Blame Naruto

Naruto was unwilling to give up. He gritted his teeth and tried to catch up, but his body had nothing left to give.

He could only tell himself to make his move on the final lap.

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

Kiba glanced back smugly, but the smile on his face instantly froze.

He had indeed left Naruto behind, but Sasuke, his face cold, and Shino, wearing sunglasses and showing no expression, were only a step behind him.

Kiba gritted his teeth and sped up, trying to shake off the two boys who had long held first and second place in the physical fitness tests.

But Sasuke and Shino clung to him like glue. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake them off.

By the forty-fifth lap, Kiba's pace finally began to slow.

Sasuke had been waiting for this moment.

He shifted his stride and instantly accelerated past Kiba. As he ran by, he didn't even turn his head to look at him.

Kiba felt provoked.

That indifferent face and that casual look practically said, You aren't even worthy of being my opponent.

Sasuke, temporarily holding first place, thought to himself.

The Uchiha Clan is the strongest.

As the final lap approached, everyone began to sprint.

Kiba looked at Sasuke, who was more than ten meters ahead, and felt despair wash over him. No matter how desperately he sped up, the distance didn't shrink by even a little.

What made his expression even darker was that Shino, who usually sat motionless in the classroom, was still ahead of him.

Meanwhile, Naruto ran out of strength and, without realizing it, fell into step beside Hinata.

Hinata had been running smoothly, her pace steady and her breathing even.

As the girl being groomed to become the next head of the Hyuga Clan, she had undergone rigorous Taijutsu training since childhood.

She had been preparing to sprint on the final lap. Even if she couldn't take first place, she could at least secure a spot in the top three and avoid bringing shame to the Hyuga Clan.

But when she turned and saw Naruto right beside her, so close she could almost hear him breathing, her mind went blank with a buzz. Her feet suddenly stopped, and she froze in place.

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

Hinata lowered her head, her cheeks burning and her heart pounding. She couldn't tell whether it was because of the running or something else.

Once everyone had completed all ten laps, Qiushui stood at the front of the group and announced the results. "First place goes to Uchiha Sasuke."

The moment he finished speaking, the girls burst into a chorus of excited exclamations.

"Wow, Sasuke-kun is amazing!"

"As expected of Sasuke-kun!"

"Even the way he runs is so cool..."

Sasuke stood with his arms hanging straight at his sides, his expression blank. He was completely unmoved by the praise.

" Tch, so what if you got first place? What's so great about that?" Naruto glanced sideways at Sasuke's nonchalant expression, thinking what a show-off he was. "I just didn't perform well this time. Next time, I definitely won't lose to you!"

Qiushui continued, "Second place goes to Aburame Shino."

Silence fell.

No one cheered. Not even a whisper could be heard.

Shino raised a hand and casually adjusted his sunglasses.

His face betrayed no emotion, but deep down, he envied Sasuke like crazy.

He wanted to hear that many people call him amazing, too.

It was just that, during their class's first combat exercise, a swarm of bugs had flown out of him, forming a pitifully thick barrier between him and his classmates.

Qiushui announced the final result. "Third place goes to Inuzuka Kiba."

Kiba crouched off to the side, silently scraping at the grass with his hand, in a foul mood.

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

It's all Naruto's fault!

If that guy hadn't run so hard from the start and made Kiba think he was so impressive, Kiba wouldn't have wasted so much energy right away.

And in the end, all he had to show for it was third place.

Qiushui gave the students five minutes to rest, then led them to the other side of the field. A row of targets stood there, set up specifically for practicing ninja tool throwing.

"Next, we'll practice throwing ninja tools."

After speaking, Qiushui took a prepared storage scroll from inside his clothes and spread it on the ground.

He formed hand seals and pressed his palm to the scroll. With a muffled "poof," white smoke billowed up.

When the smoke cleared, a wooden box had appeared on the ground.

Inside the box, kunai and shuriken were neatly stacked in large quantities.

"Each of you will take three kunai and six shuriken," Qiushui said.

The students immediately gathered around in an orderly manner, their eyes shining. These were their favorite things. As soon as they got their hands on them, they eagerly began examining them. Some weighed them in their hands; others practiced their throwing stances.

"Your task is to hit the targets ten meters away." Qiushui stepped aside and folded his arms, ready to observe.

Sasuke was the first to step forward.

He stood before the throwing line, focused and calm. He drew three kunai with his right hand and adjusted their angles slightly with his fingertips. A flick of his wrist sent three streaks of light flying almost simultaneously. With three dull thuds, they all struck the very center of the target.

For the next six shuriken, he held three between the fingers of each hand, securing them firmly. He raised both arms at once, and six flashes of light crossed through the air. Every one hit the bullseye, without the slightest deviation.

"Wow!"

"Sasuke-kun is amazing!"

A continuous wave of excited exclamations erupted from the girls behind him. Many of them stared intently at his face, their eyes practically sparkling.

Sasuke returned to the group without changing his expression, thinking that Itachi Uchiha could throw six kunai at once with one hand and hit six targets in different directions. Compared to him, Sasuke still had a long way to go.

Qiushui watched and nodded to himself.

When it came to throwing ninja tools, the Uchiha Clan really were naturals. There was no one in the entire Shinobi World better at using ninja tools.

Once they awakened their Sharingan, its dynamic visual acuity would let them do all sorts of things with seemingly simple shuriken and kunai.

He even knew that the Uchiha Clan had developed such signature techniques as Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire and the Shuriken Manipulation Technique. They attached flames to shuriken and sent them flying in a vast wave. Even if their opponent dodged the flames, they still had to contend with the shuriken hidden inside them.

"Hmph, I can do that too!"

Naruto suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention at once.

He puffed out his chest, looking full of confidence.

He thought to himself, I have to hit every target and steal the spotlight from Sasuke.

The other students were taken in by his confidence. They really thought he had spent the entire month of spring break training hard, and they all stared wide-eyed, eager to see what would happen.