Even the invigilator is on my side, how can you fight me

As Kurenai Yuhi spoke, she withdrew her small hand, breaking contact with Takasaki's skin.

Her palm trembled ever so slightly, quite unintentionally.

Kurenai hadn't originally intended to hold Takasaki's hand, but his cheat sheet was hidden right there in his palm.

If she hadn't touched his hand, she wouldn't have been able to secretly control her chakra to use a Water Style jutsu and wash away the writing on his skin.

In truth, her specialty was genjutsu; her other ninjutsu skills were quite weak and performed poorly in actual combat. Even she hadn't expected that she, a teacher, would end up using her weakest Water Style to help her own student destroy evidence of cheating.

Furthermore, what she hadn't expected even more was that the first time she would ever hold a boy's hand, it would be with her own student.

And a student who was the bottom-dweller of her class, at that.

The sensation made her heart skip a beat, though she managed to mask it skillfully enough that none of her students noticed.

"Takasaki, I'm sorry," Sakura Haruno said, pursing her lips.

Takasaki gave a slight nod, offering no reply and not even glancing at Sakura; he couldn't help it, he was feeling guilty.

"The exam continues. I will emphasize the exam discipline once more..." Kurenai turned and walked toward the podium.

Sakura buried her head in her test.

Takasaki wanted to bury his head in his test too, but unfortunately, he didn't know how to do it.

He only wanted to bury his head in cheating.

Yet, his cheat sheet had been destroyed by Kurenai as evidence.

Naruto, however, was still frantically burying his head in his cheating.

Suddenly, Naruto felt a gaze fixed directly upon him from above.

The pen in Naruto's hand froze. Subconsciously, he covered the palm filled with notes, his throat bobbing as he looked up with trepidation.

Sure enough, it was Kurenai.

Kurenai's tone turned sharp instantly: "Naruto, what are you doing?"

Kurenai arrived at Naruto's desk.

The reason she had been willing to help Takasaki destroy his evidence earlier was because she hoped Takasaki would write about it in his diary, earning her a reward.

She had no such thoughts regarding Naruto.

Consequently, her tone toward Naruto was strictly professional, and naturally, she wouldn't make any physical contact with him. With her hands clasped behind her back, she said with a stern face, "Open your right palm."

At that moment, Naruto's heart hammered against his ribs.

Had he been caught cheating too?

It's over!

That was his immediate, subconscious thought.

At the same time, Naruto held onto a sliver of hope.

Takasaki had been caught just like this, yet when he opened his palm, there had been nothing there.

Would he have the same result?

Nursing a bit of wishful thinking, Naruto steeled himself and opened his palm.

The dense, cramped handwriting of his cheat sheet appeared brazenly before Kurenai, and before Naruto's own eyes as well.

"Naruto, you really were cheating!"

Kurenai's tone turned icy: "According to the exam rules, cheating on the final exam results in the cancellation of your scores. You won't be participating in the ninjutsu test in ten days either. Prepare to repeat the grade."

While Naruto panicked, he stared wide-eyed at the cheat sheet markings that hadn't vanished from his palm.

Why was his situation different from Takasaki's?

Both were caught cheating by the proctor, so why had Takasaki successfully cleared his name while he hadn't?

Where exactly did the problem lie?

The students in the class saw this scene and had a sudden realization.

So, the one cheating wasn't Takasaki, but Naruto?

The person who reacted the most strongly was Sakura: "Naruto, so it was you who was cheating!"

Some girls never believe they are in the wrong; if there is a problem, it must be someone else's fault.

Sakura had just wrongly accused Takasaki of cheating, and she couldn't shift the blame no matter how hard she tried, forcing her to apologize.

Now, seeing that Naruto had been caught cheating, Sakura seemed to have found an outlet for her emotions.

She stood up abruptly and pointed at Naruto: "Teacher Kurenai! I was mistaken earlier; I actually saw Naruto cheating."

"Sakura..." Naruto looked at Sakura blankly.

He had been caught cheating, and he accepted the punishment.

He had no complaints about his classmates looking down on him.

Yet Sakura was the girl he liked, the girl he had always tried so hard to please; why was she treating him like this?

