Trouble That Came Knocking

Ichiraku Ramen.

"Little Lin Ke, finished another mission already?"

Ichiraku Uncle greeted him cheerfully.

Lin Ke returned his smile. In truth, ninja missions were supposed to be confidential, but as a genin, his missions had been rather...

Not long ago, he had been hauling trash out of the river, where every passerby could see him.

Besides, he had a habit of coming to Ichiraku Ramen for a big meal after finishing a mission. How could the owner not know he had completed another one?

"The usual, Uncle," he said familiarly, then went to the nearby refrigerator and grabbed an ice-cold cola.

Summer had recently arrived, and the weather was getting hotter. Having something cold to drink was always nice.

"Coming right up!" Ichiraku Uncle called loudly. "Good work, Little Lin Ke!"

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm."

Lin Ke gave a perfunctory response. He had barely sat down and opened his can of cola when he noticed someone staring at him. Turning his head, he saw—

An orange jacket and pants, topped with a head of messy blond hair.

It was none other than the child of destiny—Uzumaki Naruto. The guy seemed to have been drawn to the Forehead Protector tied around Lin Ke's arm, his gaze constantly flickering toward it, his eyes brimming with envy.

Ah, he'd failed for three years straight trying to become a genin, hadn't he?

Lin Ke could understand him, since he himself had only become a genin after two years of exams. So—

If he wanted to look, then let him look.

Lin Ke happily took a sip of icy cola. Ah, this was great. Nothing felt better than getting emotional satisfaction from someone envying him for becoming a genin.

Before long, the ramen was served. He pressed his palms together. "Time to eat~"

Perhaps because someone was envying him, or because he was about to receive a hefty mission reward, today's ramen tasted especially delicious.

"Burp~" Full and satisfied, Lin Ke rested for a while, his little belly slightly rounded, before getting up to head home.

He still had laundry to do.

On the way back, he sensed someone sneaking along behind him. Taking advantage of a gap while crossing the street, he quickly glanced back.

Sure enough, it was Uzumaki Naruto.

Ah, was this guy really that bored? Why was he following me?

Lin Ke grumbled inwardly and simply decided to ignore him. He figured Naruto would get bored and leave soon enough.

Still, he had to complain about the child of destiny's terrible stalking skills. His ability to conceal his presence was even worse than Yuan Wei's and Xia's...

He had never considered getting closer to Uzumaki Naruto.

The protagonist was a trouble magnet. Setting aside the villains outside who coveted Uzumaki Naruto, even Konoha's higher-ups were surely keeping a close eye on the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki.

The Third Hokage was busy running around every day, handling village affairs, communicating with the Land of Fire, frequently sitting at the mission assignment office to hand out missions, and often checking on Uzumaki Naruto. He probably watched and peeked at him every day with the Telescope Technique.

Lin Ke did not think building a good relationship with the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki would truly benefit his development.

Even before discovering his golden finger, his goal had been to cling to Konohamaru's thigh, indirectly cling to the protagonist's thigh. Direct contact with the protagonist could very well get him sacrificed to the plot.

Thus, he deliberately ignored Uzumaki Naruto sneaking along behind him. He went home as though nothing had happened, did his laundry, changed into a fresh set of athletic clothes, polished, cleaned, and stored his ninja tools, then finally headed out after seeing it was past one-thirty.

Yet not long after leaving, that extremely clumsy feeling of being followed appeared again.

Are you seriously not done yet?

Lin Ke really wanted to rush over and give Uzumaki Naruto two hard slaps, telling the brat to go play by himself. After thinking it over, though, he suppressed the impulse.

Acting on impulse might feel good in the moment, but dealing with the aftermath would not be easy.

On the way to the Seventh Training Ground, he reflected deeply and strongly suspected that Ichiraku Uncle had mentioned a few things about him in front of Uzumaki Naruto.

Younger, became a genin, performed missions well = received recognition.

Though Uzumaki Naruto was fundamentally a kind and gentle shonen protagonist, when he was little—especially during his days at the Ninja Academy—he had been a genuine little brat.

And little brats were like those kids who, when faced with a girl they liked, could not express their feelings and instead pulled her hair—

Lin Ke felt like he was the hair about to get pulled.

Simple violence would only make the brat clingier. He might even seize the position of the heroine's—Uchiha Sasuke's—rival ahead of time.

How had he deserved getting involved with the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki?

With complicated feelings, Lin Ke arrived at the Seventh Training Ground. His two teammates had already gotten there.

"Boss!" Yuan Wei raised a hand and shouted, smiling broadly. "Good afternoon~"

Xia fidgeted a little before following suit. "Boss, good afternoon."

Lin Ke felt the gaze spying on him become even more... well, filled with strange hostility?

Right. Counting their ages, Yuan Wei and Xia were Uzumaki Naruto's classmates.

He quickly remembered why. Feeling somewhat enlightened, he scratched the back of his head and walked over. "Good afternoon." He did not think too much about it, casting aside the discomfort in his heart before adding, "Then shall we begin?"

"Boss," Xia said softly, signaling with her eyes that someone was spying on them.

Yuan Wei clenched his fists eagerly.

The three had spent over a month together, so simple exchanges through eye contact were not a problem.

Lin Ke shook his head slightly and said quietly, "Let him watch." After a pause, he continued, "You two..."

He began discussing the problems his two teammates had displayed during this period. Starting with the minor issues and moving on to the major ones, he had them demonstrate each problem after explaining it, then corrected them on the spot.

In the bushes, Uzumaki Naruto scratched his head and ears, occasionally cupping a hand beside his ear in an attempt to eavesdrop.

"Chakra... like this..."

"Feet... stepping on water..."

"Concealment..."

The scattered words gave him a splitting headache. Whenever he was about to fall asleep from listening, the three would start moving again, demonstrating combat exchanges that made his eyes light up.

Lin Ke had long tossed the matter of Uzumaki Naruto following them out of his mind. If he wanted to watch, then let him watch. What else could he do?

The guy could deface the Hokage Monument and steal the Book of Seals. Why could he not follow a genin? He absolutely could. Bro, I'll just pretend you don't exist.

After summarizing the problems from the past nine days, he had covered about a third of them in nearly two hours, demonstrations and corrections included. His mouth was dry as he swallowed and said, "We'll stop here for today. You two practice on your own. Tomorrow morning at eight, same place. We'll continue."

After all, he could not dump everything into their heads at once. They needed time to digest it properly.

Tomorrow morning, he would correct them again while teaching some new material. Slowly but surely.

Lin Ke rose on tiptoe and patted Yuan Wei on the shoulder, preparing to leave. Seeing Xia's strange expression, he went over and patted her shoulder as well.

Then he ignored Xia's even stranger expression and turned to leave.

As a temporary teacher, he had to treat them equally.