Blame Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki felt unwilling to give up, gritting his teeth as he tried to catch up, but his heart was willing while his strength was lacking.

He had no choice but to think, I'll just save my sprint for the final lap.

Since he couldn't secure first place, he would settle for second.

Inuzuka Kiba looked back triumphantly, but the smile on his face froze instantly.

Naruto had indeed been shaken off, but Uchiha Sasuke, with his cold face, and Aburame Shino, whose expression was hidden behind dark sunglasses, were only a step away from him.

Inuzuka Kiba gritted his teeth and accelerated further, desperate to shake off the two people who had long dominated the first and second spots in physical training.

Yet, Uchiha Sasuke and Aburame Shino were like gum stuck to his shoe; no matter how hard he tried to shake them, they wouldn't fall off.

By the forty-fifth lap, Inuzuka Kiba's speed finally began to wane.

This was the moment Uchiha Sasuke had been waiting for.

He shifted his footing and surged forward with a sudden burst of speed, not even glancing at Inuzuka Kiba as he passed him by.

Inuzuka Kiba felt stung.

That cold expression and that indifferent gaze were as good as saying that he wasn't even worthy of being a rival.

The Uchiha Clan is the strongest, Uchiha Sasuke thought to himself as he held the lead.

As the final lap approached, everyone began their sprint.

Inuzuka Kiba looked at Uchiha Sasuke, who was over ten meters ahead, and felt a wave of despair; no matter how desperately he pushed himself, the distance didn't shrink by even a fraction.

What made his expression even uglier was that Aburame Shino, the guy who usually sat motionless in the classroom, was also staying ahead of him.

On the other side, Naruto Uzumaki, exhausted, had drifted beside Hyuga Hinata without realizing it.

Hinata had been running well, maintaining a steady rhythm and even breathing.

As the heir-apparent to the Hyuga Clan, she had undergone rigorous taijutsu training since childhood.

She was preparing to sprint for the final lap; even if she couldn't take first, she could ensure a top-three finish, so as not to tarnish the image of the Hyuga Clan.

But when she turned her head and found Naruto right beside her—so close she could almost hear his breathing—her mind went blank with a buzz, her feet stumbled, and she froze in place.

By the time she regained her senses, she had fallen to last place.

Hyuga Hinata kept her head down, her cheeks burning fiercely and her heart pounding; she didn't know if it was from the running or something else entirely.

Once everyone had completed the ten laps, Qiushui stood at the front of the group to announce the results: "The winner of first place is Uchiha Sasuke."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a chorus of chirping exclamations erupted from the girls' side.

"Wow, Sasuke-kun is so amazing!"

"As expected of Sasuke-kun!"

"Even his running form is so cool..."

Uchiha Sasuke kept his hands at his sides, his face expressionless, completely unmoved by the praise.

"Tch, so he got first place? What's the big deal?" Naruto Uzumaki squinted at Sasuke's nonchalant demeanor, thinking the guy was just putting on an act. "I just didn't perform well this time; next time, I definitely won't lose to you!"

Qiushui continued the announcement: "The winner of second place is Aburame Shino."

Silence fell over the area.

No one cheered, and there wasn't even a whisper.

Aburame Shino raised his hand and calmly adjusted his sunglasses.

His face showed no emotion, but inside, he was actually envious of Sasuke to the point of agony.

He wanted to be cheered on by so many people, too.

But ever since the class's first practical exercise, when those dense swarms of insects had flown out from his body, a tragic, thick barrier had formed between him and all his classmates.

Qiushui finally said: "The winner of third place is Inuzuka Kiba."

Inuzuka Kiba crouched to the side, silently raking his fingers through the grass, feeling incredibly frustrated.

The more he thought about it, the more stifled he felt.

It was all that guy Naruto's fault!

If he hadn't been running like a madman at the start, making him think he was so formidable, he wouldn't have burned through so much stamina right out of the gate.

In the end, he only managed to scrape together third place.

Qiushui gave the students five minutes to rest before leading them to the other side of the training ground, where a row of targets stood, specifically for practicing shurikenjutsu.

"Next, we will begin practicing ninja tool throwing."

After Qiushui finished speaking, he pulled a prepared storage scroll from his robe and spread it out on the ground.

He formed hand seals and pressed them onto the scroll. With a muffled "bang," a cloud of white smoke instantly billowed up.

When the smoke cleared, a wooden crate sat on the ground.

Opening the box, a large quantity of kunai and shuriken were neatly stacked inside.

"Everyone take three kunai and six shuriken," Qiushui said.

The students immediately crowded around in an orderly fashion, their eyes gleaming. This was their favorite equipment, and the moment they got their hands on them, they couldn't wait to fiddle with them; some weighed them in their hands, while others practiced their throwing stances.

"Your task is to hit the target ten meters away," Qiushui said, stepping aside and crossing his arms to observe.

Uchiha Sasuke was the first to step forward.

He stood before the throwing line, his expression focused and calm. His right hand drew three kunai, his fingertips slightly adjusting the angle before his wrist flicked—three streaks of light flew out almost simultaneously, and with three dull thuds, they all struck the dead center of the target.

For the following six shuriken, he held three in each hand, gripped firmly between his fingers. With a simultaneous lift of both arms, six cold glints crisscrossed through the air, all hitting the bullseye without the slightest deviation.

"Wow!"

"Sasuke-kun is amazing!"

A continuous chorus of gasps erupted from the girls behind him, many of them staring intently at his face with stars in their eyes.

Sasuke, however, returned to the line with an expressionless face, thinking to himself that Itachi Uchiha could throw six kunai with one hand at once, hitting six targets in different directions; compared to him, he was still far from enough.

Qiushui watched this, nodding secretly to himself.

When it came to the craft of throwing ninja tools, the Uchiha Clan were indeed natural experts; one couldn't find anyone in the entire ninja world better at using ninja tools than them.

Once they awakened the Sharingan, relying on the dynamic vision of those eyes, they could perform incredible feats with seemingly simple shuriken and kunai.

He even knew that the Uchiha Clan had developed unique techniques like Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire and the Shuriken Manipulation Technique—where shuriken were imbued with flames and flew in an overwhelming barrage; one had to dodge the fire only to face the shuriken wrapped within it.

"Hmph, I can do it too!"

Naruto suddenly shouted loudly, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

He puffed out his chest, looking full of confidence.

He was thinking that he must hit every target to steal the spotlight from Sasuke.

The surrounding students were bluffed by his posturing, truly believing he had spent the month of spring break in hard training, and they all widened their eyes, waiting to see a good show.