Encountering a Numerical Monster

Sasuke Uchiha plopped down on the ground, his face scrunching into a sour pout.

In less than two weeks, he'd already lost first place in Physical Training.

His sole purpose for enrolling was to follow in Itachi Uchiha's footsteps—dominate the Ninja Academy in one year and graduate.

But now, before it even began, it was already over.

"Sasuke, you okay?"

A hand reached out in front of him, and Naruto Uzumaki's earnest face came into view.

"Okay about what?"

Sasuke Uchiha stiffened his expression and said, "This time you just got lucky. Next time, you won't beat me!"

"Sasuke-kun is right!"

Sakura Haruno's voice rang out.

She stepped forward quickly, stretching out her hand, desperate to make sure Sasuke Uchiha wouldn't take Naruto Uzumaki's.

"I'm not losing either!"

Naruto Uzumaki said, brimming with confidence. "I've got the running secret Teacher Beizawa gave me!"

Running secret?

Sasuke Uchiha's heart stirred. He immediately got up and walked toward Beizawa.

Sakura Haruno froze on the spot.

She clenched her fist awkwardly, her face twisting into a grit-toothed scowl.

Naruto Uzumaki scratched his head.

He didn't get why Sakura Haruno was so mad.

But he quickly shrugged it off and went to find Kiba Inuzuka and the others.

"I got first place!"

Naruto Uzumaki said cheerfully.

"Who asked you?"

Kiba Inuzuka shot him a glare.

"Congrats, Naruto."

Shikamaru Nara offered a smile and his congratulations.

"You're better than me."

Choji Akimichi handed over a bag of chips and asked, "Want some?"

"Thanks."

Warmth flowed through Naruto Uzumaki's heart.

He wasn't alone anymore. Now he had lots of friends.

"Teacher Beizawa."

Sasuke Uchiha took a deep breath and asked, "What's this running secret Naruto mentioned?"

"Why didn't you just ask Naruto?"

Beizawa knew the answer but asked anyway.

"I don't want to ask him!"

Sasuke Uchiha gave a light snort.

"There's no running secret. I just taught Naruto the proper running form."

Beizawa said with a smile. "And you've already mastered that form."

"I don't believe it!"

Sasuke Uchiha denied it on instinct.

"If you don't believe me, go ask Naruto."

Beizawa wasn't surprised by his reaction at all.

Sasuke Uchiha fell silent.

If the running method was the same, then did that mean his stats were worse than Naruto Uzumaki's? How was that possible? For a moment, he couldn't accept it.

Sasuke Uchiha gritted his teeth, turned, and walked over to Naruto Uzumaki.

His face cold, he said, "Come with me. I have a question for you."

"What question?"

Naruto Uzumaki looked puzzled as he followed him a short distance away.

"What's the running secret Teacher Beizawa taught you?"

Sasuke Uchiha asked directly.

"You wanna learn that?"

Naruto Uzumaki instantly got excited.

"Shut up!"

Sasuke Uchiha turned his head away, not looking at him, and just urged, "Just say it!"

"Heh heh, no problem."

Naruto Uzumaki wasn't mad; instead, he happily repeated it.

In his eyes, having Sasuke Uchiha—the top student in class—come ask him for advice was a huge ego boost.

There was another reason too.

Sasuke Uchiha didn't treat him differently because of that whole "monster" talk.

"That's it?"

Sasuke Uchiha's eyes went wide after hearing it.

"Yeah."

Naruto Uzumaki asked, confused, "Isn't that enough?"

"..."

Sasuke Uchiha confirmed that Beizawa hadn't lied.

And that made it even harder to swallow.

Why was Naruto Uzumaki physically stronger than him?

He was an Uchiha—invincible!

After thinking it over for a long time, Sasuke Uchiha swallowed his pride and went back to Beizawa.

"The answer to that question is simple."

