Cry 10 (So tempting)

“As the Second Hokage was ambushed by the Gold and Silver brothers, one of his students volunteered to stay back and hold back the two assassins, but the Second Hokage sent him away. Telling him that it’s not his place to sacrifice himself for the future. That is a weight that should be shouldered by the older generation. This is a lesson that stuck with that student to this very day. That Student was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.” The Teacher spoke out the history of the village with a rather excited tone.

Clearly, they were more than happy to share the sordid history of their village. They took a genuine interest in the tales that made up history and shared the lessons those tales taught us. They honestly had a flair for story telling that really fit well with teaching but the subject just bored him.

Shikamaru took a look around at the rest of the kids, and it was clear that they were really excited to hear this story. Again, he wanted to sigh at the genuine enthusiasm of the kids and the Teacher himself.

Maybe it’s because he had such a high WIS stat, but all he can see in this story is more blatant manipulation. Building the thought in our heads that sacrifice was just another aspect of being a ninja. That there is glory in that. Beyond that, it elevated the current Hokage’s image in the young minds around here as he clearly wanted to sacrifice himself for his Sensei.

This story, directly after the speech Hiruzen did outside, really showed you the manipulation that was going to be thrown at him every day. Again this sucked, but he was just going to have to deal with this.

He kind of ignored the lectures about history as he laid his head on his desk and thought about things. He knew more about the history of this world than anyone else alive. Tales of the Moon Goddess and her sons, the fateful battle between the sons of the Sage that spanned generations. The real history of this world and how it came to be.

While the lessons the teacher taught might have tidbits here and there that he might find interesting, he could just not take this. The praises for the Third Hokage seemed to be going on and on, and it just sounded fake to him.

He heard a light giggle beside him and turned his head slowly to look at the person who did so. Ino was looking at him with a smile on her face as she watched him.

“What’s so funny?” He asked with some confusion as he looked over at her. Her eyes glinted as she smiled a bit more at him.

“It’s been so long since I saw you like this. It’s nice seeing Shika just relax for once.” She spoke out with that infectious smile on her face. He blinked at her words and gave her a wry smile in return. He did not really think about it, but his ignoring the Teacher and resting his head on the desk really was something Shikamaru would do.

“I don’t know if I should be happy with that or not? You are just straight up calling me lazy right?” He asked with a grin as he teased his friend who giggled back at him.

“You are going to get in trouble if you keep this up.” A girl in front of us spoke out with a glare on her face as she was clearly irritated at the distraction. Ino puffed up her cheeks but said nothing as we were in the wrong. He just shrugged at the girl as he was not going to change his actions.

He did inspect the likely snitch that would ruin future disruptions. As expected, it was someone he recognized and someone with a goodie-two-shoes record. Sakura was glaring at both of them, but he could see that she was mustering all the courage she had to do it. She was not the loud and brash girl who would butt heads with Ino at the most minor issues. At least not yet.

She was a shy girl with insecurities about her forehead. Someone who did not want to draw attention to herself if she could help it.

Still, while that was true she still had her boiling points. She was someone who was really invested in learning, and we were creating an environment that disturbed her. So, she was going to take a stand.

She let out a huff and got back to paying attention, ignoring both of us. She may not like him lazing about as he was, but as long as he was quiet, it would not be too irritating to her.

Honestly, if she did report him for sleeping in class, all she would end up doing was earn some ire from the Teacher. The lecturer was a Chunin. Of course, the guy knew he was ignoring him. He would have to be a pretty lousy ninja if he missed something so obvious. Shikamaru could see that the guy was gritting his teeth whenever his gaze passed over Shikamaru’s frame, but he said nothing.

If Sakura had reported Shikamaru, then the Teacher would have been forced to do something about it, and that was the last thing the guy wanted.

The Nara Clan had a reputation for constantly pulling off moves like this. Shikamaru was just another tally on that mark, and he was the assigned heir, so he got way more slack than the average Nara. Not everyone could be as noble as Iruka in their intentions to teach. Some of them transferred here because the work was easy and they did not have to risk their lives. This means that messing around with the Clans was the last thing on their minds.

