Naruto had barely taken a few steps toward Iruka when his body suddenly came to a halt.
His small frame began shaking uncontrollably, as if an unseen force had suddenly seized hold of him.
Less than a few seconds later, he collapsed to the ground.
His arms and legs strained as he tried to push himself back up, but it was as though an enormous force were pinning him to the earth.
No matter how hard he tried, he simply could not get up.
“Hey, hey, Naruto, what’s wrong?”
Shikamaru frowned and called out to him.
“My body…
my body’s so heavy…”
Even speaking seemed to take all of Naruto’s strength.
Before long, his entire body was drenched in sweat, as though he had just been pulled out of water.
The sight made everyone tense up again.
They had no idea exactly what had happened to Naruto, but there was no doubt about who was responsible.
Watching him struggle as if he were glued to the ground, the other students couldn’t help but shudder.
None of them wanted to suffer the same fate as Naruto.
It was better to be obedient students.
Iruka pulled out his form again.
“To me, the so-called fundamentals refer to a person’s basic physical abilities—reaction speed, endurance, physical strength, agility, and so on.
So when I say I’m going to build your foundation, I mean that I’m going to improve your physical abilities as much as possible without harming your potential for future growth.”
“S-Sensei…”
Sakura nervously raised her hand.
“Does that mean you’re only going to teach us taijutsu?”
Iruka shook his head.
“No.
Like I said, I’m only responsible for building your foundation.
I won’t teach you any specific techniques, including taijutsu.”
“Huh?
How can that be?!”
“Exactly!
No matter how good your physical abilities are, how can you become stronger if you don’t know any ninjutsu?”
“Sensei, are you trying to become a fitness instructor or something?”
Iruka’s words immediately caused the group of troublemakers to start complaining again.
Seeing this, Iruka narrowed his eyes and spoke in a sinister tone.
“So you’re looking down on my teaching methods, is that it?”
As he spoke, Iruka raised his right hand and made a motion as though he were about to form a hand seal.
The students who had been complaining instinctively shivered.
With Naruto’s continued struggling in the distance serving as a reminder, they quickly bent at the waist and answered respectfully.
“We absolutely didn’t mean it that way.
Please don’t misunderstand us, Iruka-sensei.”
“I was originally planning to help you clearly understand the importance of the fundamentals, but it seems that’s no longer necessary.
That’s fine.
It saves me some effort.”
Iruka nodded in satisfaction.
It seemed he had finally established his authority over these little brats.
As expected, teaching the class troublemaker a lesson was an excellent way to warn the rest.
“Damn it, Naruto was right.
This guy really is a violent teacher.”
“Shh, Ino!
Don’t say things like that.
He’ll punish you.
Do you want to end up like Naruto?”
“…”
With his ability, Iruka could naturally hear every whispered conversation among the children with perfect clarity.
However, he couldn’t be bothered to hold such things against them.
As long as they didn’t openly defy him, he had no interest in policing every little complaint.
Iruka somehow produced a table and, after sitting down behind it, addressed the row of children standing before him.
“Alright, next, we’re going to conduct a test.”
“Huh?
What kind of test?”
“I need to get a general idea of your current abilities, so we’re going to do a small assessment.
Your results don’t really matter.
This is just for reference when planning your future training.”
“Eh?
Testing our abilities?
Does that mean we have to demonstrate our ninjutsu?”
Iruka waved his hand dismissively, rolled his eyes at the boy who had spoken, and let out a long yawn.
Apparently, the consequences of not sleeping well the previous night were catching up with him again.
After rubbing the sleep from the corner of his eyes, he lazily replied, “Are you an idiot?
I already told you I won’t be teaching you any ninjutsu, so why would I test your ninjutsu?”
Is this guy really a teacher?
What kind of teacher acts like this?!
At that moment, even Sasuke’s expression twitched.
This was the first time any of them had encountered such a bizarre teacher.
Most shinobi instructors maintained a kind and approachable demeanor, and even the less pleasant ones wouldn’t openly insult their students.
Unlike Iruka.
