Chapter 53: Reciprocity Among Friends

On Thursday at noon, Tanimura Toshihiro came to find Muzuki.

"Teacher Hanyu, the students in Class 1-1 are really too unruly. They're disturbing me so much that I can't teach normally," Tanimura Toshihiro complained.

He admitted that his earlier claim of not caring was an underestimation of the Class 1-1 students.

Yesterday's afternoon class had numbed him completely; all he could think about was getting out early and ending it soon.

He didn't have Class 1-1 on Thursday, but he did on Friday morning.

To prevent the miserable experience of Wednesday afternoon from repeating on Friday, Tanimura Toshihiro approached Muzuki in advance, hoping to use Muzuki's influence among the students to give him a hand.

"Sigh, these kids, they clearly promised me," Muzuki sighed, feeling indignant on Tanimura Toshihiro's behalf.

"Teacher Tanimura, rest assured, this afternoon I'll definitely talk to them and tell them not to oppose you."

Hearing Muzuki's words, Tanimura Toshihiro breathed a slight sigh of relief, but still said uneasily:

"Teacher Hanyu, could you come by during my class on Friday? I'm afraid they won't listen to you again."

If all his classes with Class 1-1 for the rest of the year were as torturous as Wednesday's, he didn't know if he could hold out until bonus time.

Being rejected by one or two students could be ignored, but being rejected by the whole class together was really hard to bear.

"No problem." Muzuki nodded and agreed.

"With your guarantee, Teacher Hanyu, I'm reassured." Tanimura Toshihiro smiled gratefully.

After finishing the conversation, Tanimura Toshihiro turned and went back to his own office.

Muzuki watched Tanimura Toshihiro's retreating back and thought to himself that Tanimura's three years of teaching had been wasted; he really couldn't grasp the students' psychology at all.

By asking Muzuki to forcibly suppress the students like this, the students wouldn't hate Muzuki—they would only hate Tanimura Toshihiro even more.

Because from the students' perspective, Muzuki was helping a noob colleague, which was not problematic and could even be called very kind.

Meanwhile, Tanimura Toshihiro was a noob unaware of his own incompetence, lacking any self-awareness, and even trying to use the homeroom teacher to suppress them.

Muzuki thought it over carefully and realized that maybe he had misjudged Tanimura Toshihiro.

Because this was a ninja school, the situation was different from his previous life; if not for Class 1-1's outstanding grades, Tanimura Toshihiro wouldn't have ended up in such a predicament.

Shaking his head, Muzuki stopped thinking about these trivial matters and walked toward his office.

Since Tanimura Toshihiro had asked, what else could he do? Refuse and be called stingy? No, of course he would agree and comply—after all, he was the universally recognized perfect colleague, Hanyu Muzuki.

Muzuki returned to the office and continued practicing calligraphy.

"Hey, Teacher Muzuki, you changed your brush," Ueda Aya noticed that the brush in Muzuki's hand was not the one from before.

"Mm, a student gave it to me," Muzuki nodded with a smile.

"How nice. I've been teaching for years and never received a gift from a student," Ueda Aya said enviously.

Hearing Ueda Aya's words, Ikegaya Isamu thought to himself that he had finally found an opportunity to attack, and spoke up:

"Ueda, have you considered Teacher Muzuki's teaching level? How popular he is among students? Comparing yourself to him is somewhat lacking in self-awareness."

Ueda Aya was speechless for a moment. Lies don't hurt; the truth is the sharp knife.

Seeing Ueda Aya's dejected expression, Ikegaya Isamu felt instantly gratified.

"Maybe Teacher Ueda's students are all rather introverted—they want to give gifts but are too afraid to," Muzuki said.

"Teacher Muzuki, you sure know how to talk," Ueda Aya smiled. Even though she knew it was comforting words, who doesn't like kind words?

Kimura Sanehito watched this scene and felt that it wasn't without reason that Ikegaya Isamu had always been single.

