I Stand at the Forefront of Popularity Supremacy

"Lady Sparkle, don't interfere with my mission!" Naruto face-planted into the dirt, but rolled over and lunged again.

"Seeing you struggle this hard, you must be trying to learn the jutsu on that scroll." Sparkle crouched in front of Naruto. "Let me think... someone said something to you, right? Like, if you get the scroll, you'll graduate?"

"Huh?" Naruto was stunned.

"Mm, let me think. When I was talking to you this afternoon, there was a fly buzzing around the whole time... It was Mizuki."

[Detective Sparkle appears!]

[So she was definitely doing it on purpose this afternoon!]

[Holy crap, she really gets it, I'm crying]

[There's definitely some super powerful jutsu on there, Lady Sparkle doesn't care at all]

[What a waste, not even looking!]

[If you ask me, the jutsu in that scroll probably aren't anything good]

[It's classic Japanese mind games—I have the ultimate secret technique, but I just won't look, drive you crazy]

"Naruto. Do you know?" Sparkle looked at the utterly shocked Naruto. "The so-called Scroll of Sealing records forbidden jutsu. Techniques that violate natural law, or ones that harm the user. In other words, none of this stuff is good."

As she spoke, Sparkle had already copied a few techniques.

She didn't care much, but a thief never returns empty-handed. Since she was here, she might as well skim a little off the top.

And sure enough, there was Impure World Reincarnation, along with the Four Symbols Seal and Mutual Destruction Paper Bomb.

Besides those, there was also Summoning Jutsu and Reverse Lotus.

Mm... that's right, the Summoning Jutsu that calls forth creatures was actually a forbidden technique. Same in the original story.

She wasn't very interested, but she still had to memorize it.

I may not use it, but I can't not have it.

That's how it is.

"Having you take the Scroll of Sealing, having you learn its jutsu. Naruto, do you think that's what a 'makeup exam' would be like?" Sparkle delivered a soul-piercing question.

"Then Mizuki-sensei..." Naruto was an idiot, but not intellectually disabled. After Sparkle's words, he understood—Mizuki had been deceiving him.

"Naruto! Sparkle, you're here too! Great!"

After the Scroll of Sealing was stolen, the Third Hokage had mobilized the villagers to search for Naruto. Iruka had been called out too.

When he found Naruto and saw the scroll in Sparkle's hands, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sparkle, give me the scroll quickly. Naruto, you idiot, how could you do something so reckless!"

Iruka spoke as he walked over to Sparkle.

"Alright, Iruka-sensei, here's the scroll—"

Sparkle tossed the scroll off to the side.

Iruka's gaze followed the scroll, but in the next instant, Sparkle had already closed in, her kunai thrusting forward!

"Clang!"

The sound of metal clashing, and "Iruka" was sent flying by Sparkle.

"Sp-Sparkle?! Why are you attacking Iruka-sensei!" Naruto was stunned at the sight.

His brain capacity wasn't enough to tell him what was happening.

"Damn it, how did you know I wasn't Iruka..." "Iruka" was knocked to the base of a tree, the Transformation Jutsu failing, and with a puff of smoke, he revealed Mizuki's form.

"Huh?!" Naruto was dumbfounded.

And just then, the real Iruka walked over from the side, holding the Scroll of Sealing with a complicated expression.

Iruka had arrived before Mizuki. But when he saw Sparkle talking to Naruto, he decided to observe.

Sparkle was speaking loudly, clearly for his benefit.

But before Iruka could come out, another "Iruka" had approached. Without a doubt, the one disguised as him was that Mizuki.

"Why did it turn out like this?" Naruto was completely lost.

"They just don't want you to learn the jutsu inside and break your own seal. Let me tell you what's really going on, Naruto." Mizuki leaped up and stood on a tree.

"Bastard, don't say it!" Iruka panicked, immediately realizing what Mizuki intended.

But Mizuki looked down from above, unafraid of Iruka charging at him, and Iruka, holding the scroll, was also afraid of Mizuki snatching it.

Mizuki sneered: "Twelve years ago, the village made a certain rule—a rule that you, Naruto Uzumaki, alone must never know a certain secret."

"Only me? Why?!" Naruto's eyes went wide.

"Don't say it, Mizuki!" Iruka threw a kunai, but Mizuki knocked it all down with the giant windmill shuriken he carried.

Mizuki continued: "That rule is to never reveal that Naruto's true identity is the demon fox—that's right, the one who killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village, the Nine-Tails Demon Fox, is you, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Huh?"

The shocking truth plunged Naruto into silence.

"Naruto." Iruka wanted to go comfort Naruto, but Mizuki's gaze was fixed on the Scroll of Sealing in his hands.

Iruka didn't dare act rashly, afraid Mizuki would snatch it away.

Sparkle's move of directly tossing the Scroll of Sealing to Iruka had instead put Iruka in a passive position.

"That Mizuki fellow actually spilled everything." The Third Hokage saw the current state through his crystal ball. But his worried gaze shifted toward Sparkle.

Sparkle was one of Naruto's few friends. Now that she knew the truth, would she distance herself from him?

