Hinata Was So Cute—How Long Would She Cry If You Punched Her?

A moment later,

Shikamaru Nara lay on the ground, battered and bruised, his face full of resentment. He raised a trembling hand and pointed at his friend, Choji Akimichi. His chest heaved violently, and though his mouth opened and closed, he could not utter a word for a long while.

Choji Akimichi, however, looked delighted. "All right, Shikamaru. Now you're Naruto's friend too. We're all good friends." He walked over and reached out to help Shikamaru up, only for Shikamaru to dodge away.

"Choji really screwed me over!" Shikamaru's eyes grew moist as tears of regret streamed down his face.

"Hey, Shikamaru, don't talk nonsense. I did it for your own good. As the saying goes, one more friend means one more path. All right, Naruto, let's go eat Grilled Lamb Skewers." Choji solemnly lectured Shikamaru, then looked at Naruto expectantly.

Hearing Choji's words, Shikamaru finally understood. This guy had sold him out for a meal of Grilled Lamb Skewers. At once, Shikamaru's chest began heaving again, entirely from anger.

Naruto walked over and reached out to help Shikamaru up. Shikamaru obediently let Naruto pull him to his feet. He could dodge Choji, but he did not dare dodge Naruto. What if he got beaten up again?

It was not that he was afraid of being beaten. He simply did not advocate meaningless sacrifice.

Now that things had come to this, it seemed he, Shikamaru, could not escape becoming Naruto's friend.

At that thought, Shikamaru's already dejected face became even more dejected.

Naruto naturally noticed Shikamaru's expression. Narrowing his eyes, he asked in confusion, "Shikamaru, aren't you happy to be friends with me?"

Seeing Naruto's narrowed eyes, Shikamaru sensed a hint of danger. He hurriedly forced out a smile and said, "No, no. Having a friend like Naruto is my honor. I'm extremely happy."

Shikamaru's smile looked worse than crying.

Naruto was immediately relieved by his answer. He was not the kind of person who liked forcing others to be his friends. Everything had to be voluntary.

As for why Shikamaru's smile looked worse than crying, Naruto simply assumed he had been born that way, like Sasuke, who had been born with a cold expression.

Naruto supported Shikamaru while Choji ate snacks beside them, and the three headed toward the Back Mountain.

Naruto and Choji both looked happy. Naruto was happy because he had made another friend. Including Choji and Sasuke, he now had three friends, bringing him another step closer to his dream.

Choji was happy because he would soon get to eat fragrant lamb skewers again.

As for Shikamaru, he had no choice but to be happy.

When they arrived at the Back Mountain, Naruto had Shikamaru and Choji start the charcoal while he went to pick the ingredients.

As for Lord Nine-Tails, whenever it was not needed for cooking, it sprawled on the sofa in a Ge You lie, and it could lie there all day.

After finding a flock of sheep, Naruto leaped into the herd. This time, the sheep had learned their lesson. Previously, one sheep had been favored by Naruto because it ran the fastest.

So when Naruto entered the flock this time, none of the sheep panicked or rushed. Every one of them warily watched its companions, walking with catlike steps. None wanted to be the fastest sheep.

"You. You're the slowest runner, so you probably have something wrong with you." Naruto grabbed the sheep that was walking the slowest with its catlike steps and tucked it under his arm.

Sheep: o((⊙﹏⊙))o

"Baa baa baa..." Clamped under Naruto's arm, it was stunned for a while before it began bleating frantically.

Before long, the three of them were eating lamb skewers.

Choji ate until his mouth was glistening with oil, his face full of bliss. He looked at Shikamaru beside him, who was slowly nibbling on a lamb skewer, and asked in confusion, "Shikamaru, aren't the lamb skewers delicious?"

Hearing Choji's words, Shikamaru swallowed the lamb skewer along with his tears and choked out, "Delicious. So delicious. I've never had lamb skewers this delicious before. So delicious that I'm crying."

Choji was startled by Shikamaru's exaggerated acting.

Naruto, on the other hand, was very happy. After all, having a new friend acknowledge his cooking was something to be happy about.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the next day.

After school the next day, Naruto was still talking with Sasuke at the school gate. Sasuke gave another report on his progress learning the Shadow Clone, then took his leave.

At that moment, Choji came out through the school gate looking gloomy. He was not even eating snacks. Naruto called out loudly, "Choji!"

Strangely, Choji did not respond. Instead, he left the school looking utterly lost.

"Naruto, what's wrong with Choji? He was really strange today." Shikamaru also came up behind Naruto.

"Yeah, he was fine yesterday. He's even stopped eating now, so something big must have happened. Shikamaru, go follow him. Don't let him do anything rash," Naruto said.

"Mm-hmm, Naruto. I'll go catch up to him first." Shikamaru hurriedly replied, then quickly followed after Choji.

Strange. He was so happy eating lamb skewers yesterday. He even said he wanted to eat them again today... Naruto thought about it the entire way home.

"Forget it. I'll know once I ask Shikamaru tomorrow."

As he walked, Naruto suddenly stopped and quickly turned his head.

Just now, when he had stopped focusing on his thoughts, he suddenly noticed someone following him. But when he turned around, there was not a single figure in sight.

Where were they?

I definitely felt it.

Naruto carefully observed his surroundings. A moment later, his gaze stopped on a large tree. Behind its trunk, he saw half a backpack strap sticking out.

"Come out. I saw you..." Naruto shouted.

"Rustle, rustle..."

A girl with short blue hair, dressed in long sleeves and pants, slowly stepped out. Her head was lowered, her face red, and both hands tightly clutched the hem of her clothes. She looked extremely nervous.

Hey, little sister, are you following me, or am I following you?

Seeing how nervous the girl looked, Naruto felt speechless.

Naturally, Naruto knew this girl. She was also his classmate, Hinata Hyuga. Last time, he had accidentally bumped into her, and damn, she had rolled her Byakugan at him for several minutes straight.

"Hey, why are you following me?" Naruto asked curiously.

I've got nothing. What's the point? I'm not even that old, and I shower a lot.

"Um... um... Naruto-kun, I... I... I didn't mean to follow Naruto-kun..." Hinata Hyuga lowered her head. Her little hands were held beneath her chin, her index fingers touching as she stammered.

Was there such a thing as following someone by accident?

Naruto was truly amazed. He said irritably, "Do you take this road home too?"

"N-no..."

Naruto felt like the girl was about to cry.

"Then why are you following me?" Naruto's tone softened.

He was most afraid of girls crying and things like that. Looking at Hinata, who was so cute, a thought suddenly flashed through Naruto's mind: How long would such a cute girl cry if he punched her?

The instant that thought appeared, Naruto himself was shocked. Why would I punch her?

Oh right, if I wanted to be friends with Hinata, it seemed like I could not get past the sparring part.

Then if they were not friends, what could they be?

At that moment, the girl finally spoke.

"Um... um... I wanted to thank Naruto-kun..."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun."

The girl bravely raised her head. A strange light gleamed in her Byakugan as she bowed ninety degrees and offered her sincere thanks.

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