Sunbathing on the Rooftop During Break, Chakra Full Again

"What price? What kind of price?"

Naruto blinked his blue eyes, looking utterly bewildered.

He looked at the red bean cake in his hand, already missing a bite, then at Sen.

"Big bro, as long as you're not making me give you the other four cakes, everything else is negotiable!"

Sen rolled his eyes. Who wanted his lousy little cakes?

He crooked a finger at Naruto and lowered his voice.

"Simple."

"From now on, whenever there's cleaning to do at school, errands to run, things to buy, or annoying stuff like answering Iruka-sensei's questions for me..."

Sen smiled like a big bad wolf luring Little Red Riding Hood.

"You handle it all."

"As long as you do a good job, I'll teach you a ninjutsu even cooler than hanging from a tree."

Naruto's eyes instantly lit up.

Errands? Cleaning?

What kind of price was that?!

He caused trouble all over the village all the time. Whenever the ANBU caught him, his punishments were far worse than this!

"Deal!"

Naruto patted his chest and agreed without hesitation.

"Don't worry, Big Bro! If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west! If you tell me to beat up Sasuke, I definitely won't beat up Sakura!"

Sen nodded in satisfaction.

Done!

With such an energetic Nine-Tails jinchuriki as free labor,

his future school life would definitely get even more comfortable.

"Alright, hurry up and get back to class. Don't stand around here getting in my way."

Sen waved impatiently, shooing Naruto away as if he were swatting a fly.

The rooftop became quiet again.

Sen stuffed the rest of the red bean cakes into his mouth in a few bites.

After brushing the crumbs from his hands, he lay back down on the wicker chair.

The noon sun was at its harshest point of the day.

But to Sen, who possessed the Divine Tree Origin, it was the most delicious feast.

"Photosynthesis, full power."

He murmured inwardly.

In an instant,

the sunlight shining on him seemed to transform into streams of tangible golden energy.

They poured wildly into his body through every pore.

"Hiss—"

Sen drew in a satisfied breath.

It felt like chugging an entire bottle of ice-cold soda in the middle of a parched desert.

The pleasure ran from the top of his head all the way to his toes.

As natural energy continuously poured in, the chakra within him became like boiling water.

It surged and roared madly through his broad chakra pathways.

Earlier, in order to deal with the old Third Hokage, he had used that scaled-down version of Wood Locking Wall.

Although it had only consumed a tiny amount of chakra, Sen, who pursued perfection to an extreme, still felt that it was a loss.

Now,

after lying there for less than five minutes,

not only had that small expenditure been completely replenished,

but under the impact of that immense natural energy,

he could feel that the "pool" deep within his abdomen that stored chakra seemed to have been forcefully expanded by another round.

With a soft crack,

it was as though some invisible shackle had shattered.

[ Ding! Detected that the host's total chakra has broken through a bottleneck! ]

The system notification sounded at just the right moment.

With his eyes closed, Sen felt the power within him, now more solid and more violent than before.

The corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably.

"So this is what it feels like to win while lying down?"

"I don't even need to break a sweat. I can make a breakthrough just by taking a nap. It's lonely at the top."

He turned over and found a more comfortable position.

He let the scorching sunlight envelop him.

Amid the warm, pleasant comfort, Sen drifted into a deep sleep.

That nap lasted all the way until school ended in the afternoon.

Only when the sun began to sink westward and the energy in its rays started to weaken did Sen groggily open his eyes.

He stretched hard, and his bones crackled loudly.

"Comfortable."

Sen yawned and casually dismissed the Wood Release wicker chair he had been using as a bed.

He slowly walked down the rooftop stairs.

The hallway was empty. The students had long since gotten out of school and run off.

With his hands in his pockets, Sen wandered all the way to the first floor.

Just as he was about to turn out through the teaching building's entrance,

Bang!

A dull sound of something heavy striking the ground, accompanied by noisy cursing, suddenly came from the open area around the corner.

"You little brat! Are you blind?! You splashed mud all over my new clothes!"

"Exactly! You freak, don't think having someone backing you at school means you can run wild outside!"

Sen stopped walking, his brows drawing together slightly.

That voice sounded somewhat familiar.

He stuck half his head out and glanced outside.

In a patch of sand beyond the school wall,

Naruto Uzumaki was sprawled on the ground in a sorry state.

His signature orange jacket was covered in mud.

There was also a large bruise on his fair face. He had clearly just been beaten.

And surrounding him

were the same upperclassman bullies whom Sen's Wood Clone had hung upside down from a tree a few days ago!

The tall boy leading them was viciously clutching Naruto by the collar, raising his fist to hit him again.

"These flies really don't learn their lesson, do they?"

A cold glint flashed through Sen's eyes.

His newly recruited little brother had not even been put to work yet, and someone was already bullying him?

They were not just hitting Naruto's face. They were slapping Sen Senju in the face!

Just as Sen was about to make his move and plant these idiots back into the ground,

Naruto, whose collar was being grabbed, suddenly began struggling violently.

Not only did he refuse to beg for mercy, he spat a mouthful of bloody saliva straight into the tall boy's face!

"Ptooey!"

"You bastards who only know how to bully people! I'm not afraid of you!"

Unyielding fury burned in Naruto's azure eyes.

He strained his throat and shouted with all his strength.

"My big bro is Sen Senju! He can hang all of you up with one finger!"

"If you dare touch me, my big bro definitely won't let you off!"

The moment they heard the name "Sen Senju,"

the bullies' expressions instantly changed.

Remembering the terror of being hung upside down from a tree that day, nearly drained of all their strength, they could not help shuddering.

The tall boy nervously looked around.

When he did not see Sen anywhere, his courage returned.

"Quit using that freak to scare us!"

The tall boy wiped the spit from his face, then swung his fist at Naruto's stomach in furious rage.

"He's not here today. I'll cripple you first!"

However, before his fist could land,

Smack!

A sharp, crisp sound rang out.

The tall boy's wrist was suddenly locked in the grip of a pale, slender hand.

That hand did not look particularly strong, yet its grip was terrifyingly powerful!

Like iron pincers, it clamped tightly into the gaps between his bones!

"Ah—! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

The tall boy screamed as cold sweat instantly broke out across his body.

He turned his head in terror.

Sen Senju had somehow appeared soundlessly beside him.

Sen still had his hands in his pockets, wearing that sleepy, lazy expression.

But his dark eyes carried a chill that made people feel as if they had fallen into an ice pit.

"You just said..."

Sen tilted his head slightly and looked at the screaming tall boy, a cruel curve rising at the corner of his mouth.

"Who wasn't here?"