Chapter 4
Study
Iruka stood on the podium, looking at the students:
"Today, we'll review the basic theories of chakra. This type of question accounts for 30 points on the exam..."
In the corner, Naruto pushed up his black-rimmed glasses.
With the help of Aizen's black-rimmed glasses, a magical feeling enveloped him.
The whispers of the surrounding classmates, the crisp sound of Choji eating potato chips, and the chirping of birds outside the window all seemed to disappear.
In his world, only Iruka's voice and the chalk writing on the blackboard remained.
Naruto picked up his pen, the tip scratching across the paper, and neat, beautiful notes appeared in his textbook.
However, just ten minutes later, Naruto frowned.
Because he discovered a fatal problem.
He can listen now, but... he doesn't understand.
"The ratio of mental energy to physical energy..."
"The formation and practice of the Will of Fire..."
He recognized each word individually, but when put together, it was like listening to gibberish.
For the past six years, he has basically spent his time sleeping in class, skipping classes, and playing pranks.
This also resulted in his theoretical score being, if not zero, not too far off.
His current state is like that of an elementary school student who hasn't even learned addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, forcing himself to listen to a high school calculus class.
"Damn it...did I owe too much debt in the past?"
Looking at the beautiful handwriting in the notebook, Naruto felt a pang of regret for the first time.
If it were the old him, he would have already gone to sleep if he couldn't understand.
But now, although it hasn't been long, he's already starting to enjoy the amazed looks people are giving him.
He wants to maintain this level of attention, and even more.
"No, we can't give up. If we can't understand it, we'll start learning from the beginning!"
…………
After school, in the office.
All the other teachers had already left, but Iruka was still organizing documents.
dong dong dong.
A knocking sound suddenly rang out.
"Please come in."
Iruka said without even looking up.
"Um... Iruka-sensei."
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Iruka's hand trembled, and he instinctively protected the documents on the table.
"Naruto, I'm warning you, if you're planning any more pranks today..."
However, his words caught in his throat.
The person standing at the door was not the mischievous troublemaker from before.
Instead, he was a boy wearing glasses, holding textbooks, and standing tall.
Only in Naruto's slightly hesitant eyes can one see glimpses of the past.
He walked up to Iruka's desk and bowed deeply.
"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei, I didn't understand today's lesson."
Iruka was stunned: "I...I don't understand?"
Iruka wasn't puzzled that Naruto couldn't understand.
On the contrary, he was puzzled that Naruto would apologize to him for this.
Naruto actually felt sorry for not understanding?
Iruka felt like he was dreaming.
Naruto straightened up and looked at Iruka seriously:
"Teacher Iruka, yesterday I finally realized that my past mischief and mistakes caused me to neglect my studies."
"Now, I want to start over."
I want to pass the graduation exam; I want to... become a qualified ninja.
"But my foundation is too weak, so... teacher, can you tell me where I should start with tutoring?"
The office was deathly silent.
Iruka stared blankly at Naruto in front of him.
This earnest attitude of seeking knowledge suddenly stirred up an indescribable bitterness in Iruka's heart.
Has this child finally grown up?
Could it be that, after yesterday's test, Naruto has finally decided to take his life seriously?
Iruka's eyes inexplicably felt hot.
Don't cry, this is a good thing. The naughtiest child is finally growing up.
He took a deep breath and stood up.
"Naruto, are you serious?"
"yes!"
Naruto's answer was resolute.
"good!"
Iruka's voice trembled slightly.
He walked up to the bookshelf and began frantically searching through it.
"Since your foundation is weak, you can't start learning from third-grade books like other students."
"We'll start our tutoring from the first-year 'Basic Chakra Extraction' textbook!"
As he spoke, Iruka handed Naruto a few books.
"These lesson plans all need to be memorized."
"And this book, 'A Brief History of the Ninja World,' can help you quickly improve your history grades, and this book, 'One Hundred Techniques of Transformation Jutsu'..."
Iruka burst forth with unprecedented enthusiasm, like a nagging old woman, and devised a complete tutoring plan for Naruto.
In Iruka's view, as long as Naruto can learn according to the plan he gave, it will be fine.
I can't say I'll be among the top students, but graduating is definitely not a problem.
In a short while, Naruto was stuffed with a thick stack of books, which was half a meter high.
Iruka patted the stack of books, his eyes showing an unprecedented seriousness and tenderness:
"These are my previous lesson plans and key teaching materials for lower grades. Take them back and review them! If you don't understand anything, you can come to my office anytime."
"You can come to my house in the middle of the night if you want!"
"Naruto, as long as you're willing to learn, your teacher will definitely teach you properly!"
Naruto held the heavy book, a warm feeling washing over him.
So, Iruka-sensei cares about me that much?
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei."
【Ding! 】
[Iruka's tutoring plan detected, task generation in progress...]
[Long-term recommendations have been included]
[Phase 1: Basic Remedial Work]
[Task requirement: Memorize the lesson plan]
[Mission Reward: D-Rank Treasure Chest, can be accumulated]
…………
on the way home.
"Phew... I forgot to ask Iruka-sensei how to improve my taijutsu."
Naruto leaned against the telephone pole, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and wiped the sweat off his glasses with his clothes.
"In the end, ninjas still have to rely on their fists. Right now, I might not even be able to beat Kiba Inuzuka. When will I be able to challenge Sasuke?"
I don't know if it's because of my glasses.
On the way back, Naruto felt that he was being watched much less.
back home.
He first neatly stacked a pile of books on the table.
Without taking a break, he turned on the blue light screen again.
The forum interface unfolds, and on the homepage, bizarre and wonderful posts scroll by from time to time.
Naruto instinctively tried to open one, but the permission error message popped up again. However, he could still see the first few lines of discussion and video clips in the post.
The feat of splitting the hills in battle, along with the casual conversation about slaying dragons and growing vegetables, greatly stimulated Naruto.
"Are these people... all monsters?"
Naruto swallowed hard.
The tension that had eased somewhat after receiving Iruka's approval tightened again.
Compared to the monsters in the forum, he was as insignificant as an ant.
"No, we can't let our guard down."