When Arima heard the voice in his mind, he was pleasantly surprised.
After all, teaching and nurturing students at the academy was already part of his duty, and now the system had actually acknowledged his efforts, this time with a D-rank recognition.
He thought to himself, 'Looks like there's some potential to dig deeper in this area.'
With that, Arima officially began his lesson on the fundamentals.
Since it was the first class on the first day, he could only go over the most basic knowledge, such as the relationship between ninjutsu and chakra, chakra nature, and the fundamental rules of numerical calculations.
His understanding of chakra ran deep, and his explanations were always clear and accessible.
This was thanks to the teachings of his two Hokage mentors.
However, knowing that some students were orphans or raised by single parents, without anyone to guide them at home, Arima made an extra effort to break the knowledge down into finer parts, carefully going through the content before teaching it to them.
He thought, 'Doing a good job as a teacher isn't easy after all.'
By the end of the lesson, Arima felt exhausted, more tired than after a full day of his usual training.
Jiraiya, that kid, was particularly troublesome. His brain just didn't operate on the same wavelength as others, always managing to interrupt at the most unexpected times.
For example, when Arima was teaching a simple rule about addition and subtraction, he gave the class a basic problem.
"If I have ten shuriken and give five to Orochimaru, how many do you have left?"
Jiraiya answered, "Five."
Then Arima asked again, "If I give Orochimaru eight of the ten shuriken, how many do you have left?"
This time, Jiraiya immediately cried out in indignation, "Sensei, that's favoritism."
Arima was momentarily stunned before pressing a hand to his forehead with a quiet sigh.
Originally, he had thought that placing Orochimaru and Jiraiya next to each other might help balance out their personalities, Jiraiya could become more composed, while Orochimaru might loosen up a bit.
But what he hadn't expected was that they'd clash like natural-born rivals.
Orochimaru, watching Jiraiya being ridiculous again, scoffed and said dismissively, "Jiraiya, I read something in a book recently. It really suits you."
Jiraiya perked up at once, thinking, 'There's something about me in Orochimaru's book? Looks like I really am awesome.'
He leaned in eagerly, asking, "What did it say about me, Orochimaru?"
Orochimaru replied coolly, "When someone dies, they don't feel pain, only the people left behind do. It's the same when someone's stupid."
Jiraiya didn't get it right away, but hearing the laughter from the rest of the class, he realized Orochimaru was making fun of him, again.
Fuming, he raised a foot onto his chair, ready to start yelling at Orochimaru.
But just then, he heard a sharp whoosh by his ear. Turning quickly, he realized it was a piece of chalk, flung by Arima, that had just grazed past his face.
If it had been off by even a little, it would've smacked right into him.
Cold sweat dripped down his forehead. Glancing toward the podium, he saw Arima watching him with a half-smile, his gaze resting squarely on the raised foot.
Jiraiya instantly retracted his leg and sat down straight, looking like a perfectly well-behaved child.
Arima could tolerate a little debate in class, but disrupting order was another matter entirely.
Still, since it was Jiraiya's first offense, he let it slide this time.
Sure enough, Jiraiya quieted down after that.
Once he focused, he surprisingly absorbed new knowledge quite well. Orochimaru noticed this too and was mildly impressed, thinking, 'Maybe he's not a complete idiot after all.'
At the end of class, Arima made an announcement.
"Next Monday, we'll be going on an outing to the forest near the village. Prepare yourselves.
You'll depart together from the academy, and whoever reaches the target destination first will get to make one reasonable request of me as a reward."
The class erupted with cheers. Even the usually cold-faced Sakumo and the icy little snake Orochimaru were itching to compete.
They had already witnessed Arima's skill and were eager to learn some unique jutsu from him.
Tsunade, too, was overjoyed. Just last night, she had shared a bed with her beloved brother waking up with a deep sense of security.
Today, she didn't want to go home either, she wanted to rest with her brother again. But she was worried he might refuse. Now, finally, she had a legitimate chance to make a request.
After class that afternoon, the students all headed home, each to their own family. All except Jiraiya, who walked the streets alone.
