Konoha: Starting with a sign-in for Hashirama cells

"Really?" Naruto.

"Really." Shikamaru.

To convince Naruto and make him give up, thus saving himself trouble, Shikamaru rushed to the teachers' office and found Naruto's ranking list from the past year.

"See, I didn't lie to you," Shikamaru said.

Naruto looked at each one one by one and saw that each time it was just barely passing, not a point more or less, and he twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Hehe, you really didn't lie to me."

Chapter 11 Future In-Laws

Shikamaru is unreliable.

Kiba and Choji did a bit better than Shikamaru, but Shikamaru intentionally controlled his scores, while these two just performed normally.

Hinata's skill level is above average, and she's more than capable of tutoring me, but relying on her tutoring to advance to the top three is impossible.

Naruto's gaze fell on the top of the rankings.

First and foremost, it's always Sakura.

Second and third are Sasuke and Shino.

Unstable.

The scores were very close; sometimes Sasuke came in second, and sometimes it was Shino's turn.

Sakura's top spot is unshakeable; she either gets a perfect score or just one or two points away from it, making her a true academic star.

Naruto rubbed his chin: "If we ask Sasuke for tutoring, in the end, it'll probably be Sasuke, Shino, and me competing for second and third place. That's not a good idea."

"Besides, Sasuke is busy training to improve his combat skills and studying to expand his knowledge base, so he probably won't have time to tutor me."

After thinking it over, I decided to bother Sakura.

We'll be classmates in the future, and we might even become in-laws or close relatives. That way, I won't feel guilty when things get complicated.

During the first period in the afternoon, Naruto wrote a note and secretly handed it to Sakura, his deskmate on his left.

Sakura, who was listening attentively to the lesson, glanced sideways at Naruto, who was poking her arm and winking at her: "Teacher, Naruto is affecting my studies."

On the podium, the Chunin teacher, holding a textbook, glanced at Naruto, pointed to the classroom door, and said indifferently, "Go out and stand as punishment."

Naruto was stunned. He wanted to say something, but couldn't. Under everyone's gaze, he walked out of the classroom and stood there blankly.

Sasuke gently tapped the table: "There."

Surprised that Sasuke was talking to her, Sakura was overjoyed and turned to look at him: "Sasuke-kun, what did you say?"

Sasuke stared at the textbook in front of him, holding a pen in his left hand and taking notes in the blank space, while his free right hand pointed to Sakura's drawer.

Sakura looked in the direction of the paper and saw a small crumpled piece of paper.

"Could it be... Sasuke?!"

Thinking that it might be Sasuke's doing, Sakura was so happy she didn't know what to say. Her hands trembled as she secretly unfolded the crumpled paper, careful not to be discovered by the teacher.

"Have things progressed between you and Sasuke? If not, I can help you."

Sakura was disappointed; it wasn't Sasuke.

"You're a liar. You promised to help me, but after having a meal at my house, you never spoke to me again. If I trust you again, I'm a dog."

Sakura scoffed at Naruto's suggestion that it could bring her and Sasuke together. She was no longer the clueless newbie she was when she first enrolled.

I learned a lot of rumors about Naruto.

What kind of monster is he? Annoying, mischievous, orphaned, with no parents, no friends, no family, and even struggling to go shopping.

What can someone with such terrible interpersonal relationships and reputation do to bring her and Sasuke together?

After school, Naruto climbed over the wall and left the ninja academy, walking home through an empty alley.

On the way, I pondered a solution.

If Sakura can't do it, then she'll have to go find Sasuke or Shino.

The first year is the hardest. You need to make up for the year you fell behind as soon as possible. After that, if you catch up with everyone else, you will be able to learn on your own.

"Mathematics isn't a problem because I have a foundation from a previous life. What I really need to work on is history and culture, code deciphering, and..."

With a loud bang, Naruto instinctively turned around and saw an empty can rolling on the ground, and a petite figure hurriedly hiding behind a telephone pole.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked in surprise.

Knowing she couldn't hide it any longer, Sakura was secretly annoyed. She walked out with a stern face and said, "Why do you choose to take this dark and gloomy path instead of the main road? You're quite strange."

“I’m used to it. But you’re the one who’s been following me?” Naruto said.

“Following? Don’t make it sound so mysterious. This road isn’t yours to keep. I can go wherever I want,” Sakura said.

