I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 22 Paid Courses for the Second Semester

"Hey~ Top students."

Upon arriving at the Konoha Ninja Academy, Tatsuma heard a strange, sarcastic voice, while Minato, who arrived a step later, also looked puzzled.

Looking towards the source of the voice, the two saw Shikaku with Choza and Inoichi, looking at them with a mocking smile. The sarcastic voice belonged to Shikaku. Seeing that the two had noticed him, Shikaku spoke again:

"The only student in the history of the Ninja Academy to be ranked first in a row, shouldn't you treat me, this stepping stone, to a meal?"

Before Tatsuma and Minato could react, Choza, who was eating potato chips, suddenly raised his hand high and said, "Me! Me too! I'll be a stepping stone too!"

"."

Everyone fell silent, especially Shikaku. He had just been joking about himself, saying he was a stepping stone, but Choji made it sound quite glorious.

Fortunately, Shikaku and Inoichi grew up with Choza and knew about the Akimichi family's obsession with food. In fact, many people in and around the village believed that the "ino" in Konoha's Ino-Shika-Cho trio was from the Akimichi clan.

"Top student, huh? Not bad, Minato. Looks like you haven't lost to me after all."

Tatsuma patted Minato on the shoulder with a smile. In the test before the holiday, he and Minato performed about the same in the actual combat test. It's just that Tatsuma was more eager to win and defeated Minato by TKO while carrying Senbon.

Furthermore, Tatsuma and Shikaku's performance in the first round, which was practically a bye, would indeed have lowered his score. Therefore, it is normal for Tatsuma to have the same score even though he won all three matches and Minato won two out of three.

However, this caused their match to ultimately fall through. Tatsuma wasn't upset about not getting the talent cap reward this time. Minato's performance was indeed good and deserved the top student's rating.

Not to mention that after the test, Minato even begged Tsunade to heal him. Without Tsunade's medical ninjutsu, Tatsuma felt that at least half of his vacation would have been wasted.

Minato was initially worried that Tatsuma, with his overly strong competitive spirit, would find it difficult to accept, but seeing him still smiling, he felt even more convinced of Tatsuma's abilities and said:

"Then I'll treat everyone to ramen tonight, but only a few of us, I don't have much money."

"Yay!"

Tatsuma suddenly blended into the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, applauding Namikaze Prince's magnanimity.

The first day of the new semester was very relaxing. Sarutobi Akiura happily announced the grades. Everyone's performance last semester satisfied Sarutobi Akiura, especially Tatsuma and Minato.

It was he who made the decision to admit these two commoner students into the first class, and he even eliminated a child from the Shimura clan for this purpose. He was originally worried that these two students might blend into the crowd after enrolling.

But a genius is a genius after all. Tatsuma and Minato lived up to his expectations, becoming the top students of the first year at the Ninja Academy and even gaining the attention of the Third Hokage and Jiraiya.

Sarutobi Awaura praised the two of them for a long time. Even though Tatsuma had lived two lives, he blushed with embarrassment, not from excitement, but from shame. After all, they were only so good at this, yet they were praised in such a fancy way.

Sure enough, Chenma still has a lot to learn when it comes to praising others. Otherwise, he'll just keep saying "You're so worthy of me" over and over again, making himself seem like an illiterate.

However, not everyone pleased Sarutobi Kazuura. After praising them, he also criticized a very few students from families of shadow magic without naming them.

There are also a very few descendants of the Hokage's strategist, and the son of a Konoha Jonin squad leader. This unknown classmate is undisciplined, unmotivated, disruptive in class, and a bad influence on other students.

In response, Nara Shikaku, who comes from a family of strategists, said he had no idea who Sarutobi Awaura was talking about, and was even wondering if there was such a student in his class.

After a long and detailed explanation, Sarutobi Awaura finally finished summarizing the previous semester, just as the morning classes were about to end.

The three members of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio went home and told their parents they wouldn't be home for dinner that night. Tatsuma and Minato, on the other hand, stayed at the Ninja Academy eating their bento boxes. This was a major reason why Minato only treated everyone to dinner in the evening.

During the midday break, Tatsuma took the time to play shogi with Minato. He didn't engage in any physical activities. Moreover, Tatsuma urgently needed to improve his shogi skills, otherwise it would be difficult for him to get anything out of Shikaku Shigehisa in the future.

The only game that Shikaku is interested in is shogi, and he is quite good at it. Tatsuma can only win one or two out of ten games, but this is the best way for Tatsuma to increase his aptitude limit.

Because Shikaku never loses any other talents, the only one he loses is his virtue.

When they returned in the afternoon, Sarutobi Akiura began to introduce the content of the second semester, which was similar to what Tatsuma had learned before. They needed to learn two E-rank ninjutsu: the Escape Technique and the Cloak Invisibility Technique.

Moreover, both of these ninjutsu techniques require money.

Of course, it's not tuition, but rather the tools needed in the process of learning ninjutsu, such as ropes, potions, and small steel cables that can be sewn into sleeves for escape techniques.

The art of concealing oneself with a straw raincoat is more like a craft class, where you need to purchase the tools and materials yourself.

When they heard the news, everyone else seemed indifferent, but Tatsuma and Minato were in a dilemma. After all, they were the only two orphans in the class, and their families didn't have much money.

However, when Sarutobi Akiura distributed the purchase list, both of them breathed a sigh of relief, because the items were not particularly expensive, and the price was exactly the same as the New Year's money that Sarutobi Hiruzen had sent with his New Year's greeting.

In other words, the village had already prepared the money for them to purchase these things. Tatsuma and Minato, who had fixed spending standards, were relieved, but there might be some people in the school who didn't know how to control their spending.

However, these were not things the two children should care about; they were just glad they hadn't spent their New Year's money recklessly.

After distributing the purchase list and teaching materials, Sarutobi Akiura briefly talked about the semester's arrangements before leaving the classroom, giving everyone time to study on their own.

Of course, no one was actually studying. The children, still suffering from holiday syndrome, were chatting excitedly about the interesting things that happened during the New Year, while Lu Jiu was looking at chess scores.

Minato was the only one who was actually studying diligently. Even Tatsuma was daydreaming, like trying to trick Shikaku into playing chess with him by bringing up the board games he knew from his past life.

Tatsuma is only a novice at shogi, but in Gomoku (Five in a Row), he was the Go master of his neighborhood in his previous life; none of the boys, girls, or grandparents could beat him.

As they were thinking, the bell rang, and the three members of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio blocked the two ends of Tatsuma and Minato's row of seats with ill intentions, as if they were afraid that they would run away.

Minato, being an honest and trustworthy boy, actually took the group out for ramen. Shikaku and Inoichi didn't stand on ceremony and ordered the most expensive ramen with extra toppings, while Choza ordered five bowls.

But Minato kept smiling, after all, he could still afford it. When they finished eating and were about to pay the bill, both Tatsuma and Ino-Shika-Cho consciously took out their wallets.

"Um, wasn't it supposed to be me who invited you?"

Minato, who was taking out his wallet, paused for a moment. Shikaku shook his head and said, "If my mom finds out I cheated my classmates out of money, she'll beat me to death. Please spare me."

As he spoke, Shikaku was the first to hand the money to the shopkeeper. Minato was stunned. When it was his turn, he was the only one who needed to pay.

On the way home, Tatsuma looked at Minato, who was still somewhat puzzled, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Unlike us, they never lack the money for a bowl of ramen. They just want to use this method to get closer to us."

"is that so?"

(End of this chapter)