Beizawa raised an eyebrow and said, "Because your Uchiha Clan specializes in the Sharingan and Fire Release ninjutsu."

"But..."

Sasuke Uchiha hesitated.

"Naruto's talent isn't inferior to yours—it's just different from yours."

Beizawa said with a smile.

He wasn't lying to Sasuke Uchiha.

The original story made it clear.

Naruto Uzumaki inherited the Sage of Six Paths' physical talent, while Sasuke Uchiha inherited his spiritual talent.

Simply put, one was Yang Release, the other Yin Release.

"What talent does he have?"

Sasuke Uchiha curled his lip.

Based on what he'd seen so far, aside from Physical Training, Naruto was pretty average at everything else.

Beizawa couldn't help but laugh.

That was the charm of stats.

Run into a stat monster, use every trick you know, and still lose.

"You'll understand later."

Beizawa patted him on the shoulder.

Sasuke Uchiha glanced at Naruto Uzumaki, then frowned.

He didn't believe Beizawa's words at all, but for some reason, he had a vague feeling it might actually happen.

After a short break, class resumed.

Beizawa taught them Ninja Tool Throwing techniques, then let them practice freely while he took Hinata Hyuga and the others to the training ground.

"Teacher Beizawa!"

Naruto Uzumaki asked eagerly, "Can I do Tree Climbing Training now?"

"You can."

Beizawa nodded.

He'd promised Naruto Uzumaki before—if he got first place in Physical Training, he'd teach him tree climbing.

"Yeah!"

Naruto Uzumaki bounced on the spot in excitement.

"It's just tree climbing. You've still got a long way to go."

Sasuke Uchiha couldn't help saying.

"I'll catch up to you soon!"

Naruto Uzumaki declared confidently.

Just as Sasuke Uchiha was about to retort, he spotted three Beizawas.

"What kind of jutsu is that?"

Naruto Uzumaki blurted out in surprise.

"Shadow Clone Technique."

The three Beizawas answered in unison.

"I want to learn it!"

Naruto Uzumaki's eyes lit up as he spoke.

His first thought was that after learning this jutsu, he could go home and play with himself.

"I'll teach you once you finish the Tree Climbing Training."

Beizawa casually dangled a carrot.

"Yeah!"

Naruto Uzumaki nodded firmly.

"Start training."

Beizawa divided the work among his shadow clones.

One shadow clone taught Naruto Uzumaki, another taught Yakumo Kurama.

His main body taught Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, and Ino Yamanaka.

Naruto Uzumaki started climbing the tree with full motivation, but the results were pretty poor.

Beizawa fell into thought.

Did Naruto Uzumaki have talent? Of course he did—otherwise he wouldn't have become a savior.

But at the Ninja Academy, he was a genuine dead last, unable to even master the simple Three Body Techniques, which made him fail the graduation exam.

One reason was that he didn't take the Academy seriously and learned poorly.

Another was the influence of that big treasure inside him—the Nine-Tails.

Beizawa rubbed his brow.

With his current strength and status, he didn't dare touch the Nine-Tails at all.

For now, the only option was diligence making up for lack of talent.

Though Naruto Uzumaki's progress was slow, he was still improving.

"...?"

Sasuke Uchiha watched with a head full of question marks.

After half a lesson of training, Naruto Uzumaki had only climbed to a fifth of the tree's height at best.

He himself had climbed halfway on his first try.

Sasuke Uchiha couldn't help questioning his life.

He'd actually lost to a Naruto Uzumaki like this?

The lesson ended quickly.

Naruto Uzumaki reluctantly left the school and went home.

"Naruto, congratulations on getting first place in Physical Training."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a chuckle.

"Thanks."

Naruto Uzumaki beamed, then asked, "Third Grandpa, how did you know?"

"I'm the Hokage."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said smugly. "Nothing gets past me."

"That's amazing!"

Naruto Uzumaki exclaimed in awe, then said eagerly, "I want to hear the story of the Fourth Hokage!"