Naruto suddenly felt a pang of distress in his heart.

Would Sakura Haruno ever care about Naruto's feelings?

Only a sycophant cares about the feelings of his goddess; there is no logic in a goddess caring about the feelings of a sycophant.

Sakura Haruno continued, "Kurenai Yuhi-sensei, with Naruto's dead-last grades, he surely wouldn't even know how to write a cheat sheet. I suspect someone else helped him cheat. If you compare the handwriting, you'll know exactly who helped him."

Compare the handwriting?

That would never do!

Naruto had originally been prepared to calmly accept the fact that he had been caught cheating and would have to repeat the year, but the moment he heard Sakura Haruno ask Kurenai Yuhi-sensei to compare the handwriting on his cheat sheet, his heart began to race.

Because his cheat sheet had been written by Takasaki!

If the handwriting were compared, it would definitely be identified!

He had explicitly promised Takasaki before the exam that he would never betray him.

Sakura Haruno saw Naruto's panic clearly.

She did not care about Naruto's feelings because her target was Takasaki.

She had seen with her own eyes that Ino had previously had a cheat sheet written on her hand by Takasaki.

She had also seen with her own eyes that Takasaki had written a cheat sheet on Naruto's hand.

Even though she still couldn't figure out why the cheat sheet Takasaki used had vanished into thin air, it didn't matter; Naruto's cheat sheet was still there. By comparing the handwriting, she would surely be able to drag Takasaki out into the light.

Takasaki would definitely write about this in his Diary.

Why do I get the feeling that Sakura Haruno is coming for me? Takasaki thought to himself.

If it were Asuma comparing the handwriting, Takasaki would have felt doomed.

But as it happened, the teacher comparing the handwriting was Kurenai Yuhi, who had just helped him.

He wasn't all that panicked.

He had a premonition that Kurenai Yuhi would, for some reason, choose not to expose him; otherwise, there would have been no need for her to help him erase the evidence of his own cheating earlier.

Sure enough.

After taking one look at the handwriting on Naruto's palm, Kurenai Yuhi shook her head. "Naruto, if you have the energy to write cheat sheets on your own hands, you'd be better off spending that effort on your studies."

What?

Naruto looked up, staring at Kurenai Yuhi in confusion. "Sensei, what do you mean?"

In truth, Kurenai Yuhi wanted to handle this by the book and take both the cheating Naruto and the student who helped him write the cheat sheet to the academic affairs office.

The problem was, she could tell that the handwriting on the cheat sheet belonged to Takasaki!

If she handled it by the book, she would inevitably incur Takasaki's resentment.

Takasaki had previously praised her legs in his first diary entry, which had earned her a 10% increase in her chakra reserves.

She had already figured out some of the rules of the Diary.

Since the Diary could grant her rewards, it was highly likely that it could also inflict punishments upon her.

If Takasaki wrote a negative evaluation of her in his next entry, would she be punished?

Kurenai Yuhi dared not test that theory.

She said coldly, "These cheat sheets were obviously written by you yourself. Don't think I can't tell. Or are you trying to drag other students down with you?"

Written by Naruto himself?

Sakura Haruno was stunned.

That was impossible!

She had clearly seen Takasaki write the cheat sheet on Naruto's palm with his own hands earlier.

Logically speaking, it was impossible for Kurenai Yuhi-sensei not to recognize Takasaki's handwriting; this meant that the handwriting on Naruto's palm was, in fact, Naruto's own.

The key was, this wasn't normal!

Sakura Haruno almost began to suspect that she had been under a genjutsu earlier.

Her first attempt to report Takasaki for cheating had failed, and her second attempt to expose him through Naruto's cheating had also failed!

She was truly fuming. She sat heavily in her seat, clicking her ballpoint pen until it made a grating sound, her mind in complete disarray.

Seeing Sakura Haruno in such a state of exasperation, Takasaki knew nine times out of ten that she was targeting him.

He sat leisurely in his seat, twirling his pen, and looked up at Kurenai Yuhi, then glanced at Sakura Haruno, suddenly finding it quite amusing.

Fighting with me? Even the proctor has inexplicably ended up on my side—how do you expect to fight me?