Sasuke thanked Iruka-sensei and politely declined his kindness before leaving the school.
Iruka sighed inwardly as he watched the two boys walk away.
It seems Sasuke still hasn't emerged from the shadow of the massacre. He's refusing kindness without hesitation. Such a closed-off mental state makes it difficult to see light again.
As for Naruto, Iruka noticed something strange.
Normally, if he offered to buy Naruto dinner, the kid would agree without a second thought and make him bleed money.
Today, Naruto hadn't said a word.
He'd left everything to Sasuke.
Maybe the little guy has grown up and learned to consider his friends' feelings.
Unable to figure it out, Iruka could only think of that possibility.
He still hadn't discovered that "Naruto" wasn't actually Naruto, but rather Sasuke's shadow clone using a transformation jutsu. If Iruka knew, he'd definitely be furious.
After all, he'd always placed such high hopes on Naruto.
Sasuke and "Naruto" walked back toward the farm. Neither noticed the two stalkers following them.
After trailing them for some distance, the two stalkers stopped.
When they looked at each other, they could see disappointment in each other's eyes.
Just now, Sakura and Ino had learned from Choji that on the day of the Summer Festival, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Choji, and Shikamaru would all go to the temple to watch fireworks together.
As for why Choji had told Ino?
A bag of chips did the trick.
"I really want to watch the fireworks with them," Ino said with a shrug. "Every Summer Festival, I go with my mother. I'm tired of it."
"I feel the same way. But didn't you hear what Choji said? Naruto's the one organizing this. He invited all his friends. If we want to go too, we have to become Naruto's friends first."
Sakura paused, then continued, "We also asked how to become Naruto's friend. And you heard the answer. To become Naruto's friend, you have to get beaten up."
"And he hits you in the face! I don't want my beautiful face getting injured. Even the tiniest injury would be a tragedy."
After speaking, Sakura pulled out a mirror from her backpack and gazed at her reflection. The person in the mirror is so beautiful. Even my only flaw—this wide forehead—has become an advantage.
If Choji heard what Sakura said, he'd definitely object that Naruto would never "beat up" his friends. That was sparring, not the same thing at all.
Naruto treated his friends incredibly well!
Seeing Sakura like this, Ino also pulled out a small mirror and admired herself. "Being beautiful is such a burden!"
After a moment, both girls made up their minds. They put down their mirrors and encouraged each other.
For Sasuke's sake, they'd decided to become friends with Naruto.
Once they'd committed, Sakura and Ino headed toward Naruto's breeding farm. They might as well become his friends today. Better to get it over with quickly.
As soon as Sasuke and "Naruto" returned to the farm, the clones dispersed.
Sasuke went to practice the Rasengan.
Meanwhile, Naruto planned to refine some chakra. He didn't need much—just enough for low-level techniques like transformation, clones, and substitution.
He didn't intend to take the path of ninjutsu. Compared to his physical training, that path wasn't worth mentioning. All those flashy techniques—as a real man, he preferred the direct approach.
After one minute, Naruto felt he'd refined enough chakra.
"Transformation!"
Naruto let out a low call. Then a "Sasuke" appeared before him and began dancing.
Sasuke, who'd been practicing over there, saw Naruto making fun of him. He immediately stopped and ran over to prevent Naruto from destroying his image. "Naruto, don't do this! I—"
Sasuke really wanted to say he'd be impolite if this continued. But thinking of Naruto's flexing pectoral muscles, he stopped talking abruptly.
Hmph. Wait until I master your father's Rasengan. Then I'll beat you with it.
Sasuke thought indignantly.
"Ha ha! Sasuke, I didn't know you were the Uchiha Dance King!"
Laughing at Sasuke, Naruto controlled the hotly dancing "Sasuke" and brought it in front of the real Sasuke. The clone's movements became increasingly ridiculous.
Sasuke's entire face darkened.
"Ha ha ha..." Naruto laughed loudly. His hands formed more seals—Clone Jutsu.
Then, on both sides of the dancing Sasuke, Mizuki-sensei and Iruka-sensei appeared. All three danced in unison.
Of course, since Sasuke was Naruto's good friend, he still got the center position.
Sasuke's face remained dark. Completely helpless. He couldn't beat Naruto in a fight, so he could only let him play these tricks. But soon he realized something was wrong. Didn't Naruto not refine chakra? Seeing the smooth movements and lifelike expressions of his "Dance Troupe," this required not just a small amount of chakra, but also long-term practice with transformation and clone techniques.
But from Sasuke's familiarity with Naruto, he knew Naruto hadn't known any ninjutsu before today.
"Naruto, how did you do this?"
Sasuke was genuinely curious.
The dancing figures stopped and vanished.
Only then did Naruto answer. "Chakra is a combination of physical energy and spiritual energy. With a spirit like an ocean and a body like a dragon, I can extract a significant amount of chakra in less than a minute."
After speaking, Naruto clenched his fist and punched to the side.
Tremendous force struck a boulder. The stone instantly shattered, scattering gravel and powder in all directions.
Naruto retracted his fist. Not a scratch on it.
"How's that?" Naruto asked Sasuke.
Sasuke took a sharp breath. When Naruto had sparred with him before, he'd undoubtedly held back by more than ten times. Even when grappling, Sasuke had been completely powerless to resist.
But back then, it was maybe two or three thousand pounds of force at most.
Now, with one punch, the boulder shattered. Like a humanoid monster.
"Very strong!" Sasuke's mouth hung open. He couldn't think of better adjectives, so he just gave a thumbs up.
Naruto was pleased with Sasuke's reaction.
"Sasuke, give me some shuriken." Naruto held out his hand.
"Here." Sasuke pulled out five shuriken and placed them in Naruto's palm.
Naruto took the shuriken, flipped his wrist, and the five weapons were already positioned between his fingers. He raised his head casually without even looking at his target.
Whoosh!
A harsh sound of cutting air, followed by the sound of a large tree crashing to the ground.
Mixed with frantic bleating: "Baa! Baa! Baa!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~