The departure of the other villages' shinobi didn't stir much at Hidden Leaf's ninja academy.
Truth be told, these prodigies from the other four great shinobi villages weren't weak. They lived up to their "genius" titles, but their luck was poor. They'd encountered a Hidden Leaf ninja academy utterly transformed by Uchiha Shinji's "butterfly effect," leading to their underwhelming performance.
Even so, only a handful of academy students could consistently outshine them: Shinji, Yakumo, Sasuke, Kimimaro, and Neji. Others, like Shion, though a priestess, couldn't reliably wield her priestess powers. Haku and Karin, meanwhile, dared not fully reveal their strength.
Below them, teams like the new-generation "Ino-Shika-Cho" or those composed of Bloodline Limit or secret technique clans—Hinata, Kiba, Shino—struggled to match the foreign prodigies.
Of course, the hot-blooded academy students didn't evaluate their rivals fairly. When Hidden Leaf's geniuses crushed the other villages' talents, they cheered and mocked their opponents mercilessly.
In the days that followed, village gossip lingered on the recent surgery controversy and the Akatsuki's 'B' and his towering Susanoo. Without new upheavals, no new topics emerged.
Everything seemed to return to calm.
Honestly, Shinji cherished this tranquility. With his plans complete and no pressing threats, these leisurely days felt freeing and relaxing. He even suspected this downtime had boosted his dojutsu.
"Could lazing around be the key to growing my dojutsu?" Shinji mocked himself in the morning, facing the mirror.
Since the night he crossed into this world, over a year had passed. The eight-year-old boy, shaken by the Uchiha massacre and trembling before interdimensional invaders, was now nearly ten, noticeably taller.
Noting his growth, he reminded himself to account for it when using the Transformation Jutsu and headed out.
Morning classes took a serious turn. Iruka, usually laid-back, stood at the podium with a stern expression. "Starting today, the academy will guide you in learning ninjutsu!"
"Finally, ninjutsu!"
"Awesome!"
"I wanna learn Shinji's Fire Release!"
The classroom erupted in excitement.
Despite Shinji using B-rank Fire Release, Naruto wielding forbidden techniques like Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu and A-rank Rasengan, and Yakumo mastering Wood Release, many ordinary students hadn't even touched ninjutsu. Civilian students, lacking clan teachings, often barely grasped the concept.
Bang! Bang!
Iruka tapped the blackboard, quieting the chatter. "Learning ninjutsu requires relentless daily practice. Today, I'll teach you hand signs. Only by mastering them and coordinating your hands can you perform ninjutsu."
He demonstrated common hand signs, and the students mimicked him, practicing the gestures.
Seeing some struggle with even basic signs, Iruka patiently repeated the motions. "To cast ninjutsu successfully, your hands must move in sync. Your signs can't be too slow or sloppy, or the technique will fail!"
Whoosh!
A student in the back stood. "Iruka-sensei, do we always need both hands to form signs?"
"Yes," Iruka nodded.
The student pointed at Shinji. "But why can Shinji borrow someone else's hand to cast ninjutsu?"
"Uh…" Iruka faltered.
Shinji, from below, chuckled. "If you master a ninjutsu, you can use one hand—or even no hands at all."
The student blinked, confused, and looked to Iruka.
Clearly, Shinji's words contradicted Iruka's lesson.
Cough, cough. Iruka cleared his throat. "Shinji's not wrong, but single-hand signs or no-hand casting are far beyond your current level. Right now, focus on building a foundation."
The student pointed again. "But Shinji—"
Iruka cut him off, speaking earnestly, "You, me, all of us—we're not like Shinji. He's a genius, one of the rarest I've seen in my teaching career."
The student lowered his head and sat back down.
Iruka continued, "But with enough effort, even geniuses aren't out of reach!"
Another student raised a hand. "Iruka-sensei, can we really catch up to Shinji?"
Iruka nodded. "It's tough, but not impossible."
The student looked skeptical. "Has anyone at the academy ever surpassed a genius?"
"You all know the Fourth, right? He…" Iruka launched into the tale of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, rising from the academy to turn the tide of the Third Shinobi World War, becoming Hokage as a commoner.
Iruka's passionate storytelling ignited the students' determination. Many shot eager, challenging glances at Shinji.
Shinji stifled a laugh.
Never mind that Minato was already dubbed a genius at the academy.
His mastery of Uzumaki sealing techniques and the Flying Thunder God Jutsu—a space-time ninjutsu most shinobi's bodies couldn't endure—hinted at an extraordinary lineage.
In the original timeline, when revived via Edo Tensei, he became the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, wielded Mount Myoboku's sage arts, and even used the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, which even Naruto, Asura's reincarnation, struggled to master.
These feats couldn't be brushed off with a simple "genius."
But Shinji wasn't foolish enough to debunk Iruka.
As Iruka rallied the students, Shinji glanced at Karin in the front row.
Slightly younger than him, she was also nine.
Perhaps due to the First Hokage cell transplant, her hair had grown strikingly redder, almost vibrant.
Her skin, too, had changed—rosy and flawless, like a newborn's.
This drew attention, especially from female classmates.