Just as Iruka had said, when Gu Qi arrived at school the next morning, he saw the previous day's test results posted on the noticeboard at the entrance.
As expected, Gu Qi had earned outstanding scores and come in first in his class.
As for last place, Gu Qi was surprised to see that it had gone to Naruto.
Although Naruto had failed the physical fitness test, his scores in the other two tests were still pretty decent.
They weren't especially good, but they were nowhere near the bottom.
It seemed that Naruto's reputation as the dead-last student was mostly due to the teachers' bias.
Shaking his head, Gu Qi murmured, "Poor guy."
It wasn't Naruto's fault, but people who didn't know the truth had piled all the blame on him.
Still, there was nothing Gu Qi could do about it for now.
When he reached the classroom, Gu Qi saw Naruto, looking dejected, slumped over his desk as his classmates mocked him.
"A dummy's a dummy, all right. He actually came in last."
"Exactly! And he wants to be Hokage? What a joke."
Hearing those words, Naruto couldn't help but tremble.
"Damn it!"
One either erupted in the face of silence or perished in it. Naruto, naturally, was the former.
Naruto suddenly stood up. "Next time, next time I definitely won't come in last!"
Clap, clap!
"Well said!" Gu Qi applauded. "Failure isn't scary. What's scary is sinking into despair after you fail."
As he spoke, he walked over to Naruto and gave him a thumbs-up. "If you fall, get back up right where you fell! Keep it up, Naruto."
Gu Qi patted him on the shoulder, then returned to his seat.
"I will!"
"G-Gu Qi, you're really nice to Naruto," Hinata said softly after Gu Qi sat down.