"Naruto Uzumaki! Have you lost your mind? You seriously injured a classmate!"
Iruka was furious.
The entire class fell silent.
Naruto shook his slightly numb palm and shrugged indifferently. "Iruka-sensei, that was self-defense. He charged at me with red eyes. I couldn't just stand there and let him beat me to death, could I?"
Iruka trembled with rage, yet found himself speechless.
On the ground, several members of the Hyuga Branch Family hurriedly carried Neji away to the Medical Department.
Before leaving, his Byakugan stared fixedly at Naruto. Deep within his eyes was not hatred toward a stronger opponent, but the overwhelming inferiority of a man who had been utterly crushed in every possible way.
It hurt too much!
The feeling of having his pride mercilessly trampled was ten times more painful than the handprint on his face.
"We'll investigate what happened today later! Everyone, gather on the training field now!"
Suppressing his anger, Iruka announced, "We'll be conducting the final taijutsu combat assessment before graduation!"
The sunlight on the training field was blinding.
Sasuke threw a boy over his shoulder with one hand, then coldly straightened his collar and turned to leave the field.
"Ah! Sasuke-kun is so handsome!"
Sakura and Ino screamed loudly enough to blow the roof off.
Naruto folded his hands behind his head and watched the crowd as though they were performing for him.
They were screaming over flashy but useless moves like that?
Once I build my harem in the future, I'll show you what a real Shinobi World bulldozer looks like.
"Next match, Naruto Uzumaki versus Kiba Inuzuka!"
Holding the roster, Iruka called out loudly.
With Akamaru perched on his head, Kiba leaped into the center of the field. He grinned at Naruto, revealing two sharp canine teeth.
"Hey, perpetual dead last. You must've used some underhanded trick to take down Neji just now, right?"
Kiba rolled his wrists with contempt written all over his face. "You're unlucky to have run into me. Ten seconds. I'll have you crawling on the ground eating dirt."
The boys around them immediately started jeering.
Naruto strolled over to stand opposite Kiba. He could not even be bothered to take a fighting stance as he smiled faintly. "Ten seconds? That's too long."
"You're all talk!"
A fierce light flashed through Kiba's eyes. His hands rapidly formed seals. "Beast Mimicry Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique!"
Beast-like chakra wrapped around his body. Kiba dropped onto all fours like a crazed starving wolf and lunged straight at Naruto's face with a shrieking rush of wind.
His claws flashed with cold light beneath the sun, moving so quickly that even ordinary Genin could barely see them.
Naruto stood where he was, neither dodging nor retreating.
He did not even gather any chakra.
After merging with the Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body, his bones and muscle fibers had long undergone earth-shaking mutations. Every inch of skin concealed the strength of a tyrannosaur.
Just as those vicious claws were about to tear open his throat, Naruto raised a hand.
He casually grabbed Kiba's wrist and held it firmly.
The motion looked like an adult restraining a small puppy that was baring its teeth and claws.
Kiba's sneer froze on his face, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
He strained with all his might to pull his arm free, only to discover that Naruto's seemingly ordinary hand was like a steel vice. He could not budge it in the slightest.
"I told you, ten seconds is too long."
Naruto left him with that casual remark.
With a twist of his wrist, Naruto swung his free right hand in a half-circle and delivered a heavy, solid slap straight across Kiba's face.
"Slap!"
The explosive crack of flesh tearing through the air rang out.
Violent power surged through him like a landslide and tsunami.
Kiba did not even have time to scream before he and Akamaru were sent flying over ten meters away.
With a deafening boom, boy and dog slammed heavily into the blue-brick wall at the edge of the training field.
The wall's surface cracked over a wide area, spiderweb-like fractures spreading across it.
Kiba was embedded deep in the crater, eyes rolled back and foam spilling from his mouth as he passed out on the spot.
The entire field fell deathly silent.
A breeze swept several fallen leaves across the field. Other than heavy breathing, there was not a single other sound.
Sasuke Uchiha, who had been standing with his hands in his pockets and acting cool, suddenly tensed. He stared fixedly at that striking blond hair, his eyes overflowing with shock and disbelief.
Sakura covered her mouth in terror, her legs trembling uncontrollably.
"W-What kind of joke is this? That was Naruto?"
One boy swallowed hard.
