"Be My Friend"

He recalled the process Denji had used to make friends that morning.

Give a gift, show goodwill, and bridge the distance.

He approached Denji, who was picking up shuriken, and bent down to help.

Denji looked at Sasuke in surprise; the ninja tool pouch in Sasuke's hand clearly still had plenty of gear left.

He had been secretly observing Sasuke's throwing technique earlier, and it was essentially perfect.

In terms of ninja tool throwing alone, he had already reached graduation level.

After all, he was of the Uchiha clan, and children of the Uchiha were usually educated within the clan long before attending the Ninja Academy.

Coming to the Ninja Academy was merely a gesture to show the Uchiha's goodwill and demonstrate their support for the Will of Fire.

Normally, Uchiha children were taught within their own family.

Only the geniuses were sent to the Ninja Academy to crush their peers with overwhelming superiority, showcasing the power of the Uchiha before graduating early.

For example, Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.

Neither of them spent six years at the Ninja Academy; both skipped grades and graduated early.

The reason was that what the Ninja Academy taught was a waste of time for such geniuses.

Although Sasuke was not as famous as those two, his basic throwing technique for ninja tools like shuriken was far ahead of his peers.

After helping pick up the shuriken, Sasuke handed them to Denji:

"Be my friend!"

Denji: "???"

That's a bit forward! I'm not that kind of person.

He took out another ninja tool pouch, which was filled with shuriken.

With this, he could save some time on picking up the shuriken.

"If you become my friend, I'll give this to you."

"Best friends, say no more!"

"Ding! Completed wish [Brother's Task]!"

Looking at the prompt that suddenly popped up from the system, Akimichi Denji was momentarily dazed.

So, your task was just to become friends with me?

The two walked back to the open field, and Denji took the opportunity to ask Sasuke for advice on his throwing technique. Sasuke, for once, explained it to Denji while demonstrating with his hands.

Haruno Sakura watched the two walk back, dumbfounded. If she wasn't mistaken, there was even a hint of a smile on the corner of Sasuke's mouth.

She had never seen Sasuke smile before, and certainly not at another boy!

Sasuke had never smiled at her, let alone offered to teach her anything!

Haruno Sakura: "I didn't see that wrong, did I!"

Yamanaka Ino nudged Sakura with her elbow and smirked, "As expected of the man I've got my eye on; he's already conquered Sasuke so quickly!"

Seeing Sasuke and Denji walking together, Naruto felt inexplicably awkward and urged, "Denji, come back and practice. Let me teach you properly."

Recalling Sasuke's shared experience, Denji took out a shuriken and threw it, hitting the target just two rings away from the bullseye.

A prompt popped up on the panel: [Ninja Tool Throwing (Novice) -> (Beginner)].

Naruto's eyes widened: "Loser, you actually hit it."

He then laughed sheepishly: "Not bad! What great luck, haha! You're almost catching up to me, haha..."

Denji smiled faintly and didn't say much.

Naruto had a competitive nature, and he wouldn't provoke him; he was still waiting for Naruto to farm wish points!

Sasuke walked over and nodded affirmatively: "Good throw. You have great talent for throwing ninja tools, but you can still refine it further."

"Just now, because of the angle, your aim was a bit off."

"Also, when you flicked your wrist, your release gesture was wrong, which interfered with the shuriken."

Seeing Sasuke's guidance, Naruto felt a bit awkward.

Haruno Sakura walked over and said coyly, "Sasuke, I'm not very good at throwing shuriken either. Could you teach me too?"

This was a lie.

Denji had just observed the level of the whole class; although Haruno Sakura wasn't hitting the bullseye every time, she was at least hitting the target.

As a civilian ninja, being able to rank among the Konoha Twelve meant that even if her performance in the anime was mediocre, her innate talent was not bad.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura and said coldly, "Just practice more on your own."

He then turned to Denji and said, "Try it again just like I told you."

Haruno Sakura pouted and stomped her foot.

Denji adjusted his posture again and threw the shuriken. This time, it struck the bullseye firmly.

Sasuke was stunned, seemingly not having expected Denji to land a hit so quickly.

He knew that even with his own training within the clan, he had barely managed to hit the bullseye after half a day of practice.

It was clearly Denji's first time handling shuriken; judging by his technique earlier, he was obviously a novice, yet after a simple bit of guidance, he had picked it up instantly.

He simply nodded: "It seems you have quite the talent for throwing ninja tools."

Naruto's mouth hung open, dumbfounded: "He actually hit it..."

Ino walked out from beside Sakura, praising him with a beaming smile: "As expected of Denji."

Hinata watched everything blankly; she wanted to step forward and congratulate Denji like the others, but the gathering crowd made her hesitate.

Iruka stepped forward: "Alright, stop crowding together and focus on your training!"

"Since you're all so enthusiastic, we'll have a shuriken throwing test tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Naruto clenched his fists: "Fine! This Great One will definitely be the strongest!"

Sasuke shook his head, wondering where Naruto got such confidence.

The crowd dispersed one after another; since the test results would be sent to their parents, they had to prepare well.

Denji's eyes lit up; he hadn't earned a single Wish Point today.

Now that Naruto had a wish, he really couldn't bear to let the opportunity slip by.

Naruto actually didn't lack talent for shuriken, but he had lacked practice; after all, no villager was willing to sell him daily necessities, let alone ninja tools.

Furthermore, because of the Nine-Tails Incident, Iruka currently harbored resentment toward Naruto. While he didn't target him openly, his instruction toward Naruto was certainly not as meticulous as it could have been.

Thus, Naruto had been forced to figure out shuriken techniques on his own.

If he could just impart a little experience...

But Denji was only a half-baked amateur himself, so calling it "teaching" Naruto was a bit of a stretch.

If he could convince Sasuke to teach Naruto and go easy on him...

Denji shifted his gaze toward Sasuke, his eyes gleaming: "Do me a favor, good friend!"

Sasuke turned his head: "What o_O???"

Denji: "I'm worried Naruto will get discouraged. When you teach me, speak up a bit, and teach him at the same time!"

"Why bother with this dead-last?"

"He helped me, so I have to help him back. Friends should help each other!"

Sasuke froze, remembering what his brother had told him, and nodded.

He began to understand his brother's intention—beyond the way of the ninja, Denji's way of making friends was also worth learning.

He still couldn't help but glance at Denji.

"You really are a good person."

Then, following Denji's request, Sasuke raised his voice slightly while teaching, controlling it to a level just loud enough for Naruto to hear.

Naruto came over, originally intending to compete to teach Denji.

Hearing Sasuke's words, he nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad! That's the idea!"

"As expected of Sasuke, you've pointed out exactly what I wanted to know."