This was another fault against the Academy, but it was one he was more than willing to take advantage of. So he got back to resting his head on the desk and ignoring the Teacher as he ran calculations in his head.

He needed to grind INT eventually, and while going through calculation over and over again would be maddening, it was better than listening to this drivel.

So that was his experience for the next hour. Sometimes, he would chat with Choji and Ino when it was getting too much, but Sakura would always rain on their parade. Choji and Ino were also too nice to mess around in class like he was, but they were getting bored with the lecture.

You could only hear about how great the third Hokage was for so long before it all sounded the same after all. Thankfully, the lecture was coming to an end, and they moved on to a different lesson. Unfortunately, it was freaking math class, so the past hour of complex equations in his head was going to be replaced with even more equations.

Life is pain. If Nagato wanted to unite the world through that belief, he should switch careers to a math teacher, as being a terrorist clearly was not going to work out for him. If one guy can talk you into killing yourself to revive the people you just killed, then clearly, you don’t have the spine to terrorize the whole world.

He looked over the sheet he was given and wanted to bash his head into the desk. He did not know what he was expecting, but the lecture for this math class was pretty basic, only barely touching upon higher concepts. It made sense as the whole course was meant to teach the building blocks you needed later on.

Ironically, math was actually a vital skill for a Ninja. They had to learn to perform calculations on yield and the required distance to kill a target on the fly. You could guesstimate, but that made a terrible Ninja. 

He finished up his sheet and got back to making calculations in his head. It appeared that this was going to be an ongoing circus from now on. God, graduating early might be worth the risk of Danzo kidnapping him and enslaving him.

Was mind control and years of torture really all that different from what the Academy was going to inflict on him? He took a look at Ino and Choji, who were working on their sheet without any of the frustration he was dealing with, and let out a sigh. Right, he said he was going to look at the bright side of this and not worry about the frustration that came with it.

The two kids filled out the papers with ease, but simple math like this was taught to us pretty early. He took a cursory glance at that corner again with Naruto, and it looked like the Sunny boy was starting to get frustrated.

It was one thing for no one to approach him and make friends with him, as the kid was already used to that. Being bombarded with information he had no ability to work on was another. The kid was basically isolated from anyone, so it would be shocking if he even knew how to read, let alone do equations.

It was not like he could get help from the Teacher as they had been actively ignoring him, and the students around him were doing the same. So Naruto was just left to stew in his sour emotions and self-loathing as he could not do something everyone else could.

The scenario of Nartuo’s life is rather cruel, but he is the protagonist.

Again, he should probably do something about that to take away from the brewing bomb in that boy, but that could not happen now. At the very least, he was going to wait for the blonde to approach him as the first move. As a Clan heir, he had some leeway with talking and hanging out with Naruto, but actively going to him was a no-go.

Hell, looking at him like he was doing was probably a bit too much, so he focused back on his calculations. Thankfully, he was greeted with an increase in INT, so the frustration he felt from the nonstop calculations was alleviated for a moment.

Then it was back to mind-numbing calculations, but at least he had something to show for it. Thankfully, the math class was finished quickly as well, and they were finally doing something that was not completely and utterly boring.

Running laps. Honestly, if he was not looking forward to working on his Running skills, this would be just as mind-numbing, but since he had that, it worked out well. He could also take the time to cast Observe on the student running with him to grind on the skill even if a single cast took up his whole mana bar now from its levels.

Thank god for his ridiculous Mana Recovery.

“Hey! You are not too shabby, but I’m going to be the best Ninja here!” Kiba shouted at him as the boy ran alongside him. He looked over at the brash, wolfish boy with a flat look and just increased his speed.

The kid seemed to take that as a challenge as he increased his speed to catch up.

He gave the kid a nod as he kept up with him, even if he looked like he was struggling a bit. Maybe he should not have looked down on Kiba so much for his lackluster technique. Maybe beastification is a good tree to go down. Whatever, that choice had already been made, and he was more than fine with Shadow Manipulation.

It was not like he was going all out. Kiba was also not the only one who could keep up. Naruto, for one, was running at the head of the pack, puffing up his chest, clearly happy that he was doing well at something. Naruto may be malnourished from his diet, but the kid had the Sage Body from being the current Asura reincarnation. He also had a massive boost to his physical stats from the abundant amount of Chakra running through his body. 

