I'm a liar

After the Hokage's speech and that little chat we had, I was feeling pretty good. I'd managed to get the Hokage's attention in a good way and that interaction would be the starting point of my plan to become a good kid with a bright future in his eyes.

Honestly, that moment alone was enough to make my day at the academy worth it. the day was just getting started. Now I was standing in front of my classroom—room 104—ready to officially kick off my shinobi journey.

"Lucky us! We're in the same class, Ken-kun!" Jimei chirped, his voice way too cheerful for my taste.

"Oh, really? That's... great," I said, forcing a polite smile on my face. Not that I planned on sticking around in the same class as Jimei for the rest of my time in the academy.

"Looks like it's just the two of us from the orphanage in this class," he added while we walked in.

And yep, he was right. Apart from me and Jimei, there was no one else from the orphanage here. I knew there were other classes for newbies, but what really caught my attention was that most of the clan kids I'd spotted during the opening ceremony were in this room.

'Huh… Interesting. Coincidence? Nah. This has to be on purpose. But how do they decide who goes where?'

We didn't wait long before a tall guy with spiky hair and a chunin vest strolled into the room. Seriously, what's this thing in this world and gravity-defying hair? He didn't even look like he used a hairspray.

No, really. These guys should do an Elphaba's cosplay and sing a version of Defying Gravity with those hairs.

I wondered to myself as I sat next to Jimei in one of the seats in the middle of the room.

"Hello! My name is Takahashi Bekkou! I'll be your instructor here at the academy. I'm excited to see so many promising shinobi in this room, and I'm sure you'll make the village proud." he said with way too much confidence in his voice. "Before explaining how the classes will work, I'd like everyone to introduce yourselves and share your dreams."

When he finished speaking, He gestured to a girl in the front row to start introducing herself.

To be honest, I zoned out pretty quickly. None of the kids in this room were familiar faces from the anime, so I figured they weren't worth my attention. Even poor Jimei, sitting next to me, was probably just a background character in the grand scheme of things.

I wasn't planning on making friends here. If my plan worked, I'd be out of this classroom in a year, ready to graduate. Even the teacher—this Bekkou guy—didn't exactly scream "legendary mentor material."

Then it was Jimei's turn. He stood up and spoke with his cheeks red from embarrassment. "I'm Kuroda Jimei… I'm 7 years old… My dream is to become a ninja as strong as the Second Hokage!"

I almost choked on my own laughter but managed to cover it with a cough. Poor kid. A dream that big was admirable, sure, but honestly? He'd be lucky to end up as strong as that random ninja who teaches Konohamaru in the future. His name was Ebisu? I don't know. Whatever. "As strong as the Second Hokage" – now that was a good joke.

Nobody else seemed to find it funny, though. Sensei Bekkou just nodded like it was a totally reasonable goal. When Jimei sat down, I realized it was my turn to step into the spotlight. Showtime.

I stood up and took a big breath before speaking. 

"My name's Hoshino Kenshin. I'm 6 years old. My dream is to become Hokage." I poured as much confidence as I could into that line, because, hey, fake it till you make it, right?

Every time I said it, the lie rolled off my tongue a little smoother. I once read that the key to selling a lie is to repeat it so much that even you start to believe it. Not that I ever really planned on becoming Hokage. Nope. My goal was to be stronger than any Hokage.

I sat back down, mentally patting myself on the back for a solid performance, and waited for the rest of the intros to finish. 

Spoiler alert: the other kids were interesting like drying paint.

Once the introductions were finally over, Sensei Bekkou clapped his hands for catch the attention of class.

"Alright, listen up! For the first two years here, we'll focus on the basics. In the mornings, you'll have theoretical classes—reading, writing, world geography, and other essential knowledge for ninjas."

"During these first two years at the academy, we'll focus on what we call the basics. In the mornings, you'll have theoretical classes where we'll work on your reading, writing, world geography, and other essential theoretical knowledge for ninjas," Sensei Bekkou explained.

Makes sense, I guess. From what I remembered, Sakura had been the top of her class in this stuff back in the anime. Not that this knowledge stopped me from groaning internally. Reading and writing in this world's bonkers writing system? Hard pass.

"After the morning classes, we'll have a one-hour lunch break, followed by afternoon classes focused on physical training. We'll have mid-year evaluations and a final exam at the end of the year. If you fail the final exam, you'll have to repeat the year," Sensei Bekkou said.

That last part made a few kids visibly nervous, but not me. I'd be spending most of my day here, which was a mixed bag. On the plus side, I'd get proper shinobi training. On the downside, I'd only have weekends to train on my own, and unlike the clan kids, I didn't have anyone to mentor me outside of school.

'Looks like I'll have to get creative with my schedule. If those mid-year evaluations and final exams are key to graduating early, I need to crush them.'

"Alright, let's kick start with some reading!" Sensei Bekkou said, writing the symbol 日 on the blackboard. "This symbol can mean 'sun' or 'day.' Can anyone explain how to tell the difference when the writing is the same?"

And so, the grind began.