First Time

"Me! Me! Iruka told me to compete with Sasuke! Today, I'm definitely going to show that stuck-up jerk what I'm made of!"

Iruka was choosing Sasuke's training opponent when Naruto volunteered himself!

Kiba Inuzuka beside him was unwilling to be outdone as well.

"Naruto, Sasuke took you down in one move last time. This time, it's my turn. To deal with Sasuke, I've trained a new ultimate technique."

Sasuke: Why did this feel so familiar? It was like this had happened before.

"Next group: Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki."

If he had heard correctly, he had fought Naruto last time. This time, it really should have been someone else.

Was this the will of the greater world, or was it specifically targeting Naruto?

"Ah~ Sasuke, take him down in one hit!"

"Go, Sasuke!"

"I want to make the Reconciliation Seal with Sasuke too!"

Sasuke: You just want to cop a feel!

This was a joint training class for two classes, so the number of girls had doubled as well.

Naruto stepped out from across the field. After hearing the girls' nearly one-sided cheers, he grew visibly angry and could not wait to fight Sasuke.

Iruka gave him a stern lecture. They had to follow the process: first make the Opposition Seal, then make the Reconciliation Seal after the fight, blah blah blah.

Finally, after Sasuke and Naruto patiently made the Opposition Seal with each other, Iruka gave the command to begin.

Maybe this was a little unfair. Really, perhaps just a tiny bit.

To maintain his undefeated image, he had no choice. Just to be safe...

The instant he lunged forward, Chakra began flowing as he activated the Sharingan.

It was like entering bullet time. Naruto's movements seemed to slow down. His punches had never followed any proper pattern to begin with, and even though Sasuke had hardly ever fought, he could think of countless ways to deal with them.

He pressed the web between his right thumb and index finger, using the pad of his index finger to push against Naruto's philtrum. It looked as though he were covering Naruto's mouth with one hand.

Naruto's forward momentum was instantly stopped. The inertia carrying his body forward below the neck, combined with Sasuke pushing him back with force, sent him flat onto his back.

Afraid Naruto might hit his head too hard, Sasuke placed a foot beneath the back of his head so it would not slam directly into the ground.

"Sasuke wins. Both sides, make the Reconciliation Seal."

He only had to do what the teacher said. Sasuke withdrew the foot cushioning Naruto's head and held out two fingers to Naruto, signaling that he should take them so Sasuke could pull him up—and make the Reconciliation Seal while they were at it.

Without warning, Naruto sprang up like a carp and threw a punch at him.

"You fell for it, idiot!"

Damn it, this brat was playing dirty.

Sasuke deeply understood now that Naruto could indeed be extremely irritating sometimes.

Luckily, Naruto was in an awkward position and could not put much strength behind it, so Sasuke barely dodged the fist flying toward his face.

Then he had an intimate face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth encounter with the rising Naruto.

Their faces happened to be at perfectly perpendicular angles, so... they fit together very well.

With Sasuke's mouth blocking him, Naruto failed to get up. He held that position for two or three seconds before falling back down again.

From the bystanders' perspective:

Naruto had been knocked down. When Sasuke kindly reached out to pull him up, Naruto took the opportunity to steal a kiss from Sasuke. Having succeeded in his scheme, he lay back down with complete satisfaction...

If Sasuke remembered correctly, Naruto and Sasuke's accidental kiss in the original plot had happened on the day of their graduation Team Assignment.

He had clearly prepared himself mentally. He only needed to stay on guard that day. It was such an important plot point, and the timing had been so clear. There should not have been any more accidents.

He had originally planned to deal with his first time himself after learning the Shadow Clone technique.

Who would have thought Naruto would still steal it from him! Damn it!

Was this the will of the greater world? Even after he had prepared to avoid it, it could still find a way to patch things up.

Naruto had probably eaten rice balls for lunch. There was a faint taste of sour plum and seaweed. Thank heavens Sasuke's first time did not taste like ramen broth and sour milk.

To prove his innocence, should he beat Naruto up now to make his position clear?

"Sasuke's first kiss!"

"Damn you, Naruto!"

"Naruto, I'll kill you!"

"Now that you've kissed Sasuke, Naruto, let me kiss you too!"

"Damn it, I want a kiss too!"

Terrifying. This was two classes' worth of girls, nearly twenty people. Only a handful of girls had not joined in.

Ah, he spotted Hinata. She was blushing and poking her fingers together, and who knew what she was thinking.

Watching Naruto play a game of being hunted down by a group of female classmates, Sasuke wondered if Hinata wanted to taste Naruto's first kiss on him just like those lovesick girls did...

Whether because they were intimidated by him or for some other reason, they dared to seek compensation from Naruto but did not dare take liberties with Sasuke. That was a small blessing amid misfortune.

Facing the crazed group of girls, Iruka had become completely incapable of intimidating anyone.

In the end,

Naruto was covered in bumps, and in full view of everyone, he really was kissed fiercely several times—judging by his expression, he looked like he was about to be kissed unconscious.

The other students hid at the edge of the training ground, trembling in fear.

Iruka took Naruto to Konoha Hospital to have his wounds treated. He left instructions for the students to study on their own in the training ground. After all that commotion, and since it had already been the final class of the day, they simply studied until school ended.

The Sage of Six Paths was obviously more biased toward Asura's reincarnation. Sasuke, meanwhile, was Indra's reincarnation, whose ideals had conflicted with the Sage of Six Paths'. After being reborn, Sasuke did not know whether this rather unwelcome identity would have any effect.

As for sealing Kaguya? Honestly, it might not make much difference whether he was there or not.

Once they gathered the "assembled-from-parts Ten-Tails," they could just stuff all the Yin and Yang power into Naruto.

Maybe all it would take was clapping both hands against "Bunny Kaguya" to seal her. It might be more troublesome without someone to coordinate with, but who knew whether the Sage of Six Paths had other backup plans? Claims like "my Chakra is almost depleted" were ultimately just the word of one remnant soul from the Sage of Six Paths.

There were so many years between them. Even if Naruto was excessively mischievous, Sasuke would not hold it against him.

Besides, his plan to grow stronger still required him to maintain a good relationship with Naruto and have Naruto help him.

At Konoha Hospital, he asked the receptionist where Iruka and Naruto were, then headed over.

Naruto's upper body was wrapped like a mummy. Taking advantage of Naruto being so thoroughly bandaged that he could not move, Iruka kept lecturing him with a stern face.

When he saw that Sasuke had come in, his serious expression was instantly replaced with a smile, just like a homeroom teacher seeing a top student.

"Sasuke, you're here? School should be over by now, right? Nothing else happened afterward, did it?"

"Class ended soon after that, so there were no problems. Naruto's still alive, right?"

Naruto was not entirely lucid, but when he heard Sasuke's name followed by Sasuke's voice, he perked up and immediately began putting on a brave front.

"Stupid Sasuke, I let you off today! Next time, I'll definitely show you what I'm made of!"

Naturally, Naruto's excited emotions had no effect on Sasuke.

"Seeing how miserable you are, I won't beat you up."

He had shown his face and confirmed Naruto was not dead. There was no need to be overly warm. He could deliberately preserve part of his cool persona. It was absolutely not because forming sentences was too troublesome, and he was afraid of embarrassing himself by making grammar mistakes or failing to express himself properly.

"Sasuke, don't look down on me! Once I'm healed..."

"You should focus on eating properly first. You barely have any meat on your bones—you're as light as a cat."

Sasuke gave Iruka a slight nod, then did not linger any longer.