Chapter 263: The Unknown Third Member

Ninja Academy Teacher: I Teach and Become Stronger, Main Story Chapter 180: The Unknown Third Party. "What meaning was there in my creation of the Ninja Academy? What was the original intent behind my implementing this policy? I…"

In his dream, Obito seemed to see a white-haired ninja with a cold expression rapidly firing questions at him.

Subconsciously, his body jolted, and Obito quickly woke up. Staring at the familiar ceiling, the familiar desk, and the familiar bookshelf, Obito finally relaxed.

He felt the dampness on his back, felt it with his hand, and only then noticed that his back was soaked with sweat. The questioning in his dream had really made him sweat buckets.

"So terrifying. Good thing the Second Hokage is already dead." Obito's expression relaxed. In reality, he wouldn't be interrogated like that by Tobirama Senju, because Tobirama had died before Obito was even born.

But when Obito saw where the clock's hands pointed, his relaxed mood vanished, and his expression turned serious.

"Half past ten! I actually slept almost till noon!" Obito stared at the time on the clock in disbelief. For a moment he wondered if the clock was broken; he usually got up before eight.

But when Obito opened the curtains, the blazing sunlight outside gave him his answer.

The clock might be broken, but not that horribly—it certainly didn't look like eight in the morning.

"You're up. You must be really hungry. Want me to fix you something to eat early?" his grandmother asked with a kindly smile.

Hearing his grandmother's words, and then looking at the table where breakfast should have been, Obito felt a bit miserable. It really might be almost noon now.

Still, Obito didn't blame his grandmother for not waking him, because yesterday he hadn't told her about going to the Ninja Academy.

He figured his grandmother must have thought he was too tired and couldn't bear to disturb him. Under those circumstances, Obito felt embarrassed even to bring it up.

"No need, Grandma. I have something to do—I need to go out now." Obito briefly explained to his grandmother and then dashed toward the door.

"Picking up the graduated ninja documents a little late should be fine," Obito comforted himself.

He didn't even know how to complain. He was late picking up the enrollment documents, and now he was late picking up the graduation documents. But in a way, this counted as a full circle.

Just as Obito walked out of his house, he ran into Rin Nohara, who was holding two sets of documents in her hands.

"You might have gotten stronger, but you're still not exactly reliable, Obito." Rin Nohara walked up to him with a helpless smile on her face.

She still remembered how confidently Obito had promised yesterday, and now here he was, late again. His habit of dropping the ball at crucial moments hadn't changed one bit.

If she hadn't already made plans with some girl classmates, Rin would definitely have gotten up early to go with Obito.

"Hehe, Rin, you picked them up for me again? Thanks a lot." Obito scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. His nervousness vanished, replaced by ease and pleasure.

Somehow, just seeing Rin standing in front of him with a smile made everything feel simple.

If he were ranking reliability, Rin would come in second place in Obito's book—but considering first place was the almighty Muyue-sage, Rin's second place carried a lot of weight.

"Make sure you keep them safe." Rin handed the bag of documents to Obito.

"Mm-hmm." Obito grinned and nodded rapidly.

"By the way, Rin, you must have seen the team assignments, right? We…" Obito's face turned slightly red as he spoke, feeling a bit embarrassed to directly ask a girl if she was on his team.

But his courage won out, and he quickly continued, "Did we get assigned to the same squad?"

"The squad assignment… it's a bit regrettable." When Rin heard Obito ask about this, she lowered her head slightly, her expression shifting. Even her sparkling, clear eyes gradually lost their light, as if she had turned from a sunny day into a gloomy, rainy one.

Hearing Rin's words and watching her expression, Obito's heart leaped into his throat. His previously carefree mood became heavy, like a sudden violent storm.

He had considered the possibility that he and Rin might not end up in the same team—after all, with forty people in a class, the odds of two people being together weren't very high. There was also the chance of joining another squad, which made the probability even lower.

But when it actually happened, Obito found it hurt more than he had imagined.

He could squeeze out time for training with Muyue, but could he also squeeze out time to hang out with Rin? Once in a while would be fine, but doing it every day would be a hassle for both of them.

