Chapter 78: Don't Underestimate Students

What is it like to teach over three hundred people?

Being stared at by over two hundred people at the same time, each gaze filled with curiosity, anticipation, and doubt.

Muyue had reason to believe that if someone were more introverted, they would likely find it difficult to speak under so many gazes.

But Muyue was no ordinary person; the more students there were, the happier and more excited he became.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hanyu Muyue, the teacher in charge of this summer special training." Muyue showed a warm smile and introduced himself.

Although he was somewhat famous in the school and there were classes he had substituted for among the students, Muyue didn't think everyone knew him or recognized his face, so self-introduction was necessary.

"Teacher Muyue!" Some students who were familiar with Muyue greeted him warmly.

Muyue smiled and nodded in response, then continued speaking:

"I know many of you have doubts—why hold a summer special training after the holiday, and what is the purpose of this training."

"I can clearly tell you here: this training has only one purpose, and that is to improve the strength of the participating students, so that in the future you become more qualified ninjas!"

Muyue did not say anything too harsh, such as responding to potential war crises or the like.

After all, the war had not officially broken out, and even the most crisis-conscious Konoha ninja would most likely not imagine that Konoha would gradually become the center of war, besieged by the four great ninja villages.

"How will the training be conducted? Surely you can't have us genin undergo the same training as students, right? The strength of official ninjas and students is not on the same level." Raido Namiashi asked.

He was a teammate of Asuma's squad and had been dragged here by Asuma.

Raido Namiashi felt he had been tricked; how could a chunin teacher be as amazing as Asuma boasted.

"I have arrangements for that, but you must not underestimate the students of the Ninja Academy." Instead of answering Raido Namiashi's question first, Muyue called out Shisui.

"His name is Uchiha Shisui, a student in my class, currently a first-year. You can fight him to test the level of Ninja Academy students," Muyue said with a smile.

Muyue had long anticipated this kind of situation.

Because the genin had gone out and seen more ninjas and had been instructed by jonin, their mindset when facing Ninja Academy students and chunin teachers would be different.

The ninja world respects the strong, so Muyue's solution was also straightforward: if you think the Ninja Academy students are no good, then come and fight one of them to see if you can win.

Seeing Shisui walking out with a calm expression, Asuma couldn't control his eyelid twitching; he remembered the scene of being dominated two months ago.

That scene he might never forget for the rest of his life: he, a graduated genin, defeated by a first-year student.

"Raido, I definitely couldn't stand it, just a first-year student," Asuma whispered to Raido Namiashi.

He couldn't wait to see Raido Namiashi's incredulous expression after being defeated; he couldn't bear this pain alone.

"Isn't this bad? He's just a first-year student," Kurenai Yuhi said softly, feeling it was a bit unethical.

"Then I'll go ahead as a graduated senior to see if the level of Ninja Academy students has dropped." Raido Namiashi stepped forward.

If Muyue had called out a fourth-year, that would have been one thing, but he actually called out a first-year. Raido Namiashi instantly felt looked down upon, and with Asuma's instigation, he couldn't hold back anymore.

The students all stepped back to leave enough space for the two to fight.

"If you can't hold on, just give up directly. Don't blame me if I accidentally hurt you," Raido Namiashi said as he pulled a kunai from his ninja tool pouch, warning him.

"Thank you for the reminder, senior. I won't overexert myself," Shisui said politely with thanks.

Seeing that Shisui knew to respect his senior and was quite polite, Raido Namiashi decided to let Shisui lose gracefully, not too miserably.

Obito had already covered his face, unable to bear watching the cruel scene about to unfold.

He knew Raido Namiashi and was clear about his strength.

Raido Namiashi might not even be able to defeat him as he was now, so how could he be a match for Shisui?

This fight was an unquestionable one-sided slaughter, but the one being slaughtered was not first-year Shisui, but the already-graduated Raido Namiashi.

"Go Shisui, defeat that guy who looks down on current students!" Anko pushed to the front to watch and cheered for Shisui.

Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki also pushed to the front and cheered along with Anko.

"Uchiha Shisui? Isn't he that first-year super genius? I heard he got perfect scores in all subjects." Some fourth-year students had heard of Shisui's genius reputation.

"No matter how much of a genius, it's impossible for a first-year to defeat an official genin, right?"

Although the students all hoped Shisui would win, most of them didn't think he would, because a first-year defeating an official genin was simply too shocking.

"Start!" Muyue, acting as temporary referee, shouted after the two were ready.

"I'm coming." Raido warned, then charged at Shisui with a kunai in hand.

Shisui calmly pulled out a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and began a head-on clash with Raido.

The clanging sounds of kunai striking rang out continuously; no matter how fierce Raido's attacks were, Shisui calmly blocked them all.

Raido felt something was off—this strength, speed, and reaction time… this is a first-year student?!

Raido pulled back quickly, made hand seals, and used the Clone Technique to create five clones, trying to confuse Shisui.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Shisui calmly made hand seals on the spot and used the same ninjutsu, spitting out a three-meter-tall fireball.

"Who's the academy student here, me or him?" Raido looked at the massive great fireball rushing toward him, then at his intangible clones beside him—his brain short-circuited.

Fortunately, the fireball wasn't fast; after Raido snapped out of it, he ran with all his might and escaped its range.

Just as Raido was relieved that he had escaped the great fireball's attack range, a kunai extended from behind him and was placed against his neck.

Feeling the cold edge of the kunai, Raido realized that Shisui had appeared beside him without him noticing.

"I lost. I shouldn't have underestimated a ninja academy student." Raido admitted his defeat; if Shisui were an enemy, he would already be dead.

"Senior, you were too generous." Shisui put away his kunai and said modestly.

He was fully capable of instantly defeating Raido, but Raido had performed decently enough—the earlier comment was probably unintentional. Shisui didn't want to embarrass him too much, so he held back.

"He's still holding back—that great fireball wasn't as strong as the one he used on me before," Asuma thought to himself.

"Senior, do you have a grudge against him? Why are you laughing so happily?" Kotetsu noticed that a person next to him was laughing especially cheerfully. He thought it was a fellow academy student sharing his anger, but then saw that this person also had a forehead protector, which confused him.

"No, I just remembered something funny," Asuma denied.

Let me explain one point about this chapter.

In the manga, Raido is not Asuma's teammate, but in the anime's flashback arc during the Chūnin Exams, Asuma, Kurenai, and Raido took the exam together. Rin also called them over when celebrating Kakashi's promotion to jōnin.

Plus, since it's unclear from various sources who Asuma's actual teammates were, I set it this way based on the flashback arc.

Actually, there are plenty of confusing plots in Naruto. For example, Kakashi graduated and became a chūnin early, yet he was still able to team up with Obito and Rin, who graduated many years later, and even participate in the Chūnin Exams—it's absurd.

I can't guarantee every detail is flawless; I can only try to patch things up as best I can.