In the following days, during daytime classes, Uzumaki Mirai was obviously feeling sleepy.
He lay on the desk, his eyelids fighting each other, his head nodding off, and he didn’t even react the first time Kishimoto Akaseki called his name.
“Student Mirai!
Answer the question!”
“…Ah?
Oh, the core of the will of fire is bonds and protection.” He could recite the standard answer with his eyes closed, and then he slumped back down.
Kishimoto Akaseki was so angry steam was coming out of his nose, but thinking of Hokage-sama’s instructions and Lady Tsunade’s door-kicking style from that day, he finally swallowed his temper back down.
Minato Namikaze sat in the front row, turned back to look at him, his blue eyes filled with confusion.
“What’s wrong with Student Mirai lately?
He looks so listless…” He muttered softly, “He was obviously so energetic when he first came.”
After class, Minato walked over to Mirai’s desk and tapped on the tabletop.
“Mirai, are you alright?
Did you not sleep well last night?”
“Mm…
Learning something.” Mirai yawned and answered vaguely.
“Learning what?”
“Sealing Jutsu.”
“Sealing Jutsu?” Minato’s eyes lit up, “That sounds amazing!
Can you teach me?”
Mirai finally raised his eyelids to look at him.
This little blonde kid was quite sincere, his heart and mind set entirely on becoming stronger, making it hard to dislike him.
“We’ll talk about it later, I’ll catch up on some sleep first…” Before he finished speaking, his head slammed back down onto the desk.
Minato looked at him, scratched his head, and then clenched his fists.
“No, I have to find a way to cheer Student Mirai up!
Someone as amazing as him shouldn’t be so listless!” He made up his mind secretly.
In the afternoon, practical combat class.
Teacher Toriyama Kazunari led the whole class to the playground as usual.
Today’s content was Taijutsu sparring—after a few rounds of basic movement exercises, it was free challenge time as usual.
Uchiha Naori stepped forward first.
“Teacher Toriyama, I want to challenge Uzumaki Mirai.” Her voice wasn’t loud, but her tone carried an unquestionable firmness.
The whole place fell silent for a second, and then buzzed with discussion.
“It’s Student Naori again…
Didn’t she lose a month ago?”
“But it seems like she’s been practicing extra every day?
I often see her when passing by the training ground after school.”
“The people of the Uchiha clan are truly terrifying…”
Uzumaki Mirai was yawning in the line, and upon hearing someone call his name, he slowly raised his head.
Uchiha Naori stood in the center of the field, her long black hair fluttering in the breeze, her expression even colder and sterner than a month ago.
She didn’t speak, just stared straight at him, her right hand clenched into a fist, her fingertips turning slightly pale.
“Mirai,” Minato gave him a nudge from the side, revealing a smile mixed with a bit of anticipation and a bit of worry, “Do your best, don’t lose!”
Uzumaki Mirai glanced at him—this little blonde, clearly having just said he wanted to help cheer him up, was now just watching the show.
“Fine.” Mirai rubbed his eyes and walked slowly onto the field.
Opposite him, Uchiha Naori’s gaze burned like fire.
This past month, she practiced late into the night every day, calluses formed on her hands, her hand-seal speed increased by twenty percent, and she pestered the elders of the clan to teach her new Taijutsu and Ninjutsu moves.
She was no longer what she used to be!
Every day she thought that when she faced Uzumaki Mirai again, she would definitely surprise him.
“This time, I won’t lose again.”
She whispered, and assumed her starting stance.
Uzumaki Mirai looked at the stubborn little black-haired girl in front of him, then looked at the faint Anbu aura lingering in the distant tree shadows, sighing inwardly.
— Well, after the fight, I still have to go back and learn the Four Symbols Seal.
These days were simply overly fulfilling.
…
Uchiha Naori stood in the center of the field, took a deep breath, and stared intently at the yawning red-haired boy opposite her.
“Uzumaki Mirai, this past month I have mastered a new Ninjutsu.
This time, I will definitely defeat you!”
Her voice was crisp and firm, carrying all the fighting spirit accumulated from day and night of extra practice over the past month.
Uzumaki Mirai picked his ear and replied slowly: “Oh.”
He didn’t really want to accept this challenge.
If it weren’t for promising Mikoto-neesan the other day that he “wouldn’t let Naori lose too miserably,” he would have really wanted to just surrender and go back to sleep.
But Mikoto-neesan also said that deliberately losing was even worse; Naori’s personality would be even more hurt by that.
“Come on, come on, after the fight I still have to go back and learn Sealing Jutsu.” He waved his hand and said casually.
Naori frowned, feeling that the opponent’s attitude was too perfunctory, which made her even more irritated.
“Start!” Toriyama Kazunari blew the whistle.
Naori struck first, pulling out two wooden shuriken from her ninja tool pouch and throwing them at Mirai from both sides.
At the same time, she lowered her figure, lunged forward closely, and grasped a wooden Kunai in her hand, aiming straight for Mirai’s ribs.
Mirai sidestepped to avoid the two shuriken, and the Kunai closely brushed past the corner of his clothes.
He stepped back with his feet, putting half a step’s distance between them, and then slashed backhand horizontally, his wooden Kunai sweeping toward Naori’s wrist.
“Clang!”
The two wooden Kunai collided, producing a crisp sound.
Naori gritted her teeth to hold her ground, twisting her wrist to try and entangle Mirai’s weapon, but Mirai gave his wrist a slight flick, spinning the Kunai in a circle and neutralizing her offensive.
The wooden weapons of the two crossed rapidly in the air, emitting a dense sound of “clang, clang.”
Mirai deliberately held back his strength, only half a beat faster than Naori, barely suppressing her offensive rhythm.
The students watching from the side were dazzled, gasping in cold breath one after another.
“Student Mirai’s reactions are so fast!”
“Student Naori has also improved a lot, actually being able to go back and forth in a fight with Student Mirai!”
“Are the two of them really our peers?
Why do I feel like if I went up there, I wouldn’t last a single second?”
Minato Namikaze stood in the crowd, observing the movements of the two with a focused gaze, his brow slightly furrowed.
He saw more details—Mirai was holding back his strength; many times he clearly had the chance to directly knock away Naori’s weapon, but missed by half an inch.
“Is Student Mirai going easy on her…” Minato muttered softly.
On the field, Naori fought more and more anxiously.
She clearly felt that the opponent wasn’t using his full strength, which made the fire in her heart burn brighter and brighter.
After a few rounds of engagement, she jumped back abruptly to create distance, her hands rapidly forming hand seals.
“Ninjutsu: Clone Technique!”
Three figures split from her side, and four identical Uchiha Naori stood on the field, charging toward Mirai simultaneously.
“Wow!
Student Naori learned the Clone Technique!”
“Four against one!
Student Mirai is in danger!”
Uzumaki Mirai looked at the four long-black-haired figures rushing toward him, sweeping slightly with his Kagura Minds Eye—
Three clones had almost no Chakra flow and were completely empty inside; only the real body had a normal Chakra concentration.
Distinguishing them was too simple.
However, he decided to “act” a little.
After all, Naori practiced hard for a month.
If he saw through it in one second, that kid would probably cry on the spot.
Mikoto-neesan said to go easy on her, so he would do it naturally.