18 third year 3

A few months had passed, and Satoru found himself in the middle of a medical ninjutsu class. The room was filled with diagrams and notes about human anatomy, but Satoru's attention was far from the lesson.

His gaze kept drifting to Keiko, who was sitting next to another boy. She was talking to him with a smile, and it twisted something inside Satoru.

His hands clenched into fists under the table, and he couldn't focus on anything else.

The boy noticed Satoru's stare and, with a smirk, shifted closer to Keiko. The move was subtle, but it felt like a challenge—a direct taunt.

Satoru's mind raced, filled with thoughts of how easily he could ruin that boy's career if he wanted to.

'Just one well-timed incident in training…' he mused darkly, but before his thoughts could go any further, the boy sitting next to him nudged him, interrupting for the umpteenth time.

The boy beside Satoru had zero interest in the class itself.

He was only there to sit close to his crush, endlessly chatting and pestering Satoru with meaningless comments. It was getting annoying, and Satoru's patience was wearing thin.

Mitsuki-sensei seemed to notice the disruption from across the room. Her sharp eyes moved between the two boys, and she suddenly called out to the boy sitting beside Satoru.

"You! Move to the front. Keiko, take his seat," she ordered.

Satoru was caught off guard as the boy reluctantly stood and moved to the front of the class. Keiko glanced over, briefly surprised, but obeyed, walking over to sit next to Satoru.

His heart skipped a beat as she took the seat beside him. He tried to keep a neutral expression, but it was impossible to ignore the way the air seemed to shift with her so close.

Mitsuki-sensei, always perceptive, gave Satoru a quick nod from the front of the room. The look in her eyes was almost teasing, as if silently saying, 'Go get 'em, tiger!'

Satoru, unsure how to act, could feel the tension. He took a deep breath and opened his notebook, trying to appear more focused on the lesson, though his mind was still racing.

The trio sat in the playground of the orphanage, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows. Dai stretched his arms above his head, groaning, "Man, everything is so expensive nowadays. Our allowance feels like pocket change!"

Tatsuo shrugged, "Why don't you just do some odd jobs? You can make decent money if you're willing to put in the time."

Satoru nodded in agreement as Tatsuo pulled out his wallet, flashing the thousands of yen he had saved up. "See? This is from just a few weeks of work."

Dai's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? Tatsuo, you're the richest kid in the orphanage! How'd you save that much?"

Tatsuo chuckled, but then turned to Satoru. "Well, I'm nothing compared to this guy. Satoru has way more than I do."

Dai, curiosity piqued, turned to Satoru. "Wait, how much?"Satoru stood up, gesturing for them to follow. "Come with me."

The boys followed him to his room, where Satoru pulled out a storage scroll and unsealed it, revealing a massive pile of cash.

Dai's jaw nearly dropped. "What the—! That's... That's like 40 to 50 thousand yen!"

Tatsuo, equally shocked, raised an eyebrow. "You selling drugs or something?"

Satoru snickered, "Nah, I stopped doing that a long time ago. It's hard to hide from the police. Now, I just use shadow clones to earn money during the day."

Tatsuo, still reeling from the sight of all that cash, asked, "Wait... How do you even know how to perform a B-rank jutsu like that?"

Satoru leaned back casually, grinning. "Keiko taught me."

Dai shook his head in disbelief. "Man, I need to step up my game. We're over here scraping by while you're living like a king!"

Tatsuo folded his arms. "So, what's your plan with all that money?"

Satoru looked thoughtful for a moment. "Haven't decided yet. But maybe… a house?"

In the classroom, the kids were all talking, mostly complaining. One girl spoke up, her voice filled with frustration.

"I used to make so much money helping out at the park. But now, every time I go, there's no trash to clean, no overgrown weeds to pull. I can't even buy my favorite snacks anymore!"

Another boy nodded in agreement, adding his own story. "Yeah, I used to get some good money hepling at a salon too, but now no one needs help. It's like all the work just disappeared."

