Lin Fan was looking at Hinata with a gentle expression.
Her short, jet-black bangs lay neatly across her fair, round face.
Her big Byakugan made her look adorably dazed, and her lips were as pink and tempting as fresh strawberries.
Lin Fan glanced at the bento in her hands and smiled. "Hinata, is this for me?"
Hinata nodded obediently. "Mm. I-I saw you only ate soy sauce rice balls for lunch, so I-I made this especially for you."
Lin Fan's smile grew wider. "Hinata, why are you so nice to me?"
"Because, in the winter when I was six, you protected me, Lin Fan..." Hinata trailed off and lowered her head shyly.
Lin Fan understood at once. So he'd taken Naruto's role in the story when they were little.
"Thank you. I won't hold back, then. Let's find a place outside to eat together."
Lin Fan affectionately tapped Hinata's nose, took her little hand, and led her out of the classroom.
Hinata's face, with Lin Fan holding her hand, had already turned as red as a steamed bun.
"L-Lin Fan, I brought my own rice balls. Maybe I should leave you to enjoy your lunch?"
Hinata said bashfully.
Lin Fan shook his head firmly. "I can't let you eat nothing but rice balls. Come with me. I have something delicious to share with you."
Seeing how determined Lin Fan was, Hinata stopped refusing and followed him with a blissful smile.
There were plenty of beautiful girls in the Naruto World.
For example, the cool, mature Mei Terumi, with her long legs.
The busty "Great Slug Princess," Tsunade Senju.
And Konan, the super-rich woman who'd probably misappropriated who knew how much of Kakuzu's fortune.
But Lin Fan had watched Hinata grow up from the time she was little. Of all the girls in the Naruto World, he cherished her the most.
He led Hinata by the hand straight out of the school building.
The Konoha shown in the original story was only the tip of the iceberg.
Even the Ninja Academy grounds were enormous.
The two of them walked to a quiet spot in a corner of the school, nestled against the hills and beside the water, and sat down.
Lin Fan eagerly opened the bento box.
A thick, juicy sausage lay on a bed of soft, fluffy rice.
Under the rice was a special beef sauce Hinata had carefully made by hand.
On either side of the sausage sat a heart-shaped fried egg, each with a runny yolk.
The aroma of the bento immediately whetted Lin Fan's appetite.
Hinata spoke timidly. "I-I just hope you like what I made, Lin Fan."
Lin Fan took a bite of the sausage, and its juices ran down his chin.
He gave a blissful smile. "It's delicious! To thank you for the bento, I want to share something tasty with you too!"
He opened the Other-dimensional Scroll and took out several boxes of Self-heating Hot Pot.
"What's that?"
Hinata gazed at the vacuum-packed hot pot, her big, adorably dazed eyes full of curiosity.
"Hehe, just wait a few minutes."
Lin Fan added lake water to the hot pot, and soon it began bubbling and steaming.
Ten minutes later, the hot pot's aroma filled the air.
Hinata picked up her chopsticks and took a rice cake stick.
"Whoo, it's so big, so chewy, so soft, and so delicious!"
Hinata chewed the piping-hot rice cake with her puffed-up cheeks, praising it again and again.
"Slow down, you'll burn yourself. I've got other flavors of Self-heating Hot Pot, too," Lin Fan said with a smile.
And so the two of them stayed together, enjoying the lunch they had each brought for the other.
After lunch, they sat facing each other beneath a tree by the lake and rested.
Hinata suddenly remembered something. She took a slightly worn but very clean notebook from her clothes and handed it to Lin Fan.
"L-Lin Fan, I heard you say earlier that you wanted to review the Three Body Techniques. These are the notes I made back then. If you don't mind, you can use them to study!"
Lin Fan accepted it as if he'd found a priceless treasure and began reading carefully.
Hinata's notebook clearly explained how to form the Hand Seals for the Three Body Techniques. She'd even added illustrations to mark the key points and tricky parts.
With this notebook, Lin Fan would have no trouble quickly mastering the Three Body Techniques.
He immediately scooped Hinata into his arms.
This was the first time Hinata had ever been so close to a boy.
Lin Fan had held her hand—and now he'd even picked her up in his arms?
A wave of blissful dizziness rushed through Hinata's mind.
