Mizuki stared at Iruka, fury written across his features.
Iruka didn't understand why his friend was angry. After a moment's thought, he figured it out—Mizuki didn't particularly like mingling with students outside of class.
Mizuki had his own teaching philosophy: maintain professionalism, never blur the teacher-student boundary.
Unless he became principal, of course!
"Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto's surprise was genuine when he spotted the silver-haired instructor. He glanced at Iruka.
Could the friend Iruka-sensei wants to introduce be Mizuki-sensei?
"Haha, Naruto!" Mizuki's expression transformed instantly. The annoyance vanished, replaced by a warm, approachable smile.
His carefully cultivated persona had nearly cracked. He was supposed to be the friendly, even-tempered teacher who never lost his cool!
"Iruka, I'm so happy! I didn't expect you'd introduce Naruto as my friend." Mizuki beamed at Iruka as if his earlier anger had been pure imagination.
Iruka felt thoroughly confused. Mizuki had been furious mere seconds ago—now he was smiling? Unable to make sense of it, Iruka decided his friend must have been joking.
"Naruto, would you like to be friends with Sensei?" Mizuki asked with calculated warmth.
In that brief moment, Mizuki had reassessed the situation. Making friends with Naruto now could prove useful. When the time came to execute his plans, he could manipulate this muscle-bound fool into helping acquire that certain something from the Hokage's vault.
Hehehehe... Mizuki laughed internally. This big, muscular kid must have a simple mind. A little manipulation, combined with our "friendship," and he'll help me steal the Scroll of Seals without question.
"Really, Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto's excitement seemed genuine. "You sincerely want to be my friend?"
"Of course! For an excellent student like you, Naruto, I'd be honored to be your friend."
Pure nonsense. Mizuki's actual impression was that this was a failing student who hadn't even refined chakra. The boy would probably never graduate.
He had no idea that in class just an hour ago, Naruto had demonstrated abilities that crushed the entire class, promoting himself to first place in one fell swoop.
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei, for introducing me to such an excellent teacher as Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto paused. "By the way, did you tell Mizuki-sensei about the process for making friends with me?"
"Process? What process?" Mizuki looked at Iruka with confusion.
"Haha..." Iruka scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, Mizuki, it's like this—when Naruto makes friends, he has to spar with them first. That's how he confirms the friendship is sincere."
"Oh, is that so?" Mizuki's smile didn't waver. "How interesting, Naruto. I'm really looking forward to becoming your friend."
Good. The brat wants to spar with me? Perfect. I'll beat some respect into him while I'm at it.
If Naruto weren't potentially useful, Mizuki wouldn't bother with this charade. His principle for friendships was simple: only befriend people who could benefit him. Anything less was worthless.
"That's wonderful! I'm looking forward to becoming friends with Mizuki-sensei too!" Naruto handed his backpack to Iruka for safekeeping.
He walked to the center of the square and gestured for Mizuki to join him.
Mizuki observed Naruto's fighting spirit with complete indifference. He had no idea that his friend Iruka's injuries had come from this very student. Right now, he only thought: One hand should be enough to handle this brat.
Mizuki strolled across from Naruto and extended a single hand casually. "Naruto, as your senior, I'll let you have three free moves."
"Three moves?" Naruto looked concerned. "Mizuki-sensei, you really don't need to hold back for me."
He was worried that after three moves, Mizuki-sensei might collapse entirely.
"Haha, don't worry about me, Naruto. Attack freely!" Mizuki waved dismissively.
"Alright then, Mizuki-sensei. Be careful—I have great strength." Since Mizuki insisted, Naruto couldn't refuse. I'll hold back. Can't beat Mizuki-sensei to death. I don't want to lose him as a potential friend.
"Mizuki-sensei, here I come! Take my Heavenly Ascension Fist!"
Naruto's Heavenly Steps activated. He shot forward like an arrow.
"Heh..." Facing Naruto's aggressive charge, Mizuki only saw bluster and inexperience. He turned his wrist, preparing to catch the punch with his palm, redirect the momentum, and snap Naruto's wrist bone.
This is the price of presuming to befriend your teacher!
"HEAVENLY ASCENSION FIST!"
Naruto shouted the technique's name—the System had emphasized that announcing martial arts moves was an ancient combat tradition. It increased momentum and added three points to technique effectiveness.
The Heavenly Ascension Fist, which Naruto hadn't fully mastered, blasted toward Mizuki. Before it even connected, Mizuki felt a gust of wind rushing at his face.
"Interesting." Mizuki met Naruto's fist with his palm.
CRACK.
"MY FRIEND IRUKA HAS RUINED ME!!!"
Mizuki's scream tore through the air as his metacarpal bones shattered. His sleeve disintegrated inch by inch, blown apart by the fist wind. His entire body flew backward.
As he sailed through the air, Mizuki continued yelling about Iruka's betrayal before hitting the ground with a resounding THUD. He slid another dozen meters, head lolling to the side as he lost consciousness.
Naruto activated Heavenly Steps again, planning to capitalize on his advantage. He appeared at Mizuki's side, fist raised to greet the teacher's handsome face.
Iruka materialized in a Body Flicker, catching Naruto's fist. "Naruto, Mizuki-sensei is unconscious. There's no need to punch him in the face now, is there?"
Naruto glanced at Mizuki's unblemished features with visible regret. He lowered his fist. "In that case, Mizuki-sensei doesn't count as my friend yet."
He, Naruto Uzumaki, couldn't make friends so casually.
Seriousness and thoroughness—that was his friendship policy.
Hearing this, Iruka's expression went dark. "Fine. When Mizuki wakes up, you can complete the process with him. For now, let's get him to the hospital."
Iruka carried Mizuki to the medical center.
Fortunately, it was only a minor comminuted fracture of the right hand's metacarpal bones. With three to five years of careful maintenance, function should return to normal levels.
When Mizuki regained consciousness and saw his heavily bandaged hand, saw his middle and ring fingers immobilized, he burst into tears.
"My golden fingers! Iruka, I hate you!"
Back at the farm, Sasuke was helping Nine-Tails in the kitchen.
"Sasuke, fry me an egg." Nine-Tails stood on tiptoe atop a stool, wearing an apron, not looking back as he issued the order.
Sasuke hesitated. That man loved fried eggs.
But he had no choice—he had to help Nine-Tails with cooking duties.
Reluctantly, Sasuke approached the frying pan and began preparing the egg.
Three minutes later...
Wild laughter erupted from Sasuke.
Nine-Tails turned around suspiciously. Sasuke's eyes had turned crimson, a single black tomoe visible in each pupil.
"Ah, sorry about that, Sasuke. I couldn't help it—your eyes were just too creepy." Nine-Tails looked embarrassed at having reflexively swatted Sasuke away. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard."
"HAHAHAHA... NARUTO, COME FIGHT ME! LET ME BEAT YOU SENSELESS... HAHAHAHA..."
Outside the kitchen, Sasuke's triumphant laughter echoed across the farm.
Author's Note:Regarding Sasuke's Sharingan awakening in this chapter: Sasuke actually awakened it during the Uchiha massacre, but didn't know how to consciously activate it. Thinking of Itachi while frying eggs triggered the negative emotions that allowed him to officially open it for the first time.