Satoru was sitting next to Tatsuo, who gave him a sideways glance. "You're the menace behind all this, aren't you?"

Satoru smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Menace? Nah, I'm a hero. You should be praising me for my noble deed of stealing everyone's jobs."

Tatsuo snorted. "How many clones are you making to pull that off?"

Satoru hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "Just one. I don't have that much chakra, but I'm efficient with it. I can replicate the performance of tools using chakra alone."

Tatsuo raised an eyebrow. "Tools? How do you even do that?"

Satoru grinned. "Like this—imagine making a thin rope out of chakra. Then vibrate it fast enough, and it acts like a saw. Or, I can pour chakra into a woman's hair and straighten it, just like a heat straightener."

Tatsuo blinked, surprised. "You're telling me you can do that?"

"Yep," Satoru replied, proud of himself. "One clone does all the work, and I make money while sitting around."

Tatsuo shook his head, both impressed and amused. "Still sounds like a menace to me."

Satoru laughed. "A hero, Tatsuo. A hero."

Tatsuo leaned in, intrigued. "Your clone isn't omnipresent, though. Why's everyone complaining? You can't be everywhere at once. Why don't they just hire people when you're busy?"

Satoru sighed, rubbing his temples. "It's not about being everywhere. I do such a good job at a cheap rate that people think everyone else is doing a terrible job for way more money. So instead of hiring others, they just wait for me to deal with their problems."

Tatsuo chuckled. "Wait, so how many people are just sitting around waiting for you to show up? And why don't you just increase your rate?"

Satoru smirked. "I did, actually. First, I got everyone hooked on my work at a dirt-cheap rate. Then I introduced a membership deal to a select few households and local companies.

You should've seen it—hundreds of people fighting just to get me on their payroll. They paid me ten times my original rate to ensure I'd work for them."

Tatsuo's eyes widened. "Wait, wait. You're telling me people are paying you tenfold just to make sure you do their chores? I remember two months ago, you had what, like 50k yen saved up?"

"Yeah," Satoru nodded. "But now? I have to buy storage scrolls just to keep all the money. It's getting out of hand."

Tsume, who had been walking by, overheard the conversation. Her eyes went wide with shock. "You have more than 50k just from working? How on earth did you get people to hire you like that?"

Satoru opened his mouth to downplay it, but Tatsuo had other plans. He stood up, making sure the teacher wasn't around yet.

"HE IS A TRAITOR!" Tatsuo shouted, his voice echoing through the classroom. "A MENACE! He's been stealing our jobs and SWINDLING our nation's citizens. His actions made the citizens of this proud village lose FAITH in us!"

Satoru felt the betrayal hit him like a punch to the gut. "You... I trusted you."

Tatsuo gave him a sly grin. "Nothing personal, kid, but you're not the honoured one."

Satoru glanced around, seeing the agitation spread through the room. The kids were stirring, glaring at him, their resentment boiling over.

Then, out of nowhere, Sakumo jumped up onto his desk, raising his fist in the air with a battle cry.

"ARISE, MY FELLOW SOLDIERS! We must end this villain's reign and restore the faith of the common people! CHARGE, my soldiers! Charge and vanquish this menace before us!"

All hell broke loose. Satoru bolted from his seat, his legs moving before his brain could process what was happening.

The entire class erupted into chaos, chasing after him as he sprinted toward the door, desperate to escape the mob of angry kids.

"Why is this happening?!" Satoru thought as he ran, dodging a thrown pencil. He could hear Sakumo shouting behind him, leading the charge, and Tatsuo laughing hysterically from the back.

Satoru darted down the hallway, praying for a miracle.

Satoru kept running, his heart pounding in his chest as he darted through the hallways. He could still hear the mob behind him, shouting all sorts of things.

Words like "thief" and "menace" echoed in his mind, along with their angry cries for revenge.

