Kitazawa came back to his senses and noticed that Yamanaka Ino and Hyuga Hinata had stopped training.

There was no helping it—Sasuke was laughing too loudly. Their attention had been drawn to him, and their faces were full of confusion.

If it weren’t the wrong time, they would’ve definitely asked, “Sasuke, why are you laughing?”

“Don’t worry about him.” Kitazawa coughed lightly and said, “Continue training.”

Sasuke finally snapped out of his fantasy. He silently put away his smile and stood still. Because of his sudden progress, he lost control of himself, and his usual cold personality collapsed.

“Teacher Kitazawa.” Sasuke suppressed the embarrassment in his heart, walked forward, and said, “I want to proceed to the next stage of training.”

The enhanced Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique not only boosted his confidence but also deepened his trust in Kitazawa.

“You’ll train with Hinata,” Kitazawa repeated the training method.

“I don’t need a warning this time,” Sasuke spoke confidently. After that, he channeled the chakra to his feet and climbed up the tree. Clearly, he was in full Uchiha arrogance mode.

Kitazawa raised his eyebrows. Wasn’t this basically saying, ‘Come on, hit me’?

As a teacher, he had to meet Sasuke’s expectations. Kitazawa casually pulled out a wooden kunai and threw it at the right moment.

Sasuke heard the sound of wind breaking, smirked, and shifted his body to the left.

But in the next second, he let out a ‘Ugh!’ The wooden kunai struck his left arm. His wind-sensing reaction wasn’t sharp enough yet, and he failed to judge the kunai’s speed.

“Again!” Sasuke climbed up again, cheeks flushed, and said stiffly.

Kitazawa didn’t mean to laugh, but since he hadn’t undergone professional restraint training, he burst out laughing. He had to admit—it was quite entertaining to watch Uchiha’s arrogance get humbled.

Time passed slowly, and the practical class neared its end.

Despite falling and getting bruised, Sasuke persisted. And his progress was noticeably faster than Hinata’s. Getting hit clearly worked.

The practical class was the last session of the day.

—

After saying goodbye to Hinata and the others, Kitazawa headed to the meeting room on the second floor. Mizuki had informed him last Thursday that there would be a meeting today to discuss the upcoming April monthly exam.

“Kitazawa-senpai!” Iruka spotted him and waved.

Kitazawa walked over, greeted him, and sat down beside him.

Mizuki, not far away, suddenly looked cold. He and Iruka had been good friends since childhood, though he had always treated it as something casual.

Now, Kitazawa had come and ‘taken away’ his friend. How hateful.

Ten minutes later, the meeting room was full.

There were many teachers present, but aside from Mizuki and Iruka, none had names mentioned in the original series.

At last, a middle-aged man walked in. He was the vice-principal of the Ninja School, named Sarutobi Hisao, and a Jonin.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was officially the principal, but being Hokage, he had little time—so the actual management was handled by the vice-principal.

“I will now announce the rules for this month’s exam.” Sarutobi Hisao spoke after sitting down.

Kitazawa listened for a while and found the format similar to last year’s. Each grade’s teachers would submit their questions, and the best would be selected. Two sets of test papers would then be compiled—one official, and one backup.

“The monthly exam will be held on April 30th.” Sarutobi Hisao said calmly, “Please submit your questions by the 20th.”

“Yes.” Everyone responded in unison.

“Lastly, a reminder: the teacher with the most selected questions will be favored for the Best Teacher of the Year award.” Sarutobi Hisao stood up and said, “Meeting adjourned.”

“Kitazawa-senpai!” Iruka caught up with Kitazawa and asked sincerely, “I wanted to ask—do you have any tips for writing exam questions?”

It was his first time setting questions as a teacher, and he didn’t know where to start.

He asked Kitazawa because the man had been the top contributor to the exams for three consecutive years.

“Iruka, I can help you.” Mizuki suddenly stepped in with a smile. “Kitazawa’s busy, let’s not bother him.”

Iruka was slightly stunned and was just about to agree when he was interrupted.

“Mizuki, you’re a second-year teacher, and Iruka’s from the first year. It’s more appropriate that I guide him.” Kitazawa said with a smile.

“Thank you, Kitazawa-senpai!” Iruka thanked him immediately.

Mizuki’s smile stiffened upon hearing this.

“Come to my office.” Kitazawa glanced at him and turned to leave.

“Mizuki, thank you for offering as well.” After saying this, Iruka hurried after Kitazawa.

“Bastard!” Mizuki clenched his fists, his face twisted with anger. But besides boiling in rage, there was nothing he could do.

Kitazawa returned to the office, chatted with Iruka for half an hour, and then went home.

—

It was Tuesday.

Early in the morning, Kitazawa headed to the school’s reference room. He found the test papers from previous years and selected a copy.

“Teacher Kitazawa.” Hinata arrived right on time, as always.

“Your task today is to finish all these test papers.” Kitazawa handed her two papers.

“Okay.” Hinata nodded obediently.

The monthly exams at the Ninja School were divided into theory and practical sections.

Under normal circumstances, Hinata could easily place in the top five—but getting first place was harder, especially with so many geniuses in the class.

Improving practical skills quickly wasn’t easy—but theory could be raised.

The monthly exam ranked students comprehensively. As long as she scored first in theory and placed top three in practical, she could take first place overall.

Kitazawa’s method was simple: practice through repetition. First, let Hinata Hyuga go through previous years’ test papers. Then, he’d create targeted practices and make predictions to reinforce key areas.

As for whether this would interfere with his own goal of getting first place in the monthly exam…

Kitazawa could only borrow a saying from his previous life: “The referee and the judges are all my people—what do you have to fight me with?”

After breakfast, Hinata began working on the papers. She was technically skipping class again—but was it really skipping class if she was doing practice tests?

Hinata Hinata worked on problems while Kitazawa wrote new ones.

All the questions he created were related to Konoha’s history and the Will of Fire—the very subjects he taught. Because that was his strength—and his ploy.

Sarutobi Hisao would have no choice but to pick them.

Of course, Kitazawa didn’t create questions at random. He came prepared—every question was crafted to satisfy Sarutobi Hiruzen.

In the afternoon: practical class.

After much effort, Yamanaka Ino completed tree-climbing training and joined Hinata and Sasuke in the next stage.

But what surprised Kitazawa most was Uzumaki Naruto—his running had improved significantly.

“Teacher Kitazawa, how did I do?” Naruto asked with a grin.

“Very good. You’ve shocked your teacher.” Kitazawa patted his shoulder and said, “The physical training the day after tomorrow depends on how you perform.”

“I promise I’ll finish the task!” Naruto gave a thumbs up, his teeth flashing.

Wait a second. What kind of pose is that? Not good!

“You know Might Guy?” Kitazawa asked hurriedly, feeling a little uneasy.

“Ah? How did you know?” Naruto widened his eyes in shock at his foresight.

A forty-five-minute practical class wasn’t enough for him. Since he had nothing to do after school, he took to running laps. And that’s when he met Might Guy.

Kitazawa’s mouth twitched.

If Uzumaki Naruto was influenced by Might Guy… Would Sarutobi Hiruzen hold him responsible?

—

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