When it was almost time for class, Muzuki left the office and arrived at the classroom.

He didn't rush to start the lesson. Instead, he first dealt with the matter Tanimura Toshihiro had entrusted to him.

"Didn't I already say? Don't speak ill of Teacher Tanimura to his face, and especially don't disturb him during his classes," Muzuki said with a pained expression.

"Teacher Muzuki, did the taijutsu teacher come to tattle on us?" Kōshi Tetsu said, somewhat speechless. It was the first time he had heard of a teacher complaining about students, and exaggerating things at that.

"We never disturbed him while he was teaching. It was only after he stopped that we gave our advice," Shingetsu Izumo felt they were being wronged.

How had they disturbed the class? Though his teaching was indeed poor, no one had spoken out to criticize while Tanimura Toshihiro was teaching. They had all watched seriously, studied seriously, and completed training earnestly.

Everyone is thinking about getting a good score in the final practical exam, so they certainly won't resist training.

"You must not disturb Teacher Tanimura's class, and don't speak ill of him." Muyue instructed, without directly answering Gangzitie's question.

The effect he wanted to achieve was that he wouldn't say Tanimura Toshihiro had tattled, but everyone would know it was because of Tanimura Toshihiro that Muyue gave the lecture.

"We understand." The students nodded one after another, but as for what they would do when the time came, that was unknown.

Muyue nodded, showed a smile, and then began to give the lesson.

【Lecture Complete】

【Evaluation: A】

【Reward: Earth Release · Earth Dragon Bullet】

After school, Muyue trained his disciples as usual, and returned to his home in the main city area in the evening.

This time, it wasn't Muyue being mooched for a meal; it was Muyue's turn to go to Minato's house to mooch a meal.

"We've eaten at your place so many times, we feel really bad. Today, Muyue, you take a rest and try our cooking." Minato said this, and then took Muyue to his house.

Minato and Kushina both went into action, each making two dishes.

Minato and Kushina asked Muyue to taste first. Muyue originally wanted to say they should all eat together, but seeing the expectant looks on their faces, he knew what to do next.

Muyue first took a bite of the grilled fish made by Minato.

To be honest, this grilled fish was not the same thing as the grilled fish in Muyue's memory; it wasn't even a whole fish, just a palm-sized piece of fish meat marinated, sprinkled with some salt, and grilled directly.

"It preserves the original flavor of the food very well; it's very delicious." Muyue praised.

However, Muyue didn't only praise without criticizing; he also pointed out some shortcomings, such as not controlling the grilling time properly.

For the next four dishes, Muyue gave similar evaluations, but for some dishes he praised more and pointed out fewer shortcomings, while for others he pointed out more shortcomings and praised less.

"Hehe, our home cooking isn't bad either, is it?" Kushina said with a happy smile.

Having her own cooking recognized by someone as skilled in cooking as Muyue, Kushina was very happy.

"Minato and I have already been practicing making braised pork belly. When the time comes, Muyue, you must come and taste it." Kushina said.

Muyue smiled and nodded, saying in a joking tone that he definitely had to taste it to check the learning results of his two students.

Next, they ate and chatted at the same time.

Minato also told Muyue that recently he had heard topics about Muyue from other jonin, saying that the children complained that his teaching was not as good as the school's chunin teachers.

Speaking of this topic, Kushina affirmed Muyue's teaching level. Although she had never seen what Muyue was like when teaching at the ninja school, she had seen Muyue explain how to cook.

At this point, Muyue did not overdo modesty; instead, he praised Minato and Kushina, saying that if Minato became a teacher, he would surely be a popular good teacher, and Kushina also...

In such a good atmosphere, everyone happily spent the dinner session and achieved their respective goals.

Book recommendation: Rotation of Magnetic Fields but Naruto

A "madman" version of Naruto, a bit crazy. If interested, you can take a look.