Preemptive Strike

Inside Tsubaki's wooden cabin on Mount Konoha.

Uzumaki Menma, Naruto, and Neji were being treated to Tsubaki's hospitality.

Just as the three of them were eating the Flower Cakes Tsubaki had provided, Mizuki, Neji's teacher at the Ninja Academy, arrived at the cabin.

Uzumaki Menma sensed malice toward him coming from Mizuki.

Uzumaki Menma put down the Flower Cake in his hand and narrowed his eyes at Mizuki.

Seeing Uzumaki Menma stop eating his Flower Cake and stare at the white-haired man by the door, Naruto asked curiously, "Menma, what's wrong?"

After tossing half a Flower Cake into his mouth, Uzumaki Menma looked at Mizuki and said, "I kind of feel like doing something bad."

Naruto and Neji both looked at Mizuki, who was talking with Tsubaki. "Menma, did he do something to you?"

"No, but I can feel that he means me harm. So before he does something bad to me, I'm going to strike first!"

Naruto said excitedly, "Menma, what do you want me to do?"

Uzumaki Menma shook his head. "No need for you to step in yet. Let me handle this first."

Hearing that he would not get a chance to join in, Naruto immediately pouted. "What? I thought I'd get to do something too."

"Don't worry, there'll be plenty of chances later. Neji, keep an eye on him for me at the Ninja Academy."

Neji looked at Mizuki with some pity.

Anyone targeted by Uzumaki Menma was not going to have peaceful days ahead.

Since Mizuki deeply loathed Uzumaki Menma and Naruto, he left directly after chatting with Tsubaki for a while.

After Tsubaki returned to the cabin, Uzumaki Menma nudged Neji with his elbow.

Their long-established tacit understanding made Neji immediately understand what Uzumaki Menma meant.

Neji's face darkened. Why didn't he ask himself?

After sighing, Neji asked Tsubaki, "Miss Tsubaki, why did Mr. Mizuki come to see you?"

Tsubaki said in confusion, "I'm not really sure either. Mr. Mizuki said he came because of something related to the Ninja Academy, but he didn't mention a single thing about the academy. Instead, he just talked to me about all sorts of random things. It was really strange."

"Miss Tsubaki, I need to pee!"

After saying that, Uzumaki Menma jumped down from his chair and scampered outside on his short little legs.

Tsubaki reminded him, "Menma, the toilet isn't outside!"

"It's fine. I can fertilize the flowers while I'm at it!"

Uzumaki Menma ran out of the cabin.

Behind the cabin, Uzumaki Menma summoned Byakko.

Now that Uzumaki Menma's control over Chakra had grown increasingly proficient, he could summon all nine Nine Masked Beasts at once with bodies roughly the same size as his own.

But if he summoned just one Nine Masked Beast by itself, it would be its normal size.

"Nine Mask Svāhā! White! Byakko!"

A Byakko over two meters long crawled out of the Chakra circle.

After reaching out to stroke Byakko's back, Uzumaki Menma instructed, "Find a white-haired male nearby who's heading down the mountain. Toy with him, but don't kill him."

Uzumaki Menma patted Byakko on the butt. "Go, Byakko!"

Byakko let out a roar and dashed away.

Uzumaki Menma dug at his ear and grumbled, "What was that roar for?"

Just then, Tsubaki came out of the cabin and asked doubtfully, "Why did I think I heard a tiger roar?"

Uzumaki Menma appeared before Tsubaki and scratched his head "apologetically." "Miss Tsubaki, that was me. It felt so good when I peed that I let out a yell."

"Really?"

Tsubaki was puzzled. Could a child really sound like that just from feeling good while peeing?

"Miss Tsubaki, are there any more Flower Cakes? I haven't had enough yet!"

"Of course there are. Come inside quickly, I'll get some for you."

Uzumaki Menma followed Tsubaki back into the cabin.

The moment Uzumaki Menma sat down, Naruto and Neji whispered, "Menma? Did you send Byakko out?"

"Yeah."

Naruto and Neji had seen Byakko's true size and knew how powerful it was. They asked worriedly, "Will something happen?"

Uzumaki Menma patted his chest and promised, "Don't worry. I already told Byakko not to kill him."

Naruto and Neji exchanged worried looks.

Not kill him... but what if he crippled him?

Mizuki was on his way down the mountain when he muttered a curse. "What rotten luck."

Although the students at the Ninja Academy called Mizuki a teacher, he was not actually a teacher. At most, he was a teaching assistant.

Before taking up his position at the Ninja Academy, Mizuki had personally killed an injured companion during a mission in order to complete it, then claimed in the report on his companion's death that he had died from a leg wound infection.

Because of that incident, Mizuki lost his qualifications to serve as an academy teacher.

The only reason Mizuki could work at the Ninja Academy now was because his "friend" Iruka had gone everywhere speaking on his behalf, eventually allowing him to join the Ninja Academy as a teaching assistant.

Mizuki and Iruka had been friends since childhood.

Mizuki had become friends with Iruka because Iruka's parents had been killed by the Nine-Tailed Fox. Having lost both his parents, Iruka made it easy for Mizuki to feel superior to him and satisfy the twisted needs in his heart.

But seeing everyone encourage and help Iruka made Mizuki intensely jealous.

The reason Mizuki had come to see Tsubaki today was that he had recently noticed Iruka and Tsubaki chatting quite intimately at the Ninja Academy.

That made Mizuki, who was already extremely jealous of Iruka, even more jealous.

So Mizuki planned to pursue Tsubaki and get ahead of Iruka by becoming Tsubaki's lover, allowing him to disgust Iruka right in front of him.

But he had not expected Uzumaki Menma and Naruto to be at Tsubaki's home as well, which caught Mizuki completely off guard.

Mizuki looked down on and loathed Uzumaki Menma and Naruto because he believed the two of them were Demon Foxes.

Therefore, seeing Uzumaki Menma and Naruto at Tsubaki's home immediately killed Mizuki's mood to keep talking with Tsubaki and completely disrupted his plans.

The moment Mizuki thought of Uzumaki Menma and Naruto's faces, rage welled up inside him.

Mizuki thought maliciously to himself.

You two brats will be enrolling at the Ninja Academy next year, right? Just wait and see how I play with you! And tomorrow, when I go to the Ninja Academy, I'll pursue Miss Tsubaki right in front of Iruka. I wonder what kind of expression Iruka will make. Heh heh.

Thinking that he could toy with Uzumaki Menma and Naruto next year and disgust Iruka tomorrow, Mizuki's mood instantly improved, and even his steps down the mountain became much lighter.

Having just reached around the middle of the mountain, Mizuki suddenly sensed that something was wrong. He felt a gaze fixed on him from behind.

After pretending nothing was wrong and walking a few more steps, Mizuki suddenly spun around and looked behind him.

The moment he saw what was behind him, Mizuki's hair stood on end and his scalp went numb.

A huge white tiger!