[Here they come, that classic Japanese blame-shifting mindset.]

[Classic, too classic. It's 4202, and we're still seeing this textbook plot.]

[Don't say classic, it's still in use. Every new anime runs this routine.]

The scene fell silent, but the viewers over there were discussing it quite heatedly.

"Pfft." A laugh broke the silence.

Sparkle had laughed out loud.

"What are you laughing at?!"

Mizuki was anxious.

Right now, there were three people on the other side: Sparkle, Naruto, and Iruka. The situation was at a standstill. If more people showed up, his plan would fail.

Even if it were just two people, Mizuki would have dared to go for it, but the current odds were against him. So he wanted to provoke Naruto—not necessarily to get him on his side, just to set him against Iruka.

The real problem was this Sparkle girl.

She kept interfering with his plans, almost as if on purpose.

"Oh my, I just found this clown act quite amusing. Mizuki-sensei, you have a talent for being a clown."

Sparkle's voice was unhurried.

Mm, that's right. She knew Mizuki was anxious, so she did it on purpose. She was messing with his head.

"Nani?!"

Not just Mizuki, but Naruto and Iruka beside him also looked at Sparkle with strange expressions.

"The villagers are just ignorant and weak. Because the object of their hatred was sealed away by the Fourth Hokage, they had no target left to hate. So they pinned their own suffering on an innocent child, venting their hatred—because a child... won't fight back. Ah, just like ignorant beasts. Oh no, wait—beasts... at least know to protect their young."

—What was she saying?

Naruto's brain capacity was a bit lacking.

But he roughly understood that Sparkle seemed to be... speaking up for him?

Mm, that should be right, shouldn't it?

Mizuki naturally understood Sparkle's meaning too. But words like that couldn't break him. He gave a contemptuous sneer. He'd thought Sparkle had some grand argument, but this was nothing. Just a brat being a brat.

"But you—it's because you're incompetent."

Mizuki couldn't hold it together anymore.

"A chunin taking the Scroll of Sealing is meaningless. The jutsu in it, forgive my bluntness, you probably can't even understand them. Even if the Scroll of Sealing were given to you, you couldn't stir up any waves. You're just a clown. For someone as incompetent as you, there must be a mastermind behind you. But an executor like you won't end well no matter what. You're actually a pawn to be discarded."

Mizuki hurled his giant shuriken: "Bastard!"

Naruto hadn't broken yet, but Mizuki had.

"Sparkle!"

Mizuki's attack was sudden. Iruka rushed over but couldn't block it.

"Sparkle!"

Naruto screamed as he saw the giant shuriken tear through Sparkle.

However, Sparkle's figure then vanished like a reflection in water, like a flower in a mirror.

Then, Sparkle's voice came from another direction: "It's a Genjutsu."

"Nani?!" Mizuki turned his head and looked at Sparkle on a nearby branch.

He was startled—when had Sparkle appeared over there?!

"I mean, during the Graduation Exam, I really did use a Genjutsu. You couldn't even notice that, and you call yourself a chunin?" Sparkle smiled as she revealed the truth of the Graduation Exam.

"As I thought... I knew it!" Iruka covered his face over there.

Although Sparkle hadn't slipped up, Iruka, based on her usual antics, had felt something was off. Her behavior was a bit different from normal. Now it turned out she had been creating buzz back then. And Mizuki... naturally hadn't noticed.

"Mizuki-sensei, you really are beneath even maggots."

Lotus techniques were all forbidden arts.

Strangely enough, there was an anime episode where Kakashi taught the kids to use the Summoning Jutsu, but in the setting materials, it was a dangerous forbidden technique.

The only way to force an explanation would be that after some time had passed, the Summoning Jutsu was no longer dangerous and had become commonplace. Orz.

Chapter 8: First Episode Concluded

[Damn, writing math problems on a Chinese exam and still getting full marks]

[Question: Please explain the significance of the author writing about two jujube trees here. Lady Sparkle's answer: Solve...]

[I feel like Lady Sparkle just insulted everyone at once?]

[Lady Sparkle: I'm an egalitarian—I look down on all of you equally lol]

[Below maggots lol]

[Little Demon Girl gets a thumbs up]

[Ignorance—that's the essence of the quote]

[Naruto: Who am I, where am I, what am I doing?]

[Naruto Uzumaki's eyes held the purest clarity of stupidity]

[Naruto: Lady Sparkle is right! As for what she said, who cares!]

"Damn it!!"

Frustrated, Mizuki hurled another large Shuriken.

But once again, Lady Sparkle vanished into an illusion.

The Lady Sparkle standing on the branch was naturally a fake as well.

"Truly worthy of a teacher below maggots, Mizuki-sensei. Haven't you noticed that the branch I was standing on didn't bend at all? Oh my, throwing away your most powerful weapons so easily—you really are... amusing."

Lady Sparkle's voice came from another direction.

At this point, Mizuki finally realized the truth.

Mizuki carried plenty of ninja tools, but they were all kunai and small Shuriken. The two large Shuriken strapped to his back were his most powerful weapons, yet under Lady Sparkle's taunts, he had casually thrown them both away.