The Pressure He Was Under Was Pretty Great

Ichiraku Ramen.

The fragrant ramen was soon gone.

Naruto wiped his mouth with a tissue, tossed it in the trash, then stood and waved. "I've got something to do, so I'll be going. See you tomorrow, sensei."

"Tomorrow... No, wait. Why 'see you tomorrow'? Aren't you supposed to go back to school this afternoon?"

Iruka quickly realized what Naruto meant and hurried to block his way. "Have you still not forgiven me, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't understand. "What makes you say that, sensei? Everyone knows I'm broad-minded. How could I not forgive you?"

"Then why aren't you going to class this afternoon?"

"Those are two completely unrelated things. I'm not going to class because there's no point. I've already learned everything I need to learn. I just don't want to keep wasting time in class. I'm going to use the time I save to train on my own."

"No point in class? Wasting time?"

As a teacher, Iruka was naturally furious to hear this. He put on a stern expression and lectured him.

"Naruto, you're far too arrogant. Being a ninja isn't as simple as you think. If you don't take it seriously, you'll pay dearly someday. And you're not the best in class. You're not as good as Sasuke in combat, and you're not as good as Sakura in theory..."

"But I passed, didn't I?"

Naruto smiled. "I've kept up with the curriculum and haven't held the class back, have I?"

At the summit of the ninja world, I reign supreme. Where Naruto stands, the heavens are mine!

Even though I skip class every day and only put half my effort into lessons, I, Naruto, still pass my exams.

Seeing that Iruka was about to keep trying to persuade him, Naruto added, "Grandpa Third Hokage already agreed to this. Do you really want to disobey the Hokage's orders, sensei?"

Iruka was left speechless. Of course he wouldn't dare defy the Hokage. He just couldn't help grumbling inwardly: You get to be the good guy while I'm stuck being the bad guy. Lord Hokage, you can't just throw me under the bus like this!

After thinking for a moment, Iruka tried to reason with him. "Naruto, you still have a lot of room to improve."

Naruto immediately replied, "But I'm a special student."

At the shop entrance, Iruka watched Naruto walk away and couldn't help letting out a troubled sigh.

Why couldn't he get through to him?

"Are you Naruto's teacher?"

"You are..." Iruka turned around and saw the shop assistant from earlier.

"I'm Ayame, and I'm friends with Naruto."

Ayame introduced herself, then repeated her earlier question. After Iruka confirmed it, she smiled and asked, "Could you tell me what Naruto is like at school?"

That wasn't exactly a secret.

The two went back inside and sat down. Iruka told her all about Naruto's behavior at school, then asked for help. "Do you have any idea how I can get Naruto to go back to class?"

Ayame shook her head. "It'll be difficult. Naruto may be young, but he's surprisingly stubborn. Once he's made up his mind, he won't change it easily."

Seeing Iruka's troubled expression, Ayame advised him, "Why insist, Iruka-sensei? Why not respect Naruto's wishes? The Hokage agreed to it, after all."

"That may be true, but it's my duty as a teacher..."

"Which matters more, your duty as a teacher or Naruto's wishes?"

It wasn't easy to compare the two, but Iruka was determined to be an excellent teacher, and that meant putting his students first.

"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Ayame."

Iruka thanked Ayame sincerely. She said it was no trouble, as long as he did her a favor.

"What favor?"

"That child was alone when he was little, and he's still alone now. It's so worrying... I hope you'll look after Naruto at school, Iruka-sensei. It'd be even better if you could help him make a friend, so he doesn't always have to be alone."

"That's a teacher's responsibility."

After leaving, Naruto went to his usual training spot, just as he always did. It was an open area that few people visited, making it a pretty good place to train.

A stream came into view, so clear he could see the pebbles on its bed. He could even spot fish poking their heads above the water.

A few tall trees stood nearby, their thick foliage reaching dozens of meters into the air. Beside the stream rose a towering cliff. It looked dangerous, but a drop of several dozen meters was nothing to a ninja. Naruto often used the rocky slope to practice climbing, scaling it to reach the high ground above.

Naruto walked up to one of the trees and began his usual training, repeatedly throwing shuriken at it.

After finishing his shuriken practice, Naruto took a break.

He didn't push his body too hard after resting. Instead, he took out the fishing rod he'd hidden earlier and went to fish a hundred meters upstream.

From what Naruto had observed, this spot had the most fish. Before long, he'd caught plenty.

Looking at the several fish in his bucket, Naruto smiled a little. He carried it to the foot of a cliff several dozen meters from the riverbank. There was a small cave there—not big, but enough to keep the rain out.

He skillfully scraped the scales off the fish. Years of practice had made Naruto a good enough cook to prepare them with ease.

Soon, he'd eaten every last bite.

"Mm! My cooking's getting better!"

Naruto licked his lips, patted his stomach, and stood up, satisfied. Then he started running home. The sun had already disappeared, and the moon was just beginning to rise. He sprinted down the streets, where only a few people were around, and caught several looks of disgust.

He paid them little mind. After all these years, he was used to those looks.

When he got back, Naruto washed off the sweat from training and soon fell asleep.

--The next day--

"Want to play Shogi?"

During the break, Shikamaru carried a board over to Naruto.

Naruto's mind was in the Sealing Space, chatting with the Nine-Tails, and only a small part of his attention was on the outside world.

When Shikamaru came over, Naruto didn't react at first. After a moment, he finally said, "What did you say?"

I didn't say anything...

Of course, that wasn't true.

Thinking of his father's instructions and his teacher's reminders, Shikamaru couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

What a pain. The adults were the ones who caused this problem, so why did they have to dump it on a kid like him to solve?

Shikamaru repeated, "Want to play Shogi?"

Naruto gave Shikamaru a puzzled look. This didn't fit his usual fear-of-trouble personality.

As if he'd noticed Naruto's confusion, Shikamaru put on a pained expression. I don't want to do this either.

All right, I get it... Naruto understood and glanced discreetly upward.

Third Hokage, you old man, you're watching me, aren't you?!

Naruto spread his hands. "But I don't know how to play Shogi."

"Never mind. I can teach you," Shikamaru sighed. Another troublesome task added to the pile.

Naruto stared at Shikamaru in surprise for two seconds. "When you put it that way, you're under quite a lot of pressure, aren't you?"