After a while, the classroom door was pushed open.
Uchiha Sasuke walked in.
He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, with his dark hair slightly perked up, walking towards his seat with a cold expression.
Before he had taken two steps, a pink shadow rushed up to him.
“Good morning, Sasuke-kun!”
A bright smile hung on Sakura’s face, her hands clasped behind her back as she stood slightly on tiptoe.
“Your combat class yesterday was really cool.
The Clone Technique was used so smoothly, and I was watching from the side the whole time.”
Sasuke didn’t stop walking, and his eyes didn’t even glance her way.
“Mn.”
Sakura, however, seemed long accustomed to this reaction.
She followed him for a couple of steps and continued, “Do you want to go to the training ground together after school today?
I…”
“No need, I’m enough by myself,” Sasuke interrupted in a cold tone.
Sakura’s smile stiffened for a moment, but she quickly recovered and gave herself an out, “Well, let’s talk about it next time then.
Anyway, there’s still plenty of time…”
Sasuke didn’t reply.
He had already walked over to his seat, pulled out the chair, and sat down.
Sakura stopped in place, stood there for two or three seconds, and then turned around and walked back toward her own direction.
Sasuke didn’t mind this episode, as he was already used to it.
He sat in his chair, resting his chin in his hand, and his gaze fell on the blackboard in front.
It was clearly just like usual.
Yet he always felt something wasn’t quite right.
After thinking carefully about it, he suddenly realized…
A certain voice had disappeared.
In the past, every morning as soon as he entered the classroom, besides Sakura and Ino crowding around, there would also be a yellow head darting out from somewhere.
That person would grin broadly and say things like “Sasuke, let’s settle things today!” or “Sasuke, I will definitely defeat you!”
Even if dismissed by a single “loser” from him, that person would still come back the next day.
But today, there was none.
Sasuke finally realized what was missing, his gaze shifting slightly toward that window-side seat.
Uzumaki Naruto was sitting properly in his chair.
His head was lowered slightly, his line of sight falling on a textbook opened out in front of him.
From time to time, he even turned a page.
Sasuke’s brows twitched.
That loser…
Was studying?
Sasuke watched for a moment, withdrew his gaze, and pressed down that thought in his heart.
Chances were it was just a passing fad.
Who knew when he might toss the book aside and lie down to sleep.
That was more the style of that loser.
Just as he was thinking this, footsteps came from the classroom doorway.
Iruka walked in holding a folder and habitually glanced over the classroom.
His gaze finally landed on that spot by the window.
Then he paused.
Unlike before, when he would lie on the desk and poke the front classmate’s chair legs with a pen, nor would he make a fuss and shout “Good morning, Teacher Iruka” upon seeing him enter.
Iruka gently sighed in his heart.
There were less than three days left until the graduation exam.
No matter how desperately one studied in such a short time, it would be too late.
Let alone failing to even master the Clone Technique.
Iruka placed the folder on the podium, opened it, and cleared his throat.
“Alright, everyone quiet down.”
The voices in the classroom gradually quieted down.
“Today’s class will first cover the key content of the graduation exam,” Iruka picked up a piece of chalk and wrote a row of words on the blackboard, “Application techniques of the Three Fundamental Techniques.”
“Transformation Technique, Substitution Technique, and Clone Technique—these three E-rank Ninjutsu are the core of the graduation exam.”
He began to explain, from the sequence of hand seals to the key points of Chakra control.
A few students in the front row took out pens to take notes.
Someone in the back row had already started dozing off.
Naruto, however, kept his head up, his gaze following Iruka’s chalk moving across the blackboard, his eyes brighter than usual.
So the details of the Clone Technique were like this…
He hadn’t paid attention before; no wonder the upper and lower proportions of the clones he conjured up every time were always wrong.
When Iruka talked about the Chakra distribution ratio of the Clone Technique.
Naruto subconsciously nodded and suddenly thought of a question.
If he adjusted the Chakra distribution according to this technique and cast the Clone Technique once more…
Could he conjure a perfect clone?
This thought popped up in his mind, making his hands itch a bit.
But now in class, there was nothing he could do.
After finishing the key points of the graduation exam, Iruka turned another page of his lesson plan, said a few words about the Will of Fire, and then raised his voice to announce, “Alright, next everyone gather at the playground for the final combat drill!”
