Two days passed quickly, and Monday morning arrived.
Akira walked through the Academy gates carrying a small canvas bag containing his basic stationery. He navigated the wooden corridors until he found the sliding door marked Class 3A.
When he stepped inside, the room was already filled with the loud chatter of children finding their cliques. Akira scanned the room with a practiced eye, quickly calculating the numbers. There were a total of 23 students sitting at the long wooden desks. Including himself, the ratio was exactly 13 girls and 11 boys. Out of the 23, 14 belonged to recognized shinobi clans, 4 were from minor ninja families, and the remaining 5 were civilian students who looked entirely overwhelmed.
Strangely, there wasn't a single other Hyūga clan member in the room. Bai and Ichigo had clearly been placed in a different classroom.
Akira quietly walked to the very back row, choosing an isolated corner seat next to the window where he could blend into the background. He sat low in his chair, hoping to remain completely unnoticed. However, a civilian girl sitting one row ahead turned around, her bright, curious eyes landing on him.
"Wow, your eyes are so cool!" she piped up, leaning over the back of her chair. "Are they completely white? Can you actually see through them, or is it like a medical thing?"
A few nearby students glanced over, making Akira freeze slightly. He didn't want a scene.
"My name is Hyūga Akira," Akira replied with a soft, gentle smile, keeping his voice very low to avoid drawing the rest of the room's attention. "And yes, I can see perfectly."
"Oh, a Hyūga!" the girl whispered back, her eyes widening slightly with interest before she turned back around to chat with her friends. A few boys nearby shrugged and went back to their own conversations. Akira let out a quiet breath, glad the momentary attention had quickly faded.
Before anyone else could look his way, the classroom door slid open with a loud slam.
A tall chunin instructor stepped inside. He had a stern, intensely serious face and a heavy stack of textbooks tucked under his arm. He dropped the books onto the podium with a loud thud, glaring across the rows of students until the room became completely silent.
"Listen up, you little brats!" the instructor barked, his serious face twitching with exaggerated disappointment. "My name is Daichi-sensei. And I am going to be completely honest with you—looking at your files, you are officially the laziest, most sub-optimal, and worst class I have ever been assigned to teach!"
A collective gasp echoed through the room. A few civilian kids looked ready to cry.
"But!" Daichi-sensei suddenly slammed his fist on the podium, a fierce, theatrical grin breaking across his face. "By the time I am done cracking the whip, I will mold every single one of you into a real, proud Konoha ninja! Do you understand?!"
"Yes, sensei!" the class shouted back, completely swept up by his sudden burst of intense energy.
"Good. Let's start with attendance and introductions," Daichi-sensei said, pulling out a clipboard. "When I call your name, stand up, state your name, your likes, your hates, and your ultimate dream."
The introductions began. A lazy-looking Nara kid stood up, sighed deeply, and muttered, "I'm Nara Ensui... I like watching clouds, I hate troublesome things, and my dream is to have an average life." An energetic Sarutobi clan kid, Asuka, proudly announced his dream to join the elite guard, followed by a quiet Shimura kid, Takuya, who rigidly stated his desire to serve the village from the shadows.
"Next—Hyūga Akira!"
Akira stood up quietly, keeping his head down and blending in with the dozens of standard introductions that came before him.
"My name is Hyūga Akira," he said in a completely average, monotone voice. "I like training, I hate wasting time, and my dream is to be a reliable ninja for the village."
It was a perfectly generic, textbook answer. Daichi-sensei nodded approvingly, barely pausing as he checked off the name. "Good, simple and focused. Sit down, Akira. Next!"
Akira sat back down, completely unbothered, and pulled the thick, freshly distributed study material from his bag. He opened the cover, but as his eyes skimmed the initial pages, his expression turned into a subtle look of deep amusement.
The book was titled The Comprehensive History of Konoha. The text explained how the past Hokages protected the village, but it was heavily centered around a single figure. More than half of the entire textbook was explicitly dedicated to the grand achievements, wisdom, and unmatched power of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi—making him out to be the strongest Hokage in history. It was a masterpiece of institutional propaganda, designed to instill absolute loyalty into young minds under the guise of the Will of Fire.
Up at the podium, Daichi-sensei turned to the blackboard. "Alright, open your books to page twelve. Today, we will begin our curriculum by discussing the foundational history of Konoha..."
At the back of the room, Akira quietly slid his advanced chakra nature transformation scroll directly over the school book, keeping it hidden beneath the tall textbook so the teacher wouldn't see. He picked up his pen, his movements quiet and fluid.
The civilian girl from earlier, whose name tag read Yuki, leaned back in her chair again. "Hey. Pst. Akira-kun."
Akira paused his pen, looking up with a soft, gentle expression. "Yes, Yuki-san?"
"Why aren't you reading?" Yuki whispered, pointing a chubby finger at her own textbook. "Look, there's a whole page about the Third Hokage's favorite soup recipe. It says it inspires the Will of Fire. Aren't you going to memorize it for the quiz?"
"I am currently prioritizing a slightly different study," Akira murmured back, giving her a small, reassuring smile as he tilted his hidden chakra scroll so she could see the neatly drawn patterns. "But if you need help memorizing the soup ingredients later, I can write down a summary for you."
Yuki's eyes lit up. "Really? You'd do that? You're way nicer than the other kids!"
"Hey, Akira!" a boy sitting to their left snorted, leaning over the aisle. He was a civilian kid named Daiki, and he had a piece of medical tape stuck across his nose for no apparent reason. "If Yuki gets a summary, can I get one too? I totally forgot my notebook today."
"Of course," Akira said softly. Wanting to be helpful and keep things quiet, he pulled a fresh, blank sheet of paper from his bag. He quickly scribbled down three perfectly organized bullet points summarizing the first two chapters and slid it across the aisle. "Here. This should cover the main points for the morning quiz."
The boy stared at the beautifully neat handwriting, his jaw dropping. "Whoa... thanks, man! You're a lifesaver."
Up at the front, Daichi-sensei suddenly clapped his hands together, making half the class jump. "Alright, you lazy pack of genin-wannabes! Let's see who is actually paying attention. Ensui! Who was responsible for establishing the first administrative sectors of the village?"
The lazy Nara kid blinked, completely caught off guard, and began sweating as he flipped through his pages frantically.
Akira looked down at his own desk, completely safe from the spotlight, and quietly slid his summary sheets closer to his classmates so they could keep up with the lesson.
"Everyone, turn to page forty-five!" Daichi-sensei shouted, turning back to the board. "We are going to learn about the exciting world of village taxes during wartime!"
The entire class groaned in unison, dropping their heads onto their desks with theatrical, dramatic thuds.
Akira sat back down, completely unbothered. He picked up his pen to resume his own private study, perfectly content to stay invisible in the back row.
"Hey," Yuki whispered again, turning around with a goofy, grateful grin. "You're kind of quiet, Akira-kun, but you're really awesome."
"I simply believe in being helpful where I can," Akira replied softly, his voice a gentle whisper. "Now, we should probably pay attention to the tax lecture. Daichi-sensei looks like he might throw the chalk next."