Practice

A week slipped quietly by, like sand through one's fingers.

"Transformation!"

On the training ground, Naruto successfully transformed into a beautiful woman wreathed in smoke, with golden hair tied in twin tails and a brown towel-like garment draped around her, leaving much of her body exposed.

Even more dangerously, every frown and smile made her face bloom like a flower, shining with dazzling beauty.

After one glance, Yi Xiang quickly looked away from the woman he was inspecting. Then, out of habit, he rubbed his nose and nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad, Naruto. This week wasn't wasted."

"Hehe, Big Brother Yi Xiang, does that mean we can find someone to test how powerful this jutsu is?"

Hearing Yi Xiang's praise, Naruto suddenly felt that all his hard work had paid off.

Though I don't know why Big Brother Yi Xiang suddenly changed his usual ways, making time to help me develop this new ninjutsu and working so hard on his own training, too.

As long as he's happy, I'm happy.

"Excellent! Let's go. It's time to put our results to the test."

Sasuke had been about to continue his usual training, but suddenly stopped. For some reason, it felt as though several curious little bugs were wriggling around in his heart. After thinking for a few seconds, he decided to secretly follow them.

Beside a Konoha tavern, where a group of drunks had gathered.

"Big Brother Yi Xiang, are we really going to use our new jutsu here? Isn't it a little dangerous?"

Seeing several drunks built like sumo wrestlers, along with the horrifying scars on their faces and arms, Naruto asked uncertainly.

If Yi Xiang weren't with him, Naruto would have wanted to get as far away from this place as possible. For a boy his age, the sight was still pretty intimidating.

To Yi Xiang's surprise, Jing Tianjinya was there, too. Seeing his body covered in bandages and his gaze looking much more honest, Yi Xiang felt a little lighter.

"It's fine. They're just a bunch of adults who look a little strange. Are you ready? We're about to put on a show."

"Y-yeah, I'm ready."

With that, the two headed toward the largest group.

When they were still six or seven meters from their target, the seven men who had been swapping dirty jokes and teasing one another suddenly fell silent. All eyes focused on the two of them.

Under their appraising, leering, and hostile gazes, Yi Xiang strolled forward as if he didn't notice them at all. Naruto stopped half a step behind him.

"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone here, look this way! We've got a treat for you!"

"Did you hear me, everyone?!"

As if worried that some people hadn't heard, Yi Xiang deliberately raised his voice to add that.

Just as Yi Xiang had expected, the result was almost frighteningly good. Even some drunks sprawled on the ground swayed as they sat up, looking around in confusion for the source of the voice.

"Did I hear that right? These two brats want to give us something? A treat? Hahahaha..."

A burly man sitting nearby, his chin covered in patchy stubble, was the first to laugh in reply.

"Brat, you'd better hurry home to your mommy. Otherwise, you'll be crying for your daddy before long."

Another man picked up a wine bottle and mocked them without a care, though he seemed to be trying to warn them off, too.

"Ha ha ha ha ha..."

One after another, the men chimed in and laughed together. Some had already turned away, dismissing it as children fooling around.

Seeing that the mood was set, Yi Xiang immediately called out, "Watch closely. Transformation!"

Both figures were instantly wreathed in smoke. Naruto's transformation was the same as during training, still irresistibly alluring.

But most of the drunks' gazes were fixed on Yi Xiang's chest: a purple miniskirt, a tall, shapely figure, long, stunningly fair legs, and a flirtatious, understanding gaze like that of the pretty big sister next door.

Many of the drunks stared, their pupils seemingly sparkling with pink hearts. Some even felt that just one glance had made their lives complete.

Now it was Yi Xiang's turn to be dumbfounded. Not one of them had fallen over, which meant all that work had been for nothing.

Before Yi Xiang could get angry, several burly men drooling at the mouth had already begun moving toward them despite themselves.

"Bang!"

After the two dispelled their transformations, they were stunned to discover that they were surrounded!

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

In less than a second, Yi Xiang's abdomen swelled. A high-temperature fireball about a meter in diameter burst from his mouth.

While the crowd dodged and lost their bearings, Yi Xiang hurriedly grabbed Naruto, who was just as stunned, and dashed along the path cleared by the flames.

"Damn it! That brat's a ninja! Are there really ninjas who can do... something like that?"

"Chase them! Don't let them get away! You idiots, what are you standing around for?"

"Right! I don't believe he can use a jutsu of that level again. He must have run because he knew that, too."

In the end, desire won out over reason. The crowd had never been so united; they charged after the two in a massive wave.

"Big Brother Yi Xiang, did we get ourselves into trouble?"

Naruto glanced behind them and nearly stumbled. The crowd's eyes looked as though they were gazing at two beauties, as if they wanted to strip them bare.

Noticing Naruto's worry, Yi Xiang reached back and slapped him on the shoulder. "What are you afraid of? If anything happens, I'll handle it. Besides, they're just a few ordinary people. I can take care of them in no time. I just don't want to make a big scene."

Who knew these people would be so crazy? The plan failed, and now we're in a mess.

Yi Xiang thought miserably as he ran faster and faster, feeling his adrenaline burn away at a rapid pace. He had noticed that some people in the crowd were already heading down side streets, planning to cut him off up ahead.

As the two groups gradually disappeared from view, Sasuke, who had witnessed the whole thing, couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching. He had no idea how to help them; he never would have expected this.

They raced past the bustling shopping street, the barbecue shop, and the bookstore. The shopkeepers felt a breeze sweep by, followed by an even stronger gale.

The shopkeepers had been about to yell after them, but when they saw the fierce, ill-intentioned crowd coming their way, they wisely cursed under their breath instead.

Inside the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, the two had changed into other people's appearances again and were eating ramen as if nothing had happened. They looked on in feigned surprise as the drunks rushed back and forth.

Before long, the commotion caused by the crowd grew so great that Konoha's newly formed police squad rushed to the scene. Within minutes, they had quelled the disturbance.

But several interrogating ninjas were dumbfounded. They had assumed the men's halting answers meant they had been chasing someone or pursuing treasure. They never expected the men had only wanted to watch two ninja students use the Transformation Technique.

After questioning the last few men separately, they found that everyone's account was more or less the same. The ninjas exchanged baffled looks.

In the end, they gave everyone a verbal warning not to bother the two ninja students again and imposed some fines to compensate the shopkeepers. Then they let the crowd go.

"Lord Hokage, should we impose some kind of punishment on these two ninja students?"

Though Yi Xiang considered it a minor incident, in the eyes of Konoha's High Command, the village hadn't been this noisy in a long time.

The two groups had circled nearly half of Konoha. Even villagers who hadn't witnessed it firsthand could tell how lively things had gotten just from hearing people talk about it.