The final one keeping up was Sasuke. The kid did not have the same advantages, but he had different ones. Training from a clan with abundant resources and guidance from the strongest ninjas in the village. Choji made a surprising showing, considering his weight, but he could not keep up with the three powerhouses.

Still, while those three were doing well, it was clear who was upfront. The Gamer really is a monstrous tool, even if he did not focus on physical training. The running skill also showed off as that percent boost was stunning.

As the laps got called off after a certain amount of time, he got another achievement.

[Achievement gained Leader Of The Pack I.]

He took a look at that one, and he gained it by beating a member of the Inuzuka Clan at a race. It was at the lowest tier as he only beat an academy-level kid, but even just that offered another 5% increase in running speed.

He was going to have to find a Genin to race against eventually. Having percent boosts on something like speed was always welcome. It made him wonder if the other clans offered similar achievements, like beating an Akimichi member at an eating contest or outsmarting a Nara member.

He frowned as he should have gotten an achievement for beating his pops at Shogi sometimes, but maybe he was not taking those matches seriously. He should try to find a younger member of the Clan and challenge them to a game. He just wanted to check if he could get a tiered Achievement.

He was also going to have to brainstorm what Clans offered which achievements. Most of them had specializations that were rather clear after all.

He thought that over as the Teacher arranged for the next activity, which was throwing kunai and shuriken. Again, it was pretty boring as he had been trained to do this already, and his skill level was more than fine to ace this test.

So he absently threw his weapons without really thinking about it. He wanted to concentrate on getting more achievements, but he was startled when the screen popped up as the final Kunai sank in.

[Achievement gained These Eyes Of Mine Can Do It To I]

He looked blankly at it before he checked what it was about. When he finished, he felt like face-palming. He gained it for beating Sasuke at Shurikenjutsu, more accurately, for beating a member of the Uchiha at it.

He kind of forgot about it, considering Sharigan users become Gundam pilots later on, but Shurikenjutsu was considering their specialty as their eyes could predict incredibly complex patterns.

He looked over at the potential Gundam pilot as he sulked about not acing this test. Sasuke had his pride, and Shikamaru was running all over it today. Beating him at a race and now defeating him in the one thing his brother taught him.

The little avenger in the making was throwing a glare his way as he saw him as a rival that he needed to defeat to get his brother’s attention. Stupid bro-cons, the Uchiha really were an odd bunch.

Shame they were going to be slaughtered. He wanted to increase the tier of his Achievement, even if the only bonus was a percentage boost in accuracy with thrown weapons.

He could challenge some of the Uchiha to Shurikenjustu to up his Achievement, but his current skills were lacking. He barely beat Sasuke, and the kid did not have a Sharigan. The problem was he did not have the time to grind out his Shurikenjustu, as they were going to be killed sooner rather than later.

Shurikenjustu was also not worth that much in the long haul. Maybe he should just challenge Itachi to a match later on, but that was years away, and he wanted to upgrade his stuff now.

[Quest gained Order 66 needs to be canceled!]

He blinked at the sudden Quest and looked it over before a sour look flashed across his face. It was a quest to stop the Uchiha massacre. The rewards were frankly insane, with the Sharingan skill being given to him as a base and the form being upgraded depending on how well he accomplished the mission. 

He felt like throwing a tantrum as he knew this mission was nearly impossible. The high-level member of the village had already made their decision, and no matter how fast he grew, pulling something like this off would be a freaking miracle. The problem was the rewards were so goddamn tempting.

Who did not want to pose and have their Sharingan activated? How could he call himself a Weeb if he gave up something like this!?

He bit his lip and accepted the thing for now, as there was no penalty for failure, and there might be a chance. It would be the longest shot in history, but if he could pull it off, it would be well worth the price he had to pay. It was not like he had anything really major at stake. Suppose he lost his life here. That was not a problem. He had more lives in the barrel, and he could claim more of them if he spent a massive chunk of change.

Sure, he promised himself not to risk his life needlessly, but this was worth the effort.

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Okay Chat next up, should be a 4k chapter tmrw that or two chapters.