The lengthy freshman assembly finally concluded, followed by the exciting class assignment segment.
Students whose names were called would form new classes. Luckily, Chizhao and Naruto were both assigned to Iruka Sensei's class.
When Naruto heard Chizhao's name, he jumped up from his spot in delight.
When he heard Uchiha Sasuke's name follow right after, he deflated like a punctured ball, his face filled with unhappiness.
Along the way, Chizhao, Sakura, and Ino chatted and laughed, arriving together at their assigned classroom.
As they pushed open the door, both girls' gazes were drawn to Sasuke.
And the seats around Sasuke were already occupied by several girls.
Tsk tsk tsk, handsome guys only hinder my pursuit of knowledge!
Chizhao ignored the crowd and walked through, and Sasuke also noticed the girl who had embarrassed him.
He frowned, scrutinizing her, completely ignoring the girls trying to chat him up beside him.
He didn't expect to be so unlucky as to be in the same class as her, and that dead-last too...
Ino and Sakura both coincidentally chose seats behind Sasuke, while Chizhao eyed the 'protagonist' seat in the last row by the window.
Just as a classmate was about to sit down, she slid into the seat with lightning speed, snatching it first.
"Excuse me, classmate, this seat is taken."
The boy paused, then regretfully retreated to find a new seat.
"Yo—the seat next to Chizhao must be mine then!"
The body that suddenly pressed close, there was no need to guess who it was—that certain blonde fox, but Chizhao was already used to it.
"Naruto, you're too dependent on Chizhao..."
Shikamaru, hands in his pockets, looked speechlessly at the 'clingy' one.
Choji, who was following behind, also chimed in, "Exactly, it's like me and potato chips, hahaha..."
Naruto lifted his head, looking at the two of them indifferently: "What does it matter? Chizhao is my friend, what's wrong with being a little closer?"
"Yes, yes, yes... then I'll sit here."
"Then I'll sit here too."
Seeing Shikamaru sit down in front of her, Chizhao suddenly remembered that she still owed him that bit of change!
Because before, she was either training or being dragged around by Naruto to play wildly, she hadn't had time to find him to return the money, and over time, she had completely forgotten about it!
Chizhao quickly pulled out her wallet and took out a banknote.
"Shikamaru, this is the money I owed you before, here!"
"Huh? When did you... tsk... how long has it been, and you still remember?"
Judging by Shikamaru's reaction, he probably had forgotten about it completely himself.
"I told you I'd definitely pay back the money I owed you, here you go~"
Naruto lay on the desk, silently watching the conversation between the two, wondering if this money was enough for a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen.
Shikamaru took the banknote, his face filled with worry: "This amount is too large, and I don't have any change for you."
"Just consider it interest, or at the very least, you can treat me to ramen next time."
"What a drag. I don't want it, you should find exact change and then pay me back. Like you, I don't want to owe anyone either."
Looking at the banknote pushed back, Chizhao felt annoyed again: "Don't! It's really hard to get that exact change, just take it!"
"I refuse."
After being firmly rejected, Chizhao's repayment date was again postponed indefinitely.
Why can't I pay back money even when I have it!!...
Chizhao, who failed to repay the money, slumped powerlessly on the desk, ushering in her first class in this world.
Chizhao sat upright in her seat, listening to Iruka's self-introduction, gradually drifting off.
Recalling Jiraiya's previous test, she was basically certain that she had no Chakra in her body.
So these contents were essentially useless to her, but a theoretical exam was definitely unavoidable.
At least her brain was quite sharp, making these more than manageable.
Bored, she turned her head and saw Naruto already fast asleep on his desk.
Is this... is this the relaxed attitude of a bad student?
Well, in this aspect, she really wasn't as good as Naruto.
Fortunately, the early courses at the Ninja Academy were mostly basic content.
These had already been covered a year ago; under Jiraiya's training, her taijutsu could pretty much dominate a group of elementary school students, making her one of the top students in her grade.
In stark contrast was Naruto beside her, who was useless at everything except being the most enthusiastic eater.
This day happened to be a Shuriken mini-test at the end of the month, and everyone stood in an orderly fashion on the playground, waiting for Iruka to call their names.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Akimichi Choji!"
Hearing his name, Naruto jumped out with full enthusiasm, responding loudly.
"Hey Naruto, do you still remember what we practiced before?"
Chizhao kindly reminded him from the side; for this mini-test, Naruto had proactively asked her for tutoring.
Naruto, who had finally started to understand, as a friend, she would naturally help him as much as she could.
So the two of them entered intensive training mode.
Under Chizhao's patient guidance, Naruto visibly made rapid progress, and she hoped he could perform steadily today.
"Don't worry, Chizhao, I can definitely do it this time."
Naruto walked to his designated spot with confident strides, smiling as he confidently predicted the outcome to Choji, who was beside him.
"Sorry, Choji, I'm definitely going to be ahead of you in this mini-test!"
"You never know..."
The mini-test began!
With Iruka's command, Naruto pulled out a Shuriken, his gaze firm, his arm exerting force, and the Shuriken flew rapidly towards the target.
Choji was not to be outdone, almost swinging his arm in a full circle, flinging his Shuriken out.
Naruto, seeing victory within reach, had already begun to celebrate prematurely.
"How was it, how was it? Did it hit the bullseye?"
Everyone looked at Iruka Sensei in unison, curiously awaiting the results.
Iruka walked towards the wooden stake and cleared his throat.
"Akimichi Choji 6 points, Uzumaki Naruto off-target 0 points."
"What?!" Naruto looked utterly disbelieving.
"What a shame, Naruto, looks like I'm ahead of you this time."
Choji didn't forget to tease him a bit before leaving, and casually opened another bag of potato chips.
Chizhao covered her face with her hand in exasperation, as if she shared in his embarrassment.
"Hmph~ A dead-last is a dead-last after all."
A mocking voice came from the side, and Chizhao looked in its direction to see Sasuke looking disdainfully at Naruto, who was not far away.
Their gazes collided, as if an invisible spark violently rubbed between them.
Then they both huffed in unison, turning their heads away from each other.
"Chizhao, I'm sorry... we even had intensive training... but I..."
Naruto walked dejectedly in front of Chizhao, looking as pitiful as a crying puppy.
Patting Naruto's shoulder, Chizhao gently comforted him:
"It's just a mini-test, what's the big deal? Don't worry about the scores, we're here for the participation."
"Next group of students, um... Shiratori Chichao, Uchiha Sasuke!"
The teacher's voice came, and the girls around became excited, of course, a part of it was because of Uchiha Sasuke.
The atmosphere on the field also became exceptionally lively because of this highly popular contestant.
"It's that Sasuke kid, Chizhao... huh?!"
Naruto turned his head and saw Chizhao with a serious expression, her hair tied up, exuding a powerful fighting spirit.
Seeing Chizhao so serious for the first time, Naruto was momentarily lost in thought.
"Listen carefully, Naruto, this time we must get first place! To knock that guy down a peg!"
Chizhao squeezed her arm, looking determined to win.
Naruto: Didn't we say it was about participation?
