Battle Against Naruto Uzumaki

After everyone ahead of them had finished fighting, it was finally time for the last pair—and finally Makoto Ito's turn to take the stage...

Iruka announced, "The final pair: Makoto Ito versus Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto Uzumaki bounced excitedly and rubbed his nose with his hand!

"Is it finally my turn to shine?! Makoto Ito! This time, I'll beat you again!!!"

Naruto was someone who loved showing off! He always thought that as long as he defeated the others, Sakura would notice him. But he couldn't beat the other students in the class, so during every practical training session, he could only find a bit of validation by picking on Makoto Ito...

But in truth, the other students barely paid any attention to this battle between two noobs. Aside from Hinata Hyuga and Ino Yamanaka watching Makoto Ito take the field, no one else paid any attention to Naruto Uzumaki...

As soon as Makoto Ito stepped onto the platform, Ino Yamanaka began cheering for him from below!

"Makoto! Go for it! I believe you'll definitely defeat Naruto Uzumaki this time! Make sure he gets a good look at how strong you are, Makoto!!!"

At that moment, Hinata Hyuga also spoke softly!

"Good luck, Makoto!"

Although the other students in the class were not particularly interested in this match, the big shots in the group were extremely invested! After all, it was finally Makoto Ito's turn!

Kushina Uzumaki: Ah!!! Is it finally Naruto's turn?! Wonderful! After waiting so long, we can finally see how Naruto performs!

Minato Namikaze: Yes, let's watch closely!

It was not just Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki who were focused on this match—the other big shots in the group were as well!

After all, Makoto Ito had received so many benefits earlier. They wanted to see just what level of strength he possessed now. More importantly, his opponent was Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki of this generation!

Everyone also wanted to find out what level of strength this generation's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki possessed!

Naruto Uzumaki excitedly hopped onto the training ground, while Makoto Ito stretched lazily and slowly walked up as well!

"Makoto!!! You haven't beaten me in several matches already! This time, I'm definitely going all out too! There's no way you can beat me!"

To be honest, the old Makoto Ito had truly been unbelievably weak! Whether in academic classes or practical training, he had been the absolute Dead Last!

But Naruto Uzumaki did carry the bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan, so he actually had some skill in taijutsu!

It was just that in academic classes, he was even worse than Makoto Ito!

Thus, the two had become rivals competing for last place...

Makoto Ito looked at Naruto Uzumaki in front of him and smiled!

Although his predecessor had interacted with Naruto Uzumaki before, and they had gotten along fairly well, this was the first time since his transmigration that he had been in such close contact with Naruto!

After all, this was his childhood!

At that moment, when Ino Yamanaka saw Makoto Ito's smile, her eyes immediately turned into hearts...

"Makoto... so handsome!!!"

Hinata Hyuga, hiding among the crowd, also saw the smile on Makoto Ito's face just now...

"It feels like Makoto is different from before! He looks really nice when he smiles!"

Naruto was also carefree by nature. Seeing Makoto Ito smiling at him from across the field, he began grinning foolishly as well...

And so, before the two had even begun fighting, they simply stared at each other and grinned foolishly...

All the surrounding students were dumbfounded. What were these two doing? Everyone was just waiting for them to finish so they could go home after school and eat!

Yet after getting up there, the two of them just stood facing each other, grinning stupidly. What was going on?

Iruka was somewhat bewildered by the sight as well. If Naruto was the one grinning foolishly, that would have been fine—after all, Naruto was usually that carefree—but why was Makoto Ito acting so strangely today?

Makoto Ito was usually rather introverted, so why had he started grinning foolishly after getting onstage today?

"Alright, alright, you two, stop smiling! Hurry up and form the Confrontation Seal!!!"

Hearing Iruka's urging, the two finally reined in their foolish smiles.

At the same time, they placed their hands before their chests and formed a Confrontation Seal.

At that moment, Makoto Ito placed one hand behind his back, extended the other, and crooked his index finger at Naruto.

"Come at me!!!!"

Naruto immediately flew into a rage when he saw that!

"Hmph! Bastard Makoto!!! You dare look down on me! Here I come!!!"

Naruto shouted as he raised his fist and charged at Makoto Ito...

If Makoto Ito were still the Makoto Ito from before, he would definitely have found Naruto's charge troublesome. But the Makoto Ito of now was no longer the Makoto Ito of before—he was Makoto Ito with cheats enabled!

Naruto's movements looked like slow motion in his eyes. They were full of openings, and his speed was painfully slow!

Makoto Ito casually extended one hand and caught Naruto Uzumaki's incoming fist in a single motion.

"What?!" Naruto Uzumaki was utterly shocked by the sight!

How was that possible? How could Makoto Ito catch his punch? Before, he had never managed to block one even once! Could Makoto Ito's strength have improved?

After all, Makoto Ito now had a genuine Senju Clan bloodline fused into his body! His physical attributes, strength, Chakra—every aspect had increased severalfold!

He had also picked up some taijutsu from several big shots, and had even gotten his hands on the first two gates of the Eight Gates Formation!

If they were judging taijutsu alone, Naruto definitely wasn't his match anymore!

And if ninjutsu was included, then Naruto stood even less of a chance!

Naruto was stunned as well! He had put nearly all his strength into that punch! Yet Makoto Ito had caught it so effortlessly!

"Hmph!!!"

Coming back to his senses, Naruto tried to pull back his fist, but no matter how hard he tugged, it would not budge in the slightest. Makoto Ito held it in an iron grip!

At that moment, Iruka gave a soft exclamation.

"Huh? Looks like Makoto Ito has gotten stronger! His strength seems to have increased quite a bit!"

Iruka was an extremely responsible teacher, and he knew Makoto Ito's former level all too well. He could say with certainty that Makoto Ito would never have been able to catch that punch before!