Three Girls

Throughout the weekend, Hui had been training his ability to manipulate matter.

Having acquired the water attribute, he had already successfully completed his cultivation of the Water Mirror Technique.

Sasuke and Naruto, meanwhile, were locked in a fierce rivalry over their new attributes.

As for their classmates, the weekend had been an incredibly difficult ordeal.

Sakura was perhaps one of the few in class who hadn't been swept up in the intense competition.

That morning, Sakura arrived at the classroom as she usually did.

Only to find her classmates sprawled across their desks in every direction.

Sensing something was wrong, Sakura stealthily poked Ino, who was "playing dead" nearby.

"Ino?"

"Ino!"

"Just let me lie here for a while, Sakura," Ino said without even lifting her head.

"What's wrong with everyone? You all look so listless," Sakura asked, feeling very confused.

Usually, not many people arrived at this hour; she was already considered quite early for school.

She hadn't expected everyone to be nearly all present today.

"Sakura, I really envy you. We've all been practicing ninjutsu over the weekend. My potato chips have been sitting there for days—look, I've even lost quite a bit of weight."

Choji Akimichi, sitting to the side, complained with a look of grievance.

Though, in truth, he didn't seem to have lost much weight at all.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat, and an inexplicable sense of panic rose from the depths of her soul.

Everyone was working hard to improve, yet she had been completely oblivious.

Hearing a familiar voice, Sakura immediately set those thoughts aside.

It was Sasuke's voice!

Sakura's eyes were involuntarily drawn to Sasuke's every move.

Even though Sasuke wasn't even looking at her.

Yet, Sakura inexplicably felt her face flush, and she shyly covered her cheeks.

Oh my, could Sasuke be looking at me? Sakura thought, feeling somewhat flustered.

It wasn't until the formal start of class that Sakura managed to break free from those feelings.

Only then did she notice a small problem.

Why hadn't her good friend Ino argued with her today?

Forget it, that wasn't important; if Ino wasn't competing with her for Sasuke, then that was all for the best.

Ino was indeed no longer paying attention to Sasuke.

Because her focus had been captured by Hui, who was sitting right next to him.

Both were geniuses of the Uchiha clan; the handsome men and beautiful women of this clan could attract countless gazes wherever they went.

In terms of temperament, Sasuke possessed a coldness that kept people at a distance.

While Hui appeared the same, it was actually a deliberate detachment.

At first, Ino, like her friends, had been infatuated with Sasuke.

It was less about genuine affection and more about a competition among peers.

Much like fighting over a toy, they didn't care what they were holding, only that they possessed it.

It was as if whoever could snatch this "toy" would be the winner among the crowd.

With the ninjutsu training provided by her elders over this period.

She no longer had the time or energy to dwell on Sasuke.

She slowly detached herself from this unhealthy competition.

For the first time, she truly noticed Hui, who sat beside Sasuke.

It seems like this whole thing was caused by him, too. Thinking of this, Ino felt a surge of irritation.

But looking at that handsomeness, so similar to Sasuke's, she found herself gradually losing her way.

Hui was different from Sasuke; his eyes radiated a kind of intellectual beauty.

They were similar in height, though Hui's hair was longer and softer.

His attire followed the standard Uchiha style, but the necklace around his neck gave him a temperament vastly different from the other Uchiha.

Except for that one time he was late, when she could sense the inner turmoil in his heart.

Usually, he always appeared polite and refined, with a faint smile hanging on his face.

Iruka-sensei called on him to answer a question, and his way of thinking was completely different from everyone else's.

For some reason, Ino thought of Naruto again.

Though the clever Ino did not know his specific background, she sensed something unusual.

One afternoon, she had seen Hui crouching down, saying something to Naruto as he sat on the swing.

From that day on, a smile that would not fade appeared on Naruto's face.

Ino kept thinking about it.

Just like that, she and Sakura beside her appeared to be staring at Sasuke until class began.

In class, Ino could see the words on the blackboard clearly, yet she did not remember a single one.

Hinata Hyuga had been having a rougher time lately.

Her father, Hyuga Hiashi, had always been very strict with her.

But for some reason, Hyuga Hiashi's training regimen had become increasingly harsh.

At this moment, her hands were wrapped in thick bandages.

Faint traces of blood were still visible beneath them.

She did not want to fight her younger sister or her cousin.

Her kind nature made her Gentle Fist seem, as the name suggested, gentle and powerless.

Unfortunately, her cousin Neji did not realize this.

Her younger sister, Hanabi Hyuga, was too young to understand what she was doing; she was merely following their father's orders.

Watching Naruto and Sasuke bickering not far away, Hinata couldn't help but think back to the day Naruto unleashed the Multi Shadow Clone Technique in the classroom.

Hinata's face flushed bright red in an instant, and mysterious wisps of steam began to rise from her head.

It was the first time she had been in such close contact with Naruto-kun.

Even if it was just a shadow clone.

Naruto-kun is truly amazing, unlike me...

The pain from the wounds beneath her bandaged hands made her fingers tremble slightly.

As if noticing her gaze, Naruto looked toward Hinata.

Hinata naturally noticed, shyly shrinking her neck and lowering her small head.

She hid her hands behind her back.

Naruto Uzumaki set aside the Sasuke he had been bickering with and strode toward Hinata.

"Hinata! What happened to your hands?"

"Don't train so hard. Here, take this. Sasuke promised me that this stuff works really well!"

Completely oblivious to Hinata's expression, Naruto carefully took her arm.

Looking at the bandaged hands before him, Naruto took out a gift he had recently acquired, feeling a pang of sympathy.

"Too close, too... close, Naruto-kun."

Hinata let Naruto "examine" her hands, her voice as thin as a thread.

Dizzy and lightheaded, she found an unopened medicine bottle placed in her hand.

Vaguely, she seemed to hear Naruto-kun and Sasuke bickering again.

But she didn't care at all, her fingers tracing the small medicine bottle.

A sweet smile hung on Hinata's face, though no one knew what she was thinking.

"...That's all for today's class. Dismissed!"

As Iruka-sensei made the announcement, the students in the class responded listlessly, lacking their usual enthusiasm for heading home.

Returning home meant the start of painful training all over again.

They would rather have more classes than go through that.

Thus, they couldn't help but look one by one at Naruto, who was chatting happily with Iruka-sensei.

The source of all this evil!

Thinking of how he could already perform such a powerful technique, a nameless fire burned in their hearts.

Their internal resistance to ninjutsu training suddenly dropped significantly.

One by one, they all reached a similar resolution.

Defeat Naruto!

Hui, the true culprit behind it all, watched his classmates from the side with a strange expression.

The atmosphere in the class had been rather bizarre lately.

His classmates were all listless during lessons, one after another.

Even though Hui found it boring, he at least made an effort to listen to the lectures.

What remained unchanged was that Sasuke still had a massive number of little fan girls.

During this time, he also noticed that the young lady from the Hyuga clan seemed to care deeply about Naruto.

At only six years old, Hui seemed somewhat dull when it came to matters of the heart.

He was simply happy for his friends, hoping everyone could make more friends and live better lives.

This was the Konoha he envisioned in his mind.

How wonderful it would be if such peace could continue forever!