"Naruto! You bastard! I'm going to kill you!!"
Sasuke shoved Naruto away with all his strength, turned around, and started gagging, his whole body trembling with fury.
Naruto turned in the opposite direction, retching and groaning,
"Ughhh! My mouth is going to rot off!"
"U-uh... I-it's my fault!" stammered the boy from the front desk, utterly at a loss in the face of the chaos he'd accidentally unleashed.
But that was just the beginning. In mere moments, a horde of furious girls surrounded Naruto, radiating such murderous intent that the sight became too horrific to witness. The entire class had seen their beloved prince's first kiss stolen before their very eyes.
Shin averted his gaze with reverent dread and quickly found an empty seat far away from the battlefield, where he sat down quietly.
"Sh–Shin-kun!"
A soft and gentle voice called from beside him.
He turned his head—and froze slightly. He'd been so focused on the chaos that he hadn't even noticed he'd sat down next to Hinata. She was blushing, nervously twisting the edge of her sleeve, just like she always did in the original story whenever Naruto was around.
"Good morning, Hinata-chan," Shin said with a warm smile, then quickly looked away, not wanting to make her even more flustered.
That kind smile left Hinata momentarily dazed, and all her nerves seemed to melt away.
"G-good luck today..." she said softly.
"You too," Shin replied with a grin and a nod.
Hinata smiled, her heart fluttering. Shin-kun is so kind... I never really noticed before.
Meanwhile, Naruto, having publicly stolen Sasuke's first kiss, was being thoroughly pummeled by the classroom's furious female contingent. He looked like a pig after slaughter by the time they were done. The sight cooled Sasuke's rage... slightly.
"Hmph. Total idiot," Sasuke scoffed and turned away to stare out the window.
Soon, their homeroom teacher, Iruka, arrived. After a few words of encouragement, he began announcing the team placements.
"...Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto…"
"Yes!" Naruto whooped, throwing his arms up in triumph. Next to him, Sakura slumped over in despair.
"…and Uchiha Sasuke."
"YES!!" Sakura shot her arms into the air with joy. Now it was Naruto's turn to hang his head in defeat.
"Team 8: Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino."
How unfortunate. Hinata's eyes dimmed slightly. She looked at Naruto up ahead... and then instinctively turned to glance at Shin sitting beside her.
"Team 9: Chie Mai, Shin, Ryota."
Shin scanned the classroom and quickly identified his teammates. Chie Mai—apparently the only one among them with a surname—looked like a perfectly average girl from a civilian family. Her looks were modest, nothing like the four famed flowers of Konoha. She reminded Shin a little of Matsuri, Gaara's future student. But her figure was quite striking—despite her young age, her curves were already noticeable. Ryota, on the other hand, looked like a timid kid. He was even less noticeable in class than Shin himself.
Among the three of them, Mai's academic performance was average, and her combat skills were below average. Shin's overall ability was solidly middle-of-the-road. Ryota was only a hair above the worst students in the class. So when Iruka claimed the teams were formed for "balance," Shin couldn't help but think that was complete nonsense.
"Team 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji!"
Sakura stealthily flashed Ino a victory sign, making the other girl grit her teeth in irritation. Still, having seen glimpses of the future, Ino no longer doubted her team's potential—she just couldn't stand Sakura's smug face.
The students remained in the classroom for a while, waiting as one by one, jonin instructors came to collect their teams.
"I'm Endo Daisho. Team 9—Chie Mai, Shin, Ryota. With me."
A man in his thirties with a square jaw appeared in the doorway. One glance was enough to know—definitely a background character.
Mai and Ryota perked up, full of anticipation for the future, and followed him eagerly. Shin said goodbye to Hinata and joined them.
They were secondary characters, destined to remain outside the spotlight. Fortunately, Shin had a trump card that allowed him to interfere with the story's course. But for now, the priority was increasing his strength. He'd already obtained the Sharingan. Next on the list was another ability. The videos from the future didn't reveal exactly what it was, but Shin had already laid the groundwork. Surely the System wouldn't steer it in the wrong direction… right?
Jonin instructor Endo Daisho led Team 9 to a nearby training field.
"Before anything else, there's something I need to tell you," Daisho said bluntly, not wasting time on pleasantries. "We're going to have a combat test. And it's going to be extremely difficult for you."
His serious expression made both Mai and Ryota swallow nervously.
"Out of the 27 graduates," Daisho continued coldly, "only nine will be accepted as genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy for retraining. In other words, this is an elimination test with a 66.7% failure rate. Prepare yourselves mentally. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't stand a chance."
"I'm giving you thirty minutes to rest and prepare. After that, the test begins. The format is simple: the three of you, against me."
With that, he set an alarm clock on a nearby rock, sat down on a clean patch of ground, and closed his eyes to rest.
"He's kidding, right?" Ryota's knees shook as he muttered, "We just barely graduated, and now there's an elimination test? How are we supposed to beat a jonin?! It's a guaranteed trip back to the Academy!"
Chie Mai seemed a bit calmer. After thinking for a moment, she spoke:
"There's still a chance. Daisho-sensei said only nine would pass."
"Yeah, and it's not going to be us!" Ryota buried his head in his hands and squatted down, utterly defeated. He'd always been near the bottom of the class. Mai and Shin weren't in the top ten either. How could they compete with the best?
"If we give up now, we're guaranteed to fail. Are you really okay with that?" Mai tried to rally them. "At least right now, it's three of us against one. Since we can't avoid the exam, we should fight with everything we've got. Maybe we'll get lucky. For now, we need to focus on how to best combine our strengths!"
Shin looked at her with mild surprise, then nodded in agreement. Even without his trump card, this was the kind of moment where you had to fight tooth and nail. To give up without trying was nothing but cowardice. He hadn't come to this world just to roll over and quit.
Ryota still didn't believe they stood a chance, but Mai's words stirred something in him. Gritting his teeth, he joined the others to start strategizing.
What Shin and Ryota didn't know was that behind Chie Mai's encouraging words, a very different thought lurked.
With their abilities? No matter how hard they try, they'll probably fail anyway. But if we show good teamwork... maybe one of us will get lucky. And I plan for that one to be me.
That was why she kept pumping them up, gently nudging them to take the lead in the fight. They would be the vanguard, the ones drawing all the heat from Daisho-sensei—while she stayed in the back, hiding in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. If a window of opportunity opened... maybe she'd seize that coveted genin spot for herself.