Chapter 52: Gap Between Teachers

"It's like this: today during my morning class, I held a practical exam within the class." Mu Yue told Tanimura Toshihiro what happened in class.

However, Mu Yue slightly beautified the students' complaints, otherwise they would have been too aggressive.

"I just wanted to motivate them to train more seriously. I didn't expect this to happen. I'm really sorry." Mu Yue said apologetically.

"It's my fault for being too harsh in my evaluation; I should have been more lenient with them." Mu Yue took all the blame upon himself.

Although it was actually Tanimura Toshihiro's poor teaching ability that caused the students' dissatisfaction, Mu Yue only ignited it.

But Mu Yue didn't want to create a flaw in his persona, so he chose to tell Tanimura Toshihiro everything at once and admit fault, saying he accidentally did good intentions leading to bad results.

That way, no matter how clearly the whole sequence of events was sorted out, Mu Yue would not be seen as someone with ulterior motives.

After all, he had informed Tanimura Toshihiro of everything right after it happened—how could such a caring colleague have any bad intentions?

"This..." Tanimura Toshihiro didn't know what to say for a moment.

In his heart, he knew the students were right; his teaching ability was indeed inferior to Mu Yue's and quite mediocre.

But in the ninja school, no one could compare to Mu Yue—a new teacher who became known throughout the school after just a month or two, gained recognition from all teachers and students, and was even summoned and praised by the Third Hokage.

For an ordinary teacher like him to compare himself to Mu Yue was just asking for trouble.

"I already told them not to criticize you, but they're just kids. They might agree on the surface, but who knows what they'll actually do." Mu Yue sighed, looking at Tanimura Toshihiro with apologetic eyes.

"It's fine, I don't mind. They're just six-year-old kids after all." Tanimura Toshihiro said with a laugh.

Even if the students directly complained to his face, Tanimura Toshihiro wouldn't give up his position as the taijutsu teacher for Class 1-A.

Because Class 1-A's practical results were excellent—not only did they take the top two spots in the grade's practical exam, but the class average also led the first year.

Although he knew these results had nothing to do with his teaching, they were solid achievements; he didn't need to worry about performance reviews, and his bonuses would only increase.

"Teacher Hanyu, I know who you are. You must have been thinking about the students." Tanimura Toshihiro indicated that he understood Mu Yue's good intentions.

Even though this accident happened, Tanimura Toshihiro still thought Mu Yue was a good-natured colleague—the first to inform and apologize when something went wrong.

Originally, the morning class was Tanimura Toshihiro's taijutsu lesson, but he had something to do in the morning, so he swapped with Mu Yue, who had an afternoon class. At the time, Mu Yue agreed immediately.

Mu Yue had also been known to substitute for other teachers. Tanimura Toshihiro thought it would be hard for him to do the same—once or twice might be fine, but which teacher could stand it when colleagues asked every week?

With high teaching ability, a class leading the grade, praise from the Third Hokage, good looks, and a gentle disposition, Tanimura Toshihiro could only say that the female office teachers gossiping about Mu Yue every day was not without reason.

Knowing his own situation, Tanimura Toshihiro understood that the root cause of this incident was his own mediocre teaching, and it had been like this for years.

But Tanimura Toshihiro would never voluntarily give up the taijutsu teacher position for Class 1-A. Teaching at the ninja school was about making money without danger, and this was a chance to earn substantial bonuses while doing nothing.

"Teacher Tanimura, hearing you say that puts my mind at ease." Mu Yue seemed much more relaxed and showed a gentle smile.

"Haha, let's go drinking at an izakaya sometime." Tanimura Toshihiro also said with a smile.

Mu Yue smiled and nodded, chatted with Tanimura Toshihiro about some trivial topics, and then found an excuse to leave.

After Tanimura Toshihiro returned to the office, a female teacher next to him asked curiously:

"Teacher Tanimura, what did Teacher Hanyu want to see you about?"

"Nothing much, just some minor issues among students. But Teacher Hanyu really is beyond reproach." Tanimura Toshihiro said as he sat down.

He would naturally be embarrassed to admit that his poor teaching had gotten him criticized by students, but using Mu Yue to start a conversation with the female teachers wasn't bad.

It wasn't until the bell rang that Tanimura Toshihiro headed to Class 1-A.

Entering the classroom, Tanimura Toshihiro didn't notice anything different from before. As usual, he first taught some taijutsu theory, then took the students out for running.

After running, Tanimura Toshihiro began teaching taijutsu routines. After demonstrating once, he let the students practice freely.

"Teacher Tanimura, can you teach it a few more times? I didn't really understand it just now." Anko asked.

"These are all basics. If you don't get it, it's because you haven't practiced enough. Just practice more." Tanimura Toshihiro said.

"But Teacher Hanyu demonstrates many times every time he teaches us, and he breaks it down very finely." Anko retorted.

"Ninjutsu and taijutsu are different." Tanimura Toshihiro explained.

"But aren't there many practical techniques and details in taijutsu? Shouldn't those be explained in detail?" Gōzu Tetsu asked.

Tanimura Toshihiro was speechless. As a slacker chunin teacher, where would he get so many practical details and techniques? He just brushed it off with a perfunctory remark.

Then a large number of students asked various questions and made various suggestions.

"Stop, stop, stop. You train first, and ask questions in the next class, alright?" Being asked all sorts of things by dozens of people at the same time, Tanimura Toshihiro felt his head was about to explode.

"Teacher Tanimura, how about we both compromise? We won't ask questions, and you don't teach us anymore," Kamisuki Izumo suggested.

Tanimura Toshihiro had a face full of question marks, thinking to himself, are students this aggressive nowadays, directly telling the teacher not to teach?

But even more aggressive remarks were yet to come.

"Teacher Tanimura, I think you should retire early. After learning your shuriken throwing, I haven't hit the bullseye even once."

"Teacher Tanimura, ever since taking your taijutsu class, the entire grade has praised our class for learning ninjutsu well."

Tanimura Toshihiro listened to the students' aggressive words, somewhat dumbfounded. In over three years of teaching, it was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

He thought that the classes he taught before didn't really like him either, but it had never reached this level.

Tanimura Toshihiro was grateful that Muyue had warned him in advance; otherwise, he would definitely be completely baffled and not know what was going on.

"Ahem, everyone quiet down. I'll demonstrate a few more times," Tanimura Toshihiro coughed twice and said helplessly.

Then Tanimura Toshihiro noticed something interesting: the students were dissatisfied with him, but they didn't stop training; in fact, they seemed even more serious than before.

He was a bit puzzled. Logically, if they hated him so much, why were they still cultivating so actively?

Tanimura Toshihiro thought that Muyue's words had taken effect, causing the students, despite their dissatisfaction with him, to still dare not slack off in their cultivation.

Tanimura Toshihiro felt a bit fortunate, and also envied Muyue's control over the class.

"Let's just muddle through this year first." Tanimura Toshihiro didn't want to give up his position as Class 1's taijutsu teacher; maybe he could still snag an Excellent Teacher award.

If this were an ordinary class, with students talking to him like that, he would immediately discipline a few students and make them know what a Chunin's strength is.

But this was Year 1 Class 1, the class with the best grades in the entire school.

The more Tanimura Toshihiro taught, the more the students realized that this teacher's skill was indeed lacking, strengthening their determination to change teachers.

I was a bit dizzy writing this chapter. If there are any issues, feel free to point them out; I'll revise tomorrow.