Naruto suddenly jolted awake, his expression becoming extremely grim.
After a long while, he finally muttered to himself.
“So, everything was Kakashi’s arrangement. He was the one who had Itachi use Tsukuyomi on me? But how did he manage to do that?”
Naruto knew that Itachi and Kakashi knew each other, but their relationship should have been rather shallow.
A simple request would never have been enough to persuade Itachi to use Tsukuyomi, because Tsukuyomi would damage his eyesight.
It could be said that every use was one less time Itachi could use it.
If there was no benefit to gain, Itachi would never do such a thing.
Yet Naruto simply could not figure out what benefit Kakashi could possibly offer Itachi.
“Hiss~~ What exactly happened?”
Early the next morning, Naruto and Hinata walked along the streets of Konoha.
Breakfast stalls could be seen everywhere on both sides.
Although Naruto had failed to defeat Kakashi yesterday, having just gotten twenty thousand ryō gave him quite a bit of confidence.
“Come on, Hinata. Let’s have breakfast first. What do you want to eat?”
“Ah! I-I’m fine with anything. What does Naruto-kun want to eat?”
Although Hinata had changed a lot after spending the past few days together, she was still somewhat unable to relax around Naruto.
Naruto grabbed Hinata’s little hand and brought her to a stall.
“Boss, two servings of dango and two cups of juice!”
“Alright! Please wait a moment, you two!”
Two plates were quickly brought to the table, filled with dango, while two cups of juice were placed in front of them.
“Eat up. Just have something for now. At noon, I’ll treat you to a big meal.”
Naruto casually picked up a dango and began eating.
Hinata nodded and also began taking small bites.
“Brother, let’s go eat dango!”
Just then, a somewhat familiar voice rang out.
It was clearly Sasuke’s voice.
Naruto’s movements suddenly froze.
Turning his head, he saw Itachi holding Sasuke’s hand as they walked toward them.
Naruto stared fixedly at Itachi.
Right now, he really wanted to rush over and question Itachi about what exactly had happened, but he also knew that doing so would be extremely unwise.
However, no matter how he thought about it, he was unwilling to simply do nothing.
“Naruto-kun? What’s wrong?”
Hinata’s gentle call brought Naruto back to his senses.
Naruto shook his head and pointed toward Sasuke.
“It’s nothing. Look, isn’t that Sasuke? What a coincidence.”
“Eh?”
Hinata had been paying all her attention to Naruto, so only after he pointed it out did she notice Sasuke.
She immediately became somewhat flustered, and her little face turned bright red.
“Naruto-kun, can we not…”
Hinata felt that it would be far too embarrassing if their classmates found out that she and Naruto were on a date, so she wanted to leave.
However, before Hinata could finish speaking, Naruto had already stood up and walked toward Sasuke.
“Ah! Naru…”
Hinata instinctively tried to stop Naruto, but she was still a step too late.
She failed to even touch the corner of his clothes and could only watch helplessly as Naruto went to find Sasuke.
At the same time, she felt her face growing hotter and quickly covered it with both hands.
“We’re just having breakfast together. Even if they find out, it’s no big deal. It’s no big deal. It’s no big deal…”
Hinata repeated the words over and over, trying to hypnotize herself.
By this time, Naruto had already arrived beside Sasuke.
“Yo, isn’t this Sasuke? What a coincidence.”
This was Naruto’s decision.
Now was not the time to question Itachi directly, but no matter what, he had to try to make contact with him and create an opportunity to ask him about it in the future.
Sasuke was soft and obedient in front of his brother, but he was extremely cold toward his classmates.
Naruto’s enthusiastic greeting did not even earn a smile from Sasuke.
However, since they were classmates and had known each other even before school started, Sasuke’s attitude was still fairly decent.
“It’s Naruto. I come here to eat quite often, but you’re rarely seen here.”
“Ah… well… I-I don’t usually come here. I have company today, so that’s why I’m eating here.”
As he spoke, Naruto pointed toward Hinata.
At that moment, Hinata had her back facing Sasuke’s direction, but she could still be recognized just by her silhouette.
“Hinata? I never thought a guy like you, who only sleeps in class, would have a girl come out with you.”
“Tch! Who are you looking down on? So what if I sleep in class? Even when I sleep in class, I’m better than you. But when it comes to being popular with girls, I really can’t compare to you. Sakura and…”
Before Naruto could finish speaking, Sasuke suddenly stood up and covered his mouth.
At the same time, he nervously glanced at Itachi.
“Don’t talk nonsense! I don’t have anyone!”
Naruto pushed Sasuke’s hand away, shrugged, and casually looked toward Itachi.
Itachi gave Naruto a slight smile.
“Sasuke, it seems you have a pretty good friend.”
“Hmph! He’s not a friend. He’s just an ordinary classmate. Brother, let’s hurry up and finish eating. You promised to teach me ninjutsu today!”
“Hehe~ Alright.”
Itachi responded gently, picked up a dango, and put it into his mouth.
Naruto, meanwhile, casually slapped Sasuke on the shoulder.
“So he’s your brother. No wonder he came to pick you up on the first day of school. He’s going to teach you ninjutsu? So, is your brother strong?”
“Of course he’s strong! My brother is the strongest!”
The moment his brother was mentioned, Sasuke immediately raised his head proudly.
Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought that he was the strong one.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and immediately began sizing up Itachi.
“But I can’t tell how strong he is. Still, since Sasuke says you’re strong… Sasuke’s brother, I challenge you!”
Naruto acted like a hotheaded fool and pointed at Itachi in front of everyone, openly issuing a challenge.
Sasuke immediately looked at Naruto with disgust and pushed him.
“Stop dreaming. You? You can’t even beat me, and you want to challenge my brother? Get lost. Don’t disturb me while I’m eating.”
“I’m challenging your brother, not you. Why are you making such a fuss? So, what do you say? Sasuke’s brother, accept my challenge!”
Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke and pointed at Itachi again.
Itachi gave Naruto a broad smile, then took out a scroll from his ninja tool pouch.
After opening the scroll, he pressed his hand on it, and another scroll appeared.
Itachi handed this scroll to Naruto.
“I’m a little interested in you as well. If you can learn this ninjutsu, I’ll accept your challenge.”
Naruto’s eyes widened as he looked at Itachi in disbelief.
He had never expected Itachi to give him an opportunity.
What Naruto had imagined was that he would issue the challenge and then be mercilessly rejected, allowing him to pester Sasuke at school.
Even if Sasuke refused, he could just beat Sasuke up a few times.
With how much Itachi doted on Sasuke, if Sasuke desperately begged him, there would definitely be a chance.
But Naruto had never expected Itachi to give him an opportunity.
Not only had he given him an opportunity, he had even given Naruto a ninjutsu.
“What? You don’t want to?”
Seeing Naruto standing there in a daze, Itachi found it somewhat strange.
Naruto came back to his senses and snatched the scroll away, as if afraid that Itachi would change his mind.
“I do! I want to! Just wait! I’ll learn it very soon! Then I won’t disturb you two while you eat breakfast.”
Naruto hugged the scroll and happily returned to Hinata’s side.
Itachi watched Naruto’s retreating figure, and a complicated look flashed through his eyes.