"He took Kiba out in one move? Without even using ninjutsu, just brute strength?!"
The hand holding Iruka's roster shook like a leaf. He stammered for a long time before finally finding his voice. "N-Naruto Uzumaki wins!"
In the following matches, no one managed to display anything even remotely close to Naruto's strike.
Even Sasuke's clean and decisive shoulder throw seemed dull and flavorless compared to the terrifying violence of Naruto slapping Kiba Inuzuka away.
Then came the system notification: "Claim first place in the entire field with an overwhelming stance."
Inside his mind, the cold mechanical voice arrived as expected.
[ Ding! Congratulations to the host for claiming first place in the entire field with an overwhelming stance. Mission perfectly completed! ] [ Mission reward issued: God-tier taijutsu "Eight Gates," first three gates—Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life! ] [ Favorability Radar function successfully activated! ]
A surging flood of muscle memory and chakra circulation diagrams rushed wildly into his mind.
Naruto secretly clenched his fists, clearly sensing that a ferocious beast capable of tearing apart mountains and rivers seemed to be lurking within his body.
As long as he wished it, he could release it at any moment.
Very strong, but not strong enough.
He could not be bothered with the gazes around him, filled with awe and fear. He simply raised his hand. "Iruka-sensei, my stomach hurts a little. I'd like to go to the medical room and get some medicine."
Without waiting for Iruka to nod, he turned and left.
Showing everyone up during the assessment had only been incidental. He had not forgotten that a soft, delicate little Byakugan girl was still lying in the medical room.
That young lady of the Hyuga Clan had "accidentally" seen his greatest secret. This debt had to be settled properly behind closed doors.
Outside the medical room, Naruto paused in front of the door and silently called, Radar.
A simple interface immediately appeared in his mind. Beside Hinata's name was a number: 67.
Not low, but not enough.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he pushed the door open.
Inside the medical room.
A faint scent of disinfectant lingered in the air.
On the hospital bed, Hinata's long eyelashes trembled a few times before she slowly opened her eyes.
As her consciousness gradually returned, the intensely shocking scene she had witnessed before fainting uncontrollably flooded back into her mind.
That terrifying sight which had completely overturned everything she had believed in throughout fourteen years of life, that distinctly male body and its overwhelming, destructive presence.
"Ah—"
Hinata let out an extremely faint whimper and suddenly pulled the blanket over her flushed face.
Her heart pounded wildly as if a little deer were crashing about inside it. Even the air she exhaled felt scorching hot.
Naruto-kun, he... he actually...
She was so embarrassed that she wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it, yet deep in her lower abdomen, a strange softness she could not understand quietly spread.
Just then, the sound of the doorknob turning rang out.
"Click."
Hinata's entire body stiffened. Like a startled rabbit, she timidly revealed a pair of Byakugan from the edge of her blanket.
The one who entered was the very culprit who had thrown her heart into chaos and embarrassed her to the point of nearly fainting—Naruto Uzumaki.
Even worse, after entering the room, Naruto did not head toward the bed. Instead, he reached back and pushed the door shut.
"Click."
He locked the door.
Then he reached out and pulled down the blinds over the windows.
The sunlight outside was completely cut off, and the already quiet medical room instantly darkened.
Inside the enclosed room, only the clear sounds of their breathing remained.
A wicked smile curled across Naruto's lips. Like the alpha wolf inspecting his prey, he slowly approached the hospital bed.
The body that had merged with the Perfect Sage Body brazenly radiated an intensely suffocating masculine aura.
Hinata felt her legs go weak. She wanted to retreat, but realized that even the strength to move had been drained from her body.
"N-Naruto-kun... w-what are you going to do?"
She stammered, her voice soft as water.
Naruto stopped beside the bed and extended his arms, bracing them against the pillow on either side of her head.
His tall body directly shrouded her in shadow, his aggressively warm breath washing over the tip of her nose.
"A lone man and woman alone in a room, with the door locked."
Naruto lowered his voice. His deep blue eyes fixed tightly on Hinata's panicked Byakugan, his tone carrying an extremely dangerous tease.
"Hinata, what do you think I want to do?"
He slowly lowered his head, his lips nearly brushing her ear. "Back in the classroom... you activated your Byakugan and saw something you shouldn't have, didn't you?"
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