Umino Iruka Was Very Angry

To be honest,

Naruto was indeed a little envious of that guy. He had a good background, was handsome, and possessed astonishing talent. Most importantly,

he was incredibly popular.

Yet that guy always wore the same dead-fish expression around everyone.

Naruto could not understand it. If anyone had been willing to be friends with him, he would have been grinning from ear to ear long ago.

That poker face slowly faded from his mind, and Naruto began training. He was studying Body is Weapon, a book that explored the human body's potential to an exceptionally comprehensive extent.

Naturally, it also placed extremely high demands on the human body.

So high that ordinary people simply could not achieve them.

The foundation was bodily flexibility. For example, being able to fold one's fingers until they pressed against one's arm; bending one's head backward until it reached beneath one's crotch; even rotating one's head 360 degrees.

They were training methods that violated the natural limits of the human body.

The position Naruto needed to unlock now was to stand upright, fold his upper body backward, and have his head emerge through his pant legs.

The system had once told him that another branch of humanity still retained certain superior physical traits and could easily perform this move. It had even shown Naruto an animated image.

In it, an ape lay on the ground, folded its lower body upward, opened its mouth wide, and happily drank its own urine.

Naruto had been so shocked that he could not speak for a long time.

In short, the martial art described in this book meant that the body would never become a shackle. Even if only a single strand of hair or a piece of muscle remained free, one could still use it to make a perfect comeback.

Of course, those were merely beginner techniques. Once Hardening reached the level of vital energy and blood, one could break through all techniques with sheer force—great strength could work miracles.

After training for a while, Naruto's body recovered from the fatigue left behind by that morning's Indestructible Body training, and he continued practicing Indestructible Body.

Naruto glanced into the distance. The herd of cattle radiated vitality everywhere, so it was not suitable to use them to assist his training at that time. He could only train obediently off to the side.

The sun sank westward into the mountains, and crimson clouds filled the entire western sky.

After dinner, Naruto held the Nine-Tails in his arms and walked down the mountain path toward home with the setting sun behind him, casting a long shadow across the road.

Ever since the day the Nine-Tails had discovered Anbu Ninja "protecting" him, Naruto had vaguely understood some things—things he had never considered before and could not make sense of...

For example,

why had Grandpa Third sent people to protect him?

Did he really care that much?

What was their relationship?

The relationship between the Hokage and an ordinary villager? Was that really necessary?

Perhaps Grandpa Third truly cared about Kurama.

Or perhaps he cared about Naruto as well. But... now that Naruto had released the Nine-Tails, there was no guarantee that some things would not take a turn for the worse.

Therefore, Naruto still had to do something. First, he would ask the system to restore the seal in his body, then seal a fake "Nine-Tails" inside it to deceive others. As for who exactly that person was, Naruto did not know.

When the Nine-Tails had been sealed inside Naruto, he had been too young to remember. As he grew up, the Nine-Tails had indeed brought him many troubles.

But he knew that the Nine-Tails was surely connected to countless secrets—perhaps more than he could deal with using his current abilities.

So what he needed to do now was become a child who, at least on the surface, appeared normal.

Not stand out.

Or, to put it more seriously, not threaten someone's interests.

As for the Nine-Tails that had come out, as long as it did not reveal its Chakra, ordinary people would simply think it was a cute little fox.

He could raise it without worry.

With all sorts of thoughts weighing on his mind, Naruto unknowingly arrived at his doorstep. But someone was squatting outside, looking rather bored.

"Iruka-sensei..."

Naruto vaguely knew why Iruka-sensei had come looking for him. It was because he had skipped class. The last time at Grandpa Third's place, he had already learned that Iruka-sensei cared greatly about his truancy.

"Well, Naruto, I've been waiting forever..." Iruka stood up and turned around, only to see an orange little fox in Naruto's arms. His pupils immediately contracted.

Some unpleasant memories surged into his mind.

"Yip, yip, yip..." The little fox in Naruto's arms seemed to sense Iruka's hostility and timidly burrowed deeper into Naruto's embrace.

"Iruka-sensei, what's wrong?" Naruto naturally noticed that Iruka's expression had become very unnatural.

"Oh, nothing..." Iruka scratched his head and looked at the trembling little fox in Naruto's arms. Looks like it's just an ordinary little fox.

"By the way, Naruto, you still haven't been coming to class..." Iruka's expression suddenly turned serious.

Naruto set the Nine-Tails on the ground, told it to go home, then looked at Iruka and grinned. "Sensei, shall I treat you to ramen?"

Iruka's face hardened. "Don't think you can bribe your teacher with ramen."

"It's Ichiraku Ramen, Iruka-sensei."

"Then let's go. I'll have a word with you when we get to the ramen shop..." Although Iruka agreed, his face remained stern.

For Naruto, agreeing was enough. It meant there was still room to negotiate.

Teacher and student slowly headed toward the ramen shop. Along the way, Iruka had intended to intimidate Naruto with silence, so he walked in silence without saying a word.

Before long, they arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. The shop was not large, just a small single-room place, but after coming here once, Naruto had grown fond of its atmosphere.

Simply put, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen did not seem to treat him differently just because he was Naruto Uzumaki.

Thinking of his earlier experience at the medicine shop, Naruto naturally felt warmly toward this uncle named Teuchi Otsutsuki.

Upon arriving at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto called out to him, "Uncle Ichiraku, two bowls of Beef Ramen, with extra beef~"

"Idiot, he's Uncle Teuchi." Iruka immediately smacked Naruto on the head.

"Teuchi?" Naruto held his head. It did not hurt, but he had to play along. Pointing at the ramen shop's sign, he said, "But the sign says Ichiraku Ramen, doesn't it?"

Before Iruka could speak, Teuchi said with a cheerful smile, "Naruto, not everyone names their shop like that idiot Doffy Lanzhou. My shop may be called Ichiraku Ramen, but my name is Teuchi Otsutsuki."

"Sorry, sorry, Uncle Teuchi. Two bowls of Beef Ramen, extra beef, please." Naruto gave a silly grin.

"Don't worry. The beef in my shop isn't as stingy as that guy Lanzhou's." With that, Teuchi happily went to cook the noodles.

Naruto and Iruka found seats and sat down.

As soon as they sat down, Iruka wanted to speak, but Naruto quickly cut him off. "Iruka-sensei, before eating noodles, you have to stay in a pleasant mood. That way, the noodles taste even better."

Iruka thought about it and found that it really did seem to make sense, so he said:

"I'll talk to you after we eat."