Iruka had barely finished reading when Sakura Haruno let out a piercing scream that could have ruptured eardrums, like an air raid siren going off and instantly detonating the entire classroom.
"Ah—!!!"
She clutched her head and slumped in her chair as though all the bones had been pulled from her body, her face twisted as if the world were about to end the next second.
"Why?! Why do I have to be in the same class as that dead-last idiot who only knows how to pull pranks?!"
"My youth... my Sasuke... my ninja career... it's all over!!!"
The way she wailed and howled, anyone who didn't know better would have thought she was being assigned a grave, not a class.
Most of the boys in the classroom wore gleeful expressions, while the girls looked at her with sympathy.
In the corner, Sasuke Uchiha's brow twitched almost imperceptibly. He was clearly extremely impatient with this lovestruck girl's racket.
Yet just as everyone assumed that Naruto Uzumaki, the center of the incident, would react as usual—embarrassed, angry, or helplessly trying to explain himself—
Bang!
A deafening crash made everyone's ears ring!
Naruto moved.
Without warning, he sprang to his feet, raised his right foot, and slammed it down onto the desk in front of him!
The wooden desktop groaned under the force of his foot as cracks spread across it like a spiderweb.
That move was wild!
Arrogant!
Filled with a domineering disregard for every rule!
He looked down at the still-wailing Sakura, and his deep blue eyes held none of his former ingratiating humility—only glacial coldness remained.
"Sakura Haruno."
Naruto's voice was not loud, yet it was like an ice-tempered blade, piercing everyone's ears with precision.
"Wipe that look off your face like your parents just died."
"..."
"Hiss—!"
The entire classroom fell instantly silent.
It was as if all the air had been sucked away, and everyone stopped breathing.
What had they just seen?
What had they just heard?
Naruto Uzumaki, who had always trailed after Sakura like a little tagalong, calling out "Sakura-chan~"... what had he just said?
Was this still that ultimate Weslie who was willing to be ordered around like an idiot just to win a smile from Sakura?!
Everyone, including Iruka at the podium, who looked utterly dumbfounded as though his CPU was about to burn out, stared wide-eyed at the blond boy standing on the desk, radiating an aura that kept strangers away.
He was too unfamiliar!
That arrogant, self-centered aura was even more chilling than when he had slapped Kiba Inuzuka flying yesterday!
"Naruto, you... you bastard! What gives you the right to talk to me like that?!"
Sakura's wailing came to an abrupt halt. She jerked her head up, tears streaking her face as she glared at Naruto in embarrassment and fury.
In her eyes, the dead-last loser had gone insane!
He actually dared to speak to her like that!
But Naruto could not be bothered to waste words on her.
He merely curled his lips in disdain, slowly raised his right index finger, and held it in the air.
The next second, before the horrified eyes of the entire class, a sight that overturned everything they knew about ninjas appeared.
A strand of pale blue chakra emerged from Naruto's fingertip out of nowhere, then rapidly gathered and compressed at a visible speed!
No hand seals!
There was not even a single unnecessary movement!
The chakra sphere shrank smaller and smaller, forcibly compressed from the size of a fist to that of a marble. Its color shifted from pale blue to deep azure, like a solidified star radiating a terrifying fluctuation that made their hearts pound!
Ultimate density!
Ultimate stability!
This degree of chakra control... had completely surpassed the scope of a Genin, reaching a terrifying level of microscopic precision!
Sakura had been about to curse him out, but when she saw that tiny chakra sphere, every insult and angry word at the tip of her tongue seemed to be seized by an invisible hand. She could not force out a single word!
As the top student in theory class, she understood better than anyone what this meant!
The chakra control she had been so proud of, which ranked among the best of her peers, was like a baby who had just learned to walk challenging a world sprint champion before this "dead-last loser's" absolute control!
Ridiculous!
Utterly ridiculous!
She had actually treated her pitiful little skill as something worth showing off?
An overwhelming wave of shame and fear instantly crushed her reason!
"Being in the same class as me is such a hardship for you?"
Naruto sneered. Looking at Sakura's pale little face, the mockery in his eyes deepened.
He flicked his finger.
Whoosh—!
The azure chakra sphere became a blur, slicing through the air with a sharp whistle as it grazed past Sakura's ear!
Sakura could even feel the scorching heat as the fierce wind singed off strands of her hair!
Then—
Boom—!!!
The blackboard at the back of the classroom exploded in response!
A hole the size of a washbasin had been blasted straight through the center of the hard blackboard, its edges scorched black as countless fine cracks spread across the entire wall!
Chunks of stone and dust rained down.
The whole class recoiled in fright, and several timid girls screamed outright.
If that attack had hit someone... the consequences would have been unimaginable!
The entire classroom once again sank into deathly silence.
Naruto slowly withdrew his finger and slipped it back into his pocket. His tone was calm, yet every word landed with the weight of a king's decree:
"Being in the same class as me means you're punching above your weight."
"And I guarantee that from today onward, you won't need to keep watching some stone-faced bastard's mood."
Every word struck their hearts like a heavy hammer.
The first sentence was aimed at Sakura Haruno, filled with unquestionable dominance.
The second was a naked jab at Sasuke Uchiha, who had maintained his aloof pose from beginning to end in the corner of the classroom!
This was an open provocation!
He was going to stomp Sasuke Uchiha beneath his feet in front of everyone!
"Ah..."
Sakura could no longer hold herself up. Her legs went limp, and she collapsed onto the floor.
She stared blankly up at the blond boy standing atop the desk, his tall frame straight and his face filled with wildness and defiance.
Sunlight streamed through the window, tracing him in gold. That sharply defined face, those fathomless blue eyes...
At that moment, Naruto no longer seemed comical or laughable to her.
Instead, he inspired a primal trembling before absolute strength... and obsession!
An immensely powerful sense of contrast surged through every limb and bone like an electric current.
Her heartbeat began racing uncontrollably, and her cheeks suddenly flushed with a burning crimson.
[Ding! Detected intense emotional fluctuations in bond target 'Sakura Haruno.' Cracks have appeared in her mental defenses!] [Current Favorability: 20 (Shocked and Shaken)!]
Hearing the system notification in his mind, Naruto's smile widened.
Good. The fish had started biting.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom—
Sasuke Uchiha's eternally expressionless face finally could not hold up any longer.
His face visibly changed from white to green, before turning completely livid!
"Stone-faced bastard"?!
That damned dead-last loser actually dared to call him that in front of the whole class?!
Naruto's words and actions just now were like swinging a massive iron hammer, smashing the pedestal of aloofness, genius, and popularity that he had painstakingly built over the years into pieces!
He felt every gaze in the classroom shift from admiration and infatuation to pity and mockery!
Utter humiliation!
This was a humiliation ten thousand times worse than being defeated!
Sasuke's hands beneath the desk clenched sharply, his nails digging deeply into his palms with a creak.
A cold, violent killing intent finally burst uncontrollably from his dark pupils!
He stared fixedly at Naruto Uzumaki, as though he wanted to devour him alive!
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