Chapter 14: Skipping Class

"This is so boring."

Standing on the podium, Naoki was patiently and endlessly explaining the fundamentals of chakra refinement.

Instead of jumping straight into the refinement methods, he started from the basic concept of chakra. By mixing the physical energy produced by the body's one hundred and thirty trillion cells with one's spiritual energy in the correct proportions, chakra was formed. 

Chakra refinement was the absolute foundation that every shinobi had to master. For academy students, learning chakra refinement could not be rushed; every single concept had to be thoroughly straightened out. Only by systematically studying all related principles of chakra and building a clear theoretical framework in one's mind could one refinement chakra more effectively.

Moreover, whether they wanted to practice chakra control, nature transformation, or shape transformation later on, none of it could be separated from these fundamentals.

Naoki wanted his students to build a solid base, but unfortunately, even the oldest first-year students in the academy were not yet seven years old. Children of this age had limited comprehension abilities to begin with.

Furthermore, the technology of this era wasn't all that advanced; there were no televisions, and while radios existed, the content they offered could hardly be called rich.

This meant that children from civilian families had very little access to outside information. On top of that, many parents were already struggling to their absolute limits just trying to survive and feed their families. They themselves might not even be literate, let alone capable of providing any kind of preschool education. Consequently, the classroom pace inevitably slowed down to a crawl.

To these students encountering chakra for the first time, listening to the teacher's words felt like listening to heavenly scriptures, leaving their heads spinning and heavy.

As for Nawaki, listening to material he had heard repeated countless times over the past few days drove him to the brink of a mental breakdown. This stuff was something people had been teaching him ever since he was old enough to form coherent thoughts; Uzumaki Mito, Tsunade, Sarutobi Hiruzen. Even when Orochimaru and Jiraiya occasionally visited their home, they would casually drop a few pointers.

Now, having to listen to Naoki explain it from scratch, step by step, Nawaki felt as though that steady, patient voice was a specialized genjutsu designed to torture him, constantly assaulting his ears.

Nawaki shook his head, then gave his own face a firm slap in an attempt to wake himself up, but the effort yielded very little result. He turned his head to look at Shingo beside him.

Then he discovered that Shingo wasn't paying attention to the lecture at all.

Shingo had placed a blank sheet of paper in his palm and was currently staring at it with intense concentration. A sliver of extremely fine chakra thread was being manipulated by Shingo to pierce straight through the paper, executing precise cuts.

Under the slicing of the chakra thread, the sheet of paper already featured several geometric shapes of varying sizes; circles, triangles, squares...

"Hey, Shingo."

Nawaki leaned in close to Shingo's ear and whispered in a low voice.

The sudden sound caused Shingo's fingertips to twitch slightly. With a momentary lapse in control, the sharp chakra instantly sliced the paper in his palm straight in two.

Resigned, Shingo balled up the ruined paper and shoved it into his desk drawer, turning to look at Nawaki, who wore a sheepish, apologetic grin.

"What?"

"Hehe, this is seriously so boring, Shingo. I feel like if I keep listening, I'm going to die right here."

"It certainly is boring, but it shouldn't be severe enough to kill you, right?"

"It's a metaphor, that's a metaphor, get it?"

Shingo turned his head to glance toward the back door of the classroom.

"So what are you getting at?"

Seeing this, Nawaki instantly perked up, his eyes shining a bit brighter than before:

"Outta here?"

"Let's go."

Nawaki's question was concise, and Shingo's answer was crisp.

Seeing that Shingo had already begun packing up the textbooks on his desk, Nawaki immediately broke into a smile.

Shikaku had been leaning against his desk behind him, mind blank and eyes unfocused, having long since surrendered his soul to the clouds outside the window. Suddenly, he felt his chair being lightly nudged.

Shikaku slowly regained his wits. The moment he turned his head, he saw Nawaki pulling faces at him and gesturing with a finger toward the classroom's back door.

Shikaku instantly understood what Nawaki meant.

Yet he hesitated slightly. Skipping class just a few days into the semester would probably get him an earful from his mom.

However, when Shikaku looked toward the other two beside him...

Inoichi, who was usually rigorous in everything he did, was now so bored he was doodling in the margins of his textbook. Chōza had his entire upper body sprawled flat across his desk, eyes heavy-lidded and on the verge of falling asleep.

Screw it, if I get yelled at, I get yelled at.

Having made up his mind, Shikaku nudged the other two. The boys exchanged glances, confirming that none of them could stand staying here a moment longer.