Arima noticed and, feeling uneasy, created a shadow clone to quietly follow him and make sure he got home safely.
Meanwhile, Tsunade seized her chance to act cute. She clung tightly to Arima's hand, swaying it gently back and forth, her eyes full of expectation, as if saying, Carry me again.
Of course, Arima knew exactly what the little girl was thinking. He crouched down and motioned for her to hop onto his back.
Tsunade cheered joyfully, clambered onto his back, and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
As they walked, Arima suddenly felt a cool breeze on his back, it was Tsunade blowing into his collar.
In response, Arima lightly bumped his head back against her forehead, and the two of them playfully jostled each other the whole way home, laughter echoing as they went.
After dropping Tsunade off at her grandfather's house, Arima finally returned to his own home. By then, it was already dark.
Just as he was about to take a nice, relaxing bath, a wave of memory from his shadow clone hit him, and it left him speechless.
The clone had stayed to observe Jiraiya's home life, curious about how he behaved at home.
Jiraiya's family lived modestly.
When he arrived, his mother was still in the courtyard, using the last light of day to weave cloth she planned to sell at the market the next morning. She was too busy to greet Jiraiya properly.
Jiraiya already envied classmates who had parents waiting to pick them up. Now he returned home hungry, stomach rumbling.
He hovered around his mother, hoping she'd ask how his day went, but she barely looked up, telling him to get some cold rice from the kitchen.
But food wasn't what Jiraiya really needed. He wanted care.
He quietly walked to the kitchen, soaked the cold rice in hot water, and returned with it. As he ate, he kept circling his mother, trying to get her to notice how much he'd learned today.
Eventually, she lost patience. Raising her head, she snapped, "If you keep messing around, I'll throw you out and get another kid to replace you."
Jiraiya didn't get mad. He just said quietly, "If you pick up another kid, he'll probably be disobedient too. That's why his mom didn't want him."
His mother was left speechless. Seeing the longing in his eyes, she finally softened and gently told him to go to bed early and not be late for class tomorrow.
Jiraiya, seeing the weariness on her face, quietly obeyed and cleaned up on his own.
In the following days, classes continued peacefully, though there were plenty of little incidents, and unsurprisingly, Jiraiya was often at the center of them.
Once, Jiraiya didn't finish his homework in time and copied Orochimaru's instead.
When Arima reviewed the submissions, he found two identical homework sheets, both with Orochimaru's name on them. Obviously, Jiraiya had copied even the name.
Arima didn't know when exactly the two had grown so close.
Orochimaru now called him "Idiot Jiraiya," while Jiraiya retaliated with "Snakemaru." Jiraiya liked hanging around him, constantly bickering and debating.
Before long, it was Monday of the second week, the day of Class A's first official autumn outing.
Tsunade woke up early, her heart filled with determination. She was dead set on winning first place.
The other students were also full of energy, itching to compete.
When Arima entered the classroom and saw the eager faces of the children, he chuckled to himself, 'Still just kids at heart.'
He led them all to the training field, where he formed the ram seal and performed the A-rank technique: Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.
In an instant, the entire field was filled with clones, one for every student.
The kids were stunned. They'd seen shadow clones before, but never this many all at once.
Seeing their shock, Arima was pleased. A little awe was good, it kept them motivated. As expected, the atmosphere was electric.
He raised both hands and motioned downward. The students quickly quieted down. Once the murmurs ceased, he addressed them:
"This is an advanced version of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, an A-rank forbidden technique. Each of my clones will follow one of you, ensuring your safety and evaluating your performance.
But remember, if you encounter difficulties, you may ask the clone for help… however, that will mean forfeiting the competition. That's the rule."
He paused, then added, "The first-place winner gets to make a small request, you can choose a D-rank jutsu, or exchange it for money or ninja tools.
As for second through tenth place, you'll get early access to an E-rank jutsu. I've got hundreds of them, and they're all practical... some can even help you earn some money."
Real rewards lit a fire in the students' eyes. With the top ten being rewarded, that meant nearly a third of the class had a shot.
With Arima's shout of "Begin," the clones disappeared, and the children surged forward, charging toward the forest.