'They actually want to hurt me for taking their jobs!' he thought, ducking behind a corner. 'This went way too far, and fast.'

In a flash, Satoru performed the transformation jutsu, changing his appearance and blending into a nearby crowd.

He stood there, watching the furious kids run past, their faces twisted in anger.

"Where is he?" one girl shouted. "He needs to pay for what he's done!"

Satoru couldn't help but shake his head, thinking, 'Is this what people mean when they say children are the purest form of evil?'

Amid the chaos, even Sakumo's expression shifted from enthusiastic to concerned. Satoru saw his friend frown slightly, hanging back from the rest.

'These guys are actually trying to beat me up. It was supposed to be a joke,' Sakumo thought, glancing at the pack of enraged classmates.

Satoru, now out of sight, leaned against a wall and started to calm down. 'Wait a minute… why am I running from them? I've trained harder than most of them. They don't have my level of cunning or skill.

As long as Sakumo doesn't jump in, I can take them all—except maybe Tsume. She's a different beast,' he mused.

Then, a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts. It was the girl from earlier—the one who had been shocked by his pile of cash. She spotted him through his disguise, eyes locked on him, determined and furious.

"That money is mine!" she shouted, pulling out a kunai as she stormed toward him.

Satoru didn't flinch. Instead, he smirked, pulling out a small bundle of cash from his pocket and holding it up, taunting her. "You want it? Come and get it," he said, his tone almost daring her to act.

Her eyes widened, then narrowed as she took a few more steps toward him, ready to strike.

But before she could lunge, Satoru did something unexpected. With a smile, he lit the bundle of cash on fire, the flames licking at the notes as they crackled and burned in his hand.

"If you want the money so badly, you'll have to get used to being poor," he sneered, throwing the flaming bundle into the crowd of classmates chasing him.

The children stared in horror, their eyes widening as they saw the burning pile of money.

All the hard work, the money—set ablaze by Satoru as if it meant nothing. A few brave souls lunged forward, trying desperately to grab whatever unburnt notes they could, slapping out flames and fighting over the remaining bits.

The chaos that ensued was almost comical, with kids shoving each other aside for singed bills. Satoru watched with a calm detachment, though he couldn't help but smirk at the spectacle. 'Desperation really brings out the worst in people,' he thought.

Tsume, however, wasn't amused. She marched toward him, her eyes burning with fury. "What the hell do you get by doing this, Satoru?" she demanded, fists clenched.

Satoru didn't answer right away. His gaze flickered toward Sakumo, who simply gave a lazy wave before disappearing from sight.

Tsume grit her teeth, realizing she'd have to handle this on her own. "I'm not letting you off this time. You're going to pay for everything," she growled, stepping closer.

Satoru raised an eyebrow, his voice mocking. "Oh yeah? What're you gonna do if I get away again?"

That was it. Tsume snapped. With a scream, she dashed toward him, ready to pummel him into the ground. But just as she was about to reach him, she tripped, her foot catching on something invisible, and fell flat on her face, skidding to a stop right at Satoru's feet.

Satoru looked down at her with a mocking grin. "How sad," he said before raising his foot and stomping on the back of her head, knocking her out cold.

The crowd gasped, their attention shifting from the fight over the money to Satoru standing victoriously over Tsume.

Before they could react, Satoru pulled out another bundle of cash, holding it up for everyone to see. The crowd fell silent, watching him warily.

"If you're all so desperate for money, I'm more than willing to give this too," Satoru taunted with a lighter in his hand, smirking at the mixture of rage and fear in their eyes.

One of the kids hesitated, then asked, "How do we divide that between ourselves?"

Satoru's smirk deepened as he said, "Simple. The strongest gets it all."

The room tensed up. For a moment, no one moved. Then, like a spark igniting dry leaves, the entire crowd erupted into chaos once more, kids lunging at each other, fighting tooth and nail for the promise of money.

Satoru watched, satisfied, as they tore into one another, the scene unfolding just as he had planned.