Well Practiced

Friday morning, inside the Class 1, Grade 1 classroom of the Ninja Academy.

The students were quietly discussing how they should handle their upcoming Taijutsu class.

"Should we do what we did last time?" one student asked.

"Not today," Izumo said thoughtfully. "Based on what Mugetsu-sensei said yesterday, I'm pretty sure the Taijutsu teacher exaggerated things when he talked to him."

"Given Mugetsu-sensei's personality, he might even go as far as supervising the class himself."

"I still can't believe that guy actually reported us," Kotetsu grumbled, clearly irritated.

"And worse, he added his own twists. Unbelievable."

"Let's just give Mugetsu-sensei some face today," Izumo suggested.

"No need to force the guy to quit. At least, not while Mugetsu's watching."

The students agreed that Izumo had a point. They decided to treat this class like they were attending one of Mugetsu's sessions.

"This teacher is seriously annoying," Anko muttered, clearly still upset.

Thanks to his poor teaching, she'd been criticized by Mugetsu—and now, he'd even gone behind their backs to complain about her.

The rest of the class nodded in agreement. Tanimura's behavior had completely shattered what little good impression they had left of him.

When the bell rang, Tanimura entered the classroom.

Seeing the students quietly seated without speaking, he let out a small sigh of relief.

Still, he didn't let his guard down. Last time, the students hadn't shown their defiance until halfway through class.

"Alright, everyone, let's head to the training ground. Three laps to warm up," Tanimura said with a light cough.

The students obeyed without complaint, heading down to the playground and beginning their laps. No one said a word about him.

After the warm-up, Tanimura went on to demonstrate the standard Taijutsu routines. After running through it twice, he had the students begin practicing on their own.

Not a single student criticized him. The class was strangely calm—so much so that Tanimura began to wonder if this was even the same group of kids from Wednesday.

I owe Mugetsu-sensei a drink, Tanimura thought to himself with relief.

He knew full well that this change was thanks to Mugetsu's intervention. Without it, there was no way the students would have behaved so differently overnight.

Right on cue, Mugetsu passed by the playground just as he had promised.

He greeted Tanimura casually and stayed nearby for a few minutes, making his presence known.

After class ended, Izumo said with a grin, "Told you, didn't I? Mugetsu-sensei was bound to come."

"So… we're dropping the plan?" one student asked reluctantly.

The more Mugetsu helped Tanimura, the more annoyed they became at Tanimura himself.

"Of course not," Izumo replied. "Mugetsu-sensei isn't going to watch us every day. Next time, we continue as planned."

---

Meanwhile, in Class 2, Grade 4, Rin glanced at Obito, who was furiously scratching his head while working on problem sets.

"Obito… what's going on with you lately? You've been so focused—studying every chance you get," she asked with concern.

While hard work was normally a good thing, Obito's sudden obsession with theory made Rin a little uneasy.

Obito froze for a moment, his pen pausing mid-stroke.

If only she knew.

Diligent? Motivated? No—this was the price he had to pay for slacking off on his Taijutsu.

Mugetsu's punishment had come in the form of extra problems—assigned in installments, no less.

If it had just been ten problems, he might've been able to bear it. But breaking them into parts meant that he was now doing eleven or more… daily.

And every day brought more training.

Which meant more mistakes.

Which meant more problems.

It never ended.

If he tried to do them all in one go, it would be a nightmare. But dragging it out day by day was just prolonged torture.

At this point, it wasn't training his body that was breaking him.

It was the homework.

"Because everyone's grades are improving… I can't fall behind either," Obito said, forcing a stiff smile onto his face.

Of course, he couldn't bring himself to say the real reason—being punished with endless problem sets due to his poor Taijutsu.

"It's wonderful that you're thinking that way. You've really grown up all of a sudden," Rin said, smiling with relief.

Ever since Obito enrolled late, Rin had looked after him like a little brother. Seeing him now ranked among the top in practical combat, and even starting to pass his theory tests, made her genuinely happy.

"Haha, really?"

Hearing Rin's praise, Obito's forced smile bloomed like dry grass hit by rain—suddenly becoming bright and genuine.

With her encouragement, his speed at solving the questions picked up noticeably. He even thought he might finish tomorrow's installment early.

"It's almost the weekend again. Obito, do you have any plans?" Rin asked casually.

"…Wait, today's already Friday?" Cold sweat beaded on Obito's forehead.

These past few days, buried under Taijutsu training and a mountain of assignments, he'd completely lost track of time.

"Yes. After this class, we're off for the weekend. Aren't you happy, Obito?" Rin asked with a gentle smile.

After hearing that, Obito's vision almost went black.

From Monday to Friday, they only trained after school until sunset.

But weekends were different.

On weekends, training started at sunrise and didn't stop until sunset.

That meant more time… for more battles with Might Guy.

And more battles meant more mistakes.

And more mistakes meant—

Chapter 54 - Chapter 54: Physical Training Must Be Well Practiced