Not only did he seem ready to punish students at the drop of a hat, but he had just outright called one of them an idiot.
He didn’t resemble a proper teacher at all.
“Yaaawn…
I’m so sleepy.”
Iruka yawned again, looking as though he might fall asleep at any moment.
“To put it simply, I’m testing your basic physical abilities.
And the method is—”
Before he could finish speaking, everyone suddenly felt their bodies grow heavier.
Before they had time to react, they crashed hard onto the ground.
When they instinctively tried to stand, they discovered that their bodies had become incredibly heavy, as though enormous weights were pressing down on their backs.
Even lifting an arm felt unbearably difficult.
“What’s going on?
My body’s so heavy!”
“Ow!
Ow!
That hurts!”
“Damn it!
I can’t even lift my head!
What kind of jutsu is this?
It’s terrifying!”
“This is the same thing Iruka-sensei used on Naruto, isn’t it?
We didn’t do anything wrong, so why is he using it on us?!”
“…”
Iruka still looked half-asleep, as though the miserable state of the students sprawled across the ground had absolutely nothing to do with him.
“Alright, it looks like you’ve all felt it by now.
That’s right.
This is my unique ability.
I can manipulate the force fields within a certain range, and I’ve increased the gravity acting on all of you to twice its normal level.
That’s why your bodies feel so heavy.
Whether you understand how it works or not doesn’t matter.”
“As for the test, it’s very simple.”
Iruka turned his head to glance at the clock in the Academy building before looking back at the struggling students below him.
“There’s one hour left until the end of the school day.
Your task during that time is to get up as high as you possibly can.
Your score will be based on how high you manage to raise your body.
If you can stand completely upright, you’ll receive full marks.”
“Well, I don’t really expect anyone to manage that.
Like I said before, this is just a little test to help me get a general idea of your abilities.
Your score doesn’t matter, so you can also choose to lie there until the test is over.
I certainly won’t mind.”
The moment they heard that, several students immediately stopped struggling and lay motionless on the ground.
They had clearly chosen to give up.
After all, Iruka himself had said that even a score of zero didn’t matter.
Seeing others give up, several more students hesitated for a while before following suit.
“Hey…
Chōji…
don’t give up.”
“Huh?
Shikamaru…
wh-why…?”
“I…
I have a bad feeling about this…
If that guy really…
really didn’t care, he wouldn’t have said it so openly…
What he said sounds like he’s trying to get us to give up.
I’m sure that…
if we do exactly what he wants…
something really bad will happen…
Maybe we’ll end up worse off than Naruto…”
When Iruka overheard the quiet conversation through his ability, his eyes narrowed.
Pretty sharp, that kid named Shikamaru.
In just five minutes, more than half of the students had given up.
Only nine remained, gritting their teeth and stubbornly persevering without being affected by the atmosphere around them.
Among them, one blond boy was struggling so fiercely that his fingernails had begun to bleed.
Yet he continued fighting with everything he had.
No matter how many times he collapsed, he would immediately brace himself with his hands and try again.
Not bad.
He may be a troublemaker, but that determination deserves recognition.
Iruka praised him inwardly.
For some reason, as he watched Naruto’s stubborn, unwilling-to-lose expression, his drowsiness suddenly vanished.
Once he no longer felt sleepy, he stood and walked over to Naruto.
With considerable interest, he said, “Your natural talent isn’t all that impressive.
Why don’t you just give up?
Don’t worry, this is only a small test.
There won’t be any punishment.”
“V-Violent Teacher…
open your eyes and…
watch carefully…
I’ll definitely stand up…
under this…
triple gravity.
I, Uzumaki Naruto…
will never admit defeat!”
As Naruto spoke those final words, an astonishing aura suddenly erupted from his small body.
Iruka watched in surprise as Naruto managed to use all four limbs to force himself upward.
He hadn’t expected this troublesome student to draw out his body’s hidden potential through nothing but sheer willpower.
Although Naruto ultimately couldn’t withstand the triple gravity and collapsed again, that was already enough.
It was enough to prove that he was someone worth cultivating.