“Ah…
again?”
“Didn’t we just do combat yesterday?”
“My legs still hurt…”
Cries of lamentation rose one after another, but everyone still stood up one after another and walked outside.
The stream of people surged toward the door.
Naruto stood up from his seat and followed behind the crowd heading outside.
Iruka stood by the podium, watching that blond back disappear at the doorway.
That kid really was a bit different today.
But the graduation exam was right around the corner; no matter how different he was, what changes could he possibly make?
He lowered his head to glance at the list in his hand, shook his head slightly, and stepped out of the classroom.
In the corridor, students squeezed together in twos and threes as they walked downstairs.
As Naruto was walking, his shoulder was suddenly hooked from behind by someone.
A strange aura pressed close, followed immediately by Inuzuka Kiba’s grinning face.
“Hey, Naruto, what’s up with you today?” Kiba rested one hand on his shoulder, tilting his head to appraise him, “You’ve been quiet all morning, like a completely different person.”
“You wouldn’t have been beaten silly by those few moves Sasuke pulled yesterday, would you?”
Naruto did not reply.
“Who told you, a loser, to bite off more than you can chew and insist on challenging the top genius of the year,” Kiba continued, his tone carrying mockery, “Did a beating make you well-behaved?”
“Maybe I’m not a loser,” Naruto just revealed a faint smile, “Maybe I’m a genius too.”
Kiba’s smile stiffened for a second, and then he let go of the hand resting on Naruto’s shoulder.
“You guy are really hopeless.”
Kiba rolled his eyes and quickened his pace to walk ahead.
On the playground.
The whole class lined up in their usual formation.
Iruka stood at the very front of the formation, holding a grouping list in his hand.
“Next is the one-on-one combat drill.”
“Groups will proceed according to the list order, and those whose names are called out step out of the ranks.”
A few students in the front row slightly tightened their shoulders, and some began to loosen their wrists.
Iruka lowered his head to look at the list, just about to read the first group…
“Teacher Iruka!”
An arm was raised from within the ranks.
Everyone followed the sound and looked over.
It was Naruto.
“I want to challenge Sasuke again.”
The ranks fell silent for a fraction of a second, and then low murmurs instantly surged forth.
“Challenging Sasuke again?”
“Didn’t he just lose yesterday?”
“Does this loser have any self-awareness at all…”
Iruka frowned and put down the list in his hand.
“Naruto, you were just defeated by Sasuke yesterday.”
“I will select a suitable opponent for you.”
He tried his best to make his tone sound calm.
But there was still a hint of helplessness in his words.
Naruto, however, stood unmoving, his hand not put down either, his tone firm:
“Teacher Iruka, please give me one last chance.”
“I won’t let you down.”
Iruka stared into Naruto’s eyes for a good several seconds.
Inside them was something he hadn’t seen on Naruto in a long time.
It wasn’t bravado, it wasn’t spite, nor was it that expression following a cheeky grin.
It was serious.
After a moment of silence, Iruka lowered his head and drew a line with a pen on the grouping list.
“The first group…”
“Uzumaki Naruto versus Uchiha Sasuke.”
Sakura and Ino stood in the front row of the formation, the two of them exchanging a glance.
“Looks like there’s a good show to watch today…” Ino said in a lowered voice.
“He doesn’t even know his own weight; Naruto can never defeat Sasuke!” Sakura said with certainty.
Moreover, inwardly she was somewhat surprised; for some reason, Ino had been speaking up for that guy Naruto all day today.
Thinking this, she turned her head to look toward the center of the playground, where the dark-haired youth had already stepped out of the queue.
Sakura suddenly raised her voice, “Do your best, Sasuke-kun!”
The voice echoed for a moment across the empty playground.
A few girls also chimed in with a few sounds, but their volume wasn’t as loud as Sakura’s.
Naruto walked from the ranks to the position opposite Sasuke.
The gazes of the two people met in the middle.
Sasuke looked at Naruto, his expression unchanged, and said coldly, “Today, I won’t hold back anymore; I’ll thoroughly beat you back to reality.”
“Perhaps the outcome will exceed your expectations.” Naruto smiled faintly.
Iruka stood at the edge of the field and raised his hand slightly.
“Begin!”