At dusk, the sky was full of rosy clouds. Lu Yu stretched comfortably and gently patted Ino, who had fallen asleep against his shoulder.
"Ino, Ino? It's getting late. We should head home for dinner."
"Hmm?"
Ino opened her eyes blearily and stretched with a contented sigh.
"I haven't slept this well in ages..."
Lu Yu quickly packed up the fishing rod, ready to take Ino home.
But Ino remained seated on the lounge chair, staring blankly ahead with her head tilted as she thought.
"What's wrong, Ino? Did you forget something?"
"I think I did, Lu Yu. I feel like I forgot something important. Let me think..."
Ino furrowed her pretty brows and thought for a long while. Then she suddenly cried out:
"Oh no! Iruka-sensei told me to bring you back for the physical fitness test. You distracted me, and I forgot!"
"Hey, I thought it was something serious. It's fine—we can do the test tomorrow."
"B-but Iruka-sensei said that if I couldn't bring you back, he'd tell Uncle Shikaku and Aunt Yoshino what you've been doing at school these past two months..."
"What?"
Lu Yu's face changed instantly. His dad was one thing; at worst, he'd give Lu Yu a lecture, and that would be that.
But if his mom found out that he'd spent class time either sleeping or going fishing, she'd probably tear him to shreds.
Seeing Lu Yu's crestfallen look, Ino drooped her head sheepishly, like a child who'd done something wrong.
"It's okay, Ino. The worst that can happen is I get beaten up. It's not like I've never taken a beating before."
Lu Yu reassured her, ruffling her hair as if it were no big deal.
"I'm sorry..."
Just as Ino finished speaking, Iruka's voice came from the distance.
"Lu Yu! Lu Yu!..."
Iruka had been worried that Lu Yu and Shikamaru might run into trouble, so he'd come looking for them himself.
Ten minutes later, Lu Yu and Ino stood with their heads bowed while Iruka gave them a thorough scolding.
Iruka lectured them for a full half hour, finally venting all his frustration from the past two months. Once he saw that the two youngsters were sincerely admitting their mistakes, his tone softened.
"All right, that's enough. I won't say any more. Just make sure you're in the classroom tomorrow morning, and wait for me to announce the physical fitness test. Understood?"
Lu Yu nodded helplessly.
"If you don't show up, I'm sure your Aunt Yoshino would be very interested in hearing about your behavior at school. I'd be happy to give her a full report..."
"Uh... Iruka-sensei, if you really do that, I might end up spending half a year in the hospital."
"Stop mouthing off. Now take Ino home, and hurry up! Understood?!"
"Okay, got it."
As the two kids hurried off, Iruka looked with interest at the lounge chair and fishing rod Lu Yu had made.
"Huh. I never would've guessed the kid was so handy."
Iruka sat down on the lounge chair, gazing at the fiery clouds in the sky as the cool breeze washed over him. For some reason, he felt much more relaxed.
"Hey, I've got to admit, sitting here and enjoying the breeze now and then is pretty nice."
Then Iruka's gaze somehow drifted to the fishing rod beside him. He deftly baited the hook with a worm and started fishing.
Half an hour later, Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Iruka struggle fiercely with a fish and sighed helplessly.
"That kid really is a bad influence..."
The next day, at the training ground, Iruka looked at the students in front of him, holding a clipboard as he spoke seriously.
"All right, everyone's here today. I'll keep this brief."
"Over the past two months, you've trained in Taijutsu, Shuriken throwing, the Three Body Technique, and close-quarters Kunai combat. None of you have mastered them yet—you've barely scratched the surface—but I'm sure you're all eager to find out who's the strongest in the class."
"Our goal over the next few days is to hold practical exams! First up... a Taijutsu test."
Just like the day before, at the mention of competing for first place, all the students began whispering excitedly.
In the end, most of their gazes settled on Sasuke.
As for Lu Yu, apart from Ino and Hinata, everyone had completely forgotten his impressive performance in the entrance exam after two months of keeping a low profile.
As soon as Iruka finished speaking, someone raised a question.
"Iruka-sensei, what's a Taijutsu test?"
"Simply put, it's a practical assessment without ninjutsu. Though, plenty of you still can't use ninjutsu anyway."
Iruka looked at the students with a serious expression.
"This won't be one of those simple practice matches where you take turns trading moves. You'll face each other for real, and I won't stop the fight until there's a winner."
"Haha, this is great! Sasuke, just see how I teach you a lesson this time!"
As soon as Iruka finished speaking, Uzumaki Naruto jumped out from the group, glaring provocatively at Sasuke.
But the moment Naruto said that, he was met with a barrage of hostile looks.
Countless girls glared at Naruto as if they wanted to kill him. Sakura's reaction was the most obvious.
Lu Yu saw that Sakura had clenched her fists. On closer inspection, her expression had turned frighteningly dark.
If Iruka hadn't been there, Lu Yu had no doubt Naruto would already have been beaten so badly he'd be stuck to the wall, impossible to scrape off...
Sasuke gave Naruto a proud smile at his challenge.
"If you think you can do it, go ahead and try, dead last!"
"Bastard, who are you calling dead last? You just—"
Thwack!
Iruka gave the unruly Naruto a sharp smack on the head without a word, then said stiffly, one word at a time:
"Naruto... get back in line!"
"Ahaha..."
The others smiled happily as they watched Naruto get hit.
"Ahem..."
Iruka cleared his throat and looked sternly at the students.
"You don't get to choose who you fight in the Taijutsu test. The matchups will be drawn at random."
With that, Iruka took out a cardboard box and quickly pulled out two slips of paper.
Iruka unfolded the slips and read them, then announced with a smile:
"The first Taijutsu match: Nara Lu Yu versus Hyuga Hinata!"
Before you continue