"It's okay, Rin. When you're on missions in the future, make sure to…"

"We got assigned together. We can keep training together and carry out missions together." Rin interrupted Obito and said with a smile.

Obito stopped mid-sentence. His expression instantly shifted from sadness to disbelief, and then into unmistakable joy.

Just a moment ago, standing under the blazing summer sun, he had felt cold—even the ants crawling past him seemed to curse him in their hearts. Now his whole body was incredibly warm, as if soaked in a hot spring. Even with each breath he took, he felt like praising the beauty of life.

"Got you scared, didn't I? That's what you get for being so late. All your friends left, and I waited for you at the school for hours without seeing a trace of you." Rin tilted her head up slightly, a hint of smugness in her smile.

"Hontōni sumimasen!" Obito pressed his palms together and bowed to Rin in apology. This really was his fault.

"Alright, I forgive you. After all, you're Obito. If someday you really didn't need me to look after you at all, that would be the surprising thing." Rin smiled as she watched Obito apologize so earnestly.

She had just been joking with Obito; she wasn't actually angry. This outcome was pretty much what she had expected.

"Hehe, going on a mission with Rin." After apologizing, Obito's face broke into a goofy grin. In his mind, he was already picturing himself as the hero saving the damsel, with Rin looking up at him in admiration.

Because the happiness came so suddenly, Obito even wondered if he was still dreaming. He pinched himself, felt the ache from his flesh, and only then confirmed that his fantasy had come true.

"Whoever sorted the teams, you did a great job!" Obito praised the ninja who had assigned their squads in his heart. The guy had incredible vision, managing to put him together with Rin out of all those people.

If he knew who had sorted the teams, Obito would give him an award: Best Team Sorter of the Year.

"Isn't it three people per team? Who's our other teammate? Is it Guy?" Obito asked Rin curiously.

If it was Might Guy, Obito thought that would be pretty good, because Might Guy was very strong and could be a big help in battle. Plus, he felt that with Might Guy around, Rin's attention would be more focused on him.

It wasn't that he thought Might Guy was ugly; rather, no one could appreciate Might Guy's death-green outfit.

"No," Rin shook her head and replied.

"Then who? Uchiha Tekka? Or Murai Ichi'an?" Obito rattled off several names of students in their class, but Rin denied each one.

"None of them? Then who is it? It's not someone from another class, is it?" Obito's mind flashed through the names of acquaintances from other squads.

"How should I put it... He's someone who's surprising in every sense," Rin thought for a moment and answered.

She felt that no matter how hard Obito thought, he would never guess that their teammate was Kakashi, who had already graduated several years ago.

Even Rin was stunned for quite a while when she saw the team assignment list. The other students were also very surprised, never expecting the squads to be sorted this way.

Rin had even gone out of her way to ask Iketani Isamu. Iketani Isamu told her that this kind of situation usually happened when the other person's original team had problems, so they joined a rookie team. During wartime, this happened almost every year.

"Saying it like that just makes me more curious, Rin. Who is it?" Obito pressed on.

"You'll find out tomorrow. We're supposed to meet at Training Ground No. 12 at eight-thirty in the morning." Rin didn't tell Obito that their teammate was Kakashi, instead giving him the time and place.

The reason she chose not to tell him was because she felt the scene when they found out would be very amusing.

Not too long ago, Obito and Kakashi had been mocking each other, saying that being the other's teammate would bring bad luck—and now the two of them were thrown together.

"But looking at it this way, does that mean I'm bearing double the bad luck?" A strange thought popped into Rin's head. But thinking of the expressions on Obito and Kakashi's faces when they met, Rin couldn't help but break into a brilliant smile.

"Well, okay. Rin, why are you smiling so happily? Did you think of something fun?" Obito looked at Rin's radiant smile and was captivated.

"I suppose it counts as something fun, but I can't tell you yet," Rin said, a flicker of slyness in her eyes as she smiled.

Obito nodded dumbly.

"Alright, I've delivered the stuff. I won't bother you anymore. Don't be late tomorrow—you need to make a good impression on the supervising teacher." Rin waved goodbye to Obito.

"Got it. Take care, Rin." Obito waved back, his heart full of anticipation for tomorrow.