The next instant, taking advantage of Naoki turning around to write on the blackboard, Shingo took the lead, rising on his tiptoes and quietly slipping away from his seat.

Shingo slowly opened the classroom's back door, then slipped out sideways through the crack.

The rest of the boys followed closely behind, one by one departing the classroom. The back door was pulled open gently and clicked shut just as softly.

Sitting in the final two rows, their stealthy departure went completely unnoticed by any of their classmates.

Yet it couldn't escape Naoki's notice. On the podium, Naoki's ears twitched imperceptibly. The smooth, rhythmic scratching sound of chalk sweeping across the blackboard also paused briefly.

However, he quickly resumed writing just as before, as if nothing had happened.

If he could, he would have loved to teach these kids something more useful; ninjutsu, taijutsu, intelligence operations, practical combat experience...

But there was no help for it; the ninja academy was, after all, structured to cater to the majority. Thus, he had no choice but to teach according to the unified school curriculum.

For these few kids, staying here was a waste of time anyway; going out to move around a bit wasn't a bad thing. Moreover, he trusted that with Shingo and Shikaku around, they wouldn't stir up any real trouble.

Though Naoki's mind raced through these thoughts, he didn't show a hint of it on his face. Once he finished writing on the board, gazing out at the remaining students whose eyes remained dazed and drifting, his originally patient voice involuntarily turned a shade heavier.

…

Stepping out of the classroom, the corridor was dead quiet, and the muffled sounds of lessons from other classrooms were clearly audible.

Shingo and his group maintained their cautious pace until they exited the main school building, at which point they picked up their stride. Detouring to a quiet corner and using the cover of tree shadows, they vaulted over the perimeter wall to leave the school grounds.

Upon landing, Nawaki slapped the dust from his clothes, instantly re-energized.

"Come on, come on, I'll take you guys to get some dumplings!"

As he spoke, he fished his wallet out from his tunic, and after verifying that the money inside was more than enough, his tone grew even lighter.

"The dumplings at that place are amazing. I go buy them whenever I have free time. My treat today, to celebrate our first successful truancy!"

With that, Nawaki bolted forward. Shingo, Shikaku, and the others exchanged glances and hurried after him.

It wasn't lunchtime yet, so the shop wasn't crowded, and the boys didn't have to wait in line.

As soon as he walked in, Nawaki didn't even glance at the menu, directly ordering several portions of dumplings.

Cup in hand, the boys walked slowly down the street, holding their skewers of dumplings and eating as they went.

The sweet, sticky dumplings were coated in savory-sweet sauce, retaining a pleasant warmth when bitten into.

Watching the others earnestly tasting their dumplings, Nawaki said with a proud grin:

"Well? Not bad, right?"

Chōza's cheeks were stuffed round with dumplings as he nodded in satisfaction.

"Really good. I'm making a mental note of this shop; I'm coming back here often."

Strolling along, they eventually reached the entrance of Konoha Park. After tossing their remaining paper cups and skewers into a trash can, Nawaki suddenly posed a question:

"Where are we heading next? Wandering around like this is fine and all, but it feels a bit empty."

Shikaku let out a yawn.

"Back to school?"

"I broke out with this much effort, I'm not going back to sit in that prison. Oh, I know, let's go train! Didn't Morikawa-sensei say we'll have sparring tests every month from now on? We can't slack off."

"Come on, my place! The training ground at my house is huge, and all the training equipment is fully stocked."

The more Nawaki talked, the more excited he got, already picturing the scene of them cutting loose in the training ground.

Right at that moment, Shikaku asked in an eerie tone:

"Nawaki, aren't you worried your family will find out you skipped class?"

Nawaki waved a hand dismissively, not even pausing to think.

"It's fine, my sister's out on a mission..."

Mid-sentence, he suddenly sucked in a sharp breath of air.

"Wait, hold on!"

The smile faded from Nawaki's face as he stood frozen in place, holding up his fingers to count.

"My sister mentioned before that this mission would probably... take about three or four days to wrap up..."

Shikaku asked:

"Then when did she leave?"

"Five days ago!"

Shikaku offered a suggestion:

"Then I strongly advise against going home right now. The chances of Tsunade-sama coming back today are extremely high."

Chōza looked at a now-silenced Nawaki and posed the most crucial question:

"So where are we going?"

None of them had ever skipped class before, and none wanted their families finding out.

"Let's go to my place. I've got a training ground there too. It's a bit small, so don't judge. But it's quiet, and the air is nice."

Shingo chimed in promptly.

"No judgment here, any place will do as long as we have a spot. Let's go! To Shingo's training ground!"