"Be Friends with Me"

He recalled Denji's process for making friends that morning.

Give a gift, show goodwill, and build a closer relationship.

He went over to Denji, who was picking up shuriken, and bent down to help him.

Denji looked at Sasuke in surprise. The ninja tool pouch in Sasuke's hand clearly wasn't empty yet.

He'd been secretly watching Sasuke throw, and he'd hit the mark almost every time.

When it came to Ninja Tool Throwing, Sasuke had already graduated.

After all, he was an Uchiha. Uchiha children had already received clan education at home before entering the Ninja Academy.

Their so-called attendance at the Ninja Academy was nothing more than a way to show goodwill and demonstrate their support for the Will of Fire.

Ordinary Uchiha children were taught within the clan.

Only a few geniuses were sent to the Ninja Academy to crush their peers with their superior abilities, show off the Uchiha's strength, and graduate early by skipping grades.

For example, Shisui Uchiha and Uchiha Itachi.

Neither of them had spent six years at the Ninja Academy. Both had graduated early after skipping grades.

The reason was simple: for geniuses like them, the things taught at the Ninja Academy were a waste of time.

Sasuke might not have been as famous as those two, but when it came to basic ninja tool techniques like throwing shuriken, he was ahead of children his age.

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

"Be friends with me!"

Denji: "???"

That was a little abrupt! I'm not someone who makes friends just like that.

Sasuke took out another ninja tool pouch, this one filled with shuriken.

With these, they could save some time picking up shuriken.

"If you'll be my friend, you can have these."

"Best friend? You don't have to ask me twice!"

"Ding! Wish [Big Brother's Mission] completed!"

At the sudden notification from the system, Akimichi Denji blinked in surprise.

So your mission was to become friends with me?

The two of them walked back to the clearing. Denji took the opportunity to ask Sasuke for advice on his throwing technique, and Sasuke unusually explained it to him while demonstrating.

Haruno Sakura stared in amazement as the two returned. If she'd seen right, there was even a slight smile on Sasuke's face.

She'd never seen Sasuke smile before, let alone at a boy!

Sasuke had never smiled at her, and he'd certainly never offered to teach her anything!

Haruno Sakura: "Am I seeing things?"

Yamanaka Ino nudged Sakura with her elbow and grinned. "As expected of the man I set my sights on. You won Sasuke over so quickly!"

Seeing Sasuke walking with Denji made Naruto feel strangely uncomfortable. He urged, "Denji, come back and practice. I'll teach you properly."

Recalling Sasuke's advice, Denji took out a shuriken and threw it. It hit the target, just two rings away from the bullseye.

A prompt appeared on the panel: [Ninja Tool Throwing (Uninitiated) -> (Initiated)].

Naruto's eyes widened. "Dead last, you actually hit it!"

Then he gave an awkward laugh. "Not bad! You got lucky, haha! You're almost as good as me, haha..."

Denji smiled faintly and said nothing.

Naruto was competitive by nature, so Denji wouldn't provoke him. He was still waiting for Naruto to earn him Wish Points!

Sasuke came over and nodded approvingly. "Not bad. You have a real talent for throwing ninja tools, but you can still improve."

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

"And when you flicked your hand, your release was wrong. It threw off the shuriken a little."

Watching Sasuke give Denji pointers, Naruto felt a little awkward.

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

That was a lie.

Denji had just observed everyone in the class. Sakura might not have hit the target every time, but she'd managed to hit it with every shuriken.

As a civilian-born ninja who'd made it into the Konoha Twelve, Sakura was talented, even if the anime hadn't shown it much.

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

Then he turned back to Denji. "Try again, following what I told you."

Sakura puffed out her cheeks and stamped her foot.

Denji adjusted his stance and threw another shuriken. This time, it struck the bullseye dead center.

Sasuke froze. He hadn't expected Denji to hit it so quickly.

Even when Sasuke had practiced with his clan, it had taken him half a day just to hit the bullseye.

Denji had clearly never handled shuriken before. His technique had looked awkward, but after a little instruction, he'd picked it up right away.

Sasuke merely nodded. "It seems you have a real talent for throwing ninja tools."

Naruto gaped, dumbfounded. "He actually hit it..."

Ino stepped out from beside Sakura and beamed at Denji. "That's my Denji!"

Hinata watched everything in silence. She wanted to go up and congratulate Denji like the others, but the crowd around him made her hesitate.

Iruka stepped forward. "All right, don't crowd around. Focus on your training!"

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

Naruto clenched his fists. "All right! I'll be the strongest!"

Sasuke shook his head, wondering where Naruto got all that confidence.

Everyone dispersed. Their parents would be told the results of the test, too, so they'd better prepare.

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

Now that Naruto had a wish, Denji couldn't bring himself to pass up the opportunity.

Naruto actually had a decent talent for throwing shuriken. He'd just never had enough practice, since no villagers were willing to sell him everyday necessities, let alone ninja tools.

On top of that, Iruka now disliked Naruto because of the Nine-Tails Incident. He didn't openly target him, but he certainly wasn't as thorough when teaching Naruto.

So Naruto had taught himself how to throw shuriken.

All it would take was a little advice...

But Denji was no expert himself, so calling it teaching Naruto would be a bit of a stretch.

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

Denji looked at Sasuke, his eyes shining. "Do me a favor, best friend!"

Sasuke turned around. "What? o_O???"

Denji said, "I'm worried Naruto might get discouraged. When you're teaching me, speak a little louder and give him some pointers too!"

"Why bother with that dead last?"

"He helped me, so I should help him, too. Friends should help each other!"

Sasuke froze, remembering what his older brother had said, then nodded.

He more or less understood his brother's intentions: there was more than the ninja way to learn from Denji. His way of making friends was worth learning from, too.

Still, he couldn't help glancing at Denji.

"You really are a good person."

Then, as Denji had suggested, Sasuke raised his voice a little while teaching, making sure Naruto could just barely hear him.

Naruto came over, initially intending to compete to be the one who taught Denji.

Hearing Sasuke's explanation, he nodded repeatedly. "That's right! Exactly!"

"As expected of Sasuke. He explained all the things I wanted to know."