Then her vision went black, and she fainted in Lin Fan's arms.
"Hinata, wake up!"
Lin Fan shook his head helplessly.
So Hinata really had fainted a lot when she was little.
Lin Fan quickly carried Hinata to rest beneath the tree, then sat beside her and studied the notes on the Three Body Techniques.
Hinata's notes were incredibly detailed. During the lunch break, Lin Fan quickly mastered all three of these basic ninja techniques.
As soon as he'd learned them, he began spending skill points without hesitation.
[Ding! Congratulations, host. You have raised the Clone Technique to LVMAX and received the additional effect: Clone Technique Enhancement 50%.] [Clone Enhancement 50% allows the host to create up to ten clones that are exactly identical to him. Enemies cannot tell them apart, and each clone has half the host's strength.] [Ding! Congratulations, host. You have raised the Transformation Technique to LVMAX and received the additional effect: Transformation Enhancement 100%.] [Transformation Enhancement 100% allows the host's transformation to perfectly match its target. Enemies cannot tell them apart, and the transformation's duration is extended by one hour.] [Ding! Congratulations, host. You have raised the Substitution Technique to LVMAX and received the additional effect: Substitution Enhancement 100%.] [Substitution Enhancement 100% allows the host to quickly switch places with a nearby object in one-tenth the time required by the ordinary Substitution Technique.]
After finishing with the skill points, Lin Fan let the sleeping Hinata rest her little head against his shoulder and smiled in satisfaction.
Afternoon classes began.
They were about to have a one-on-one combat training lesson led by Iruka.
The class gathered on the training field.
The first match was Naruto versus Kiba Inuzuka.
"Hehe, Kiba, get ready to see the strongest Transformation Technique in history! Lin Fan came up with it, and I improved it, dattebayo!"
Naruto declared proudly.
Iruka stood nearby and nodded with a smile. "Naruto, are you finally going to show us the results of all your hard work?"
"Hah! Human Imitation Tactics!"
Kiba gave a low shout, and Akamaru, perched on his head, transformed into a copy of him.
As soon as the match began, the two Kibas charged at Naruto from either side, swinging their fists.
Naruto calmly pressed his hands together and shouted,
"Transformation!"
A puff of white smoke drifted past.
Teacher Sora appeared on the training field, naked, surrounded by smoke.
"Kiba, I'm a girl, you know! You don't have to be so rough with me!"
The whole class was stunned!
Frozen!
Petrified!
The boys stared without blinking and cried out, "Sugoi!"
The girls blushed and squinted, but they all snuck peeks at the beautiful older sister with the impressive figure.
Iruka's nose immediately started gushing blood. "Naruto! Stop creating such utterly pointless techniques!"
Kiba and Akamaru suddenly stopped attacking. As they stood there, stunned, blood began trickling from their noses.
Naruto quickly ended the transformation, clenched his fists, and punched Kiba and Akamaru in the nose.
Neither could dodge in time. They took the punches and fell to the ground.
Once the Human Imitation Tactics wore off, Kiba immediately conceded.
Iruka didn't want to admit it, but the technique really was highly effective for ambushing male opponents.
He announced rather unhappily, "The winner of the first match is Naruto Uzumaki!"
"Next match: Choji Akimichi versus Shikamaru Nara!"
Shikamaru yawned and said indifferently, "What a drag. I concede."
Shikamaru and Choji were close friends, and their fathers—members of the First's Ino-Shika-Cho trio—were just as close.
Shikamaru had no interest in such a pointless training match.
All he wanted was to scrape by at the Ninja Academy and graduate.
Iruka understood Shikamaru's personality and what he really thought, so he didn't press him.
"The winner is Choji Akimichi!"
"The third match: Sasuke Uchiha versus Lin Fan!"
When the class heard about the third match, the students erupted into an uproar.
A genius against the dead-last student? That was just plain bullying.
Sure, Lin Fan was handsome, but he was the undisputed dead last in class. Word was, he barely had any chakra. Sasuke was guaranteed to win, wasn't he?
"Ugh, I'm not watching. I don't want to see handsome Lin Fan get his face beaten in!"
When they heard their friend Lin Fan was about to face the powerful Sasuke, the Four Truant Kings all tensed up for him.