When it was Maki's turn, all the excitement she had that morning practically died.
She liked a good challenge, but she didn't like bullying.
There was a huge difference between her and the other students. She realized this after watching a few fights.
"Begin!"
As soon as Onizuka-sensei gave permission, Maki moved.
She was fast, appearing in front of the girl with her hand shaped like a blade against her throat: "Give up."
Sweating cold, the girl showed terror in her eyes. Raising her hands, she said: "I-I give up!"
"Maki Namikaze wins!" shouted Onizuka-sensei after snapping out of his daze.
'Those two siblings are monsters!' he thought inwardly.
Initially, he thought only Luka was an anomaly. Although he had shown very little, he noticed that for him, this level was like an adult ninja playing with a child.
If someone told him Luka was going to graduate right now as a Genin, he would believe it. And right now, he saw that same level of potential in Maki Namikaze.
'As expected of the children of the Fourth Hokage and Kushina-sama...' he thought.
"Wow! She's amazing!"
Finally, the classmates reacted.
There were many shouts, especially from the boys.
However, none of them reached Maki's ears. For her, what really mattered was what her Oniichan thought.
"You did well." He smiled at her. It was an unmistakably gentle smile.
Maki's indifferent expression cracked, she lowered her head, blushing, then raised it again with a brighter expression: "Hehe~~"
...
The rest of the class was the same until lunchtime.
There were still students who hadn't been evaluated and it continued in the afternoon.
When it finally ended, Onizuka-sensei said: "Very well, class. I more or less understand each of your strengths now."
His gaze lingered a little longer on Luka and Maki. Looking away, he continued: "The next practical classes will be based on each person's performance. I'll make changes whenever I think it's necessary. Anyway, that's all for today. There isn't much time left until class ends. So, let's play a simple dodgeball game. We'll divide you into two teams."
"I want to be the leader!" Naruzo spoke up.
"Me too!" Kiba was the second to volunteer.
Without interest in who would actually be the leader, Onizuka-sensei agreed: "Okay, you two can choose the teams. Naruzo spoke first, so he can start choosing."
"Sakura-chan!" Without hesitation, he chose her.
"Why me?" Sakura walked over to him, unenthused.
"Maki!" Kiba chose.
"Shikamaru!"
Maki, who approached Kiba, hissed: "If... You... Don't... Choose... My... Oniichan..."
She didn't finish, but the veiled threat hung in the air.
Not that Kiba was scared, but he, who wiped the sweat from his eyes and forehead, obviously shivering because of the cold, not for any other reason... said: "Luka!"
Only when Luka's name was spoken by him did Kiba feel as if he had survived a true disaster.
All of Maki's coldness dissipated and a beautiful smile adorned her lips.
Luka, who saw and heard everything, thought: 'Isn't she adorable?'
On the other side, Sakura's voice echoed loudly.
"Naruzo, you need to choose Sasuke!"
Sakura cast a hard look at him.
"Sakura-chan..." Against every fiber of his being, Naruzo gave in, saying Sasuke's name in a very unenthusiastic tone: "I choose... Sasuke."
Without a single word, Sasuke approached them with both hands in his pants pockets.
"Yay!" Sakura celebrated, saying: "You finally did something good, Naruzo!"
Seeing her smile at him, he hated himself for feeling happy about it, even though he knew the reason for her smile wasn't him.
Minutes later, the two teams were formed.
Hinata and Ino ended up on the same team as them.
Honestly, Naruzo was terrible at choosing teammates.
Excluding Sasuke, who was still a good choice, the rest was simply disappointing.
"We're going to lose badly." Sasuke knew he alone wouldn't be able to lead his team to victory.
Although he trusted himself, for the first time, he felt uncertain after seeing Luka and Maki.
'How can they be so strong?'
Until then, he thought their level of strength wasn't very different. However, today he realized there was a huge gap in strength between them.
It was irritating to the point of wanting to beat someone up.
Luka whispered in Maki's ear: "Don't do anything besides catch the ball and dodge. If you catch the ball, pass it to someone on the team. If we act, this will end way too quickly."
"Understood." She made an attention pose with her hand.
After discovering the level of strength of her classmates, she understood very well what her Oniichan was trying to do.
The match began.
Maki did what Luka asked.
Because of that, it was a bit contested, with Naruzo's side having only two who had more of a chance, Naruzo being one of them, more enthusiastic, Sakura the second, wanting to prove herself to Sasuke.
Minutes later, only Kiba, Luka, Maki, Ino, and Hinata remained on their side, and on Naruzo's side, only him, Sasuke, and Sakura remained.
A very peculiar trio, that should be said.
"Oniichan, can I?"
"Yes, it's okay now." Luka replied with a smile.
"Yay!" She punched her palm, and a burning aura surrounded her.
Hinata shrank back a little in the face of Maki's competitive spirit.
"Take this!" Naruzo attacked in Luka's direction, but Maki intervened.
When she caught the ball, her head was lowered, and when she raised it, a smile adorned her lips.
It was the kind of smile that was adorable and frightening at the same time.
When she held the ball with both hands against her chest, gaining momentum and throwing it forward, it was like the firing of a cannonball.
Okay... it wasn't that exaggerated, but for children who were at most 6 years old, that was what it seemed like.
Naruzo, who saw the ball coming in his direction, stretched out his hand, but he was by no means carrying the same confidence as before.
When the ball finally hit his hand, his feet began sliding across the dirt ground, and then he toppled backward and the ball spun into the air.
"..."
When that happened, silence hung in the air.
*Thud, thud, thud*
Only when the ball hit the ground and bounced three times did they finally react.
"Wow!"
"As expected..."
"Maki-chan, you're amazing!"
"That's it, Maki-chan, avenge us!"
"Damn it...!" Naruzo, sitting on the ground, punched the floor in frustration.
*RIIIIIIIINNNNN!*
Just as he was about to catch the ball, Sasuke stopped when the sound of the bell ringing, announcing the end of classes, reached them.
"Okay, class." Onizuka-sensei appeared, saying: "Class is over, you can go back to the room, get your things, and leave."
"Already?" Maki seemed to be the only one disappointed by the end, especially now that she had decided to act.
"Yes!"
Sasuke picked up the ball and threw it in Onizuka-sensei's direction.
Without saying a single word, he left.
It was clear from his slightly lowered head that he was frustrated. Not because he hadn't finished the game, but because he felt powerless.
When comparing himself to the Namikaze siblings, it was inevitable that he felt weak.
It was an even worse feeling than when people compared him to his older brother.
"Damn it..." Sasuke clenched his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he closed his hands into fists inside his pants pockets.
He wasn't the only one who felt that way.
It was easy to live without having someone to compare yourself to, but when faced with something far beyond your capabilities... It's hard not to feel miserable.
Especially for those who came from ninja families like Kiba and Sasuke.
This also ignited a flame in several of them, not wanting to feel so inferior to this pair of anomalies.
[–0–]
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