Naruto: Snow Cold

The chakra control evaluation had concluded, and the results were impressive, to say the least. Kenjiro looked down at his notes and reviewed the performance of the top ten students in his class.

Hatake Kiyoshi: One hour and twenty-six minutes. Demonstrated proficiency in the Tree Walking Technique.

Kenjiro nodded, making a mental note to commend Kiyoshi's efforts later. It wasn't surprising that a Hatake would show such promise, after all.

Hyuuga Yui: One hour and nineteen minutes. Demonstrated knowledge of the Tree Walking Technique.

Hyuuga Itsuki: One hour and fifteen minutes. Also knows the Tree Walking Technique.

Not surprising, either. Hyuugas were renowned for their exceptional chakra control, and their Byakugan helped them understand their own chakra flow better than most, although it still wasn't awakened in them.

Sora Shiraishi: One hour and fourteen minutes. Knows the Tree Walking Technique.

Impressive, Kenjiro thought. It wasn't every day that a civilian managed to keep up with the clan kids, let alone surpass them by a few minutes. Sora had certainly proven himself today, even though Kenjiro knew that the kid's abilities weren't just limited to that. His Taijutsu bout with Uchiha Yuuma had shown him exactly that—showing proficiency in hand-to-hand combat and, apparently, Ninjutsu as well. His use of the Body Replacement Technique was nothing short of excellent.

Yamanaka Inomaru: One hour and ten minutes. Tree Walking Technique, check.

Aburame Jiro: One hour and eight minutes. Doesn't know the Tree Walking Technique yet.

It's okay, they're still in their second year. Every other class wouldn't even be making them practice the Leaf Technique by now.

Kenjiro mentally reassured himself. His class might be young, but they were already showing solid progress. He turned the page of his notes and continued scanning through the results.

Suzume: One hour and five minutes. Could execute the Tree Walking Technique flawlessly.

'The fossil's old squad mate, Danzo, certainly had quite a way of training orphans,' Kenjiro thought, a wry smirk crossing his face. Despite his disdain for Danzo's methods, the results were undeniable. Suzume alone was proof of it.

Uchiha Yuuma: One hour and four minutes. Has shown the ability to be able to climb up the tree.

Uchiha Takumi: One hour and two minutes. Cannot use the Tree Walking Technique just yet.

And finally...

Amai Hashimoto: Exactly one hour. Could walk up the tree.

This particular student intrigued Kenjiro. Not only because of her skills but because he knew Amai could've done better. She was holding back, and it wasn't subtle. He was a sensor, after all. He had seen how she had deliberately dropped the leaf—on purpose, and he couldn't help but wonder why.

Children loved showing off—it was practically a universal truth. Even the quiet ones had their moments, whether it was excelling in a task or earning praise from their peers. Amai, however, rarely spoke or even tried participating in class.

Perhaps she just didn't want to. Some kids preferred to stay in the background, avoiding attention altogether, and at a glance, Amai seemed to fit that mold. Shy, introverted—she was the type who faded into the shadows of louder, more eager classmates.

She probably just needed a push to open up. But what kind of push? Kenjiro frowned, tapping his pen against his notes. He wasn't a therapist, for God's sake. Helping children break out of their shells wasn't exactly in his job descrip—

"Hey, Sora! Give me a rematch already! No one can just beat an Uchiha and get away with it! Today, at Training Grounds 17!" Yuuma shouted, his voice dripping with irritation.

Kenjiro raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at the scene unfolding before him. Children... Always so annoying. 'Makes me wonder why I even decided taking this job. Oh, right, the old man pressured me into it.' he thought.

"Snooooreee..."

Great. The Nara kid is sleeping in class. He couldn't blame the kid, though. The Academy had always been pretty dull, and even as a child, Kenjiro had found it hard to stay awake. They may have been given a free hour, but that didn't mean they could make so much noise!

At least some of them were paying attention, like Amai Hashimoto.

