Hatake Satoru shook his wristwatch. The hands showed that there was still some time before class ended.
If he wasn't mistaken, these little ones must have skipped class and snuck out.
Thanks to his genius little brother, Kakashi, Hatake Satoru had used his name to advertise himself as a tutor.
"My little brother is the genius ninja Kakashi, so of course, I know a lot about ninja studies too."
If Kakashi ever heard that, he would definitely shoot Satoru a sharp glare. But since Kakashi was always buried in missions, he had no idea this was happening.
Not long after Satoru spread the word, he single-handedly made the students at the ninja academy suffer the same after-school tutoring as regular civilians.
These kids looked pretty familiar.
Leaning against a tree branch behind them, Hatake Satoru rested his chin on his hand and watched with interest.
The children were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't even notice the person they were talking about was standing right behind them.
"The teacher is just too full of himself! People who brag like that usually aren't actually good-looking."
A blonde-haired girl sitting under the tree declared with confidence.
Yamanaka Ino. Hatake Satoru made a mental note of this little troublemaker.
What kind of logic was that? If you're really good-looking, that's exactly why you'd have the confidence to brag!
"I heard our teacher has a younger brother with the same last name! He's supposed to be a really strong ninja, right? And he looks really handsome too."
"But he seems like a totally different type from our teacher. Maybe something like this?"
A girl with twin ponytails tilted her head and lowered her eyelids, pulling them down slightly to mimic a dead-fish-eyed look.
That girl was Megumi. If Satoru remembered correctly, she went to the civilian school.
They didn't seem like they had anything in common—except for the fact that he was their teacher.
These two shouldn't have any reason to be hanging out together, so how did they end up in the same group?
Ah, well, Kakashi's look was fine, but still…
Why was it that no matter what, students always seemed to prefer Kakashi's face over his?
"You mean Kakashi, right? Even though they're real brothers, with how energetic our teacher is, there's no way he'd have those dead-fish eyes."
Shikamaru had no idea why he had been dragged into what felt like a girls' gossip session.
He sighed in his heart. Women were such a hassle.
Hatake Satoru's eyes landed on Shikamaru. What was this kid doing here?
Maybe he hadn't given them enough homework, and they were too bored, so they started getting curious about useless things.
Then again, looking at it from another angle… his face really did appeal to both boys and girls.
Satoru stroked his chin, unsure whether he should be happy or just weirded out.
As he leaned against the tree, lost in thought, he suddenly realized that the kids had all gone silent.
Hatake Satoru could sense a white light moving quickly through the trees, getting closer to him.
Then, the dense forest behind him rustled, and a kid suddenly dashed out.
With a loud shout of, "I got you, teacher!" the kid leaped straight at Satoru's back.
The move wasn't anything impressive—actually, the one charging at him was just an ordinary civilian child, Seiji.
How did this random group of kids even end up together?
Satoru grumbled to himself and casually tilted his head to the side, grabbing the boy by the back of his shirt with one hand.
Just as he caught him, a rope with a loop tied at the end suddenly dropped from the tree above, along with a shower of potato chip crumbs.
"If you guys wanted to see my face so badly, you really didn't have to go through all this trouble."
Satoru dodged to the side to avoid the falling chips, then grabbed the rope above him and yanked it hard.
Even though Chouji was already considered pretty strong among kids his age, he was no match for Hatake Satoru's strength. The rope slipped right out of his hands and flew off, sending him rolling onto the ground.
The ground shook a little, and a dark-colored rock resting between some tree branches fell down.
On the back of the rock, a line of small writing was clearly visible: "How to quickly take off Hatake-sensei's eye mask."
The two girls who had been discussing Hatake Satoru's eye mask just moments ago let out excited shouts and lunged toward him.
Shikamaru, however, didn't rush in blindly. Instead, he formed a hand sign, and a shadow spread out from beneath his feet.
After a series of loud thuds and crashes, Hatake Satoru casually rolled up his sleeves, standing in front of the five kids.
Shikamaru, Chouji, and Seiji were all tied up together with a rope, courtesy of Hatake Satoru. Ino and Kei stood off to the side, looking a little guilty.
Leaves and dirt covered their faces, clear evidence that they had all just been dealt with.
"I only messed up because I was eating. If we go again, I'm sure I can hold onto the rope this time!"
Chouji squinted his eyes, his chubby cheeks puffing out as he spoke seriously.
Shikamaru sighed, lowering his head. Even though Hatake Satoru was just a regular school teacher and didn't have chakra…
When it came to taijutsu, the gap between them was as big as the sky and the earth.
"Next time? Ahh, come on, even if you guys keep trying, you'll never stand a chance~"
"You should just give up on this goal already."
Hatake Satoru smirked mockingly and even reached up to lift the edge of his eye mask slightly, as if taunting them.
So annoying!
The same thought popped into all five kids' heads at the same time.
"You three—I don't teach at the academy, so I won't be calling your parents."
"But when I come to your houses for lessons this weekend, you better prepare snacks as hush money for me."
"As for the other two… all the extra snacks the school hands out tomorrow afternoon are mine."
Hatake Satoru squatted down and flicked each kid on the forehead. Even the two girls standing nearby held their heads and took a step back.
After saying his piece, Hatake Satoru clapped his hands, dusted himself off, and strolled away like some kind of snack-stealing bandit.
The kids all looked at each other in shock—what kind of irresponsible teacher was this?!
As Ino untied the rope around Chouji and Shikamaru, she grumbled,
"This is all your fault, Kei. I told you this plan wouldn't work, and now we all got scolded."
"I get that you like Hatake-sensei, but this is too much."
The black-haired, twin-tailed girl named Kei was still watching Hatake Satoru walk away. When she heard Ino's words, her face instantly turned red, all the way to her ears.
"Shut up! You guys were just as excited when you thought we could take off his mask!"
...
...
Root.
"Please pass along the message that the Hokage requests Danzo-sama's presence immediately."
In the dimly lit room, Kakashi held up the official summons and spoke to the two guards at the entrance.
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