“Oh, well, you’re pretty strange too,” Naruto said.

Having guessed Sakura's purpose, Naruto remained calm and unhurried.

Seeing Naruto walk away on his own, Sakura opened her mouth, hesitated, and finally stomped her foot before bracing herself and following him.

Several minutes of silence followed.

Suddenly, Naruto said, "Hey, just a little further ahead is my house. I remember your house is over there. You've already passed it."

"Wouldn't walking a little further be good exercise?" Sakura retorted stubbornly, then sighed and said dejectedly, "What's your idea?"

"A solution? What solution?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"A way to take down... cough cough, catch up with Sasuke," Sakura muttered to herself.

"Haha, that's hard to say," Naruto chuckled. "That's my specialty. If I told you, I'd be starving!"

"If you don't explain clearly, how will anyone know if you're reliable?" Sakura frowned.

"That depends on how much you like Sasuke," Naruto said with a smile.

"If you truly love something, you'll try any method, whether it works or not. Failure isn't a loss, and if you succeed..."

That makes sense. Sakura was intrigued. She thought for a moment, then hesitated and asked, "How confident are you?"

"One hundred percent, it will definitely succeed." Naruto was full of confidence.

Just kidding, in the story, Sasuke and Sakura are together, and they even have a daughter.

In the story, Naruto loved Sakura and cared for her for so long, but in the end, he couldn't change the fact that Sakura married Sasuke.

He only considered Sakura as his future in-law and tried his best to bring the two together, never imagining the reason why it would fail.

"100%? That's bullshit." Sakura pouted.

"Then do you want to give it a try? I can guarantee with my life that it will absolutely, definitely, and definitely succeed," Naruto said with a smile.

Sakura remained silent, struggling with the question for a long time: "What's your purpose? You can't help me for no reason."

"I want to be in the top three in the exam," Naruto said.

"That's it?" Sakura asked in surprise.

Naruto nodded.

"No other reason? You didn't use that as an excuse to get close to me?" Sakura asked.

"Don't worry, you belong to Sasuke." - Naruto

Upon learning this, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, and with no further doubts, she readily agreed.

"Let's make this clear beforehand, no one is allowed to know that I'm tutoring you," Sakura said.

"Of course." Naruto nodded.

“I’m not free to tutor you every day. I’ll lend you my notes so you can study on your own. Keep the parts you don’t understand in your notes, and I’ll explain them to you all at once when I have time,” said Sakura.

"Okay." Naruto nodded.

Thinking that nothing had been overlooked, Sakura took out her notebook from her backpack and handed it to Naruto: "I've memorized it all, you don't need it, you can take it back and look at it."

Naruto took it, glanced at it, and said apologetically, "Do you have last year's notes?"

"What?" Sakura was stunned.

"Actually, I've been busy with training. Since the start of the semester, I haven't taken any courses other than ninjutsu. It's all a blank slate, and I have to start learning from scratch." Naruto.

"Really?" Sakura asked.

"It couldn't be more real." Naruto.

"..." Sakura.

Chapter 12: The Results of a Hard Work Session

Upon learning about Naruto's progress in his studies, Sakura wanted to laugh—not at Naruto, but at herself for actually having expectations of what Naruto was saying.

"give you tomorrow."

Sakura wouldn't go back on her word after making a promise, but she wouldn't be particularly enthusiastic either. She planned to lend the notes to Naruto and then give him some pointers when she had time.

With nothing more to say, Sakura said goodbye, ran out of the alley, and disappeared into the bustling crowd.

"It's done!" Naruto clenched his fist.

With Sakura's help, if he puts in a little more effort and works himself to the bone, a top-three finish is within reach.

The next evening, after school, a similar scene unfolded: the two met in the alley.

"Do you still have last year's textbooks?" Sakura asked.

“Yes, I am.” Naruto.

"That's good." Sakura said, taking out a stack of notebooks from her backpack: "You need to memorize the contents of these two textbooks and understand their meanings. I've marked them with annotations. Take a look yourself. Can you read?"

Naruto nodded.

"This is a mathematical formula. It would be best if you could understand it, but if you can't, I'll teach you when I have time," said Sakura.

"This book, a collection of poems from three generations, will basically have one or two questions in every exam that require you to fill in the blanks and explain the meaning. It's not worth many points, but if you want to get the highest possible score, you must master it."