“Uzumaki Naruto! Are you an idiot?!”
The students in the neighboring group who hadn’t taken their turns yet all glared angrily at Naruto.
Naruto glanced over and was mildly surprised to find that their group consisted of Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akimichi, Hinata Hyūga, Shino Aburame, and one random background student.
“Ah, sorry. I aimed at the wrong target.”
The background student snapped, “Aimed at the wrong target? Don’t flatter yourself! You obviously threw them crooked and just got lucky!”
Naruto ignored the insult completely.
He didn’t care in the slightest.
He simply returned to the back of his own group’s line.
The members of his group were now looking at him much the same way as the neighboring group—as though they were staring at an idiot.
Only Sasuke looked puzzled.
“Did he really miss?”
All three shuriken had happened to land on the other target.
Could there really be such a coincidence?
Sasuke didn’t dwell on it.
Whether Naruto had genuinely missed or not, he was still the dead last in Sasuke’s eyes.
Once the targets had been cleared, Sasuke threw another three bullseyes.
Then came Sakura, Ino, the two background students, and finally Naruto again.
This time, Sasuke quietly watched Naruto’s throw, curious about his actual skill.
The result—
One nine-ring.
One seven-ring.
And one complete miss that flew onto the neighboring target again…
Straight into the bullseye!
“UZUMAKI NARUTO!”
Another furious roar came from the neighboring group.
“Ah, sorry. Missed again!”
Everyone fell silent.
“…”
[Ding! Detected that the host’s shuriken skills are far too poor. In order to help the host become more capable, your Shuriken Throwing Technique has derived the D-rank ninjutsu, Shadow Windmill!]
By now, Naruto was so used to it that he couldn’t even be bothered to comment on how capable his System was anymore.
He casually walked to the back of the line, ignoring both the curses from the neighboring group and the eye rolls from his own.
The afternoon of shuriken practice quietly passed.
By the end of it, the ever-capable Naruto had learned yet another technique—the C-rank ninjutsu, Manipulating Windmill Triple Blades.
Over the next several days…
[Ding! Your Clone Jutsu has become far too capable and reached the Transcendent level, deriving the Shadow Clone Jutsu!]
[Ding! Your Shapeshifting Jutsu has become far too capable and reached the Transcendent level!]
[Ding! You have used the Flying Thunder God Technique. Detected that the host is far too capable. Flying Thunder God Technique has reached Proficiency level!]
…
One month later.
Naruto’s class had its monthly assessment.
Iruka stood before everyone and announced, “This assessment will test shuriken throwing, ninjutsu demonstration, and practical combat. Everyone, come up and draw a number.”
Uzumaki Naruto drew number twenty-four.
The first test was shuriken throwing.
Each student had to throw five shuriken.
Naruto deliberately produced an average result.
Next came the ninjutsu demonstration.
There was no way to fake that one.
Naruto ended up scoring near the top of the class, leaving everyone staring at him in disbelief.
However, over the past month, his Clone Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, and all the techniques derived from them had already been maxed out.
In other words, they had become incredibly capable.
Far too capable.
They had reached the very limit of how capable they could become.
There was simply nowhere left to go.
As a result, the System didn’t bring Naruto any new gains.
Finally came practical combat.
Naruto would be fighting whoever had drawn number twenty-three.
After waiting for quite some time, Naruto suddenly discovered that his opponent was—
Hinata Hyūga!
Hinata’s face reddened as she looked at Uzumaki Naruto.
“N-Naruto-kun… please take care of me.”
Seeing her shy expression, Naruto smiled gently.
“Likewise.”
The match began.
Hinata stood there clutching at her clothes, reluctant to make the first move.
She didn’t want to defeat the boy she liked.
Naruto couldn’t help feeling a little helpless when he saw this.
He slowly walked toward her.
Hinata tensed as Naruto approached.
“Is Naruto-kun going to hit me? Should I at least pretend to fight back a little? Otherwise, Naruto-kun might not feel satisfied even if he wins…”
“Hinata.”
Naruto stopped in front of her and gently patted her head.
With a warm smile, he said, “Please fight me seriously, okay?”
Hinata trembled.
Then her face became even redder.
“Naruto-kun is touching my head! What do I do? What do I do? This is so embarrassing~”
As her thoughts ran wild, the blush on Hinata’s face grew deeper and deeper.
It became so red that even Naruto was shocked.
“How can someone’s face even get that red? So Guan Yu really could have had a red face?”
Iruka also noticed something strange.
“Hinata, are you all right?”
Hinata jolted.
“Huh? Ah… Iruka-sensei, I’m fine! There’s nothing wrong!”
Then she suddenly noticed Naruto was still standing right in front of her.
Her face somehow turned even redder.
Seeing her like this, Naruto could only helplessly move farther away.
“Come on, Hinata! Attack me!”
“Yes!”
Hinata steadied herself and exhaled.
Then she assumed the Hyūga clan’s distinctive Gentle Fist stance.
“I’m coming, Naruto-kun. Be careful!”
“Byakugan!”
Hinata activated her Byakugan.
And immediately froze in shock.
“Naruto-kun has so much chakra!”
[Ding! Detected the host’s chakra being peeped at. Your chakra has become embarrassed and, determined to become more capable, has doubled in quantity!]
Thanks to Naruto’s Uzumaki constitution, his chakra reserves had already far surpassed those of an ordinary Jōnin.
They were even comparable to a Kage’s.
Now that they had suddenly doubled, Naruto’s chakra reserves were rapidly approaching those of a tailed beast.
“What happened?”
Hinata stared in disbelief.
“Why did Naruto-kun’s chakra suddenly increase so much?”
“Hinata?”
Naruto’s voice snapped her out of her shock.
“Yes!”
Hinata’s gaze became determined.
She now understood that Naruto was almost certainly far stronger than she was.
There was no reason for her to hold back.
“Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!”
Despite declaring the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, Hinata only managed to execute sixteen strikes.
Although she couldn’t complete the entire sequence, every one of those sixteen palms was delivered with considerable force.
And every single strike successfully landed on Naruto…
Naruto was battered like a punching bag through all sixteen palms before collapsing to the ground.
[Ding! Detected the host diligently training his resistance to physical attacks. Your body is incredibly proud and has increased its physical quality by 50%. Current physical quality: Jōnin level.]
“Ah! Naruto-kun, are you okay?!”
Hinata hurried forward and helped him up.
Naruto deliberately clutched his abdomen and put on a strained expression.
“I’m fine. Hinata, you’re really strong!”
Hinata stared at him.