He glanced around the room once more, and at the back of the class, Akimichi Souma was having a full-on banquet.

Kenjiro stared for a moment, his eyes narrowing. The kid had somehow managed to sneak a bag of chips into the classroom—no, wait, it wasn't just chips. He had an entire meal in front of him, complete with rice and some meat skewers. He knew the Akimichi needed energy, but this is just ridiculous!

He'd allow it for now. It's not like it could get any worse than this, right? Naturally, it could!

"So, like I was saying earlier, Shiba Inus are the best dogs." said Inuzuka Kaito.

"Whaaaat? No way, Basenji dogs are better!" another student shouted back

Kenjiro sighed, his hand rubbing the bridge of his nose. The thought of having to deal with them for two years straight... He could handle it, as long as he got to see another generation of excellent shinobi.

'Ignore it for now,' He thought, and went back to his notes.

Kenjiro flipped through his notes absentmindedly, a slight frown tugging at his expression. He had asked the old man—Hiruzen—about Amai to delve deeper into her background and learn more about her.

It seemed she wasn't clanless, despite her surname being a family name. She came from the Yuki clan and was one of the children brought over from Kirigakure due to the civil war.

This might have surprised him—if it weren't for her completely white hair. The Yuki weren't exactly known for their appearance, but rather for their powerful Ice Release, a rare and formidable kekkei genkai. It was unfortunate—and grimly ironic—that such a remarkable power had painted a target on their backs, leading to the clan's near extermination.

At least, that's what he knew, according to the data he had. There was little to no information on Ice Release in Konoha.

The scarce records suggested it was a nature transformation combining Water and Wind, but beyond that, the details were murky. The jutsu associated with it were undocumented in the village's archives—if they even existed here at all. Most of what Konoha had on the Yuki clan came from secondhand accounts of their history, filtered through layers of folklore and fragmented reports.

Kenjiro tapped his pen rhythmically on the desk, his gaze fixed on Amai, who was sitting next to Sora and scribbling down on her notebook, despite the chaos unfolding next to her.

"For the last time, I'm not going to waste my time giving you a rematch, Yuuma." Sora said, his tone dismissive.

Yuuma's face flushed red with frustration. "Can it, you jerk! You definitely forgot to take off your gravity seal on purpose! I demand that you fight me for real!"

Children. So damn annoying.

"Dude. You literally tried scorching me to the ground when it was supposed to be a Taijutsu match. How am I supposed to trust that you won't try anything else after that? If I didn't know how to do the Body Replacement Jutsu, I would have..." Sora paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing as his lips curled into a sly smile.

"I would've been cooked alive. Imagine it, Yuuma—my skin bubbling and peeling away as the flames gorged on my arms, the fat under my skin melting and sizzling, dripping off my body like grease on a grill. My muscles would have shriveled, blackened, and twisted from the heat, leaving me looking like some kind of overcooked roast."

Yuuma's face turned an alarming shade of pale as he took a step back, eyes wide with discomfort. He was clearly imagining it.

Sora then continued, "Try to imagine the smell, as well. Like burnt pork, except way worse. Did you ever smell charred hair? Now, picture that mixed with the stench of scorched meat and ash. If your flames were any hotter, they'd melt my intestines and internal organs, too. Heart, lungs, pancreas, liver—everything inside me, just liquefied by the heat, bubbling and popping like a stew on high heat. My blood would quite literally be boiling."

At this point, everyone was staring at Sora, their mouths agape. How could you spit such atrocities with a face that straight? Even Suzume, could not help but grimace at the image.

"You'd be left with nothing but a husk, a crispy shell of what used to be a person."

Amai slowly rose her head from her notebook, and turned her gaze to Sora.

She muttered in a low voice. "Sora... That's screwed up."

Kenjiro had had enough. He didn't need to hear any more of that, nor did anyone else. He thought they had made up already; why was Sora traumatizing the entire class instead?!