"Hehe, I can finally go on a mission with Rin!" Obito jumped up and down in joy, pumping his fist in celebration.

Now that he was grouped with Rin, it didn't matter who the last member was—as long as it wasn't Kakashi. If the teammate was strong enough, great; even if not, he could protect Rin on his own.

Obito simply didn't believe that Kakashi, that veteran who had graduated so long ago, could end up in the same team as them. That internship last time was purely an accident.

"Good days are coming." Obito hummed an unfamiliar tune as he walked home.

【Disciple Uchiha Shisui worked hard and achieved perfect results in the academic exam. Reward: Chakra +300, Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll.】

【Disciple Uchiha Obito worked hard and achieved perfect results in the graduation exam. Reward: Chakra +600, Ninjutsu Mastery Scroll.】

【Disciple Might Guy worked hard and achieved excellent results in the graduation exam. Reward: Chakra +450, Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll x3.】

Maybe it was because of graduation, but this time the system was especially generous—not only was the Chakra reward much larger, it even gave a never-before-seen Ninjutsu Mastery Scroll. Before this, he had only ever received Proficiency Scrolls.

【Ninjutsu Mastery Scroll: Upgrades any mastered ninjutsu to the Mastery level.】

The effect was just as simple and straightforward as the Proficiency Scroll—it directly upgraded the technique.

"If only it were a Skill Mastery Scroll," Muyue thought to himself.

This kind of scroll couldn't be used on Nature Transformations, only on actual ninjutsu like Great Fire Annihilation or Mystical Palm Technique.

He had tried before to use a Proficiency Scroll to upgrade Nature Transformations of other elements, only to find that he couldn't select them at all.

Of course, that didn't mean the Mastery Scroll was of little value. On the contrary, it was a very powerful item, because it could be used on secret techniques and forbidden techniques.

One could never have too many Mastery-level skills. Muyue wished that every one of his ninjutsu were at the Mastery level. Paired with high-proficiency Nature Transformations, he would truly become a walking, all-purpose artillery platform.

Besides the Master-level scrolls, this time he obtained four Proficient-level scrolls in one go, which was still decent. The total Chakra harvest was 1,350 points.

【Name: Hanyu Muyue】

【Chakra:】

One academic year had passed, and his Chakra had gone from an initial 4,300 points to 53,200 points, a total annual increase of 48,900 points.

This Chakra increase was quite significant. When he first met Minato, Minato only had 40,000 Chakra. In this one year, he had grown by roughly 1.2 Minatos, which translates to 19.5 Kakashis.

"Teacher Muyue, goodbye! I won't be able to see you for a while." Anko waved goodbye to Muyue.

Because Shadow Clones came to school, from Anko's perspective, the third semester was pretty much the same as before.

"Next semester you'll get to see enough. I'll be in charge of the special training next semester, so for five consecutive months you'll be able to see me several times a day." Muyue said with a chuckle.

Next semester he would focus on ninjutsu, grinding all to A-rank evaluations to obtain more ninjutsu. After all, grinding Chakra in class was really too slow; ninjutsu was better.

At the same time, he would also expand the training level, aiming for higher and better rewards.

"That's great! Without you here, Teacher Muyue, the special training isn't fun at all." Anko showed a happy smile.

The special training in the second semester wasn't taught by Muyue, and she really felt it was boring—she didn't learn much and it was tiring.

"The opportunity for us two brothers has come." Gang Zitie said solemnly, looking at Shenyue Chuyun.

"That's right, this time we must break into Group B." Shenyue Chuyun revealed a smile.

"If this continues, maybe when we're fourth-years we can achieve results like Senior Obito and Senior Gai!" Gang Zitie's mind wandered into fantasy—he too would complete an A-rank mission like Obito and shock the whole school.

"Shisui and I have a chance; you guys, forget it." Anko indicated that when it came to actual combat, it was still her and Shisui—the eternal first and second.

In theory she was timid, but in practice she struck hard.

Watching the few people messing around, Muyue revealed a smile. The harvest this academic year was really good, in every sense.

4k, total word count is 8k. Keep up the good work tomorrow, everyone stay warm...